City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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VILLANOVA — The first signs of the 2023-24 college basketball season’s fast approach were stuffed inside the Pavilion on Thursday night, as the Villanova men’s team held its annual Blue & White Night, an inter-squad scrimmage in front of a couple thousand fans. The scrimmage consisted of four six-minute quarters, with the 10 players available changing teams throughout the night.

Here are a couple notes on the evening, featuring quotes from Wildcats head coach Kyle Neptune, with unofficial stats at the end.

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Did Not Participate
Four Villanova players didn’t play in the event: junior forward Trey Patterson (shoulder surgery), graduate guard Justin Moore (ankle), freshman forward Jordann Dumont (knee soreness) and senior forward Lance Ware (hamstring). Patterson, who had surgery over the summer, is out for a while still; the others are all day-to-day with minor injuries. 

If it were a regular season game, Neptune was asked, would Moore, Dumont and Ware be available? “I think so,” he said. 

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Quality depth stands out
 

Even without four players available, Villanova’s depth was apparent on the Pavilion court. Outside of walk-on Colin O’Toole, the nine other Wildcats who played Thursday night have something to offer this year — and that’s without at least one clear starter in Moore and at least one other member of the rotation in Ware, who transferred in from Kentucky. That’s a healthy change from last year, when injuries left ‘Nova shorthanded as the Wildcats struggled along to a 17-17 year. 

Eric Dixon’s sure to start. Richmond transfer Tyler Burton and Washington State transfer T.J. Bamba played really well on Thursday, though there’s only so much one can read into an intrasquad scrimmage. Sophomore Mark Armstrong looks much improved, though. Oh, and there’s also Maryland transfer Hakim Hart, sharpshooting sophomore Brendan Hauson, finally-healthy junior guard Jordan Longino…yeah, there’s a lot to work with.

“Every year is a different challenge, and [...] it’s always a puzzle,” Neptune said. “Last year we kind of struggled with numbers, this year we have a good amount of numbers. Every year is different and you’ve just got to figure it out as you go. It’s really good for practice, a lot of competition, really good for games, we don’t have to play guys [for] extended minutes. It is a puzzle, and we’re going to figure it out as we go.”

With about a month until the season opens, Neptune still has plenty of time to figure out who will be in the starting lineup on Nov. 6 against American University, with a couple spots pretty obvious and a few others that could go several ways. The second-year coach swears he’s yet to make a decision.

“I wouldn’t tell you,” he laughed, “but I also don’t know.”

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Armstrong looks ready

Without Moore on the floor, Mark Armstrong was the clear best ball-handler on the court for Villanova, the 6-2 guard from New Jersey leading the squad in assists (five) for the evening while also showing he can get his own shot. He had a few strong takes to the hoop and finishes with his off (left) hand, and he was confident rising up in the mid-range. 

He might not be their most experienced guard, but he’s got one of the highest upsides in the program, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him move into the starting lineup as a sign of the confidence the ‘Nova staff has in him moving forward after he averaged 5.3 ppg and 2.0 rpg in about 20 mpg as a freshman.

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Burton shows his versatility; Bamba impresses

It was certainly a positive first impression for Richmond transfer Tyler Burton. The former Spider, a 6-7 wing/forward, scored 16 points on an efficient 5-of-7 from the floor, going 4-of-6 from downtown, along with a team-high seven rebounds plus a couple dimes. That shooting would be a nice return to form for Burton, who shot 36.4% (90-of-247) between his sophomore and junior seasons but just 29.3% (55-of-188) as a senior, when he averaged 19.0 ppg as Richmond’s primary offensive option.

“I think he was in a different role last year,” Neptune said. “If you look at earlier in his career he shot the ball really well, he’s a good shooter, so we have a lot of confidence in him.”

Speaking of positive first impressions, Bamba scored a team-high 18 points on 6-13 shooting (4-8 3PT). The 6-5 wing from New York City (via Washington State) played with the ball in his hands a good amount, working with Dixon in pick-and-roll situations often when the two were paired together

“You look at him as last year, 37% 3-point shooter, he’s an unbelievable finisher, he’s really good with the ball in his hands, he’s a great defender, he has great size and versatility defensively, and he’s the leading scorer on his team last year,” Neptune said. “He’s a guy that does a lot, adds a lot to our team.”

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Hausen shoots the lights out
 

Villanova’s had plenty of terrific shooters in its history, especially within the last decade: Josh Hart, Jalen Brunson, Collin Gillespie, Mikal Bridges, all deadly from deep. Sophomore Brendan Hauson looks like he’s next in line, and he might have the quickest trigger of all: the 6-4 guard from Texas doesn’t need more than a split-second to rise and fire; he took eight treys and knocked down four of them, the others not missing by much. The Wildcats took more 3-pointers by percentage of shots taken than all but six other Division I teams, according to KenPom, so they can never have too many shooters.

“We’d love to get him as many shots as we can, obviously he’s a great shooter,” Neptune said. “I think our team in general, we have a lot of great options offensively.”

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Final Stats (**unofficially kept by CoBL)
TJ Bamba: 18 points (6-13 FG, 4-8 3PT), 5 rebounds, 1 assist
Brendan Hausen: 14 points (5-9 FG, 4-8 3PT), 1 rebound, 2 assists
Mark Armstrong: 11 points (5-13 FG, 1-5 3PT), 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals
Chris Arcidiacono: 3 points (1-5 FG, 1-5 3PT), 1 rebound, 3 assists
Colin O’Toole: 0 points (0-0 FG), 2 rebounds
Hakim Hart: 6 points (3-6 FG, 0-1 3PT), 6 rebounds, 3 assists
Jordan Longino: 10 points (3-8 FG, 2-4 3PT), 1 rebound
Nnanna Njoku: 4 points (2-3 FG), 7 rebounds, 1 assist
Tyler Burton: 16 points (5-7 FG, 4-6 3PT), 7 rebounds, 2 assists
Eric Dixon: 15 points (6-12 FG, 2-5 3PT), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal

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