City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2023-24 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 6. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here.)

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Big 5 Preseason Primers
MBB: Drexel | La Salle | Penn | Saint Joseph’s | Temple | Villanova
WBB: Drexel | La Salle | Penn | Saint Joseph’s | Temple | Villanova

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2023-24 Villanova WBB Primer
Coach: Denise Dillon, 4th season (71-23, .755)
Last Year: 30-7 (17-3 Big East), lost Big East championship (UConn, 67-56), lost NCAA Sweet 16 (Miami Fl., 70-65)

Last season went about as well as it possibly could have for the ‘Nova women, who rode the wave of one of the greatest players in program history into the Sweet 16 for the first time in two decades, reaching the top 10 in the Associated Press poll for the first time ever along the way. The Siegrist Era is over, but her impact on the Wildcats is still being written: with plenty left on the roster from last year, there’s still a good chance for some carryover confidence. Now begins the real test for Dillion, to see if she can maintain momentum, even while this year’s squad will be hard-pressed to repeat the success of its predecessors.

Key Departures: F Maddy Siegrist (29.2 ppg, 9.2 rpg), G Brooke Mullin (3.5 ppg, 2.7 rpg)

If you didn’t see Siegrist during her four-year assault on the Pavilion buckets — well, ya missed out. The 6-foot-1 forward from Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) became a three-time All-American, scoring a program-record 2,896 points in her four seasons, and she’s second in VU history in rebounds (1,102) as well. Siegrist shot a career-best 51.0% from the floor as a senior, including 36.1% from 3-point range, and averaged more than a steal and block per game for good measure; she was drafted in the first round of the WNBA Draft by the Dallas Stars.

Mullin, meanwhile, started 89 out of the 124 games she played in her four years at Villanova, and was perhaps the team’s best on-ball defender while also increasing her assists each season, averaging a career-best 3.5 apg (with a 2.62:1 assist-to-turnover ratio) as a senior; she’ll finish her college career at Drexel this winter.

New Faces: F Denae Carter (Jr. | Mississippi State), SF Brynn McCurry (Fr. | Sparta, N.J.), G Maddie Webber (Fr. | South Fayette, Pa.)

Dillon brought in three new faces this season, though knee injuries have hit this group hard: McCurry suffered one before her senior year of high school, costing her the season, though she was recently cleared to participate and looks on track to play some role this year. Carter, a St. Basil alum who averaged 5.0 ppg and 6.1 rpg in two years at Mississippi State, suffered a knee injury this offseason and will have to redshirt this upcoming season. That leaves Webber, a 5-11 guard and two-time All-State selection, who comes in after scoring 1,387 points in her South Fayette career. She’s impressed in practice and figures to be in the rotation, if not in the starting lineup at some point this year. 

Projected Lineup: G Zanai Jones (1.9 ppg), PG Lucy Olsen (12.4 ppg, 4.4 apg), SG Maddie Burke (7.1 ppg), SF Bella Runyan (4.0 ppg), C Christina Dalce (7.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg)

Though Siegrist is gone, the Wildcats do have the luxury of putting together a starting five with a good amount of experience. Olsen will be a third-year starter at the point, the 5-10 Spring-Ford alum already with 70 starts under her belt, poised to become the team’s top offensive option as an upperclassman. She’ll slide off the ball with the addition of the 5-7 Jones, who’s played in 51 games in her first two seasons, though she’s yet to play more than 22 minutes in any one outing.

Also returning from the starting lineup are the 6-2 Dalce, a defensive specialist at the ‘5’ who took a big step forward offensively last year, and Burke, a 6-0 sharpshooting wing who knocked down a career-best 36.1% from deep last year. Runyan, a 5-11 senior wing, has been a key bench piece her whole career, with 94 appearances (12 starts), averaging about 22 mpg all three years, and should slide into the starting lineup as something of a small-ball ‘4.’ 

Key Reserves: G Abby Jegede (DNP), SG Kaitlyn Orihel (3.0 ppg), F Megan Olbrys (2.4 ppg), G Maddie Webber, SF Brynn McCurry

This is where Villanova’s inexperience rears its head a little bit. Orihel has the most collegiate minutes under her belt, the 5-10 guard from Archbishop Wood averaging 3.1 ppg in 69 career games, playing right around 14 mpg both seasons. Olbrys, a 6-1 forward from Massachusetts, saw action in 25 contests a year ago, including consistent double-digit minutes during Big East play, but didn’t play in the NCAA Tournament. Jegede, a 5-10 wing who suffered a knee injury last year, is available to give them minutes on the wing, as will Webber and McCurry, but it’s unclear at this point who will play the most minutes of this group.

Biggest Strength: Defensive length

These Wildcats have a chance to be really good defensively — something they’ll need to be, because they just won’t be as good offensively without Siegrist leading the charge. It starts with Dalce patrolling the paint, giving them a potential Big East and Big 5 Defensive Player of the Year at the ‘5,’ but they’re long on the perimeter too with Olsen (5-10), Runyan (5-11) and Burke (6-0), all of whom are good athletes with long arms. This will need a couple reserves to be strong defenders as well, 

Area for Improvement: Scoring depth

It’s fairly obvious that Olsen will be the team’s leading scorer, sure to take a big jump from last year. Burke and Dalce are likely to approach double figures, with more shots coming their way. But after that…who gets a bucket for the Wildcats? Dillon needs to get some consistent scoring (7-9 ppg) from a couple more players: it could be Jones and Runyan, but it seems more likely to come from Webber, or perhaps Orihel, and maybe the sophomores (Jegede and Olbrys). If Villanova has to count on Olsen to score 25 a game every night, it will be a struggle. Others have to step up.