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Spellman, DiVincenzo decisions mark worst-case scenario for 'Nova

05/31/2018, 12:30am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Donte DiVincenzo (above) is one of four Villanova players who left early for the NBA Draft. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Villanova’s worst-case scenario this offseason was never going to be Doomsday.

Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson were almost certain to leave the Wildcats no matter what happened in the 2018 edition of the NCAA Tournament, considering the two stars were finishing up their ‘Nova degrees this spring, with the NBA beckoning. The Wildcats’ earning their second national championship in three years only solidified that fate.

The question marks were redshirt sophomore guard Donte DiVincenzo and redshirt freshman Omari Spellman. Both coming off strong seasons, they each declared for the NBA Draft last month, but refrained from hiring an agent -- and thus preserving their NCAA eligibility -- until they were more sure of their decisions, with the ability to wait until May 30 at midnight to stay in or go back to school.

If DiVincenzo and Spellman had elected to return to Villanova, Jay Wright’s Wildcats would undoubtedly be ranked well inside the top 10, the addition of Albany graduate transfer Joe Cremo helping to shore up the departures and a super-talented freshman class arriving on the Main Line this summer.

Instead, Wright will have his youngest team in some time.

A series of strong workouts in front of NBA teams, as well as a standout performance at the NBA Draft Combine by DiVincenzo, convinced the pair -- and their head coach -- that they’d put themselves in the position to get their names called in the first round of June 21’s two-round affair.

So they each decided to turn professional; DiVincenzo made his decision public on Tuesday, Spellman the day later.

“Each time they would come out of a workout, that team would be impressed, and then another team would want them to come in,” Wright said Wednesday afternoon during a media session. “So you could see it was going in a good direction for both of them.

“If you have a chance at that young of an age to be a first-round pick, that’s a good time to go. And the information we’re getting on both of them is they both have high-level opportunities to be first-round picks, both of them. You’ve got to play the percentages, but the information we’re getting is that both of them have very good chances to be first-round picks.”

That means ‘Nova will without its top four scorers from this past season, with only four returning double-digit minute contributors. That means, barring the addition of another graduate transfer -- former Stanford big man Reid Travis’ name has been linked to Villanova since he withdrew his name from the draft earlier this week -- a large part of the rotation will consist of the seven freshmen and sophomores who will be on the roster.

That means there’s going to be some work to do.

“We’re going to be a young team,” Wright said. “But it’s bound to happen some year, we’ve been very fortunate a lot of years where guys have decided to stay. It turned out it was the best moment for all these guys, and I’m happy for them, and [now] we’ve got to kind of build it up again.

It’s true that the Wildcats’ chances at a repeat national championship and an improbable third in four years took a major hit with DiVincenzo and Spellman’s decisions.

But what Wright and his staff have to work with in 2018-19 is by no means a bare cupboard, even if it’s not quite the group he was hoping to have.

“There’s a side of you, like you realize it’s going to be a different team than we planned for,” He admitted. “But you’re overwhelmingly excited for them and the long-term prospects for the program. Kids want to play in the NBA, so when these kids come in and they win and they do well academically, and they improve and then they get to chase their dreams, it helps us. It might hurt us a little bit this year, but long-run, it helps us.”

Villanova’s worst-case scenario would be an enviable scenario for most other programs in the country.

Phil Booth and Eric Paschall are both fifth-year seniors with a combined nine years in the Villanova system, Paschall’s freshman season having been spent at Fordham. They’re both double-digit scorers from a year ago, both starters in a national championship run, both fully invested in the culture that’s been built in the Wildcats program over the recent five-year run of dominance.

Throw in Cremo, who averaged 17.8 ppg as a junior at Albany and brings nearly 1,500 career points down to the Big 5, and there’s three experienced seniors ready to lead the way.

What’ll be interesting is who develops behind that trio.

The two other biggest returning minute-earners are rising sophomores, guard Collin Gillespie (4.3 ppg/.394 3PT%) and forward Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree (3.1 ppg/2.4 rpg).

Jermaine Samuels, a 6-6 wing out of the Rivers School (Mass.) and the most highly-touted of the three entering college, had a near-invisible first two months of the season, busted out for 11 points in 17 minutes against DePaul -- and then promptly broke his hand, missing the next 10 games. He appeared in 13 of the team’s final 17 games, but didn’t play double-digit minutes or score a point after Feb. 17.

Then there’s the freshmen: point guard Jahvon Quinerly (Hudson Catholic, N.J.), wing guard Brandon Slater (Paul VI, Va.) and wing forward Cole Swider (St. Andrew’s School, R.I.). All are considered no worse than four-star prospects and national top-50 recruits; all should push for playing time right off the bat.

Redshirt sophomore Dylan Painter and redshirt junior Tim Delaney round out the scholarship players on the roster, though neither has been a significant contributor thus far.

“Got a lot of young guys who have to prove themselves, a lot of young guys,” Wright said. “I’d rather have the guys back but it’s kind of exciting.

“We’ve had four or five years in a row where you knew we had a good team coming back, you knew who the guys were, you just had to get them to be the best they could be. Now we’ve got a lot of question marks, so it’s a different kind of coaching. It’s exciting. It’s going to be a challenge.”


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