Villanova's (l-r) Justin Moore, Kyle Neptune and Brendan Hausen address reporters following Friday's victory over DePaul. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
March 22, 2024
Big5Hoops.com
The Philadelphia Big 5 went 44 consecutive seasons with a representative in the NCAA tournament from 1978 through 2022. (There was no tournament in 2020.) Over that stretch, the five schools combined for 92 trips to the Big Dance that included national championships in 1985, 2016 and 2018 for Villanova.
Add in Drexel’s five appearances during that stretch and the combined number of NCAA berths is 97. (Drexel was not part of the Big 5 until this season.)
But this season marks the second straight year without a Big 5 team in the Big Dance. The reasons for Philly schools’ absence have some to do with each of the schools and some to do with the changing landscape of college basketball.
Let’s take a look at each school’s season, why they are not in the tournament and how they might get back there.
Here’s the schedule:
Today: Villanova
Saturday: Temple
Sunday: Saint Joseph’s
Monday: Penn
Tuesday: La Salle
Wednesday: Drexel
Thursday: All-Big 5 Selections
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Villanova
NCAA tournaments between 1978-2022: 31 (including national titles in 1985, 2016 and 2018)
2023-24 record: 18-16, 10-10 Big East
Leading scorers: Eric Dixon 16.6, TJ Bamba 10.1, Justin Moore 9.8, Mark Armstrong 8.4, Tyler Burton 7.5, Jordan Longino 6.6, Hakim Hart 6.3
Leading rebounders: Dixon 6.5, Burton 6.1, Bamba 3.6, Moore 3.6, Hart 3.2
What went right: Villanova won the Battle 4 Atlantis title in November with wins over Texas Tech, North Carolina and Memphis. The Wildcats had some impressive victories in conference play, most notably winning at Creighton on Dec. 20.
What went wrong: Villanova lost five in a row from Jan. 15 through Jan. 30, with head coach Kyle Neptune getting booed during introductions in the 85-80 home defeat at the Pavilion to Marquette in the last of those defeats. The Wildcats also were booed during the first half when they fell behind big to the Golden Eagles. Most crushing for Villanova’s national reputation were defeats to Penn, Saint Joseph’s and, finally, Drexel in Big 5 play. With their NCAA tournament hopes still in their hands, the Wildcats lost three of their final four games, at Seton Hall, at home versus Creighton and to Marquette in the Big East quarterfinals. The lone win in that stretch was a 58-57 squeaker over DePaul in the Wildcats’ Big East tourney opener that might have been their worst performance of the season. Villanova’s season ended on Wednesday night with a first-round NIT loss to VCU at the Pavilion.
My thoughts: Neptune took a lot of heat a lot of times this season. Some of it deservedly so. The end-of-game strategies at Butler on Jan. 27, when the Wildcats didn’t foul at the end of regulation when they had fouls to give and then couldn’t advance the ball past midcourt on their ensuing possession, and at Xavier on Feb. 7, when they couldn’t get off a tying 3-point attempt, were baffling. Some of that falls on the players, but the coach deserves blame, for sure.
Neptune remained steadfast throughout the season, whether after a win or a loss, that the goal was to get better. His steadying, calming approach seemed to work, and the Wildcats recovered from that five-game losing streak to win six of the next eight between Feb. 4 and March 2 with a sharp focus on defense and rebounding that produced strong results and kept alive their NCAA at-large chances. But then Villanova fell flat at the finish, another poor look for the head coach.
Neptune is growing into his role. Villanova is a tough place for a head coach to be doing that, especially one following in the footsteps of Hall of Famer Jay Wright. If there was a mistake made in replacing Wright after his surprise retirement following the 2022 season, it was less in hiring Neptune than in not bringing on board a grizzled veteran who could help guide the young, 39-year-old head coach. In Ashley Howard, Mike Nardi and Dwayne Anderson II, the Wildcats have three good assistants who are deeply vested in Villanova. But they, themselves, all are on the younger side, either approaching 40 years old or just past.
Neptune isn’t going anywhere, as Villanova AD Mark Jackson indicated to Jeff Neiburg of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Dan Gelston of the AP on Thursday. However, if I were Jackson (and Wright, who surely has a say in what is happening with the program), I would bring on board a veteran assistant who has been through everything and can help guide Neptune’s progress. The NCAA expanded the number of assistant coaches to five before last season, so there still will be room on the bench (and should be) for Howard, Nardi and Anderson. They should stay. But Neptune needs an experienced voice as his top assistant.
The name that immediately comes to mind is Matt Brady. The veteran coach not only would help with X’s and O’s and stewarding the program, but Brady is respected as a top shooting development coach and this is an area in which the Wildcats struggled mightily this season. There was little to no progress from the arc for Wildcats players this season (five of the top eight scorers shot worse this season than last; three of the eight shot better). Besides being a great shooting coach, Brady has head coaching experience (JMU and Marist) and also showed he can inspire a team by leading DePaul, as the interim head coach, to a near-upset of Villanova at Madison Square Garden.
It also would help that Brady is not a “Villanova guy” and could bring a different – and, probably, needed – perspective to the Wildcats bench. Brady indicated after the Blue Demons’ loss to the Wildcats that he hoped to continue coaching. He would be a great fit as Neptune’s top assistant.
Besides coaching, Villanova must take a really hard look at how and whom it is recruiting. The Wildcats have neither a point guard who can distribute nor a starter who can consistently make shots from the outside. That is unfathomable for a big-time program and definitely not a winning combination. That they brought in four players from the portal prior to this season and didn’t address those two areas of need is surprising. I really like Mark Armstrong, but he is more of a scorer than a distributor. Brendan Hausen is a good long-range shooter, but he is more of a specialist off the bench.
The Wildcats cannot go into the 2024-25 season without a point guard who can set up teammates. Just look at Villanova’s recent success, and you’ll see a Jalen Brunson, a Collin Gillespie, a Ryan Arcidiacono, a Kyle Lowry. Those four players are elite college basketball point guards, and it’s no surprise the Wildcats had so much success with their floor generalship. La Salle’s Jhamir Brickus entered the transfer portal this week and could be a one-year stopgap for Villanova. Brickus, who was recruited to La Salle by former Explorers head coach Howard, averaged 13.9 points, 4.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and a 2.3 assist/turnover ratio while shooting 40 percent (60 of 150) from the arc for the Explorers. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
And the Wildcats must get some long-range shooting. There were too many games where Villanova shot and missed and shot and missed some more from the outside. Not hitting 3-pointers has a triple-negative effect besides not scoring because the long defensive rebounds lead to runouts and, often, easy baskets for opponents. Plus, defenders were able to sag off Wildcats on the perimeter this season, thus clogging the lane for Dixon and taking away paths to the basket for Bamba, Moore and Armstrong. None of Villanova’s top seven scorers shot better than 36.9 percent from long range and six of the seven hit less than 35 percent from the arc (Bamba 36.9%, Dixon 34.6, Hart 32.9, Burton 32.7, Longino 32.5, Moore 31.2, Armstrong 28.2). Like lacking a true point guard, not having long-range shooters is not a winning recipe in college basketball today. There will be plenty of quality options in the portal.
So, yeah, Neptune made some mistakes and is growing into his role. However, it can’t be overstated how important talent is for winning games. Neptune could be the greatest coach ever but without a point guard or 3-point shooters, he won’t go very far. Luckily for Neptune and Nova Nation, the transfer portal is like ordering off the menu of a Stephen Starr restaurant. The Wildcats have the NIL money, the conference and the pedigree to get the players they need.
In summary, Villanova can get back to its accustomed spot in the NCAA tournament next year by bringing on a veteran coach to be Neptune’s top assistant, starting a true point guard and having players who are legitimate 3-point threats who must be guarded closely from the arc.
And if all that fails, we’ll be having a different conversation next March.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.