November 5, 2028
The defending NCAA champions' roster looks like this as we begin the 2028/29 season:
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#2 VILLANOVA General
Player # Pos Yr Ht Wt Sch Acd Status Hometown
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Corey Hicks 3 SF Jr 6-3 206 Yes 92 OK Riverside, NJ
Blake Norton 4 PG Fr 6-1 174 Yes 31 OK Palmyra, NJ
Lowell Welter 5 C Fr 6-8 217 Yes 43 OK Cochranton, PA
Ronald Verdugo 11 SG Fr 6-4 207 No 91 OK Groton, CT
Richard Pray 13 SF Sr 6-3 183 Yes 70 Unhappy Glen Burnie, MD
Duncan Sims 14 PG Sr* 6-4 205 Yes 98 OK Easton, PA
Mark Jones 20 PF Jr 6-8 209 No 36 OK Valdosta, GA
Jacob Allen 21 SG Sr 5-10 173 Yes 33 OK Franklinville, NY
Caleb Blaney 25 PF Sr 6-9 228 Yes 21 OK Ramsey, NJ
Tony Ezell 31 PF Fr 6-7 209 Yes 58 OK Somerville, NJ
Clemens Schwaiger 33 PF Fr 6-11 320 Yes 44 OK Apolda, Germany
Bernie Pfister 41 C So 6-11 264 No 69 OK Westfield, PA
Joshua Parkin 42 C Jr 6-9 207 Yes 53 OK North East, MD
Avery Sullivan 53 C So 6-10 241 Yes 77 OK Englewood, NJ
Code:
#2 VILLANOVA Training Results
Player Ins Jps Fts 3ps Hnd Pas Orb Drb Psd Prd Stl Blk Qkn Str Jmp Sta
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Corey Hicks 3 6 9 3 4 4 1 6 3 6 6 0 2 3 2 6
Blake Norton 2 2 4 6 10 8 2 2 2 2 6 2 2 4 3 34
Lowell Welter 8 2 2 2 4 2 8 10 6 2 2 6 1 4 2 8
Ronald Verdugo 2 2 2 4 2 2 2 4 4 6 6 2 4 8 1 26
Richard Pray 4 4 1 1 2 3 4 2 2 4 5 2 1 1 1 8
Duncan Sims 6 8 3 10 8 8 1 3 2 8 3 1 2 2 0 7
Mark Jones 1 0 1 0 1 1 3 2 3 1 1 2 1 3 1 5
Jacob Allen 4 11 0 0 1 2 0 4 1 7 5 4 0 1 1 8
Caleb Blaney 1 2 3 3 3 2 1 0 4 2 3 2 1 2 1 4
Tony Ezell 8 2 2 1 4 2 2 6 6 2 2 6 2 6 1 30
Clemens Schwaiger 8 2 2 0 2 2 10 10 12 2 2 6 2 0 1 8
Bernie Pfister 0 1 1 0 1 1 3 2 3 1 1 2 1 0 2 16
Joshua Parkin 2 3 1 0 3 1 2 5 3 2 1 5 0 4 1 8
Avery Sullivan 11 5 3 1 3 3 5 11 12 5 2 9 2 5 0 8
A year ago,
Graham Sims knew precisely what each of his most important players could do, because he'd seen them play their roles before. This season, Coach Sims and his staff have many more unanswered questions.
Jacob Allen is as close to a sure thing as anyone in a Villanova uniform this season. He should be; he's started 108 games in his collegiate career. Allen is the very definition of a shooting guard, with a smooth jumper that is accurate from long range. He was the team's leading scorer last year (15.3 PPG). Jacob is also the team's best perimeter defender.
The team's other returning starter is sophomore center
Avery Sullivan. Sully largely lived up to the hype he received as a high schooler, starting every game and making the national All-Freshman Team. Last year's team relied heavily on
José Blanco and
Bruno Le Fleurquin for inside scoring. Both those men were first round picks in the last pro draft, so Sullivan will be relied upon to play a more important role this season. We're looking forward to discovering if the improvement Sully made in camp will translate to results on the court.
Redshirt senior
Duncan Sims will get his first opportunity to start this year. He's made his reputation as a shooter, primarily from behind the arc, where he's a career .435 marksman. Sims spent camp refining his shot, but he also dedicated himself to the core skills a point guard in his father's system needs: ballhandling and defense. Some draft gurus are pointing to Duncan as a sleeper choice in the next professional draft.
The remainder of the starting five is a work in progress. Senior
Richard Pray has earned the right to have the first shot at the small forward position. He's as much of an unknown quantity as a senior can be; he's never averaged 10 minutes per game for a season. In his limited appearances, Pray has been a solid player, making nearly half his shots and providing some sound defense.
If Pray falters, junior
Corey Hicks will move into the starting five. Hicks averaged 25 minutes per game last year, basically serving as a sixth starter. Like Sims, Hicks has made his mark as a dangerous shooter off the bench; also like Sims, he pays more attention to guarding his opponent than most players of this type.
Which of three freshmen will be the starting power forward?
Tony Ezell is the most advanced offense player.
Clemens Schwaiger is the most resolute defender.
Lowell Welter is the most balanced player. All three worked hard in camp, and all three will receive playing time, The winner will be the one who shows the highest degree of readiness for Big East action.
Freshman guard
Blake Norton and big men
Caleb Blaney and
Joshua Parkin will comprise the rest of the reserve corps. Norton is an apprentice facilitator. Blaney is an unusual athlete, a 6'9" player who will not rebound. Parkin hasn't developed very well, so the talented young big men Coach Sims has recruited have passed him by.
Here's the roster, including each players' potential:
A year ago, the Wildcats could field fully-developed Blue players throughout the starting lineup, and brought Green guys off the bench. This year's squad is undoubtedly talented, but it's younger and far less seasoned.
I slipped up and let the computer AI create our non-conference schedule and it gave us a very easy one. "Oh, great," I thought...until I remembered how many questions we still need to answer about this year's team. It might be better to experiment against Fairfield and Wofford than Kansas and Vanderbilt.