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  • ‘Glue’ guy Tyler Perkins keeps Villanova rolling in its double-digit win over Seton Hall

    ‘Glue’ guy Tyler Perkins keeps Villanova rolling in its double-digit win over Seton Hall

    Kevin Willard was going on about his appreciation for the way his Villanova team works during practices when he referred to junior guard Tyler Perkins, seated to his right after Villanova’s 72-60 victory over Seton Hall, as a “pain in the ass.”

    He meant it in the best way possible.

    “He works too much,” Willard said. “His processor gets burned out sometimes.”

    Villanova improved to 17-5 on the season and 8-3 in the Big East for a variety of reasons Wednesday night. The Wildcats, who never trailed, got a key effort from Malachi Palmer, who scored a career-high 15 points off the bench and helped ignite an 11-2 run to end the first half to send Villanova into the break with a 15-point lead. They forced Seton Hall point guard and Philadelphia native Adam “Budd” Clark to shoot jump shots and limited his ability to impact the game in transition. They outrebounded one of the better rebounding teams in the conference, 37-27.

    But they won again because Perkins, the only returning regular player from last season, continues to excel. It has been a different guy on some nights for Villanova. Early in the season, it was Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay driving the backcourt with Duke Brennan manning the middle.

    Devin Askew has chipped in strong efforts off the bench, especially lately. Wednesday night was Palmer’s turn. But Perkins, who transferred to Villanova from Penn after his freshman season, scored 18 points and added five rebounds. It was his 10th double-digit scoring effort in Villanova’s last 12 games.

    Villanova forward Duke Brennan and guard Tyler Perkins compete for a rebound against Seton Hall.

    “He’s just the glue of their team,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said. “He’s just solid.

    “For him to be a junior, he’s a grown man. He plays bigger than his size.”

    Kevin Willard wants to push Villanova into the future — without casting Jay Wright into the past

    Being a “glue guy” can be a derogatory term to some players. And maybe it’s an unfair label for Perkins, a 6-foot-4 guard, who is averaging 17.8 points and 6.5 rebounds over his last six games. Lewis and Lindsay have, at times, struggled with the physicality required to get through a Big East season. Perkins hasn’t.

    You can call him whatever you want.

    “A lot of people say it, but at the end of the day I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help my team,” Perkins said. “I can impact the game in many ways. I’m fine with that if we win.”

    Tyler Perkins is averaging 17.8 points and 6.5 rebounds over his last six games.

    He made winning plays Wednesday, and some were more obvious than others. Seton Hall threatened to erase a Villanova lead that grew as large as 20. The Pirates dialed up the pressure and forced Villanova into 11 second-half turnovers. The lead was down to 11 when Perkins turned a missed Palmer three-pointer into a putback layup plus a free throw to push the lead back to 14 with 5 minutes, 50 seconds to go. He was just 1-for-6 from three-point range but made all five of his free throws and turned the ball over just once.

    Willard was doing some reminiscing Wednesday with his former school in the building. He was asked if Perkins reminded him of Josh Hart with all of the little things he does.

    “Josh kicked my ass for four years,” Willard said. “Three games a year, I got it from Josh. One of the things I loved about Josh is he affected the game at every level and never made a mistake. He was OK not touching the ball for eight or nine possessions. Once [Perkins] realizes it’s OK not to touch the ball a little bit, and he can still affect the game at an unbelievable level, that’s what made Josh a pro. Josh affected the game without having to score, but he found ways to score. He found ways to shut down the best offensive guy.

    “[Perkins] is starting to figure that out. That’s about a big a compliment as I can give to somebody because Josh was not only a phenomenal person, which Tyler is, but just a winner. And Tyler is a winner.”

    Villanova recruited Devin Askew in high school. Six years and five schools later, he’s fueling the Wildcats.

    He may not have the kind of NBA future that Hart has created for himself, but Perkins is affecting winning right now on a Villanova team that is tracking toward snapping a three-year NCAA Tournament drought in Willard’s first season. The Wildcats play next at Georgetown on Saturday, a team they beat by 15 at home two weeks ago. There are more winnable games on the calendar ahead, and rematches with No. 3 UConn and No. 22 St. John’s remaining, too.

    Villanova coach Kevin Willard said he isn’t satisfied with his team: “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

    With all the success Willard has had so far through 22 games, the coach was asked Wednesday night what he’s most satisfied with so far.

    “Nothing,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. February is not a time to be [satisfied]. You should be looking at your team right now in February and saying, ‘What do I need to improve? What do I need to fix?’ I have to fix our offense a little bit.”

    Count on Perkins being part of the solution.

  • Kevin Willard wants to push Villanova into the future — without casting Jay Wright into the past

    Kevin Willard wants to push Villanova into the future — without casting Jay Wright into the past

    Over his 12 years coaching at Seton Hall and against Jay Wright, Kevin Willard figured that he knew Villanova as well as any outsider could, especially one who would eventually become the university’s men’s basketball coach. His next-door neighbors in Westfield, N.J., were ’Nova alumni, as were three of his golfing buddies at Plainfield Country Club, and there were all those Big East battles between his teams and Wright’s at the Finneran Pavilion, at the Prudential Center in Newark, and at Madison Square Garden in March.

    Then he went to Maryland. Maryland wasn’t the northeast. It wasn’t Jersey. It wasn’t Philly. It wasn’t even the Main Line. It was the Big Ten. The Big Ten has big-time football, and more importantly, it has football money and a football mindset, even for its basketball programs. The Big Ten also has 18 member schools, so Willard stopped watching Big East basketball altogether. He had 17 conference opponents to study, after all. Then he returned to the Big East this season, replacing Kyle Neptune at Villanova.

    He doesn’t feel comfortable there yet, he said. Too much to do. Too much change so quickly. Too much of a whirlwind.

    “The comfort won’t happen until Year 3,” he said. “When I came, I definitely had rose-colored glasses. I had a perception of what this was, not remembering it had been three years since Jay had left.”

    Villanova recruited Devin Askew in high school. Six years and five schools later, he’s fueling the Wildcats.

    The Wildcats are 17-5 following their 72-60 victory Wednesday night over Willard’s former team, Seton Hall. And Villanova’s strong season so far might allow its donors and alumni to regard the last three years as just a blip — a small stint in purgatory before Willard got the program back to where those who support it presumed it should and would always be. During an hourlong interview in his office late Tuesday afternoon, though, Willard made it clear where he comes down on Villanova’s future … and its recent past.

    No matter Wright’s intentions, his tenure and presence loomed over Neptune as an ever-present reminder of his 21 years as head coach and nerve center, of two national championships and four Final Fours and the status as the top program in the country. Neptune, who had a single season at Fordham as a head coach and had spent 12 years at Villanova on Wright’s staff, couldn’t escape that shadow or the comparisons, and he couldn’t win enough to buy himself more time. Willard doesn’t want to fall into the same trap, and he thinks he knows how to avoid it, believing his three years at Maryland and in the Big Ten, that experience elsewhere, will be vital to understanding how Villanova has to evolve.

    “It’s so important,” he said. “My 12 years at Seton Hall, I did it my way. You get very isolated, and Jay was here for so long, and they were winning. But it was Jay. And I know this because I went against him. It was Jay. It was Jay’s way. It was the way it was. They didn’t need to change anything. They didn’t need to worry about anything because they had Jay. Once Jay left, you need to go, ‘All right, what’s everyone else doing? Where has everyone else made gains where maybe this place didn’t because they had Jay?’”

    Kevin Willard doesn’t want to erase all of the Wildcats’ basketball history, rather use it as a valuable resource.

    For Willard, the caution and smaller-time approach that worked under Wright — that worked because of Wright, and because Villanova was operating in a pre-NIL/transfer portal/pay-for-play world — won’t fly anymore. It would be foolish for Willard to try. He’s a Villanova outsider still, rougher around the edges than Wright, than the man who was the most polished coach in the country, and the circumstances in this wild, wild west era of college hoops are different and more challenging.

    The luxury of redshirting players such as Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo, for instance, allowing them to get acclimated and mature, won’t necessarily be available to Willard. The way to make up for Wright’s departure isn’t to operate as if his successors will be able to replicate his methods or even his culture. It’s to pay the cost of acquiring big-time players and tout their skills as part of social-media branding campaigns and recognize that this isn’t anything like amateur basketball anymore.

    Will Villanova end its NCAA Tournament drought? Here’s what the numbers — and Joe Lunardi — say.

    “It’s like growing up in a small town and going to their amusement park, and then you go to Disney World,” Willard said. “You can’t say, ‘We just need to make the roller coaster better.’ Everything’s got to get better, bigger — fairy dust everywhere. It’s not even a money thing or a structural thing. It’s more about a mentality. Jay was monstrous. Jay was Villanova basketball. But we don’t have Jay anymore. …

    “Everyone else is being Disney World. We can’t be the small, little amusement park. We’re not the small, little amusement park, but the mentality a little bit is. ‘We can do it like this because we’ve always done it that way.’”

    Willard insisted he doesn’t intend to erase all of the Wildcats’ basketball history, that he can’t ignore or disregard what Villanova is as a university or how Rollie Massimino, Steve Lappas, Wright, and Neptune did their jobs and why. “If you just go against 60 years of tradition,” he said, “you’re going to get [expletive] blown out of the water.” So he views Wright’s presence as an asset, his knowledge and success as valuable resources.

    Kevin Willard said he won’t feel comfortable coaching on the Main Line until year three.

    “If I was in my third year of coaching, I wouldn’t feel the same way,” he said. “I’m 20 years a head coach. I’m not cocky, but I feel pretty confident that I know what I’m doing at this point. I love the fact [that] I have Jay around. It’s only going to help. If I was younger and was coming here after three years at Seton Hall, I would be like, ‘What the [hell]? Why is he at the game? This is [expletive] crazy.’ But I love that he comes to practice. I love that he’s at games. I love that I can text him or call him or go out to dinner with him because he built this. He knows this place better than anybody.”

    He likely always will. It’s a standard, though, that Kevin Willard doesn’t have to exceed or even meet yet. It’s still just Year 1 for him. Check back in Year 3. He doesn’t have to know Villanova as well as Jay Wright did. He just has to do his part in this new time of college basketball. He just has to know it well enough.

  • Villanova recruited Devin Askew in high school. Six years and five schools later, he’s fueling the Wildcats.

    Villanova recruited Devin Askew in high school. Six years and five schools later, he’s fueling the Wildcats.

    Devin Askew was covered in sweat when he sat down in a room inside the practice facility at Villanova on Monday, fresh off an on-court workout with development coach JayVaughn Pinkston that followed a weightlifting session.

    Askew, Villanova’s sixth man, is on a tear as of late, averaging 15.8 points during a six-game stretch in which the 23-year-old guard has made 17 of 29 three-pointers. Sessions with Pinkston, a former Villanova player, have helped. Pinkston’s role is exactly that, to do the little things to get the most out of every player. But with Askew, Pinkston’s presence also is a reminder of the past and the winding journey Askew has traveled to put himself in the running for Big East Sixth Man of the Year.

    There are few connections remaining to the Villanova program of old, and Pinkston, who played for the Wildcats from 2011 to 2015, is one of them. Which gives him the right to playfully rib Askew about 2019, when, as a top recruit in the class of 2020 from California, he chose Kentucky over Villanova (and others).

    “He’ll always tell me I should have been here five years ago,” Askew said. “I should’ve always been a Villanova Wildcat.”

    Devin Askew is making a strong case for Big East sixth man of the year.

    He is here now almost by accident. His college journey has traveled more than 8,000 miles from Mater Dei High School in California to Lexington, Ky., to Austin, Texas, to Berkeley, Calif., to Long Beach, Calif., and, finally, to the Main Line. Five schools in six years. Which made him just another sign of the times when Kevin Willard plucked him out of the transfer portal to give his roster a much-needed experienced ballhandler and shooter.

    He was, to the outside world, another mercenary college basketball player passing through a random place on a map and collecting a paycheck to bridge his way to wherever professional hoops takes him.

    Devin Askew’s team-high 20 points off the bench lifts Villanova past Providence

    But for Askew, his time at Villanova has been a “full-circle” experience. Like in most people, his past explains the present, and it’s fitting the journey ends here, where his future is being determined during a critical turning-point season for him and Villanova.

    ‘It’s why we brought him here’

    This recent stretch is what Willard imagined when Villanova recruited Askew this time around. It’s a young Villanova roster, especially at guard. Freshman Acaden Lewis and sophomore Bryce Lindsay have had breakout seasons with the Wildcats, but Askew lately has been a steady presence, and his experience has allowed him to compete on both ends during the physical demands of a Big East schedule.

    Before the last six games, Askew reached double figures just three times in 15 contests. It took a little bit longer for it all to come together because he suffered a knee injury during the lead-up to the season. His injury history followed him. A sports hernia injury ended his junior season at California after 13 games, and a foot injury ended his following season, the 2023-24 campaign, after just six.

    That injury gave him a redshirt season, but also extra perspective to get through his first few months at Villanova, when he missed nearly two months of practice and was not 100% when the season started.

    Will Villanova end its NCAA Tournament drought? Here’s what the numbers — and Joe Lunardi — say.

    “I’m tough, and I’m not going to quit,” Askew said when asked what he has learned about himself along his college journey.

    Were past versions of him not as tough?

    “The true test of knowing that is to go through something,” he said. “I’m willing to go through it and deal with anything that comes to me because I love the game, I love the sport of basketball. I don’t want to stop playing.”

    Villanova has needed Askew to be a stabilizing force at times, and it also has needed him to take over games offensively, like against St. John’s and Connecticut, two of the more experienced teams in the conference.

    “I don’t view it as they need me to take over,” Askew said. “There are so many things going on within a game, taking over a game could be a defensive stop.”

    Devin Askew scored a team-high 20 points off the bench against Providence on Friday.

    Willard credited a recent run of strong practices after Askew made five three-pointers and scored 20 points in Friday’s win over Providence. The coach has talked recently about how critical it is to have Askew’s experience. He’s a big reason the Wildcats are 16-5 overall and 7-3 in the Big East as they head into Wednesday night’s home game vs. Seton Hall.

    “It’s why we brought him here,” Willard said. “This is the type of player he is. When you go into the portal, you really have to evaluate and watch film and see what he has. When he was on his visit, I think the best part about it was I just loved his maturity. He’s a terrific, terrific person.

    “He’s getting rewarded for being a hard worker and a terrific person.”

    A piece from all the places

    There is a part of every stop that make up the player and person Askew is.

    He chose Kentucky as a 17-year-old top-40 prospect because who wouldn’t want to play for John Calipari and follow in the footsteps of top guards like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Maxey?

    What did he learn from each stop? Askew went through them one by one.

    Devin Askew said his time at Kentucky “taught me patience and to be even-keeled.”

    At Kentucky, he learned how to go from being the guy on a high school team to being one really good player on a team of other really good players. It wasn’t an easy learning experience. “It actually taught me patience and to be even-keeled,” he said. “There’s going to be ups and downs, and you can’t get too high or too low. I was just an emotional kid.” He had high expectations for himself and didn’t meet them. He started losing his love of basketball.

    Enter Texas, which may be the most important stop of the five. “That brought back all that love for me,” Askew said. “No, you still love this game. Chris Beard and that coaching staff saved my career.” Askew averaged 14.9 minutes off the bench and was a role player on a team that reached the NCAA Tournament. He fell back in love with basketball, but he wanted a place where he could start, so he went back home to California.

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    At Cal, it was time to “go show it,” Askew said. “I was ready. And the seasons just got cut short to injuries both years, and that’s where we kept learning and kept growing. … This is the life we chose.”

    Cal allowed him to be closer to his family. He has leaned heavily on his two brothers and his parents over the years. Cal also gave him his undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies. But entering the 2024-25 season, he was an oft-injured journeyman with two seasons of eligibility left — one redshirt year, one COVID year — looking to prove he could still play. To the portal, and to Long Beach State, he went.

    “Go do it,” Askew said of Long Beach. “It wasn’t go show everyone, because I wasn’t into showing everyone. But it was prove to yourself again.” He scored 18.9 points per game and shot 37.6% from three-point range on a team that won seven games and ended the season by losing its last 15.

    At Long Beach State, Devin Askew averaged 18.9 points.

    “Not a lot of people believed in me and believed I could play still,” Askew said. “They gave me the platform to show what I could still do.”

    He found a believer in Willard, who needed another guard in late April to fill out his roster. Villanova, Askew said, is the place to put all of those experiences together.

    There are a lot of reasons to gripe about the state of college basketball, and a player going to five schools in six years is one of them. Askew is, in a sense, a one-year rental who helped Willard get Villanova back on track in his first season.

    Off the court, Askew is taking classes toward a master’s certificate in Villanova’s public administration program, a year after earning a certificate in communications at Long Beach. On the court, Askew is helping Villanova get back to the NCAA Tournament.

    When the topic of the tournament came up, Askew shook his arms and said he got chills.

    Villanova freshman Acaden Lewis is often praised for using his ‘off’ right hand. He’s actually right-handed.

    “That would mean everything to me,” he said. “I kind of get emotional thinking about it. As a kid you always want to play in the tournament. You go to college and want to play college basketball to make the tournament.”

    A continuation of his current form will go a long way toward making that possible, and helping him raise his own profile. The NBA probably isn’t in his future, but there is a country or league out there for a lot of players like him.

    “I don’t know what this year will do for me,” Askew said. “And I don’t like to hope, because what will happen will happen. I’m just thankful wherever this game takes me, thankful and grateful.”

    Sometimes it takes you to the place where maybe you were always supposed to be.

  • Ryanne Allen continues to provide a spark off the bench for Villanova

    Ryanne Allen continues to provide a spark off the bench for Villanova

    A deep bench has been crucial as Villanova maintains its hold on second place in the Big East.

    Just look at Saturday’s 69-56 win over DePaul at Finneran Pavilion.

    Senior guard Ryanne Allen accounted for 17 points for the Wildcats (16-5, 9-3 Big East) and was their second-leading scorer behind sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe (27 points).

    The 6-foot-1 Perkasie native aims to bring a spark and is averaging 9.0 points and 2.3 rebounds, mostly off the bench.

    “Our bench has been tremendous,” said Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “I think any of them are capable of being in that starting lineup, with Ryanne, Dani [Ceseretti], and Brooke Bender. They generate a lot of offense for us. It’s so nice to have that spark coming off the bench.”

    Bringing a ‘spark’

    Allen’s specialty has been her consistent shooting from beyond the arc, where she’s averaging 48.7% this season. Against DePaul, she shot 5-for-6 from the field, including 3-for-4 in three-pointers.

    Allen led the Wildcats to a strong finish against the Blue Demons (5-18, 2-10), contributing a three-pointer and a layup on consecutive possessions in Villanova’s 7-0 run in the final two minutes of action. She also led Villanova with seven rebounds, as it edged DePaul, 38-34, on the boards.

    Dani Ceseretti shoots over DePaul’s Michelle Ojo during the first quarter at the Finneran Pavilion on Saturday.

    “The big challenge today [against DePaul] was rebounding,” Dillon said. “It’s been a challenge for us as a team. So we crowned a rebounding leader today, and Ryanne was awarded the crown today. I think we’ve got to compete against each other. If we’re doing that, then we’re getting better.”

    Although she has only started one game this season, Allen’s experience and sharp shooting have made her a crucial part of the rotation.

    “When I come in, I just want to make an immediate impact and bring energy to those who have already been out there,” said Allen, who’s in her second season at Villanova after spending the first half of her college career at Vanderbilt. “Being on the bench, you’re able to see things, see what’s happening out there. So I want to bring that energy and see what I can do to help the team in any way.”

    What’s it like to face one of Geno Auriemma’s UConn teams? Ask Villanova’s Denise Dillon.

    Senior season

    Allen is embracing the opportunity to finish her college basketball career not far from where it started, at Archbishop Wood.

    “That’s one of the reasons I came back here, to be able to have my family here, especially to be able to see my siblings, my parents, grandparents, and aunts show out for me every game,” Allen said.

    Every game will be crucial in the final stretch of conference play before the Big East tournament. Allen hopes that the energy she brings to the court will reverberate around the rest of the team.

    Here’s how Brynn McCurry became Villanova’s ‘bionic’ force on its women’s basketball program

    The Wildcats next travel to Indianapolis for a matchup with Butler on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+).

    “In February, you’ve already played every [Big East opponent], so everyone knows what you can do, and they see your strengths and your weaknesses,” Allen said. “So it’s important to be able to find different ways to win, continue to put our foot in the gas and push forward when everyone’s trying to get as many wins as possible.”

  • Devin Askew’s team-high 20 points off the bench lifts Villanova past Providence

    Devin Askew’s team-high 20 points off the bench lifts Villanova past Providence

    Villanova leaned on sixth man Devin Askew’s team-high 20 points to defeat Providence, 87-73, on Friday night at Finneran Pavilion.

    Villanova (16-5, 7-3 Big East) shot 47% from three-point range in the first half to build a 17-point cushion. Askew went 4-for-5 from three and scored 17 first-half points. He now has four games with 20 or more points off the bench this season.

    “[We are] trying to get [Devin] to play off his strengths ever since he’s now kind of back to strength,” said Villanova coach Kevin Willard. “He had a great week of practice. I think that was the big thing. I think everybody did. We had three really good days of practice, and that’s the way he played for the last three days.”

    Askew, who suffered a major knee sprain over the summer, is averaging 15.8 points in his last six games. He missed about two months of practice as the team prepared to open the season.

    Villanova coach Kevin Willard reacts in the second half against Providence on Friday.

    “I feel really good out there,” Askew said when asked about his health. “But just like always, I still have some work to do. Still got to get better every day.”

    Junior guard Tyler Perkins scored 19 points, marking his fifth consecutive game in double digits. He shot 6-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-6 from three-point range.

    “I just [have] been in the gym,” Perkins said. “We have a great strength coach in [Justin McClelland], and he gets us better every day, especially in the summer. We do ‘Strong Man,’ and that’s a big part of just being in shape and getting your body right for the season. So it’s just a testament to the coaching staff that we have around us.”

    Villanova shot 51% from the field and made a conference-high 13 three-pointers (45%).

    Will Villanova end its NCAA Tournament drought? Here’s what the numbers — and Joe Lunardi — say.

    Deflections and turnovers

    Villanova scored 20 fast break points to Providence’s two. Askew and Perkins were a main reason why Villanova was successful on fast break opportunities.

    “We’re a really good transition team,” Perkins said. “We got a bunch of good shooters like Devin, Bryce [Lindsay], so if we get out and run, we got a good opportunity to score.”

    Villanova guard Tyler Perkins gathers teammates Bryce Lindsay, Duke Brennan, and Acaden Lewis against Providence on Jan. 30.

    Villanova forced Providence (9-13, 2-9) into 10 first-half turnovers, including seven steals, three by freshman guard Acaden Lewis. Villanova scored 15 first-half points off those forced turnovers.

    The Wildcats currently rank 36th in KenPom’s defensive ratings after the win over Providence.

    Slow second half

    Despite being a strong second-half team, Villanova came out flat. The Wildcats missed their first ten field goal attempts, allowing Providence to cut its deficit to eight points.

    “I think the defensive end we kind of gave, [Stefan Vaaks], he’s good,” Willard said. “He’s a pro with his size and the way he shoots it. We left him [open] twice to start the second half, and kind of gave them nine points and let them right back into the game. So I thought we did a much better job of just sitting down, defending.”

    Villanova forward Matt Hodge shoots a three-pointer against Providence guard Stefan Vaaks, who finished a game-high 25 points, on Friday.

    Vaaks, a 6-foot-7 freshman guard, finished with a game-high 25 points

    In the final 11 minutes of play, however, Villanova went 12-for-13 from the field, which included an 11-1 scoring run.

    “They don’t fold,” said Providence coach Kim English. “They stick to that process. We guarded them [well] to start the second half. They didn’t score for a long time to start, think it was like 20% or something. But they stuck with their process. They’re a really good shot quality team, and that’s what it takes. Paint decisions was the game.”

    Forged in Baltimore, Bryce Lindsay has overcome his share of adversity. Now he’s leading Villanova.

    Up next

    Villanova will host Seton Hall (15-6, 5-5) on Wednesday (6:30 p.m., Peacock). In its last meeting, Villanova beat Seton Hall, 64-56, to pick up a Quad 1 win in the NCAA NET Rankings. This time, it would be a possible Quad 2 victory. This season, Villanova is 3-4 in Quad 1 wins and 2-1 in Quad 2.

  • Will Villanova end its NCAA Tournament drought? Here’s what the numbers — and Joe Lunardi — say.

    Will Villanova end its NCAA Tournament drought? Here’s what the numbers — and Joe Lunardi — say.

    Sunday is the first day of February, which means March is right around the corner, which means it is officially no longer too early to think about the NCAA Tournament.

    Villanova is 20 games through its 31-game schedule, and nine games through its 20-game Big East slate. The Wildcats, who host Providence on campus Friday night, are 15-5 overall and 6-3 in their conference matchups in the first season of the Kevin Willard era.

    School administration moved on from Kyle Neptune last March after a third consecutive season ended without an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Villanova officials believe the school should field a basketball team that perennially is in the at-large bid conversation, and three consecutive seasons without meaningful basketball was not acceptable.

    Right now, it’s hard to believe the drought could stretch to four.

    Villanova coach Kevin Willard is on pace to get the Wildcats back to the tourney.

    The Wildcats aren’t yet a lock, but it’s looking pretty safe for their fans to preemptively look into taking a PTO day or two for the third week of March.

    What are the numbers saying? We went to ESPN’s bracket guru himself, Joe Lunardi, for some help.

    ‘A very long leash’

    Saturday’s loss to No. 2 UConn in Hartford, Conn., was an “insurance policy” kind of game, Lunardi said. Villanova declined coverage. The Wildcats let an upset opportunity slip away in an overtime loss, but the result, Lunardi said, was a “wash.” Villanova was a double-digit underdog and lost by eight.

    “It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t help,” said Lunardi, who had the Wildcats as a No. 7 seed in his latest bracket projection released Tuesday morning.

    The metrics support that notion. Villanova barely budged in the NCAA’s NET rankings, where it was ranked 34th as of Wednesday afternoon, and at KenPom (27).

    What has to happen to stay on the right path?

    “All they really need to do is win games they’re favored, and they can even afford to lose [a few] of those,” Lunardi said. “If they go 6-5, they’re going to make it.”

    That’s some leeway.

    “That’s a very long leash given the fact that, frankly, the league is good but not great,” Lunardi said.

    Guard Acaden Lewis is among those who could land the Wildcats back in the dance.

    As things stand right now, Villanova likely would be favored in at least eight of its final 11 contests. Take care of six or seven of those, and there’s no need for a marquee win over UConn or St. John’s.

    While 6-5 the rest of the way probably would be a disappointment, Lunardi projects that a final record of 21-10 gets Villanova “at worst” a No. 10 seed. The Wildcats’ ceiling, meanwhile, is “probably a five,” Lunardi said.

    So, don’t count on the NCAA rewarding the Wildcats with a “home” game at Xfinity Mobile Arena to start the tournament.

    Villanova freshman Acaden Lewis is often praised for using his ‘off’ right hand. He’s actually right-handed.

    No signature win, no problem?

    Asked to put the resumé in perspective, Lunardi said: “I would describe it as a resumé of a regular good Jay Wright team, meaning a mid-single-digit seed, not a Final Four team. Everything has to go right to make the second weekend.”

    That’s probably a result any rational person in ’Nova Nation would have signed up for nine months ago.

    It also seems pretty accurate. Villanova is 15-5 because it mostly has taken care of business against teams it is supposed to beat. The nonconference schedule started with a loss to nationally ranked BYU, but then came seven consecutive games against teams well outside the KenPom top 100, including three dominant Big 5 wins.

    The Wildcats were then blown out by Michigan before traveling to Wisconsin to beat the Badgers in overtime, which was followed up with a road victory over Seton Hall to begin conference play. At the time, those were pretty good wins. Only the Wisconsin game has aged well.

    As of Tuesday morning, Seton Hall was Lunardi’s first team outside the field of 68 after a four-game losing streak.

    Forward Matt Hodge and guard Tyler Perkins have Villanova in good shape despite a near-miss against UConn on Saturday.

    It is a Villanova resumé without a signature win, and it might not need one. Why?

    “They don’t have the dreaded bad loss,” Lunardi said.

    Last year’s resumé had losses to Columbia, St. Joseph’s, and a down Virginia team. The year before featured losses to St. Joe’s, Penn, and Drexel. This year’s biggest blip currently is against a Creighton team that still is on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

    Show me the math

    Lunardi says his projections are pretty conservative and include some emphasis on past similar resumés. Right now, Villanova has more than an 80% chance of making the NCAA Tournament, according to Lunardi’s projections.

    On the more extreme side, the TourneyCast projections at Bart Torvik’s analytics site have Villanova at 96% to make the dance. Torvik’s numbers are based on thousands of simulations playing out the rest of the season.

    ‘We should have won’: Upset bid slips away from Villanova in overtime loss to No. 2 UConn

    “It’s too early to make anybody a lock,” Lunardi said.

    But it’s getting closer to that time.

    If there was anything to worry about right now for Villanova fans, it should be health. The Wildcats are a key injury or two — even minor ailments — from scrambling a bit. They don’t have a reliable backup center, for example. Their depth has taken a hit elsewhere, too.

    But those worries are hypothetical. Then again, all of this is.

    What about the rest of the Big 5?

    Villanova is the only one of the six Big 5 schools with an at-large path to the men’s NCAA Tournament. The others would need to win their respective conference tournaments. Of the bunch, only Temple (5-2) and St. Joe’s (5-3) entered Wednesday with a winning conference record.

    Villanova celebrates after a win over Xavier on Jan. 8.

    On the women’s side

    Similar story. Villanova (16-5, 9-3) was projected as a No. 10 seed on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble with an at-large bid in the latest ESPN women’s bracketology. No other team has an at-large path, and only Drexel (4-3) had a winning conference record entering Wednesday.

  • Villanova drops a crucial conference matchup on the road against St. John’s

    Villanova drops a crucial conference matchup on the road against St. John’s

    A 22-point deficit heading into the final quarter was just too much.

    In the end, Villanova found themselves on the tail end of a 71-58 final against St. John’s on Saturday in New York City. For St. John’s, the win was retribution from the last time the teams faced off on Dec. 22 — when Villanova claimed an 85-48 victory.

    Ryanne Allen led the Wildcats with 12 points. Jasmine Bascoe, Villanova’s star sophomore guard, added 11.

    Villanova (8-3, 15-5 Big East) is now tied for second place in the conference with Seton Hall. St. John’s (6-5, 16-6 Big East) stands fourth in the Big East.

    St. John’s fast start

    The game quickly spun out of control for Villanova, as St. John’s sprinted off to a 22-5 lead across the opening 10 minutes. Brooke Moore led the way for the Red Storm, as the junior guard scored 10 points in the first quarter.

    St. John’s shut down Villanova’s offense, going on a 17-0 run across the last 7 minutes, and 38 seconds of the quarter.

    ‘We should have won’: Upset bid slips away from Villanova in overtime loss to No. 2 UConn

    Meanwhile, the Wildcats shot an uncharacteristic 2-for-11 from the field and 1-for-6 from three. Villanova entered the game as the second-best shooting team in the conference, averaging 45.1% from the field.

    Villanova attempted to push back in an energetic second quarter, in which it was outscored just 18-17. Junior forward Brynn McCurry led the Wildcats in the first half, with eight points and four rebounds.

    Turning the tables

    St. John’s, which saw some difficulty early in Big East play, was dominant on its home court on. Unlike in its previous meeting with Villanova, St. John’s controlled the game and led by double-digits throughout the second, third, and fourth quarters.

    The Red Storm succeeded in holding back Bascoe, who leads Villanova in scoring with 17.2 points per game. Bascoe dropped 21 points with a season-high nine assists in the previous win over St. John’s. But in Saturday’s contest, she was restricted, scoring just four points in the first half to support her total.

    Amid college basketball’s gambling scandal, concerns that mid-major players could be vulnerable

    Villanova struggled to keep St. John’s offense away from the net. The Red Storm scored 42 points in the paint across the game.

    Villanova scored its highest point total (20 points) in the fourth quarter. Allen helped the Wildcats make a late-game push to narrow the deficit, scoring seven points and continuing her consistent three-point shooting.

    Up next

    Villanova returns to Finneran Pavilion on Tuesday to take on Providence (7 p.m., ESPN+).

    Follow the Inquirer’s complete coverage of college sports right here!
  • ‘We should have won’: Upset bid slips away from Villanova in overtime loss to No. 2 UConn

    ‘We should have won’: Upset bid slips away from Villanova in overtime loss to No. 2 UConn

    HARTFORD, Conn. — Devin Askew drove into the paint with Villanova trailing Connecticut by just one point inside two minutes to play. The defense collapsed, so Askew kicked the ball to the wing and into the waiting hands of … Kevin Willard.

    The Villanova coach pounded the basketball onto the court with two hands. One of Villanova’s 11 turnovers came at an inopportune time.

    The Wildcats later had a lead with less than a minute on the clock, and they still did take the second-ranked team in the country to overtime, but Askew’s turnover was one of many little moments that didn’t go Villanova’s way in a 75-67 loss at PeoplesBank Arena.

    Where to start? There was Acaden Lewis’ out-of-control drive down two in overtime with just over a minute to go. Back in regulation, Bryce Lindsay missed an open runner in the paint shortly after the Askew turnover. Then Villanova’s leading scorer, who was held to three points and didn’t make any of his eight attempts, had a three-point attempt blocked in a tie game with less than 30 seconds to play.

    Villanova started overtime with a Tyler Perkins three-pointer, then got the ball back when Perkins drew a charging foul. But instead of building on the lead, Lindsay had his pocket picked by Silas Demary Jr., leading to a runout dunk from Tarris Reed Jr. Perkins’ triple, 12 seconds into overtime, was Villanova’s only made basket of the extra session.

    Villanova guard Bryce Lindsay shoots as UConn forward Alex Karaban defends on Saturday.

    The Wildcats’ youth and inexperience showed up once again in a test against one of the best teams in the country, one week after Villanova allowed St. John’s to start the second half on a 20-4 run that it never recovered from.

    “It just hurts,” said Villanova senior big man Duke Brennan, who struggled last week with the size and physicality of St. John’s but battled back in a big way Saturday. He had 16 points and 14 rebounds and, perhaps most importantly, made eight of his nine free-throw attempts in 40 minutes. “We fought until the end. That’s a great team over there.”

    Amid college basketball’s gambling scandal, concerns that mid-major players could be vulnerable

    To be sure, there were things Villanova did well enough to win. You don’t take the No. 2 team in the country to overtime without doing things correctly. The Wildcats had answers for a lot of UConn’s offensive action. They held Alex Karaban, who averages nearly 14 points, off the scoreboard for the first 30 minutes (though he did finish with 17 points).

    Perkins had 16 points and 10 rebounds and continued to be the physical and experienced guard presence Villanova needs. Askew, too, continued his strong stretch of games with 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists before he fouled out in overtime. Matt Hodge followed up consecutive games being held to four points or less with 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting from three-point range, including a corner three that gave Villanova a 61-59 lead with just over a minute to go.

    UConn guard Braylon Mullins is guarded by Villanova guards Bryce Lindsay (2) and Malachi Palmer (7) on Saturday.

    But then came another costly error. Demary missed a driving layup, and Villanova couldn’t secure a rebound, allowing Reed to tip in the tying basket.

    In the end, UConn made the plays when it mattered. Solo Ball, who led all scorers with 24 points, hit arguably the game’s biggest shot, a three-pointer with two minutes left in overtime that turned a one-point Villanova lead into a two-point deficit.

    It is hard for Villanova to win when Lindsay doesn’t make a shot and Lewis goes 1-for-13 from the field. Yet, it nearly happened anyway.

    “We’re a young team,” Willard said. “Guys were trying to make plays. We got to the rim. We didn’t finish at the rim, and I thought we had some opportunities at the rim.”

    Villanova made 5 of 15 layup attempts.

    “We’re still going down and playing high-level defense,” Willard said. “If we can continue to build on that, then we’ll get out in transition and get some easier buckets.”

    Villanova freshman Acaden Lewis is often praised for using his ‘off’ right hand. He’s actually right-handed.

    It was the closing minutes that Willard said he needed to “get better at.” Lewis was seemingly benched for a large stretch of the second half. Brennan was in foul trouble. The Wildcats are a team without much depth.

    “I got to put the right lineups out there at times and I’m learning a lot about certain guys and what to do,” Willard said. “At the end of the day, we don’t do a free throw box out, and we don’t get a huge rebound when we’re up four with about six minutes to go. … Sometimes to get there on the road you got to make sure you finish possessions, and I thought there was three or four times where we didn’t finish possessions with rebounds.”

    An encouraging game nonetheless?

    “No,” Willard replied. “I don’t like losing. We should have won that game.”

    UConn guard Solo Ball, who led all scorers with 24 points, dribbles around Villanova guard Tyler Perkins on Saturday.

    The reality for Villanova is Saturday’s loss is one that won’t necessarily hurt. A road upset helps a lot more than an eight-point overtime loss stings as far as the meaningful metrics go. The Wildcats are 15-5 overall and 6-3 in Big East play. They started the day rated 25th at KenPom and were still there by late Saturday afternoon. They have rest ahead before a Friday home game vs. Providence, and plenty of winnable games on the calendar as they continue to hunt for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

    Plus, two more shots at the conference’s elite. On consecutive Saturdays, Villanova took St. John’s and Connecticut to the brink.

    “The good thing about conference is you play every team twice,” Brennan said. “We get another shot at those dudes. St. John’s we felt like we didn’t play good at all, all throughout our program. This game we felt like we really battled.

    “It feels like it got away and we felt like we were there the whole game. There are certain little things that come down at the end of the game where it can flip one way. It wasn’t on our side tonight.”

  • Villanova’s Luke Colella and Temi Ajirotutu declare for 2026 NFL draft

    Villanova’s Luke Colella and Temi Ajirotutu declare for 2026 NFL draft

    Villanova receiver Luke Colella and left guard Temi Ajirotutu have declared for the 2026 NFL draft.

    “This journey has been filled with hard work, sacrifice, adversity, and growth,” Colella wrote in his announcement on Wednesday. “Every setback and every challenge made me stronger and taught a valuable lesson. With faith in God, gratitude for everyone who has supported me, and confidence in the work I’ve put in, I am proud to officially declare for the 2026 NFL Draft.”

    Colella transferred to Villanova from Princeton for his final year of eligibility. He finished with a team-leading 77 receptions for 1,071 yards and eight touchdowns with the Wildcats.

    At Princeton, he collected 93 receptions for 1,188 yards and 11 touchdowns across three seasons.

    Ajirotutu, a graduate student, played his entire five-year college career at Villanova. He emerged as a starter in 2022 and was named third team All-CAA in 2023.

    Last season, Ajirotutu played in four games before missing the remainder of the year with a medical redshirt. He earned an honorable mention on the AP FCS All-America team this past season, when he played in all 15 games.

    With the help of Colella and Ajirotutu, Villanova made an appearance in the FCS semifinals for the first time since 2010. The Wildcats fell to Illinois State, 30-14.

    The last Villanova player to get drafted was Buffalo Bills cornerback Christian Benford, who was selected in the sixth round in 2022.

    The 2026 NFL Scouting Combine will take place on Feb. 23 to March 2, and this year’s draft will be held April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.

  • Amid college basketball’s gambling scandal, concerns that mid-major players could be vulnerable

    Amid college basketball’s gambling scandal, concerns that mid-major players could be vulnerable

    Rollie Massimino “did not mess around” when it came to drawing up defensive schemes against Patrick Ewing … or warding off gambling temptations that might filter through to his Villanova players.

    “When we were playing, we had an FBI agent who was a former ’Nova basketball player give talks about gambling,” said Chuck Everson, a member of Massimino’s 1985 Wildcats title team that took down heavily favored Georgetown.

    “Rollie did not mess around with that stuff. It wasn’t that far removed from the Boston College [point-shaving] scandal. Rollie brought in the FBI to talk to us. Coach Mass did a great job of teaching us, and it wasn’t all basketball; it was life lessons. And with gambling, it was, ‘Don’t do that.’

    “To this day, I have never called DraftKings, or anything like that. I attribute that to being scared straight with Coach Mass.”

    Everson, 61, played in an era when sports betting wasn’t legal in most of the country. These days, things are quite different. College athletes are compensated by their schools or through lucrative name, image, and likeness deals, and the legal/illegal gambling culture infiltrates every level of sports.

    Last Thursday in Philadelphia, federal authorities announced a sweeping criminal indictment and related filings against 26 people on charges related to manipulating NCAA games and Chinese professional games through bribes, some as high as five figures.

    It is the fourth federal criminal indictment that involves gambling and sports unsealed in the last six months, and the latest alleged gambling scheme involves one of the storied Big 5 programs: La Salle.

    According to the indictment, at least one of the purported rigged games took place in 2024 in Philadelphia between La Salle and St. Bonaventure.

    Dozens of people, including 20 players, were charged in a basketball gambling scandal targeting NCAA and Chinese games

    There are at least 39 players from 17 NCAA Division I schools who are alleged to have been involved in the scheme, but the indictment may underscore other, more troubling concerns.

    Players at mid-major or smaller Division I programs might earn a fraction in NIL money compared to what their counterparts at elite programs take in, and therefore might be more susceptible to the temptations of illicit paydays. As one former federal prosecutor put it, this alleged scheme might be one of many dominoes waiting to fall.

    “Anything that interferes with the integrity of sporting events, you’re going to get action by prosecutors,” said Edward McDonald, who prosecuted those involved in the Boston College point-shaving case in the late ’70s. McDonald, now senior counsel at the Dechert law firm, thinks that mid-major schools, like La Salle and some others in the Big 5, could be particularly vulnerable to gambling and bribery schemes.

    “These smaller schools, the compensation to players is not as great [compared to larger programs], even for the better players on the team,” said McDonald, who learned of the Boston College scam through his investigations of organized crime family members with the Justice Department (and played himself in the Martin Scorsese-directed mob film Goodfellas).

    “Players going to big-time schools are making 10 times more. A player [at a smaller program] might not be having a good season or might think they’re not going to play in the NBA or professionally, and they might say, ‘What the hell, I might as well cash in now.’”

    Prop bets on a La Salle game

    According to the court filings, one of the defendants, Jalen Smith, and former LSU and NBA player Antonio Blakeney (who is “charged elsewhere,” according to the indictment), attempted to recruit players on the La Salle men’s basketball team for the point-shaving scheme.

    The fixers offered the La Salle players payments to underperform and influence the first half of a game against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 21, 2024, according to the filings.

    Prosecutors allege that before the game at Tom Gola Arena, defendants who acted as fixers placed bets totaling approximately $247,000 on the Bonnies to cover the first-half spread. A $30,000 wager was made in Philadelphia at a FanDuel sportsbook, according to the indictment. But those bets failed after La Salle covered the spread.

    “Neither the university, current student-athletes, or staff are subjects of the indictment,” La Salle wrote in a statement. “We will fully cooperate as needed with officials and investigations.”

    La Salle coach Fran Dunphy directing the Explorers in November 2023. Dunphy retired after last season.

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told The Inquirer that several years ago he received complaints from a number of college coaches in his state about online abuse directed at players and threatening calls from gamblers who had lost big.

    “I called up [NCAA president] Charlie Baker, and asked him, ‘What do you think of prop betting?’” DeWine said. “He said, ‘We don’t like it.’ And I said, ‘Give me a letter that says that.’

    “Under Ohio law, if I can get a letter from a league saying, ‘Don’t bet on certain things,’ that gives me the ability to go to my Casino Commission and they can [enact rules] without any legislation. Charlie sent the letter, I took that to the commission, and that stopped collegiate prop betting.”

    The Ohio Casino Control Commission granted the NCAA’s request to prohibit proposition bets on collegiate sports in February 2024, but the decision affected only Ohio.

    “It doesn’t really eliminate the problem,” DeWine said.

    How a Philly ‘betfluencer’ wound up at the center of an NBA gambling scandal

    The ban in Ohio is only a drop in the bucket against a sea of pro-gambling momentum, legislation, and, most significantly, lucrative revenue streams.

    CJ Hines, a guard who was dismissed from Temple’s basketball team on Jan. 16, allegedly participated in a point-shaving scheme during the 2024-25 season while playing for Alabama State, according to the indictment. Hines transferred to Temple in May but didn’t play this season after the university announced that he was under investigation for eligibility concerns before his enrollment.

    Former Alabama State guard CJ Hines (3) averaged 14.1 points in 35 starts last season.

    The Atlantic 10 Conference — which includes La Salle and St. Joseph’s — weighed in on the latest gambling indictment.

    “Any activity that undermines the integrity of competition has no place in college athletics,” commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade said in a release. “The Atlantic 10 and its member institutions will continue to work closely with the proper authorities to combat illegal activities.”

    A St. Joe’s spokesperson added: “St. Joseph’s University has not been approached by federal investigators or any other entity about suspicious sports wagering activity involving St. Joe’s student-athletes or team.”

    Fran Dunphy speaks for the first time about how the NCAA point-shaving scandal touched La Salle

    Villanova, which plays in the powerful Big East Conference, has numerous resources and protocols in place to address the sports wagering issue.

    Handbooks, which include NCAA rules on gambling, are distributed annually to athletes, who also must sign a sports wagering document before being declared eligible. The athlete must acknowledge he or she won’t engage in activities that influence the outcome or win-loss margins of any game.

    In 2021, 2023, and 2025, Villanova brought in speakers who have a history with sports gambling to talk with athletes about the risks and dangers associated with it. Villanova’s athletic compliance office meets twice annually with every athlete to review NCAA compliance standards, including its rules on sports wagering.

    Former Villanova basketball star Maddy Siegrist told The Inquirer last year that her college alma mater ingrained in her mind the potential devastating consequences of gambling, values that she continues to adhere to as a WNBA player.

    ‘The integrity of sports is at risk’

    Even after the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports wagering state to state, the honesty and integrity component still comes into question when so much is riding on any sports wager.

    NBA sports betting bust: What to know about Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups, and cash handoffs in Philly

    DeWine, the Ohio governor, is taking a proactive role in trying to address malfeasance in the gaming culture.

    “I’m writing letters to all other major [sports] leagues,” DeWine said. “They need to get on this. If they sit back, they’re making a huge mistake. I think the integrity of sports is at risk. I’m continuing to urge these leagues to take care of business, because they’re the ones that are going to get hurt.”

    But McDonald said that with the flurry of recent indictments involving sports and gambling, “you have to wonder how pervasive [the illegal gambling problem] really is.”

    “This could very well be the tip of the iceberg,” McDonald said.