November Recap - Villanova and the Big East

Photo Credit: Villanova Men's Basketball Social Media

Time flies during the holidays, and in a blink of an eye the first month of College Basketball has come to an end. Let's take a look at how Villanova and the Big East have done in Non-Conference Play.

Pleasant Surprises

Season previews can only predict so much, and after seeing the first 30 days of the College Hoops season, we are beginning to understand the Big East teams a bit better.

First, let's focus on the positive surprises. Seton Hall finished the 2024-2025 season with a 7-25 record, just one year after winning the NIT. This season, Holloway has the Pirates at 7-1 and they left the Maui Invitational with double-digit wins over NC State (ranked 23rd at the time) and Washington State. Additionally, they were a poor officiating call away from potentially beating USC, to whom they lost 83-81. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Shaheen Holloway is a hell of a leader, and he has this team buying in to his approach. Additionally, it looks like he has a promising Freshman in Najai Hines, who will hopefully stick around for years to come.

Next up we have the Butler Bulldogs and Georgetown Hoyas. If you checked out my Villanova Season Preview, you'll remember that I mentioned both Thad Matta and Ed Cooley were on the hot seat entering the season. However, both teams have gotten off to hot starts in November. Butler, after a tight loss to SMU, pulled off three consecutive wins against South Carolina, Virginia, and Wright State. Additionally, they won the Greenbrier Tip-Off in West Virginia and we saw breakout performances from Thad's dynamic duo: Finley Bizjack and Michael Ajayi. Finley is a unique story in today's Transfer Portal era. The 6'4" guard has been at Butler for three seasons and is proving to be a consistent scoring threat for Matta. John Fanta had a quick 1-on-1 interview with Bizjack and I've provided the link for it below. Next, Matta absolutely nailed the Michael Ajayi addition. The 6'7" forward has made stops at Pepperdine and Gonzaga before heading East to Butler. In the Greenbrier Tip-Off, he had 17 points and 14 rebounds against UVA, and 15 points and 14 rebounds against South Carolina. This 1-2 punch will prove to be a lethal combo for the remainder of the season, and I'm very intrigued to see how the Bulldogs do in Conference play.

Cause for Concern

Next, we have a few negative surprises from the heavyweights of this conference. No, this will not include UConn. The Huskies are 6-1 and have earned wins against BYU and Illinois. They also went down to the wire against Arizona and take on Kansas tonight. Solo Ball is averaging 14.3ppg and Dan Hurley looks to have another title contender with this group. UConn is awesome again, who would have thought?!

Marquette is probably the most eye-opening, but unfortunately a problem that could have been avoided. The Golden Eagles are 4-4, with those losses coming to Indiana, Maryland, Dayton, and Oklahoma. Sure, those are legitimate squads from difficult conferences that can beat any Power Conference team in the NCAA. However, this is the second season in a row that Shaka Smart avoided the Transfer Portal. Yes, his team has been able to beat up on low-major programs, but it's clear they're struggling to overcome the tougher portions of their schedule. It doesn't get much easier for Smart either before their first Big East game against Georgetown. After facing Valparaiso, the Golden Eagles take on Wisconsin and top-ranked Purdue. If Marquette fails to win either of those games, and considering how the Big East has looked so far, there's a legitimate chance that Smart could be missing the tournament this season. If that's the case, maybe Shaka changes his approach next offseason. After all, Tyler Kolek was a transfer.

Next, St. John's, a team that was predicted to be a National Title Contender, has had some hiccups in November. The 23rd ranked Johnnies are 4-3 and have 1 solid win against Baylor in the Players Era. However, they've also lost to three ranked teams: 103-96 against Alabama, 83-82 against Iowa State, and 85-74 against Auburn. Unlike Smart, Pitino dove into the Transfer Portal, and many argued that they were among the league winners with additions like Bryce Hopkins and Ian Jackson. However, I want to share a video from TNT during the Auburn v St. John's game. It's clear that Pitino has some work to do with the backcourt, but if anyone can get his team in the right direction, it's Pitino. I'm not ready to sound the alarms for the Red Storm, but we'll see how they fare against 18th ranked Kentucky on 12/20.

Last on this heavyweight section is the Creighton Bluejays. It's clear that life after Kalkbrenner is going to be an adjustment for Coach McDermott. So far, the Jays are 4-3 and haven't looked great against stronger opponents. They lost 90-63 to Gonzaga, 81-74 to Baylor, and 78-60 against Iowa State. However, they did have some consolation in defeating Oregon by 10 points in the Players Era. Unfortunately, things only got tougher for Creighton when Jackson McAndrew went down with a foot injury. The 6'10" Sophomore was expected to have a breakout season for the Jays, especially after the positive glimpses we saw in 36 games last year. Similar to Marquette, the Jays have chances to improve their tournament resume against tougher opponents in Nebraska and Kansas St. Coach McDermott also shared his thoughts on how the team can adjust after losing Jackson so early in the season.

I want to spend more time talking about Villanova, so I'll just quickly wrap up on the remaining three teams: DePaul, Xavier, and Providence.

We knew Pitino Jr. would need time to build this Musketeer program, but they've handled their weaker opponents and only lost to Georgia by 1. Additionally, they did earn a 10 point win against West Virginia in the Charleston Classic. Xavier will have two solid tests against Cincinnati and Missouri State before kicking off Conference play against Creighton.

Similar to Pitino Jr., we knew that Holtmann would need some time in the driver's seat to build his program. The Blue Demons are 5-3 and earned a positive result when they defeated Georgia Tech 75-61 in the Emerald Coast Classic. Unfortunately, they got blown out against LSU in the title game, but it's going to be baby steps for DePaul. I don't believe they'll finish anywhere higher than 9th in the Big East standings, but they should be more competitive than prior seasons.

Lastly, we can't forget about Providence. Kim English is another coach that entered the season on the hot seat, and it's been less than inspiring from the Friars. They're currently 4-4 and have losses to Virginia Tech, Colorado, and Wisconsin. They did earn a 12 point win against Penn State in the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase, and they finish off Non-Conference play against FDU, Rhode Island, and Brown. Considering the lack of impressive wins, English will need his team to make some considerable noise against their Big East opponents. We know how passionate Friar fans are. I'll be curious to see how much patience they have with English if he again fails to make the NCAA Tournament.

Villanova Wildcats

Considering I cover Villanova more closely than the other Big East programs, let's take a deeper dive into how the Wildcats have looked thus far.

As mentioned in my Season Preview, Coach Willard had an injury-ridden preseason. Players like Stanford, Askew, and Gapare were all dealing with injuries, and the bug has continued to bite in November. Just last week, Duke Brennan was forced to miss time against La Salle and Old Dominion. Despite these bumps in the road, I don't think you could have asked for a better start in Willard's first month as Head Coach.

The Wildcats started their season in Vegas and they almost knocked off Dybantsa and the Cougars in front of a mainly BYU crowd. Since November 3rd, the Wildcats have pulled off six-straight wins against Queens, Sacred Heart, Duquesne, La Salle, Old Dominion, and Temple. Additionally, with wins against the Explorers and Owls, the Cats earned themselves a spot in the Big 5 Classic title game against Fran McCaffery and the Penn Quakers. That game is on December 6th at 7:30pm at the Xfinity Mobile Arena (formerly the Wells Fargo Center for those who don't know). The Wildcats now have a tough stretch before Willard faces his former team, Seton Hall, on December 23rd. Villanova travels to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan on the 9th, hosts Pitt on the 13th, and then takes on the Wisconsin Badgers in Milwaukee on the 19th. If Nova can win 2 of those 3 games, they will be in prime position to make a NCAA Tournament run throughout Conference play.

Let's focus on the players now. We have talked about the Transfer Portal a few times in this piece, and we have to applaud Willard for absolutely nailing two additions this offseason: Duke Brennan and Bryce Lindsay.

Bryce first turned heads against BYU and he hasn't looked back. The James Madison transfer is averaging 18.1ppg and is shooting 45.1% from three, which is his career high so far (he shot 40.8% last season). The highlight of his young season came against Sacred Heart on November 11th. The Baltimore native scored 27 points and was scorching hot from three. Bryce made 9 of 14 threes and set a single-game record for Nova. He also out-shot his fellow backcourt mate, Devin Askew, who went 7-10 from behind the arc that night. As expected, the Villanova Wildcats have several talented guards, but they seem to have a stone-cold killer in Lindsay. He is unafraid to shoot and could earn Nova several wins this year if he gets hot at the right time.

Next, Duke Brennan has proven to be lethal on the boards. The 6'10" transfer from Grand Canyon is averaging 10.8 points and 13.3 boards per contest. His most impressive performance came against Queens on November 8th when he had 17 points and a whopping 20 rebounds. He also shot 50% from the floor to help Nova in the 20 point victory.

The key for Willard is to give Brennan space to operate in the paint, and the Wildcats appear well-equipped to do just that. Matt Hodge, one of the few players from the Neptune era, has earned 7 starts in as many games and is averaging 27.9 minutes per game. He has been a bit inconsistent shooting the ball, but he plays with a lot of energy and will compete on both sides of the floor.

Willard will also rely on Askew and Perkins to be a veteran presence in the backcourt. Perkins is averaging 12.1 points per game and has been in good form over these last three contests. He scored 13 against La Salle, 21 against Old Dominion, and 19 against Temple on December 1st. He has also gone 8-11 from behind the arc over these last two games, which will be a headache for defenses when he and Lindsay are in a good rhythm.

Askew hasn't been as productive as the other guards, and he's failed to score over 10 points in each game except the Sacred Heart performance. Devin has only started once for Willard so far, but we have to remember that he spent the end of the offseason dealing with an injury. It's possible Devin is still trying to remove the offseason rust, but Willard will need his veteran leadership and scoring once Conference play starts.

We have begun to see who Coach Willard will rely on when it comes to his bench depth. Malachi Palmer had 17 minutes against Temple, while Gapare's size and athleticism has earned him considerable time. Specifically, Gapare saw 30 minutes when Duke was out against Old Dominion, where Pierce saw 13 minutes in the same game. Zion Stanford is also coming off an injury, and we have seen his minutes slowly increase since his return during the Duquesne game. Against Temple, Zion saw 10 minutes and secured 4 points and 2 rebounds on his former team. Willard has also relied on Freshman Chris Jeffrey in brief periods so far, and I look forward to seeing his continued growth as he adjusts to D-I ball.

Lastly, we will highlight Acaden Lewis. The D.C. native has already earned two Big East Freshman of the Week honors, and he's averaged 13.3 ppg, 3.3reb, and 5.6ast (which ranks him near the top of the Freshman class for assists). Although he's only shooting 22.7% from behind the arc, he's not a guard that needs to rely on his long distance shot. Lewis has shown to be confident with the ball in his hands, and he has an uncanny ability to cut into the lane with ease. Acaden is also catching the attention of other coaches, which is highlighted below when Adam Fisher shared his thoughts on the promising guard.

I don't want to put too much pressure on any Freshman, but if the Wildcats want to go deep into March, then they'll need Lewis to play at a high level moving forward. We have been lucky enough to see several promising Freshman across the NCAA landscape, and it looks like Willard has himself a future star in the Sidwell Friends graduate.

Final Thought

The Big East has not gone how many people expected it to go. Marquette and Creighton are showing considerable signs of concern, and St. John's has a handful of things to fine tune in their backcourt. Additionally, teams like Seton Hall and Butler are proving to be formidable opponents for talented teams, and I expect both squads to give UConn and the Red Storm fits during Conference Play. As of now, I can safely say that UConn should win the Big East, and I do believe St. John's will secure the 2nd spot. However, I can see a scenario where Georgetown, Nova, and Butler are fighting for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th spot. Will we see 4 or 5 teams in March Madness next year? Not sure, but it's going to be a fun ride when Conference Play kicks off later this month.

Follow me on Twitter at Mbarrera1323 for all of my College Hoops coverage on AAT Sports Network.