2017 Villanova Basketball Preview: Jermaine Samuels

Jermaine Samuels

Hometown: Franklin, Mass.
High School: The Rivers School (Mass.)
AAU Team: Expressions Elite
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 225
Committed: Aug. 27, 2016

Player Preview

There are high hopes for incoming freshman Jermaine Samuels, who comes to Villanova after leading his high school team to a 20-6 record in his senior season. The Massachusetts native is a big time athlete and has displayed an excellent ability to get to the rim, and throw down thunderous dunks. While he mainly excels with his crafty finishes around the basket, don’t sleep on his shot from the perimeter. He can take and make the three if given an open opportunity.

In terms of his defense, Samuels is a solid perimeter defender—and given his athleticism—has the potential to improve his interior defense and rebounding ability under the guidance of the Villanova coaching staff.

Coming out of high school, ESPN ranked him No. 52 in the Class of 2017, and No. 11 at the small forward position. He is a consensus four-star prospect and the highest rated coming out of high school, when compared to his incoming freshmen peers. During his recruitment, Samuels also considered the likes of Duke, Kansas, Indiana, and Georgetown.

Samuels is likely to see plenty of minutes off the bench for the ‘Cats this season, and has the potential to make real contributions right away. He will likely be competing for playing time with Mikal Bridges, Eric Paschall and Donte DiVincenzo primarily.

Best Case Scenario: Samuels proves to be a valuable and reliable contributor by the time conference play rolls around. He gives the ‘Cats a scorer off the bench and helps fix the lack of depth problem ‘Nova had suffered last year.

Worst Case Scenario: Lacking in experience, as any freshman does, Samuels develops slowly and Jay Wright does not trust him coming down the stretch in tight games. The variety of wing options already on Villanova’s roster means Samuels sees a very limited role in his freshman year.

The Wisdom of Crowds Returns

We are pleased to bring back our Wisdom of Crowds experiment for the 2017-2018 season. In this series, we ask that you consider the points covered in our player preview to supplement your own personal insights and instincts to predict the points per game each scholarship player on the roster we score in the upcoming season.