2017 Villanova Basketball Preview: Donte DiVincenzo

Donte DiVincenzo

Hometown: Wilmington, DE
High School: Salesianum HS
Height: 6’5
Weight: 200

Career Stats:

Player Preview:

After a slightly disappointing true freshman season, which he ended up redshirting due to a foot fracture—DiVincenzo broke out in a big way for the Wildcats last season, providing a sparkplug off the bench for the thin Wildcats bench as the season unfolded.

This year, DiVincenzo may start, if not—return to his sixth man role, and will look to build upon his Big East All-Rookie team performance. With the loss of seniors Josh Hart and Kris Jenkins, expect DiVincenzo to share more of the burden offensively this year, and to be the secondary ballhandler behind star point guard Jalen Brunson. DiVincenzo played some of his best basketball in the two tournament games this past March (18 PPG, 9.5 RPG), and if DiVincenzo proves that he can keep up that level of play consistently, the Wildcats would be massively helped in their quest to win their fifth straight (!) Big East regular-season title.

Best-Case Scenario: DiVincenzo shows that his tournament performance was for real and improves leaps and bounds, scoring at an efficient clip while using his athleticism to rebound at a much better rate than his size would suggest. DiVincenzo also cuts down on his mental mistakes on the defensive end, and his chase-down blocks, combined with his fearlessness, make him one of the most exciting players in the conference.

Worst-Case Scenario: DiVincenzo regresses from his promising season last year, making more mental mistakes while never getting into an offensive rhythm due to a high variance in usage from game to game. DiVincenzo gets to the line, but his free throw percentage (69.9% last year) allows teams to not regret it. Struggles on the court force Wright to go with more Phil Booth or even the freshmen off the bench, and DiVincenzo only shows his potential in brief flashes throughout the season.

Wisdom of the Crowd

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.