Villanova Basketball Recruiting: Cole Swider announcement primer

A big domino falls this afternoon on the Villanova basketball recruiting board as 4-star forward Cole Swider will make his college commitment. Feel free to use this as your open thread leading up to the decision.

Here’s the need to know on Swider’s impending commitment.

Time: 3:30pm ET

Location: Sage Gym at St. Andrew’s School (Barrington, R.I.)

Live Stream: will be added if/when available

What To Expect: Swider has played his recruitment extremely close to the vest, which can be a bit maddening for the die-hard recruitniks but makes for a suspenseful announcement. Those are pretty hard to come by in this day and age - Jalen Brunson is the last ‘Nova verbal where we legitimately didn’t know in the days leading up.

While he visited Villanova unofficially twice during the past season, Swider opted not to return to the Main Line for an official visit. He did officially visit his other three finalists - Duke, Xavier and Syracuse - in the past week and a half.

That schedule made Villanova fans feel like they were on the outside looking in, but as of Thursday night all the momentum is going Villanova’s way. The 247 Crystal Ball has shifted from Duke to Villanova (led by the Duke writers no less!) and we are hearing that this could very well be a great day to be a Wildcat.

Villanova plays a style that suits Swider’s game, should have immediate playing time available, and have been on him before his breakout this spring.

Prediction: Be still, my heart. I think against the odds, ‘Nova is going to win this one. All the buzz leading into last night suggested that Xavier was in pole position, but this looks like Villanova is going to pull a stud ‘croot away from Duke for the second straight cycle, and away from a couple of regional rivals. If it goes down, this is a huge win for Jay Wright and his staff.