2018-19 Villanova Basketball Player Preview: Dylan Painter

VUHoops will be kicking off the 2018-19 Villanova Basketball season with an entire month of team coverage. Check in every day for new player previews, schedule breakdowns, team analysis, event recaps, and season predictions as we get closer to the first tip-off of the year!

Good things come to those who wait. Dylan Painter will look to prove this adage during the upcoming 2018-19 season for the Wildcats. Life on the Main Line did not get off to a perfect start for the childhood Nova fan as Painter was thrown straight into the fire. With Omari Spellman being ruled ineligible for the season by the NCAA in September of 2016, Painter’s planned redshirt year was immediately scrapped with the Cats lacking front court depth.

During the 22 games of Painter’s freshman year, two things became apparent. First we saw flashes of the talent that had convinced Jay Wright that the Pennsylvania native would be a good fit for the future of the Wildcats front court. The power forward raked in 22.2% of available defensive rebounds when he was on the floor (In comparison, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree only collected 14.2% during his freshman campaign) and managed to score on 55% of his two point field goals. We also saw that Painter struggled adapting to the speed of the college game, especially on defense. Wright almost exclusively went with a zone defense when Dylan was on the floor to offer him some help, but it was clear that some explosiveness and quickness was lacking from the forward’s game.

Fast forward to October 2018 and Dylan Painter appears to be a new man. Strength coach John Shackleton seems to have transformed yet another one of Jay Wright’s disciples. Painter joins a long line of Villanova conditioning successes like Kris Jenkins, Omari Spellman and Mikal Bridges who all underwent a physical revolution while under Shackleton’s tutelage. Painter will look to exploit his new found athleticism both in the low block on defense and in transition on offense.

Profile and Stats: Dylan Painter (Redshirt Sophomore)

Hometown: Hershey, PA | High School: Hershey | Height: 6’11” | Weight: 224 pounds

Player Preview

Painter will certainly need to hit the ground running if he wants to see an increase in his 5.8 minutes per game from his freshman year. He will be facing stiff competition in the front court from Eric Paschall, Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, Cole Swider and Tim Delaney all capable of holding down the fort. The lean center’s most direct way to the floor this season will most likely come from proving to Wright and co. that he can cover the low post on defense as well as run the pick and roll with Nova’s assortment of guards.

Best Case Scenario

Painter proves he can be a valuable asset off the bench. All the conditioning during his redshirt year pays dividends and we see a quicker, stronger and more graceful Painter. He builds off of his best game as a Wildcat (10 points and 6 rebounds against St. John’s at MSG) and becomes an option for Jay when he needs to rest Paschall or Cosby-Roundtree.

Worst Case Scenario

Painter is never able to overcome his competition for front court minutes and sits on the bench. The emergence of Cole Swider causes Wright to favor him and his long range shooting over the more prototypical big man in Painter. His defense doesn’t improve and thus Jay Wright uses Painter as more of a bench mob player.

Wisdom of the Crowds

We are pleased to bring back our Wisdom of Crowds experiment for the 2018-2019 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 player on the roster we score in the upcoming season.