Villanova Basketball 2019-20 Player Preview: Bryan Antoine

VUHoops continues our coverage of Villanova Basketball’s 100th Season by previewing the entire Wildcat roster. Be sure to check out all of our coverage including Ten Top 10’s, event coverage, and schedule previews. Check back over the coming weeks as we begin the celebration of 100 years of Villanova Basketball!

Bryan Antoine (FR)

Hometown: Eatontown, N.J.

High School: Ranney School

Height: 6’5”

Weight: 170

Player Preview

This preview was supposed to be posted tomorrow but, given this:

...we decided to post it today.

A little over a year ago, in one of the most exciting days on VUhoops in recent memory (save, like, the two natty’s and a few 250+ comment days about JQ), Bryan Antoine dropped a Woj-bomb of a tweet committing to Villanova over the (presumed) favorite Duke Blue Devils. Seemingly out of nowhere, the commitment came on the heels of an unofficial visit to the Main Line where Antoine elected to join the Wildcats’ already impressive recruiting haul, which at the time “just” included Eric Dixon and Justin Moore. Lol.

At the time of his commitment, Antoine was ranked #11 in the 247 Composite rankings and was widely regarded as only a one year player at whatever school he elected to attend. However, early this past summer, Villanova reported that Antoine had undergone shoulder surgery to repair a tear in his labrum that had been present for the entirety of his senior year in high school. The prognosis at the time was that Antoine would miss approximately 4-6 months, which would have conservatively put his return to the court at around mid-to-late December.

However, the recent news concerning the possibility of a redshirt season has caught ‘Nova Nation by surprise. Obviously, it would be a “redshirt season” in name only as Antoine is unlikely to remain in college another year. We would assume that, if he is able to return to the court at all this season, that Jay would prefer to have him for a few games over no games at all. However, as we’ve seen (and understand), players of Antoine’s caliber have to be conscious of aggravating or exacerbating injuries when the NBA payday is on the horizon. It’s possible that if the timeline for recovery starts creeping later and later into the season that Antoine and his family elect to shut it down in favor of a slower pre-draft rehab.

UPDATE! 10/11: Bryan Antoine and Jay Wright have both said he will not redshirt, with Jay saying “My bad.” The rumor mill got a little out of control, and Antoine is on track to rejoin practice in November and possibly play in December. He’s already able to put up shots as he demonstrated yesterday.

Best Case Scenario

The best case scenario, at this point, is that Antoine’s recovery goes according to the original plan and he returns to the court by late November to begin practicing. It’s hopeful that such a timeline would allow him to presumably return to game action in December just in time for conference play. However, Jay’s recent comments concerning a redshirt possibility appear to conflict with his comments just a few weeks ago that there had yet to be any snags in Antoine’s recovery. Who knows what, if anything, has changed since then but clearly our expectations need to be somewhat adjusted.

Worst Case Scenario

At this point, the worst case scenario obviously involves Antoine’s ongoing rehab and forthcoming return to the court. The torn labrum is in his shooting arm and it’s difficult to assess the full impact of such an injury until he is able to fully practice without restrictions. Combined with the inevitable learning curve all freshman face when rising to the college level, the worst case scenario would likely see Antoine struggle with getting back to his pre-injury form or face difficulties stemming from a lack of practice. However, as conventional wisdom suggests that Antoine is taking part in as many aspects of practice/conditioning as he can, the worst case scenario would probably exclusively concern his ability to put the injury completely behind him.

None and done.

Wisdom of the Crowds

Let’s spice it up: