Villanova Basketball 2019-2020 Player Preview: Brandon Slater

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!

Brandon Slater (Sophomore)

Hometown: Centerville, VA

High School: Paul VI

Height: 6-7

Weight: 202

Career Stats

Player Preview

Brandon Slater returns to Villanova for his sophomore season after a freshman year in which he was largely relegated to the bench. A victim of Jay Wright’s mostly seven man rotation last season, Slater only saw action in 15 of the Wildcats 36 games and averaged only 3.5 minutes per game.

The Centerville, Virginia native played nine and seven minutes in the first two games, respectively. That was only the result of two early season blowouts, and Slater saw more than five minutes only one other time last season; a nine minute outing in a blow out home win against Seton Hall. The rest of Slater’s box scores are littered with garbage time minutes and DNP’s.

As a result, it’s very hard to put almost any stock in what we saw last season, but there is plenty of film on Slater from high school, AAU, and a couple blue/white scrimmages.

Slater is known as a lanky wing, with immense potential on the defensive end. From what we have briefly seen of Slater he has the ability to mirror a defender with long strides and overwhelm them with his wingspan. In his limited minutes, he did total three blocks and two steals.

Offensively, Slater has the ability to use his length to get to the rim and finish in some traffic. The swing skill for Slater, as it is for many players nowadays, will be his shot. Last season, Slater went 0-6 on three’s but has shown some ability to hit them in high school and will make them in warm-ups.

Best Case Scenario

For Slater, any best case includes making three’s at around a 35% clip. If he can do that, playing time should be not only plentiful but very successful. With his defensive play making possibilities, Slater could slot in for around 20 minutes a game as one of the top wings off the bench and very important depth for the Wildcats.

Worst Case Scenario

It is very likely Wright will run with a tight rotation, and it is possible Slater gets squeezed out again. If his offense does not make the leap the coaching staff would like to see, it’s not out of the question we see something near a repeat of last season.

The Wisdom of the Crowds

We are pleased to bring back our Wisdom of Crowds experiment for the 2019-20 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.