Villanova Basketball Recruiting: 2020 Big Board September Update

Jay Wright may be back from his trip to China with Team USA, but don’t think that means he’s done hitting the road.

College basketball is now in the second week of the current live recruiting period, which basically runs from now until March 31st, 2020. Sure, that’s a big chunk of time, but the month of September is really the most important of this part of the recruiting cycle. Not only is it the first time in over a month that coaches have been able to get out and see these recruits, but it’s the only month in this recruiting people when the coaching staffs won’t be busy with, well, coaching their teams.

Teams are officially able to start practicing on September 24th, 2019, which for those of you without a calendar nearby is Tuesday of next week. So with basically just one week left to devote primarily to recruiting, it should be a busy week for the Class of 2020. Just maybe not with the Villanova Wildcats.

The Wildcats have eleven active players on their roster for this season, all of which could return next season. In addition, Caleb Daniels is red shirting this season as a transfer, and will play his first game as a Wildcat in the 2020-21 season. So with twelve guys already on campus, there isn’t going to be much room for playing time for prospective recruits in the next class.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be. NBA draft boards are already naming Wildcats like Bryan Antoine, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and Saddiq Bey as players who could leave college early. If that was the case, then some opportunities for incoming recruits could open up. But realistically, these players and the coaching staff won’t know if that’s a real possibility until we get into the later half of the season.

The coaching staff is being patient with the process, and that may be a reason they’ve missed out on some of the big names on their board to start this past recruiting season. Elite prospects like Jeremy Roach and Jabri Abdur-Rahim were high on the Wildcats wish list, but now are off to the ACC for next season. But there are still some interesting names on Villanova’s 2020 Big Board that we could see commit to the Wildcats in the late winger or early spring.

Active Offers

Jalen Green (CG) | Rating: 5 Star | Natl. Rank: 3 | Crystal Ball: Memphis, 83%

While Green hasn’t officially cut the Wildcats, all signs point to him going elsewhere. While Villanova was in on him early, he’s recently announced all his official visits, as well as a commitment date of Dec. 25th.

Elijah Hutchins-Everett (C) | Rating: 3 Star | Natl. Rank: 131 | Crystal Ball: N/A

Hutchins-Everett, a native of Connecticut, is the rare player that’s considering reclassing later rather than earlier. If the big man were to push his recruitment back to the Class of 2021, then he may become a more appealing prospect for the Wilcats. But in the meantime, he’s getting considerable interest as a member of the Class of 2020 from schools like Seton Hall, Marquette, Indiana, and Pitt. It should be noted that in interview from June linked above, Villanova wasn’t mentioned when asked about the schools recruiting him.

Potential Prospects

No offers yet for any of these guys, but we’ve either seen Villanova scouting them or they fall within the ‘Cats general recruiting territory. Consider it a given that things have cooled between Nova and all of these recruits until there’s a reason for the Wildcats to ramp things up again.

Tyler Beard (PG) | Rating: 3 Star | Natl. Rank: 212 | Crystal Ball: N/A

The Illinois native holds a number of offers at this point. Butler, Iowa, and West Virginia seem to be the front runners. Bottom line, don’t hold your breath that he’ll still be considering the Wildcats when they’re ready to consider him.

Jyare Davis (SF) | Rating: 3 Star | Natl. Rank: 230 | Crystal Ball: N/A

Davis is a product of Hockessin, DE, right in the hotbed of Villanova recruiting. He’s already taken unofficial visits to St. John’s and Miami, and also holds offers from DePaul, Florida, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Temple, and Wichita State.

Off the Board

Jaden Springer - Villanova cut from list

Isaiah Todd - Villanova cut from list

Jeremy Roach - committed to Duke

Jabri Abdur-Rahim - committed to UVA

Mikeal Brown-Jones - committed to VCU