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!

Saddiq Bey

Hometown: Largo, Md.
High School: Sidwell Friends
Height: 6-8
Weight: 216

Career Stats

Player Preview:

Saddiq Bey was the lowest ranked and final member of Villanova’s 2018 recruiting class, which ranked ninth in the country. Fast forward to March 2019 and Bey had become the most reliable freshman and a permanent starter on a Big East regular season champion, Big East Tournament champion, and a team playing for a berth in the Sweet 16.

The Largo, Maryland native came off the bench for the first four games of his freshman season, but ended up playing in all 36 games and starting in 29 of them. Bey played the most of all the freshman by far, averaging 29.6 minutes and was voted as a member of the Big East All-Freshman team. Bey added 8.2 points per game and 5.1 rebounds on 37.4% shooting from three.

In year 2 for Bey, he is expected to be a guaranteed starter and leader both on and off the court. Last season, Bey showed the ability to do a little bit everything and do it well. The 37.4% from three was second on the team, and if he can improve on that at all it will make him a very viable weapon offensively. Bey can also score from the inside, and use his size to finish in traffic.

It is possible we see Bey play a point forward role this season, as the roster lacks any true point guard behind Collin Gillespie. Justin Moore will likely handle some ball handling duties, but in the Blue/White scrimmage we saw Bey initiate the offense on multiple occasions. If Bey can play the role of a point forward, it would not only improve this team’s potential, but also make him very attractive to the NBA.

On the other side of the ball, Bey can guard 2-4 on any occasion, and depending on the opponent he has the size to guard a five and the quickness and length to overwhelm a lead ball handler.

Best Case Scenario

Despite being left off of any Big East Preseason team, Bey has the ability to end up on the All-Big East first team. The sophomore will start this season and likely average upwards of 30 minutes a game, giving him plenty of opportunities to showcase his skill and growth. If Bey can play some point forward and improves a little on his finishing on straight line drives Villanova will not only be successful this year, but Bey will likely start to garner some NBA interest, and soon.

Worst Case Scenario

As noted above, Bey is likely an unquestioned starter. The worst case scenario for Bey is likely something of a repeat of his freshman season which really isn’t so bad overall, especially if the two five star freshman step up.

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.