Villanova Basketball 2019 Player Recap: Joe Cremo

Beginning in June, when he committed to Villanova as a graduate transfer from Albany, expectations were set that Joe Cremo would fill the hole in the ‘Cats system left by the departing Donte DiVincenzo. Not that anyone thought that Cremo would replace DiVincenzo’s athleticism at the shooting guard/sixth man position, but the assumption was that his shooting and offensive smarts would consistently help to lighten the load off of Phil Booth and Eric Paschall. And although he did not live up to the lofty expectations set by his predecessor, it’s simpleminded to say Cremo did not make an important contribution in the ‘Cats’ run to Big East regular season and tournament titles. For one, don’t overlook the impact that comes simply from having veteran players to lead a younger team on the floor. Along with Booth and Paschall, Cremo was one of only three juniors or seniors to see significant time in Jay Wright’s rotation this season. With over half the rotation made up of first or second year college players, it is vital to have guys who can lead in pressure situations, even if it is quietly or simply by example. And about Cremo’s production: although - again, his consistency was not what anyone hoped for going into the season - his double digit scoring in Big 5 wins against Temple and St. Joseph’s were quietly key to preventing those games from becoming nail-biters. Also, his 14 points in the loss to St. John’s shouldn’t go completely ignored simply because of the loss.

Meet or Exceed Expectations?

In our player preview before the season, our best case scenario for Cremo was pretty simple. He’d come in, hit a boatload of threes, and ably facilitate ball movement within the offense. And while his passing was dependable and even downright impressive at points during the season, at 26.9% in Big East play his shooting was, let’s say, short of the mark. It’s not his fault people were floating him as possibly the best shooter to play under jay Wright at Villanova, but it’s hard to say he met reasonable expectations either. In the preseason “Wisdom of the crowds” poll(which I will point out might suffer from inflation on a wider scale as it predicted the ‘Cats to score over 90 points per game this season), the most of you(43%) predicted Joe Cremo to score 8.9-11.0 points per game with the ‘Cats. Unfortunately, his actual mark was a clean 4.0 points per game. And I suppose I must give credit where credit is due, 8% of you guessed he would score 4.0-6.0 points per game, the lowest scoring option we offered. Congratulations to the eternal pessimists in our midst, you serve as an example for us all.

The Joe Cremo experiment wasn’t the by-the-numbers success anyone had hoped for going into the season, but Cremo committed himself wholeheartedly to the program and was a major part of two titles, something no one should take for granted. And even though I have still never seen him on campus, Once a Wildcat, Always a Wildcat.

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