V for Villanova, V for Victory!
Villanova has won three men’s college basketball titles in their storied history (1985, 2016, 2018), highlighted by two in the last 10 years.
It’s been quite a decade. That’s why PennStakes.com took a break from Pennsylvania sports betting to formulate an all-Villanova team for the last decade.
Utilizing Sports-Reference.com, we developed the Villanova men’s basketball team starting five for the seasons from 2014-15 to present. The players included had to have played for the Wildcats during this period and it is based on a combination of Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and Win Shares (WS) during those years with the team. Here are the selections:
Villanova’s Team of Last Decade
You Gotta Have Hart
Topping the list, in terms of the metrics we used, is forward Josh Hart (2014-2017) with a combined score of 44.0. The four-year player averaged 13.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in his collegiate career. He averaged a career-best 18.7 points in his senior year and was a consensus first-team All-American. Hart was named a third-team All-American as a junior, when he helped lead the Wildcats to a national title in 2016. Hart already has had a long NBA career and now is with the New York Knicks.
Forward Mikal Bridges (2015-2018) ranked second on the list with a score of 39.9 and won two national titles for the Wildcats. Bridges played in 116 games at Villanova, averaging 11.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. In his junior and final year with the school, Bridges averaged a career-high 17.7 points per game. After a few fine seasons with the Phoenix Suns, Bridges is now the star player for the Brooklyn Nets.
Guard Collin Gillespie (2017-2022) and guard Jalen Brunson (2015-2018) each tied for third with a score of 38.1. Gillespie played 156 games over his five-year collegiate career, averaging 11.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He also won a national championship in 2018 and was named back-to-back Big East Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022. Gillespie has bounced back from a serious injury before starting his career and now is with the Denver Nuggets and their G League affiliate.
Brunson, in terms of the NBA, is the star of this show. A member of Villanova’s 2016 and 2018 title teams, Brunson played three years for Villanova. He averaged 14.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. His junior and final season he averaged a career-high 18.9 points per game.
Brunson, fourth in the NBA in scoring at 28.6 points per game, has turned into one of the best players in the league. He made the All-Star Game this season and has put the Knicks back in the playoffs. Teaming with former teammates Hart and Donte DiVincenzo, Brunson has the Knicks at 48-32 and in third place in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks are +3500, tied with the Los Angeles Lakers, for 10th in odds to win the championship at Caesars Sportsbook Pennsylvania.
Center Eric Dixon (2019-2024) rounded out the top five with a score of 37.9. After redshirting in 2019-20, Dixon was a mainstay on the Main Line for the next four seasons. He averaged 11.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. This season, he averaged a career-high 16.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
How stacked has Villanova been recently? Vying for a second team would be Ryan Arcidiacono, DiVincenzo, Justin Moore, Saddiq Bey, Eric Paschall, Daniel Ochefu and the guy whose buzzer-beating three-pointer won it all in 2016, Kris Jenkins.
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USA Today photo by Bill Streicher
