Is Kyle Neptune the Problem with Nova?

[LeftCoastPirates]

I think it’s too early to officially tell, but I also don’t feel Kyle is getting a fair evaluation compared to his Hall of Fame predecessor in Jay Wright. We always say, you have to let the new coach bring in his guys. But at Nova the idea was that Kyle would be more of continuous succession plan within the Jay Wright coaching tree / family.

However, Chris Arcidiacono is an example of what can happen to a program when a 2 star player has not developed or dramatically improved their skill set at the Big East level and you don’t hit on recruiting otherwise.

Nova went from Ryan Arcidiacono, to Jalen Brunson, to Collin Gillespie from the 2012-13 season through last year. A 10 year run.
Those 10 season included 7 All-BE performances, 4 BE POY awards, and one National Player of the Year.

Prior to that they were 13-19 and were led by Malik Waynes, but their overall guard play was weak that year, with Darrun Hilliard only being a frosh, and Dominick Cheek not fulfilling his recruiting potential by his junior season.

However, there is no surprise why they were successful before that. Scottie Reynolds and Corey Stokes handled the ball in the backcourt together. Only another 5 All-BE awards amongst those two.
And oh yeah, right before Reynolds came four guards named Mike Nardi, Randy Foye, Allen Ray, and Kyle Lowry to get Nova’s program back on track.
This group of guards covers the last 20 years of Villanova basketball. When they found the right front court guys to compliment these leaders, they have made Final Fours and hung National title banners. But make no mistake about it, this program has been led by their floor generals.

Guard play, specifically point guard play, is so key to the success of your program in college basketball. It can take you from poor to good, good to great, and sometimes great to elite. Right now Nova fans are complaining that they are playing 4 on 5 on offense and the one guy who is putting them at that disadvantage is getting 30 mpg.

Caleb Daniels and Chris Arcidiacono are not going to go down in the annals of great Villanova backcourts. If Kyle Neptune had anyone of these BE POY type point guards I think he would be fine. Heck, if he had a healthy Justin Moore for the entire season this would be a different roster.
Let’s be fair, I also think the great Jay Wright would be struggling more than usual to dominate the BE with this roster.

If Kyle Neptune can build upon the success of Wright and restock his backcourt in his upcoming recruiting classes, Nova and he will be just fine.

What do I know, maybe just maybe Jay Wright knew Villanova could have NIL issues to compete at the level he established. So far Kyle Neptune only has 1 2/3 star recruit committed to his program for the upcoming season in SF Jordan Dumont. If he wants a two decade run of success he better have a plan to build his backcourt beyond what it currently is.

 

[Hall91]

I think Neptune was put in a real tough spot. I don’t think he is ready nor up to the task of replacing a coach with the stature of Wright. Puzzling to me how a team that still features 4 key players from a Final 4 team from last year is struggling as much as they have. I don’t think it’s all on little Arch, but clearly he’s no Collin Gillespie or Justin Moore.

team just isn’t the same, they’re not playing the defense or spread out spacing the floor offense That Wright insisted of everyone to get PT. Now they’re relying on young but highly talented players like Whitmore and Armstrong who are work in progress in Nova’s system.
‘’even more concerning for Nova that they find themselves in the same situation we are; no HS recruits on the horizon. theyre going to have a large amount of roster turnover which will force them to embrace the portal; something that was not part of the Jay Wright culture.

who would have thought almost a year after a Final 4 that Nova fans would be more concerned about the outlook of their program than Hall fans. I don’t think that’s an understatement.

 

[silkcitypirate]

I have NO SYMPATHY for them. Their fans have been spoiled for many years. I'm hoping we can beat their butts twice this year !!!!!!!

 

[hallgrad80]

Nova has been spoiled and used to being the top dog in the BE and a highly ranked team nationally always In the chase to win it all. Let’s see how much patience they have if the second half of the season doesn’t improve . The old adage in college sports is that it’s more difficult for a coach to succeed when he’s replacing a legend which Jay was.

 

[Piratz]

They're underperforming IMO. Are they a great team? No. Are they a vintage Villanova team? No. Is it a huge adjustment to lose an all-world, 2x BE POY in Gillespie? Uh, yeah. Most reasonable people knew there'd be some sort of drop back this year. But they have too many bad losses and don't play with the tenacity of Wright teams, especially considering the core of the team have all been in that program for years (Daniels, Dixon, Slater) and Neptune was an assistant there for 8 years. Hey, programs don't run themselves. they just lost one of the best to do it.

I agree it's unfair to compare Kyle Neptune - who is only 38 and in his 2nd year of coaching - to an all-time great HOFer and for my money the best coach in the sport who he is replacing. You have to expect some bumps. Seton Hall was a mess for the first part of the season too and that includes the coach trying to figure out who plays what with perplexing decisions, but we've progressed, are coming together, and making strides. I don't see that yet from them. But Holloway is also much more experienced.

Will Villanova have patience? We'll see.

 

[hallgrad80]

Will have to also watch how well he recruits and whether he can bring in the same caliber of talent Jay did.

 

[Hall91]

Will have to also watch how well he recruits and whether he can bring in the same caliber of talent Jay did.

I don’t think that’s working out too well.

 

[SHUSource]

They’re going to be just fine. In fact, they were already playing much better before Jordan Longino (who one Philly columnist says will have a longer NBA career than any of the other recent Wildcats to make the league) was hurt.

With this roster, Jay wouldn’t be in much better shape. It was just set to be a rare down cycle in an era of huge success.

 

[SHUSA]

the majority of the big east is in NIL/recruiting trouble.

put of those teams, we have the coach that is best suited to overcome that. we have a better outlook than villanova. wow.

 

[PiratePride]

Nova has been spoiled and used to being the top dog in the BE and a highly ranked team nationally always In the chase to win it all. Let’s see how much patience they have if the second half of the season doesn’t improve . The old adage in college sports is that it’s more difficult for a coach to succeed when he’s replacing a legend which Jay was.

I think that "spoiled" is the operative word to describe Nova... fans and all.

 

[HallX2]

I think it’s too early to officially tell, but I also don’t feel Kyle is getting a fair evaluation compared to his Hall of Fame predecessor in Jay Wright. We always say, you have to let the new coach bring in his guys. But at Nova the idea was that Kyle would be more of continuous succession plan within the Jay Wright coaching tree / family.

However, Chris Arcidiacono is an example of what can happen to a program when a 2 star player has not developed or dramatically improved their skill set at the Big East level and you don’t hit on recruiting otherwise.

Nova went from Ryan Arcidiacono, to Jalen Brunson, to Collin Gillespie from the 2012-13 season through last year. A 10 year run.
Those 10 season included 7 All-BE performances, 4 BE POY awards, and one National Player of the Year.

Prior to that they were 13-19 and were led by Malik Waynes, but their overall guard play was weak that year, with Darrun Hilliard only being a frosh, and Dominick Cheek not fulfilling his recruiting potential by his junior season.

However, there is no surprise why they were successful before that. Scottie Reynolds and Corey Stokes handled the ball in the backcourt together. Only another 5 All-BE awards amongst those two.
And oh yeah, right before Reynolds came four guards named Mike Nardi, Randy Foye, Allen Ray, and Kyle Lowry to get Nova’s program back on track.
This group of guards covers the last 20 years of Villanova basketball. When they found the right front court guys to compliment these leaders, they have made Final Fours and hung National title banners. But make no mistake about it, this program has been led by their floor generals.

Guard play, specifically point guard play, is so key to the success of your program in college basketball. It can take you from poor to good, good to great, and sometimes great to elite. Right now Nova fans are complaining that they are playing 4 on 5 on offense and the one guy who is putting them at that disadvantage is getting 30 mpg.

Caleb Daniels and Chris Arcidiacono are not going to go down in the annals of great Villanova backcourts. If Kyle Neptune had anyone of these BE POY type point guards I think he would be fine. Heck, if he had a healthy Justin Moore for the entire season this would be a different roster.
Let’s be fair, I also think the great Jay Wright would be struggling more than usual to dominate the BE with this roster.

If Kyle Neptune can build upon the success of Wright and restock his backcourt in his upcoming recruiting classes, Nova and he will be just fine.

What do I know, maybe just maybe Jay Wright knew Villanova could have NIL issues to compete at the level he established. So far Kyle Neptune only has 1 2/3 star recruit committed to his program for the upcoming season in SF Jordan Dumont. If he wants a two decade run of success he better have a plan to build his backcourt beyond what it currently is.

Hard to fathom that the Nova alums won’t deliver the $$$$.

 

[statenman]

I said this when Danny took over UConn. The chance of him reaching the level of their previous HOF coach is extremely slim.
Kyle Neptune has to be the best of him and not try to coach like JW.

 

[Burnsly]

Don't care.

 

[JTSHU]

I think it’s too early to officially tell, but I also don’t feel Kyle is getting a fair evaluation compared to his Hall of Fame predecessor in Jay Wright. We always say, you have to let the new coach bring in his guys. But at Nova the idea was that Kyle would be more of continuous succession plan within the Jay Wright coaching tree / family.

However, Chris Arcidiacono is an example of what can happen to a program when a 2 star player has not developed or dramatically improved their skill set at the Big East level and you don’t hit on recruiting otherwise.

Nova went from Ryan Arcidiacono, to Jalen Brunson, to Collin Gillespie from the 2012-13 season through last year. A 10 year run.
Those 10 season included 7 All-BE performances, 4 BE POY awards, and one National Player of the Year.

Prior to that they were 13-19 and were led by Malik Waynes, but their overall guard play was weak that year, with Darrun Hilliard only being a frosh, and Dominick Cheek not fulfilling his recruiting potential by his junior season.

However, there is no surprise why they were successful before that. Scottie Reynolds and Corey Stokes handled the ball in the backcourt together. Only another 5 All-BE awards amongst those two.
And oh yeah, right before Reynolds came four guards named Mike Nardi, Randy Foye, Allen Ray, and Kyle Lowry to get Nova’s program back on track.
This group of guards covers the last 20 years of Villanova basketball. When they found the right front court guys to compliment these leaders, they have made Final Fours and hung National title banners. But make no mistake about it, this program has been led by their floor generals.

Guard play, specifically point guard play, is so key to the success of your program in college basketball. It can take you from poor to good, good to great, and sometimes great to elite. Right now Nova fans are complaining that they are playing 4 on 5 on offense and the one guy who is putting them at that disadvantage is getting 30 mpg.

Caleb Daniels and Chris Arcidiacono are not going to go down in the annals of great Villanova backcourts. If Kyle Neptune had anyone of these BE POY type point guards I think he would be fine. Heck, if he had a healthy Justin Moore for the entire season this would be a different roster.
Let’s be fair, I also think the great Jay Wright would be struggling more than usual to dominate the BE with this roster.

If Kyle Neptune can build upon the success of Wright and restock his backcourt in his upcoming recruiting classes, Nova and he will be just fine.

What do I know, maybe just maybe Jay Wright knew Villanova could have NIL issues to compete at the level he established. So far Kyle Neptune only has 1 2/3 star recruit committed to his program for the upcoming season in SF Jordan Dumont. If he wants a two decade run of success he better have a plan to build his backcourt beyond what it currently is.

Their pg situation is bad w arch. Hes just not good. Justin moore may have been their best player and hes been out. Add a normal pg and moore and they are much better