Kyle Neptune found out what it was like to walk in Jay Wright’s footsteps Monday night.
Villanova’s new basketball coach did not get a chance to speak with his Naismith Hall of Fame predecessor before the Cats’, opening game 81-66 victory over La Salle at the sold out Pavilion
“I’Ill look for him after,” Neptune said.
Wright, who retired last spring after leading the Cats to two national championships and a Final Four in the previous five years, was at the game as a fan, enjoying life while preparing for his new job as a CBS studio analyst.
He wanted to make sure Neptune had a chance to establish his own identity.
“I get all the hype. First game. Big 5 game,” Neptune said. “All stuff. All we think about is playing and coaching for each other. When you do that and think that way, there’s nothng to be worried about.”
Ok. Expectations at this Big East program are always high these days.
Neptune’s debut was a study in experimentation.
Kyle Neptune made his debut as Jay Wright’s successor and gave eight players double figure minutes as he attempted to find a suitable rotation while 6-7 star recruit and McDonald’s All American Cam Whitemore recovers from a broken thumb on his shooting hand and potential NBA guard Justin Moore continues to rehab from a seriious knee injury.
If both come back healthy, Villanova could eventually become a Top 15 team that has the personnel to make a run in the Big East tournament.
Until then, Neptune should be thankful fifth year senior guard Caleb Daniels decided to come back for his final year of eligibiity. Daniels was a prolifc scorer at St. Augustine High in New Orleans and Tulane before transfering to the Main Line, was the best player in the floor, scoring 24 points on 8 of 11 shooting, grabbing 10 rebounds and contributing 4 assists in 35 minutes against a Explorers team, which is trying to reinvent itself under beloved former Penn and Temple coach Fran Dunphy after losing its three best players to the transfer portal. .
Daniels, a sixth man on last year’s Final Four team, is one of three key players Neptune will have to depend on offensively until Whitmore returns at the end of the month and Moore hopefully returns by February.
The others are 6-7 ffith year forward Brandon Slater and 6-7 redshirt junior center Eric Dixon, who is attempting to be more of a force on the offensive end.
Dixon, a former local star from Abington High School in suburban Philadelphia, scored 20 points on a career high 17 shots, had foiur assists and had three blocked shots, but he only had two rebounds and only got to the line three times, preferring to stay out on the wing, 20 feet from the rim, most of the 32 minutes he played.
Slater scored 11 points on 5 for 14 shooting, but remained agressive most the game.grabbing eight rebounds in 31 minutes.
Neptune started guards Jordan Longino and Chris Arcidacono at the other spots. Longino, who scored 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting, has a chance to become a major contributor if he learns how to stay out of foul trouble.
Point guard Mark Armstrong, was the most impressive of the freshman, scoring points with two assists in 17 minutes.
Villanova simply had too much firepower for La Salle, shooting a crisp 29 for 52 and making 10 of 11 free throws while playing a similar style to Wright, against the Explorers, who got 22 points from guard Josh Nickleberry, but struggled badly defenisvely, giving up too many open shots to Daniels and Dixon.
We should know more about Villanova in the next two weeks when the Cats play road games at Temple and Michigan State.
