PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Jay Wright’s first recruiting class at Villanova in 2002 featured 6-10 McDonald’s All America center Jason Frazier of Amityville, All city forward Curtis Sumpter of Bishop Loughlin on Brooklyn, All city guard Alan Ray of St. Raymond’s in the Bronx and first team New Jersey All state guard Randy Foye of Newark Eastside.

It took close to three years before they blossomed, but that core group played a major role in the Cats’ 2005 Sweet 16 run and close loss to eventual national champion North Carolina and the program’s rise to No. 2 in the final 2006 AP poll and a trip to the Elite Eight. Foye was a first team All America and a NBA lottery pick. Ray also played in the NBA.

Wright signed an equally hyped group last November when he signed 6-8 McDonald’s All America forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl from IGM Academy in Florida,,6-8 Pennsylvania All State forward Eric Dixon from Abington, Pa. High, 6-5 McDonald’s All America guard Bryan Antoine from the Ranney School in Tinton Falls, N.J., and 6-5 guard Justin Moore, the Washington D.C. Player of the Year Justin Moore from DeMatha, Md. Catholic, multi-year players who are the future of this perennial NCAA program, which has won two national championships in the last four years.

Villanova, which was ranked 10th in the country in the pre-season AP poll, may not be ready to step onto center stage yet after a disjointed 76-51 loss to Ohio State Wednesday in Columbus. They do not have a senior on the roster. But this core group of Wildkittens has just as high a ceiling as the 2006 group and may be just a year ago from helping Nova re-establish itself as a national contender again once they all start to click.

Right now, Wright is starting Robinson-Earl and Moore. He is waiting on  Antoine, who just started practicing with the team after missing three months with a shoulder injury, to begin contributing in December. Wright is currently redshirting Dixon, because he has a glut of talent at the power forward spot.
It should be fun to watch them grow up.

The Cats took a step forward Saturday with a 78-54 win over Ohio U., an undervalued MAC team that already had road wins over St. Bonaventure’s and Iona. Sophomore forward Saddiq Bey led the Cats with 19 points, making 4 of 5 threes and grabbing 5 rebounds. He combined with Moore to shoot 9 for 12 and make 4 of 6 threes when Villanova blew the game wide open with a 26-4 run in the final 6.36 of the half to take a commanding 43-21 lead.

Robinson-Earl, who scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Cats’ opening game 94-57 blowout of Army; and Moore are making the type of impact that could make the Cats a Top 2 team in the Big East by March.

Moore, who got added responsibilities at the off guard position because of Antoine’s injury and lit up North Carolina for 52 points in a nine-quarter closed scrimmage at Chapel Hill, finished with 18 points, made 3 of 5 threes and only one turnover in 31 minutes. Robinson-Earl, who is already Villanova’s most versatile player, finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists in 31 minutes.
This was Villanova’s best effort of the young season. The Cats (2-1) struggled to score against Ohio State and they never recovered after falling behind 36-12, but they shot 14 of 31 from beyond the extended three point arc against the Bobcats with seven different players making a three. “We took a lot of bad threes against Ohio State,” Wright said. “We had just two or three bad three point attempts today,” Wright said. The Cats got much better shot selection because they had much better ball movement and played strong perimeter defense, limiting Ohio U., which was shooting 48 percent from the three, to just 3 for 20 from beyond the arc.

“Against Ohio State, we kind of backed down,” Moore said. “We learned that you have to come out and you have to keep fighting. That’s what Villanova does and that’s what we were able to do today.”