Big East preseason poll shows Villanova has a ways to climb back

NEW YORK — For as much as Villanova’s men’s basketball team wants to shake off last season’s substandard campaign, Kyle Neptune’s fellow coaches have not put his team back into the elite yet.

The Wildcats were voted No. 7 in the Big East’s preseason coaches’ poll, behind not just the usual suspects in Connecticut and Creighton but also St. John’s and Providence. The Huskies swept the poll voting, taking all 10 available votes. (Dan Hurley couldn’t vote for his own team, so he voted for Marquette.)

Forward Eric Dixon was voted to the all-conference first team ahead of his last season on the Main Line, and Wooga Poplar, a Philly-born transfer from Miami, made the third team. Creighton‘s Ryan Kalkbrenner was voted preseason player of the year, and UConn’s Liam McNeeley freshman of the year.

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Neptune knows what the expectations on him are, from the polls to the Finneran Pavilion stands. He also has a second straight year with a big crop of incoming transfers — Poplar, Kris Parker (Alabama), Jhamir Brickus (La Salle), Tyler Perkins (Penn), and Enoch Boakye (Fresno State) — and four new freshmen.

That’s a lot of chemistry to build on the fly. Neptune believes it will help that three of the transfers have ties to the Philly area and have some familiarity with one another.

“I think it’s a definite benefit for our program, having guys that knew each other before they played together,” he said. “Any type of synergy that you can have before the season, any type of camaraderie, or even just knowing someone before, I think helps build trust and build cohesion.”

Senior guard Jordan Longino likes what he has seen from the newcomers so far.

“We’ve had young guys come in and kind of bring new energy,” he said. “A lot of transfers have come in with similar mindsets to me and Eric, so it’s been easy having to lead them. Leading up to our first exhibition game on Sunday [at noon against Robert Morris at Finneran Pavilion], I feel like we’re in a good spot as a team with chemistry and cohesion and just being together.”

As for the prognosticators, Dixon had an answer ready.

“We were not talking about being picked first or second whenever we were that, either,” he said. “When we won it, I don’t know what we were. So same goes for now.”

Dixon needed no reminding that the Wildcats won the Big East tournament two years ago and the regular-season title the year before that. Nor did Neptune, and, for sure, nor did any fans.

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