Return of Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels adds excitement to Villanova’s prospects next season

So with the announcements just minutes apart that Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels were going to be part of the Villanova basketball team for a fifth year, the Wildcats went from a borderline preseason top 25 team next season to a legitimate national championship contender once again.

And their coach is, well, pretty excited about what he called “a lucky break.”

“We would have been excited because, what happens at this time of year is when guys leave, it just gives opportunities for guys who have been waiting,” Jay Wright said Tuesday during a Zoom call with reporters. “Guys like Brandon Slater and Justin Moore and Eric Dixon, those guys have been waiting for their opportunities to be go-to guys, also Caleb Daniels.

“Even though they’ve been starters, Jeremiah (Robinson-Earl) took on a lot of responsibility for our team. So we would have been excited. But obviously getting two veterans back, you’re extra excited.”

» READ MORE: Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels to return to Villanova for 2021-22 season

Robinson-Earl, the co-Big East player of the year and the team’s leading scorer and rebounder this past season, has moved on to preparing for the NBA Draft, and veteran reserve forward Cole Swider transferred to Syracuse. But the Wildcats are loaded for the new season thanks to the return of Gillespie and Samuels, both two-year starters.

Gillespie, Villanova’s other co-Big East player of the year, averaged 14.0 points and 4.5 assists before he went down with a torn left knee ligament on March 3 against Creighton. Samuels, an honorable mention all-Big East selection, averaged 12.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in 25 games, and 15.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists in three NCAA Tournament contests.

“I’m really excited just to do it all over again,” said Samuels, a 6-foot-7 forward. “We’ve got almost the same group – we’re missing Jeremiah and Cole – but we’re also adding some freshmen in so it’s going to be fun to go through those experiences all over again. Also just to put on that Villanova jersey, the culture of having people around you who love you. Those are little things you can’t take for granted.”

Gillespie said he started to think about returning the day after he underwent surgery for his torn medial collateral ligament, thinking that he wouldn’t be as healthy as he needed to be to go through workouts prior to the NBA Draft in July.

“You can’t beat playing another year of college basketball,” the 6-3 guard said. “You can’t beat having another year at Villanova getting to learn and kind of grow as a player and a person for another year. So I’m really excited for it and I’m in a great place mentally, and I think I’ll be in a great place physically just being around people that love me and care about me and want me to succeed.”

The two players, who came in together as freshmen and roomed with each other their first year, carefully coordinated their announcements, which came on Monday night over Twitter.

Well, almost. Samuels admitted that he was a little late in posting because “I got distracted during a text message and I was like, three minutes late. But we were supposed to do it at the same time.”

Samuels said he thought about moving on to the NBA while pondering his decision, speaking with his family and Wright about it, before opting to return to campus.

“I felt like you only get one chance in your life to be around people who genuinely love you, playing for something that really matters that’s bigger than yourself,” he said. “I know I have the rest of my life, hopefully, to play at a professional level. But you only get one chance to bask in the college atmosphere and be around people that really mean a lot.”

The return of Gillespie and Samuels presents a logjam for Wright, who will welcome at least 12 scholarship players to a new season – 13 if forward Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree elects to return for a fifth year after recovering from a tibial stress fracture. The roster number includes four freshmen, one of whom, Trey Patterson, joined the team last January.

“This is a good position for us,” Wright said. “Once you get into the season, you manage it. I like where we are right now.”