‘If you’re coming back, I’m coming back’: Inside the night that put Villanova on track for another Final Four

NEW ORLEANS — The Villanova athletic department created sharp graphics last April for Jermaine Samuels and Collin Gillespie to blast on social media when they each announced they would be returning for a fifth-season.

The players, part of the same recruiting class in 2017, decided a week earlier that they would return to campus. It was big news — two starters remaining in the fold meant real title aspirations — and the program wanted to make it special.

So they told the players to wait until they finished the graphics, tweet them out at the same time — 7 p.m. on Tuesday April 12 — and watch the news go viral.

“I posted mine,” Gillespie said. “And then he texted me and said ‘Shoot. I forgot.’”

Samuels lost track of time as he surfed his phone. It was a miscommunication, he said. The perfect announcement was spoiled — Gillespie beat him by four minutes — but what mattered was they were both staying on campus. And Villanova was on track for the Final Four.

It’s hard to imagine the Wildcats reaching New Orleans without those tweets from Gillespie and Samuels. Gillespie leads Villanova in scoring at 15.6 points per game and Samuels is their top rebounder at 6.5 per game. They outmuscled Houston, flicked away Michigan, Ohio State, and Delaware, and have won nine straight overall.

A win Saturday against Kansas would mean Villanova had reached three of the last six title games. Villanova went through Kansas in the NCAA Tournament the previous two times. But this run likely doesn’t happen if Gillespie and Samuels don’t come back.

“That makes it that much more special,” Samuels said. “It means that much more. Even if we didn’t make it this far, I would still be grateful to come back and be on this journey with him. Walking in together and walking out together.”

Gillespie was the Big East’s player of the year, finishing his college career as the latest in a long line of great Villanova guards after his basketball future once pointed toward playing Division II ball at Holy Family on Frankford Avenue. Samuels provides the muscle, allowing Villanova to slow down teams like Houston. He grabbed 10 rebounds in the Elite Eight and is averaging 17.5 points per game in the tournament, up from his season average of 11.1 ppg

“Everything,” Gillespie said when asked what Samuels provides. “Whatever you ask him to do, he’s going to do it. He’s going to do it for his teammates and his coaches and he’s going to do it as hard as he can to the best of his abilities. That’s just how he is. He’s willing to give his body up and put his body on the line for his teammates.

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“If you ask him to set screens all night, he’ll do it. If you ask him to guard a center, he’ll do it. If you ask him to guard a point guard, he’ll do it. It doesn’t really matter. He’ll catch-and-shoot. He’ll drive. He’ll pass it. He does all the little things for us and his presence doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Their decision to return to campus meant Gillespie and Samuels would be roommates for another year. Samuels said he couldn’t ask for a better roommate, as Gillespie makes it his mission to keep the place clean. He makes his own bed each morning and even empties Samuels’ trash can.

The two have separate rooms this year with a shared common area, but Gillespie still vacuums Samuels’ bedroom. Samuels said Gillespie won’t let him vacuum his own room.

“My mother, she’s vacuuming the floor at home all the time and always cleaning up and making sure everything is tight,” Gillespie said. “So that’s how I’m used to living. If she gets nervous or anxious, she’ll just start cleaning, so that’s kind of what I do if I’m bored. I’ll look around and be like, ‘OK. I’m going to take out the trash or vacuum or clean up the counters.’”

A clean room — “I’m sure he appreciates that,” Gillespie said — was a perk of returning to campus. So Samuels asked his roommate a few weeks after Villanova’s season ended last March in the Sweet 16 if he had made his decision.

The players were granted a fifth season of eligibility by the NCAA’s COVID-19 rule and it made sense to take advantage. Gillespie had torn a ligament in his knee last year on senior day, which kept him out of the postseason and likely would have prevented him from taking part in the NBA draft process.

But he would be ready for the start of the college season. And Samuels, a 6-foot-7 forward, stood to benefit from another college season before turning pro. If they returned, the Wildcats would be title contenders.

“I said if you’re coming back, I’m coming back,” Samuels said. “There’s no ifs, ands, or buts, If you’re coming back, I’m coming back. It was that simple.”

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The decision was in. Samuels and Gillespie called Jay Wright to tell him and then waited for the graphics to be ready. Villanova’s path to another March would soon begin with a perfect announcement. They just had to wait four minutes before the news came together. Nearly a year later, they’re at the Final Four.

“I was like, ‘Damn, I kind of ruined that,’” Samuels said. “It was supposed to be at the same exact time. That would’ve been cool.’ You know, when you’re on social media you lose track of time.”