Villanova has had a very busy offseason, thus far. The once great college basketball program is seeking to get back to the top of the mountain, and following former coach Kyle Neptune hitting the road, Villanova hopes Kevin Willard was brought in to replace him from Maryland.
In 2025, Villanova will seemingly have a brand new look on the court. After winning 21 games last season, the Wildcats will be without their top four scorers, as they all graduated. The Wildcats also had eight players enter the transfer portal. Following the Acaden Lewis pick-up, Willard has made a key transfer portal decision.
Kevin Willard Makes Key Transfer Portal Decision for Villanova
College basketball insider, Adam Zagoria, posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he was told that Villanova is “now done constructing its roster for 2025-26.” This means that Villanova is likely done picking up players out of the transfer portal.
This news comes on the heels of the Wildcats picking up Acaden Lewis from the portal. This could be very well one of the most important pick-ups in Willard’s early time at Villanova. Willard has scored, the top guard of 2025’s recruiting class, Lewis’s commitment to the program, following his Kentucky commitment.
Willard and Villanova were competing with the likes of St. John’s, Georgia, and Miami to land Lewis. He chose the Wildcats after visiting those three other schools. Lewis re-opened his recruitment on April 10th, explaining why he chose to bring his talents to Villanova.
“The staff I ultimately had the most trust in was Nova,” Acaden Lewis said, via Jonathan Givony of ESPN. “We built a relationship since my sophomore year, when I first transferred to Sidwell. Kevin Willard and his staff were among the first high-major coaches to recruit me at Maryland. I have build a great relationship with them and have immense trust that I will thrive and they will let me be.”
The Wildcats also landed Malachi Palmer and Braden Pierce both transferred to Villanova following former Maryland coach, Willard, in the process. While neither has truly elite stats, Palmer, standing at 6’6″, will add size and potential at the guard position, and Pierce is a 7-footer with an abundance of experience.
Willard also added a late recruit from Maryland, four-star guard Chris Jeffrey. At the bare minimum, Willard brought three players who will certainly provide quality depth at a fairly thin team and could make an immediate impact.
KEEP READING: 2025 Men’s College Basketball Transfer Portal Tracker
In total, Willard and the Villanova basketball team have added six players from the transfer portal. Villanova is now seemingly done with dipping their hand in the transfer portal and will seemingly work with who they have now. One thing we know for sure is that we will see a new Villanova team come the 2025-26 season.
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