Tommy Godin caught up with Kyle Neptune at Media Day before Villanova begins the 2024-25 season.
The Villanova Wildcats are just days away from their regular season opener. With the final countdown underway, Kyle Neptune shared some of his thoughts going into his third season with a new-look squad led by returners Eric Dixon and Jordan Longino.
Q: Biggest takeaway from preseason heading into the regular season for this year’s team?
Kyle Neptune: I think we’re in the same boat as a lot of these teams that are trying to fit in a lot of new guys. Our focus is trying to get better each day.
Q: With the transfer portal, how do you navigate that?
KN: What we try to do — we make sure we put out what we want and what we are to each guy we recruit, and hope they choose Villanova for the right reasons.
Q: Is it a different game now from when you started recruiting years back?
KN: I think it’s ever-changing. I think the only thing that’s consistent is there will always be change. As a recruiter, it changed. Even before the transfer portal, it changed. Now, with NIL, I think it will continue to change. These are the new parameters we have to abide by and we have to work through. It is what it is. You just try to do it and make sure you do it to the highest level that you can.
Q: With Jhamir Brickus coming in this year, Villanova plays less-traditional positionless basketball, I’d say, but Jhamir is more of a traditional point guard — where you’ve had Mark (Armstrong) who was more of a combo guard, and Justin (Moore) the year before that. What does he bring to the table in terms of being the quarterback of the offense?
KN: I’d agree with you. He’s just a basketball player. He literally does everything on the floor. He can shoot it, he’s a great ball-handler, he can use ball screens, isolate, he can post up — believe it or not. He literally does everything and he’s a leader on the floor. He knows what we’re looking to do. Anytime you have someone like that in any position, it really helps you, but especially at the point guard position.
Q: One another player I wanted to ask you was Sasha Gavalyugov. What kind of role do you expect him to have?
KN: It’s kind of too early to tell. Sasha has kind of been in and out, he’s dealing with an injury. With all of our freshmen and new guys, it’s still kind of early to figure out different roles and how each guy is going to contribute.
Q: Another thing I wanted to ask you about was incoming (assistant) coach Jamie Young. What does he bring to this team coming from an outside perspective.
KN: That outside perspective is one thing he definitely brings. He’s someone who has limited experience in college, but 20 years of NBA experience being around some of the best players — literally — ever in this sport. Anytime you have someone like that, who’s been around basketball at a high level, it’s definitely a great addition to our staff.
Q: What’s a ‘Kyle Neptune guy’ (ideal recruit/player) like in your mind?
KN: For us, we want basketball players. We want guys who can pass, dribble, shoot and make plays. Someone that wants to compete for Villanova, who wants to be at the highest level for the people in our locker room every day.
Q: With a new group of players that’s different from last year’s group, with a bunch of new transfers, what have you seen from a day-to-day basis as this team continues to build towards opening night?
KN: This team is just uniquely connected. We obviously have two guys in rotation who were in rotation that are back, but we also have a lot of area guys who knew each other before they played together. I think that synergy has really helped this team. Then, I think we have a blend of younger and older guys, some returners and transfers that are older, but then also some younger guys and a really good blend of different guys from different classes. I think that’s pretty unique now, because sometimes you bring in a bunch of older guys and then the younger guys don’t really get to learn from anyone. I think our team now has a pretty good class balance.
Q: When you go out to recruit transfers, as you’ve done over the last two years, you mentioned the geographical ties and the fact they might have played against each other or together in high school or AAU before — how much does that actually help you, because when you bring in a bunch of new guys you have to hit the ground running right away as Villanova in the Big East, you have to have chemistry that might not naturally exist otherwise.
KN: It’s a definite benefit for our program to have guys that knew each other before they actually played together. Any type of synergy you can have before the season, any type of camaraderie or even just knowing somewhere before helps build trust and cohesion.
Q: How pressurized has the job become over the last two years?
KN: Honestly, pressure is something I really don’t think about. It’s something that I understand it’s a buzzword that for sure people, in sports, talk about all the time and you answer those questions as best as you can. For me, I just look at it as attacking each day and trying to be the best we can each day. Once that day is over, whatever that result is, come back the next day and attack it again. I really truly feel that we’re doing the best we can possibly do. We’re leaving it all out on the floor, we’re leaving it all out as a coach — that’s all you can do. The pressure piece, doesn’t really matter.
Q: The last two seasons obviously haven’t ended up with the traditional standard of Villanova Basketball. What’s been the motto this year as practices have gone through the offseason? What’s different about this year with this specific team?
KN: I feel like our guys are different in terms of connectivity. Even though we have a lot of new guys, most of them have known each other before they got here or, at a minimum, knew about each other, so I think that fact has really helped our connectivity and our team camaraderie. I think their mindset is really unique and everyone looks like they’re really competing for Villanova and for each other. Sometimes it takes you until the end of the year to do that, and I think our guys are there now.