Mass exodus, slow build at Villanova looms large for Kevin Willard after acrimonious departure from Maryland

Kevin Willard’s decision to leave Maryland for Villanova boiled down to internal strife and concerns — not only about the totality of program resources, but also about where said resources were committed. That it played out so publicly at the end of last season was stunning, but Willard’s change of scenery — which he presumably preferred in part because of its revenue share and resources — has so far netted underwhelming early returns.

Since Willard’s hiring in late March, there has been a mass exodus of players from last season’s team to the portal, a failure to lure big fish to join him, and (thus far) an underwhelming haul via the same path in return. 

To be clear, no roster is complete in the beginning of spring, much less by the summer given the current NIL landscape. But make no mistake: the pressure to assemble a team primed to compete early — particularly given Willard’s public grievances about Maryland’s commitment to winning and taking the job as early as he did to get a head start on the portal process — looms large for the first-year coach as he takes over a proud program.

Here’s where things stand for the Wildcats and Willard with the portal officially closing. 

Mass exodus

Eight players from last season’s roster have entered the transfer portal, including two (Jordan Longino and Enoch Boakye) who have no remaining eligibility. (This is a recent trend becoming popular not just among Nova players.) Of those, seven have entered since Willard’s hiring; the other, seldom-used forward Nnana Njoku, did so before the hiring.

It’s not uncommon for a new coaching staff — especially one taking over a 21-win team that the year prior did not make the NCAA Tournament — to turn over a roster entirely. But with the top two scorers gone in Eric Dixon and Wooga Poplar, and eight others from the roster in the portal, it ramps up the necessity to make big, and frequent, portal splashes to offset the losses.

So far that’s not been the case.

Stars not following

When a coach makes a move to a new destination, often times some or many of his players at his previous gig will follow.

This happened last year when Drake hired Ben McCollum from Division II, which helped it land, among others, star guard Bennett Stirtz. It also happened this year when Iowa made the same move by hiring McCollum away, with Stirtz again following his coach.

That’s not been the case with Willard. Only one of his former pupils have chosen to follow him from Maryland to Villanova so far among the 10 Terps who have entered the portal: 7-footer Braden Pierce, who played in five games last season and averaged 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in those contests. 

Meanwhile, second-leading scorer Ja’Kobi Gillespie transferred to Tennessee; third-leading scorer Rodney Rice transferred to USC; and seventh-leading scorer DeShawn Harris-Smith transferred to Georgetown. Leading scorer and rebounder Derik Queen is expected to go to the NBA after a stellar freshman season.

To put it more succinctly: Maryland’s top eight scorers from last season — including the entirety of the “Crab Five” — are not currently following Willard to his new spot up the road.

Four Maryland players in the portal remain undecided (another, Julian Reese, is in the portal but out of eligibility), but none would serve as splashy additions like a Gillespie or Rice would have.

Underwhelming additions

Compounding the portal exodus at Villanova is the underlying struggle so far to build back the roster out of the portal. At Maryland, it has helped offset nine transfer portal losses under new coach Buzz Williams with eight incoming transfers. Among them are Pharrel Payne and Solomon Washington (both followed Williams from Texas A&M), and Indiana transfer Myles Rice. 

Villanova, meanwhile, has just three incoming transfers: James Madison guard Bryce Lindsay, Temple forward Zion Stanford and the aforementioned Pierce from Maryland. 

Lindsay ranks as the No. 269 player in the 247Sports portal rankings and Stanford the No. 281 player. 

Pierce is not ranked.

What’s next for Nova

The portal officially closing puts Villanova on the clock to start thumbing through its options and making decisions in the coming weeks before the available players thin out. There will be players in the portal who ultimately opt to stay in the NBA Draft, while others will look elsewhere. 

There are still several players from Maryland in the portal who are undecided, which seems like a safe place to fish from among the available pool. 

There are also a handful of big names who entered the portal recently and could be in the mix if Nova can meet asking prices. Players like USC guard Desmond Claude, Memphis guard PJ Haggerty would be wish-listers with big price tags. More likely, Nova fishes from unconventional routes — like the international pool or from low-majors — to fill out its roster. 

The results for Willard speak for themselves: He won 22 games in his first season when virtually none of his previous roster at Seton Hall followed him. He then bounced back from a 16-17 season the following year to lead Maryland to a 27-9 record. He’s a winner who isn’t an ace recruiter but has a keen eye for talent.

It’s just hard to see right now how he finds success early with the Wildcats if things don’t change — and fast. A new situation with more resources was what he wanted. He’s got it and consistently missed on several targets thus far, leaving Nova in a spot where it could flounder next season.