Under coach Kyle Neptune, Villanova looks nothing like the Final Four program built by Hall of Famer

Published Nov. 7, 2024 3:49 p.m. ET

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VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) — The once mighty Nova Nation was scaled down to a block party as the final seconds ticked off of the latest and easily most ignominious defeat of the last three seasons for Villanova.

The smattering of fans who turned up Wednesday night rushed for the Pavilion exits with about 3 minutes left and with no indication that a rally was coming under coach Kyle Neptune. The main attraction for some: stopping for a courtside selfie with rapper OT7 Quanny in the house.

Villanova went down once more to another perennial lightweight, the kind of team a program that recently boasted the likes of NBA stars Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges would have steamrolled by halftime not so long ago.

The final: Columbia 90, Villanova 80.

Yes, Columbia, with four winning Ivy League seasons since 1991 and a 16 1/2-point underdog, scored 90 points in regulation for the first time since 2018, and scored 21 points off turnovers. It joined the likes of Portland and Penn; Drexel and DePaul; Temple and Saint Joseph’s — humdrum teams that have beaten Neptune’s no-longer feared squads over his two-plus seasons.

Down times

Fanunrest is growing around the tony Main Line campus with Neptune at a pedestrian 36-34 since he replaced Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright. Friday’s home game against NJIT suddenly seems make-or-break for NCAA Tournament expectations.

“Listen, I’m as competitive as everyone else. If you don’t get the result you want, it does suck sometimes," Neptune said. "You get an hour or so to say, it’s horrible, then, fine, you move on.”

Move on?

He might want to skip social media to avoid the question raised if Villanova would indeed move on from the 39-year-old Neptune as the program shaped under Wright into a two-time national champion and a perennial tough out for anyone has taken a nose dive into one that can't escape the first round of the NIT.

UConn has soared past the Wildcats as the class of both the Big East and college basketball. The program that once anchored its success on the Villanova Way — a mini-dynasty built on NBA-ready upperclassmen — has become discombobulated under the roster chaos born of NIL money and the transfer portal.

Neptune, a career assistant under Wright who coached one season at Fordham before the job of a lifetime opened for him, remains upbeat about the state of the program. Neptune largely dismissed talk about the burden he faced in trying to rebuild the Wildcats in a conversation this week with The Associated Press ahead of the Columbia defeat.

“For sure, we haven’t performed to the standard of where Villanova basketball has been,” Neptune said. “If that’s the truth, OK. The only thing I can do is worry about what myself and our staff can control, and that’s trying to prepare this team to be the best it can be by the end of the season, and doing that with joy and doing that with a positive attitude.”

Well-liked and respected by all in the program, Neptune has downplayed criticism throughout his tenure, insisting at the end of last season he didn’t hear fans who booed him at times during pregame introductions or the horde that chanted “Fire Neptune!” in the NIT.

He says he’s shrugged off pressure that started almost instantly when the nationally ranked Wildcats lost at rival Temple in his second game, even with swirling speculation about his job status while leading a team picked to finish seventh in the Big East.

“Pressure? What does that actually mean? It doesn’t really mean anything,” Neptune said. “That’s what some expectations are. It’s not going to help me in a game being the best coach I can be.”

Murky future

A day after the Wildcats lost their first NIT game for the second straight year, Neptune got a public vote of confidence from former athletic director Mark Jackson. Jackson, though, left in August for the same job at Northwestern and the search for a new AD at Villanova has dragged into the season.

With each loss that tugs the Wildcats further away from March Madness, would a new boss search for a new coach?

“Honestly, it’s not something that I’ve thought about,” Neptune said, “at all.”

Perhaps with good reason, as firing coaches isn’t in the Augustinian Catholic university’s DNA. The men’s program has nine coaches in a history that dates to 1921; the women, just two coaches since 1981; and football -- while not a revenue driver at the FCS level -- has had two coaches since 1985.

Patience paid off with Jay Wright, who went 52-46 with no NCAA Tournament appearances in his first three seasons. But it's a new era in college sports compared to the days when Wright resuscitated the program.

Money matters more than ever, which, even as losses mount, hasn't been much of an issue at well-heeled Villanova where the NIL coffers are believed to be plenty full. The program where a transfer once was a rarity before NIL and the portal has since opened its doors.

The yearly roster turnover, though, has done little to build the culture —- where senior stars once taught the new kids the concept of Villanova basketball — that was once a championship hallmark under Wright.

Challenging transition

Wright floored Villanova when he retired at 60 years old weeks after leading the Wildcats to a Final Four in 2022. Neptune -- who went 16-16 in his lone season at Fordham -- was hired the same month.

“I was as surprised as everybody else because he’s a young dude,” Neptune said. “You’ve got these guys coaching until 70 years old. I’m thinking I’ll have to go somewhere else. I’m thinking, I’m going to go somewhere where I know we’ll never play them because he’ll be a head coach for another 15 years.

“I hope I last 15, 20 years, while he’s still a head coach,” he said. "That’s legitimately what I thought. I never thought he would leave. Why would you leave Villanova? I thought he’d be here forever.”

Wright, now a CBS broadcaster, attended Wednesday's game and has continued to serve as a sounding board for Neptune largely without public comment.

The cupboard under Neptune hasn’t been bare: Cam Whitmore was a first-round pick in the 2023 NBA draft and Caleb Daniels plays for Miami’s G League team. Villanova senior forward Eric Dixon, a Wright holdover who scored 33 points against Columbia, is a borderline NBA prospect.

“I don't doubt any of these guys on the team want to win and want to get it done,” Dixon said.

Before the Columbia loss, Neptune was steadfast in his belief the Wildcats could contend for a Big East title -- and possibly much more.

“Oh yeah, 100%,” he said. “If you’re coming out and competing to win a championship in this league, you get in the tournament, you’re right there.”

What's next

Of course, history can repeat itself: Villanova lost to Columbia in 2012 and still reached the NCAA Tournament that season.

If Neptune truly can’t adapt the Wildcats in the new climate of college basketball, just how much longer can Villanova’s president, the Rev. Peter M. Donohue, a new AD and even his most steadfast supporters look the other way?

Or maybe they'll look like geniuses if Neptune can navigate 'Nova back to the top of college basketball.

“I think we’re in a big-time spot," Neptune said, “to continue to compete at the highest level.”

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