Moving On
Patience in college basketball and most major sports is very thin and that was seen by the news that Villanova fired men’s basketball coach Kyle Neptune over the weekend.
Neptune was 54-47 in his three years as Villanova’s head coach. He was replacing the legendary Jay Wright, that in itself was a difficult task.
In addition, the Big East was highly competitive during Neptune’s brief tenure, with conference member UConn earning consecutive national championships during his first two seasons.
Villanova failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament in any of Neptune’s three seasons.
The Wildcats also failed to qualify for the tournament during Wright’s first three years, when the team was a combined 52-46.
After that, the program took off in Wright’s fourth season, earning an NCAA berth in 16 of the next 17 completed seasons. During that span the Wildcats won National championships in 2016 and 2018 and totaled four Final Four appearances.
Villanova’s patience with Wright paid off big-time, but the school wasn’t willing to give Neptune a fourth season.
What was maddening to the fan base and obviously to the administration, was how inconsistent Villanova played, especially this season. The Wildcats had the ability to beat some of the top teams in the country, but that was also accompanied by head-scratching losses.
For instance, this year Villanova beat Big East regular season champ St. John’s 73-71 at home, only to lose at Providence, 75-62 the next game. Providence finished 12-20 this year.
There was an early-season 90-80 home loss to Columbia, which finished last in the Ivy League with a 1-13 league record.
In addition, two of this year’s Big East losses came to Georgetown, which went 8-12 in league play.
Villanova was competitive in many games, and beat some really good teams this year. Besides St. John’s, Villanova beat then No. 16 ranked Marquette and split in the regular season with UConn.
Neptune’s final game was 73-56 loss to UConn in the Wildcats’ second Big East game tournament game.
The teams were tied 51-51 when UConn put the game away on a 20-3 run.
Too many times, Villanova didn’t play well down the stretch, with that game being a classic example.
As with everything, it certainly wasn’t all Neptune’s fault, but he is the boss, so he gets the brunt of the blame.
Can Villanova still be an elite college basketball team?
That remains to be seen.
There will be no shortage of suitors for the job. The team has a strong following, and plays in the high profile Big East.
One other factor is that Villanova plays in a pro sports town. The wide fan base isn’t living and dying with every play, as they do locales such as Durham, North Carolina, or Lexington, Kentucky. That doesn’t mean there aren’t many diehard Villanova fans, just nowhere near as many in the aforementioned other schools. In those cities, the college team is the No. 1 focus.
Villanova plays in a town where the Eagles are talked about 365 days a year. The Phillies have a strong following and the Sixers and Flyers have their diehard fans, but both have suffered through terrible seasons, causing fan apathy.
A coach at Villanova isn’t under the type of scrutiny that one sees at a place such as Duke or Kentucky, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of pressure.
Neptune’s teams could simply never get over the hump.
Obviously, the Villanova administration didn’t feel that would change.
Giving Wright a fourth year meant all the difference in the world. Now Villanova will be looking for what it hopes will be a difference maker in a still very attractive job.
Photo Courtesy of Villanova Men’s Basketball X/Twitter
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Author: Marc Narducci
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