Head coach Kevin Willard wasn’t the only one getting used to a new-look roster this week.
Villanova saw several familiar faces leave through the transfer portal following last season’s 24-9 season, with Acaden Lewis, Bryce Lindsay, Duke Brennan, and Malachi Palmer all finding new homes.
While the Wildcats opened their season with a frustrating 74-72 loss to Notre Dame in Rome, their former teammates were busy making their debuts elsewhere.
Some had better days than others.
Acaden Lewis, G (Miami)
Lewis
was the toughest one to watch pack his bags and enter the transfer portal. The 6-foot-2 guard had quite the debut for the Hurricanes, even if Miami couldn’t pull off the upset against No. 1 Florida.
The former four-star point guard scored a game-high 24 points on 9-of-20 shooting, adding four rebounds in 36 minutes during the 77-67 loss.
Lewis also committed four turnovers and finished with just one assist, which is significantly lower than the ball-moving 5.3 assists per game he had for the Wildcats last season.
Still, 24 points against the top-ranked team in the country is a pretty good way to start off the season. Expect big things from Lewis this year.
Bryce Lindsay, G (Indiana)
Lindsay, whom we last saw put 25 points on Utah State in the first round of last year’s tournament, wasted little time making an impression in Bloomington.
The former Wildcat scored 14 points in 24 minutes off the bench during Indiana’s 91-57 blowout win over Eastern Illinois, knocking down three of his five attempts from beyond the arc.
He also added two steals while shooting 4-of-9 from the field.
Lindsay averaged 12.3 points and shot 35.6% from three at Villanova last season, so the Hoosiers are already getting a taste of what he can offer offensively.
Duke Brennan, C (Oklahoma)
Brennan’s Oklahoma debut was a little less eventful.
Villanova’s former double-double merchant finished with nine points, four rebounds, and a block in just 17 minutes during the Sooners’ surprising 68-64 loss to East Texas A&M.
He was efficient, going 4-of-6 from the field, but also committed three turnovers.
After averaging 12.4 points and 10.3 rebounds on the Main Line last season, Brennan will presumably be looking for a bigger impact on the glass moving forward. I’m sure head coach Porter Moser — who coaches in the SEC — will stress better rebounding after the Sooners were out-rebounded by a team from the Southland Conference.
Malachi Palmer, G (Minnesota)
Palmer might not have had the biggest impact in Willard’s first season last year, but he’s certainly the fourth biggest impactful transfer who left.
The former Wildcat played 12 minutes off the bench in Minnesota’s 85-50 win over North Dakota, finishing scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting with one assist.
Palmer averaged 4.6 points in 18.3 minutes for Villanova last season. The 6-foot-6 guard left Nova primarily to find a larger on-court role and avoid an impending logjam on the wing. He’ll have to perform better than in Game 1 if he’s going to see that through.
It’s only one game, of course, but Lewis and Lindsay certainly gave their new fan bases something to be excited about. It’ll be interesting to see how all four fare as the season gets going. We’ll keep tabs here.
