Big man Luigi Suigo has arrived at Villanova. His journey to the 2027 NBA draft is underway.

Luigi Suigo has only been on campus for a few weeks, but he’s already had his Villanova rite of passage.

Assistant coach Ricky Harris took Suigo to Campus Corner, the longtime pizza shop on Lancaster Ave., and Suigo, a 7-foot-3, 19-year-old from Italy, was overwhelmed by all the menu options.

Harris asked: “Have you ever had a cheesesteak?”

Suigo didn’t know what it was, he said, but let Harris lead the way. The cheesesteak was “crazy good,” Suigo said, though he said Villanova general manager Baker Dunleavy playfully cautioned against having too many of them.

“Maybe I’ll have them in secret,” said Suigo, who goes by “Gigi.”

He better get them in while he can. Suigo’s stay on the Main Line is not expected to be long. The freshman big man, who played professionally last season with Serbia’s Mega Basket, is expected to join the short list of modern Villanova players who are on campus for one season before being selected in the NBA draft.

Cam Whitmore did it in 2023, but before that was Tim Thomas all the way back in 1996. Suigo arriving at Villanova has rivaled the excitement of those players and even Jalen Brunson, who was a McDonald’s All-American before he played at Villanova for three seasons.

Suigo went through the draft process this offseason and participated in the NBA draft combine before ultimately deciding to remove his name from the field and sign to play at Villanova. He likely is the highest-paid Villanova player in the nascent era of paying players. (Villanova, like all schools, does not publicly disclose the terms of player contracts, but it’s not hard to guesstimate that Suigo is making more than $3 million this season.)

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This makes Villanova seemingly a temporary stopping point for Suigo, but it is a rather critical one. Suigo was projected to be selected in the later stages of the first round of the 2026 NBA draft, though there was no guarantee. He is a talented big man with a versatile skill set whose shooting range stretches beyond the three-point line, but there are elements of his game that need to improve if he’s going to be worthy of the “Italian Wemby” nickname.

That process already has started. Since arriving at Villanova at the end of July following a delay in his visa paperwork, Suigo has been working on conditioning. Suigo, who wants to be a lottery pick in next year’s draft, averaged 18.8 minutes in 26 games last season with Mega Basket. Working on his physique is a big part of what he’s doing right now on campus.

It is a bit of a lonely time on an empty campus, Suigo said, but he’s in the gym most days running and dunking on the court, pedaling on the bike, jumping, and doing “everything to get me back in shape.”

Besides his body, Suigo said he wants to expand the things he’s already good at, but also add an improved face-up element to his game from the perimeter. The NBA draft process also taught him about having a strong mindset, he said.

“Even in workouts with NBA teams, they’re just trying to see if you’re weak and you give up or if you’re strong even if you’re dead tired,” Suigo said. “You just keep going. I learned to be tougher, stronger with my mind before even my body.”

Kevin Willard said in June that with some more development, the “sky is the limit” for Suigo, whose addition near the end of the offseason catapulted Villanova into discussion for a preseason top 25 ranking. With Suigo in tow, the Wildcats have a formidable front court and a versatile roster that can play big or small.

“I think he maybe would have gotten drafted late in the first round, but he doesn’t want that,” Willard said. “He wants to make sure when he gets drafted he’s going to play. The big thing is I think he needs to get Americanized a little bit, to American basketball. I think that’s why college will be really good for him. Get in shape a little bit, just kind of get used to American basketball.”

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Willard flew overseas to see Suigo at least twice. Willard first went to see him with Dunleavy in Belgrade, Serbia, before he signed, and Suigo said Willard visited him again this summer in Italy.

Suigo is from Tradate, in the province of Varese, in the Lombardy region of the country, and this is his first time living outside of Europe, but he said he’s not worried about the distance from home. He has lived away from Tradate before. Suigo described himself as a guy who can meet new people easily, who likes to play video games or go bowling, but also a guy who likes to sleep and recover from basketball and doesn’t mind being alone.

Plus, he said, “I have my guys here.”

He’s still getting to know his new teammates, but Suigo has been impressed by returning leading scorer Tyler Perkins.

“Perk, he’s a machine, man,” Suigo said. “He’s that type of guy that works every day without saying nothing and he’s never tired. He just keeps working. I’m trying to be like him and be more tough.”

Suigo, who will open his college basketball career in his home country when Villanova takes on Notre Dame in Rome on Nov. 1, said he expects to get along well with Willard, who he called “a good man and a good coach from what I’ve seen.”

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The visits from Willard are part of the reason why Suigo was sold that Villanova is the place to help him get to where he wants to go next. There’s money, sure, but it’s “the people, man,” Suigo said.

“I like to be around these people,” he said. “I think they were more honest with me and it’s just a feeling. You have to feel it. When you make new friends or meet new people, you have to have a feeling for those types of people. I think they’re the right people to push me through everything and try to get me better, and also the type of people you can have dinner with and have fun.

“I love it over here.”