Villanova will have two starters back, but other needs have emerged after multiple portal entries

Michigan wasn’t yet back on its Ann Arbor campus after winning the national championship before more than 1,000 men’s basketball players were in the transfer portal Tuesday, the day the yearly open market officially opened.

One season ends, and another immediately begins.

But for Kevin Willard and other coaching staffs like Villanova’s, the process of looking ahead began even earlier. The Wildcats were eliminated on March 20 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. And since the modern model of college basketball means everyone is a free agent, the exercise of recruiting and negotiating with the players on the roster that you want back for the 2026-27 season began right away.

The next few weeks featured conversations with players and their agents, and over the weekend the results of some of those negotiations were revealed as news emerged about a few portal entries.

Villanova was always going to need to get bigger and more athletic at forward and center. Senior big man Duke Brennan exhausted his eligibility, and there was no obvious player on the roster to step in at center. Power forward Matt Hodge, meanwhile, may be ready to start next season, but he’s coming off ACL surgery and is a bit of a question mark. But the extent of Willard’s roster overhaul came even more into focus on Sunday, when two of Villanova’s three starting guards, Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay, made clear their intention to enter the portal.

Lewis also will go through the NBA draft process while keeping his collegiate eligibility intact.

Lewis was handed the keys as a freshman point guard and had a second-team all-conference type of season. But his departure from Villanova eventually came down to what most negotiations in the sport these days come down to: A financial agreement could not be reached, sources said. Lindsay, meanwhile, had 25 points in the NCAA Tournament loss to Utah State but struggled with his shot for much of the Big East season. Entering the portal suggests an agreement could not be reached on money and/or role.

In total, five Villanova players are in the portal or have made clear their intent to enter. In addition to the two guards, backup center Braden Pierce also is on the market and likely will be in search of a place that can guarantee a larger role than the 6.6 minutes per game he played this season. Zion Stanford and Tafara Gapare, forwards who left the program before the season ended, also are looking for a new home.

Things may change, but that could be the extent of the departures from Villanova’s roster. The portal is open for two weeks.

Still, the Wildcats are slated to lose four of their top five scorers from this past season with Lewis and Lindsay on the move and Brennan and sixth man Devin Askew out of the college game.

So who’s left?

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Shooting guard Tyler Perkins, Villanova’s leading scorer, will return for his senior season. Hodge, too, will be back as a redshirt sophomore in 2026-27.

They are the only two returning starters for a Villanova team that went 24-9 (including postseason) in Willard’s first year.

Other players could be in line for an increase in role, like rising junior Malachi Palmer, a 6-foot-6 wing who filled in as a starter for Hodge toward the end of the season and got better as the year went on, including 11 points in the NCAA Tournament loss. Backup point guard Chris Jeffrey, a rising sophomore who missed part of the season after a knee surgery, should see more time.

Center Nico Onyekwere redshirted in 2025-26 but could be ready for a reserve role similar to Pierce’s next season.

Villanova also is bringing in one class of 2026 freshman recruit at present: 6-5 shooting guard Adam Oumiddoch, who originally was committed to St. John’s.

It is a decent start, but Hodge’s recovery status and the limited playing experience of the others means there’s a lot of playing time — and plenty of money, too — to be offered to players in the portal.

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Hodge’s status to start the season does not take into account that Villanova probably needs a more explosive athlete and defender in that power forward spot to begin with. Hodge may ultimately be better served playing in the small forward spot, and the Wildcats likely are pursuing a starting power forward and starting center.

One of them, Oregon transfer Kwame Evans Jr., is slated to be on campus later this week, according to 247Sports. Evans, a Baltimore native, averaged 13.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks during his third year with the Ducks this season. He is 6-10 but may be better served playing next to a more traditional center since he likes to play away from the rim at times (he took 3.4 three-point attempts per game).

Rim-protecting centers will be a premium in the portal, but Villanova will be a player in that market. Brennan was a steady presence and a plus rebounder, but he left a little to be desired at times on the defensive end.

As for point guards, the market already was filled with them Tuesday. Lewis, of course, is one of the better players available, but Evans’ teammate, Jackson Shelstad, a three-year starter at Oregon, also is transferring.

Those three positions are paramount: a starting point guard and two starters in the frontcourt.

Perkins’ three-point shot improved to 36.9% this season, but Villanova needs to surround him with more shooting out of the backcourt. Lindsay seemingly would have been a perfect sixth man on a team that wants to take another step forward next season, so finding another shooter also will be of importance. Cornell transfer Jake Fiegen, a guard who scored 17.1 points per game while shooting 41.4% from deep during his junior year, has Villanova in his final four schools, according to The Record North Shore.

Luckily for Willard and his staff, the names available to them were piling up as Tuesday went on. It will be a busy few weeks.