Two Villanova Recruiting Targets Open For Business

Villanova Men’s Basketball has just one recruit in the class of 2026, but that could change in the coming days as a pair of Wildcats’ targets decided to re-open their commitment: wing Aiden Derkack, a former Providence pledge, and four-star center Moustapha Diop.

The Friars parted ways with head coach Kim English when their season ended, prompting Derkack, who stands around 6-foot-6 and holds the No. 65 spot in ESPN’s Top 100 for his class, to look for a new home. He picked Providence over schools like Dayton, where his brother Jordan plays, and Southern California.

Villanova never seemed particularly close with Derkack, but they could make a crunch time push now with spots to fill. The Wildcats began recruiting him during the Kyle Neptune regime, so assistant coach Ash Howard could play a key role in rekindling that relationship.

Georgia Tech fired head coach Damon Stoudamire after losing in the ACC Tournament, opening Diop for business. He stands 6-foot-10 and weighs 215 pounds, hovering just outside the Top 100 on recruiting sites like 247Sports. With size an issue for Villanova all season and senior forward Duke Brennan set to graduate, Diop makes immediate sense as a fit: his reported 7-foot-2 wingspan could go a long way to shoring up the Wildcats’ defense in the paint. Recruiting reporter Joe Tipton of On3/Rivals cited the Wildcats as a potential home for Diop, but they’ll need to outcompete programs like Alabama in order to bring him to the Main Line.