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Villanova’s 2026 Recruiting Big Board: A Way-Too-Early Look

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Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune

Recruiting season never ends, which means it’s time to take a look at the players Villanova Men’s Basketball has an eye on—and an offer out—for in 2026. As in recent years, the Wildcats look to aim high, throwing offers at the best and brightest 2026 has on tap: of the 13 players they’ve offered so far, 11 landed on ESPN’s national Top 60 for the class. It’s an aggressive recruiting strategy, one befitting a program with top tier status like the Wildcats have enjoyed for much of the past decade, but perfect can end up becoming the enemy of good: they took a similar course for the class of 2025, and only ended up getting one recruit to date out of a flurry of blue chip offers.

The other two recruits with offers on the table are a local kid from Philadelphia, and one from just a couple hours away in the Tri-State Area. Here’s who they’ve offered, what they can bring to the table and, although it’s early yet, what people are saying about the likelihood they’ll end up at Villanova.

The Wildcats peppered the top of the recruiting leaderboard, tendering offers to five of ESPN’s top twenty prospects for the class of 2026.

Top Twenty Tryouts

Amongst the top ten are guards Jordan Smith (No. 6) and Jason Crowe Jr. (No. 8). Smith possesses excellent two-way ability while Crowe is a volume scorer who made 51 percent of shots from the field, 40 percent from beyond the arc, and 86 percent from the charity stripe as a sophomore, averaging more than 37 points per game.

Just outside the top ten are Qayden Samuels and Ikenna Alozie, 11 and 12 respectively. Samuels is a lefty-shooting wing with a 6-foot-5, 205 pound frame that could help him turn into a strong defender at the next level. 

Alozie, a combo guard, might be even tougher for Villanova to pick up than the other top twenty recruits: despite the offer, he’s never posted anything about them to his social media accounts. Right now, Washington and Kentucky appear to hold an inside edge.

Never say never, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. 

Quincy Wadley Jr, a four or five star depending who you ask, concludes the Wildcats’ top 20 bids. A 6-foot-3, 175 pound shooting guard, ESPN lists him as the No. 16 prospect in his class. Wadley’s father played college basketball in Southeastern Pennsylvania, suiting up for the Temple Owls, so there’s a tenuous connection to the area. Per AZ Compass Prep, his high school, “Quincy is a crafty guard that is an elite scorer at all levels. He can shoot the cover off the ball and uses his quickness to get to his spots. Quincy has a high IQ and impacts the game on both ends of the floor. His athleticism and efficiency, as well as high motor and elite shooting are reflected in his high level play.”

Rounding Up the Rest

Villanova’s aggressive recruiting push doesn’t stop there. They’ve also offered 6-foot-6 small forward Adam Oumiddoch, ESPN’s No. 29 recruit; point guard Deron Rippey Jr. of North Jersey’s Blair Academy, who comes in just behind Oumiddoch at No. 30; Jayden Hodge, a 6-foot-6 combo guard from the Jersey Shore (No. 38), and 7 foot tall center Keiner Asprilla, who suits up for Don Bosco Prep in North Jersey.

The Garden State continues to be a focus with small forward Aiden Derkack of Colonia, New Jersey. Villanova didn’t offer a single prospect from Pennsylvania, Delaware or New Jersey during the 2025 recruiting cycle (although they did target a trio of players from Maryland and there’s still some time for a last minute recruiting push), so perhaps they’re trying to change tactics and play up the local angle. 

Lending credence to that theory are the last three players amongst their current list of offers. Luca Foster is their 11th and final offer currently in ESPN’s top recruit list, occupying the No. 53 spot. Born and raised just down the road in Radnor, Pa., Foster attends Archbishop Carroll High School.

Small forward Julius Avent is yet another North Jersey prospect, while Sammy Jackson of Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic High School rounds out the list.

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