VILLANOVA, Pa. – The 2018-19 Villanova Wildcats conducted their first full practice Tuesday at the team's Davis Center practice facility.
 
The 2018 NCAA national champions return two starters from the group that defeated Michigan 79-62 on April 2 in San Antonio. Seniors Phil Booth and Eric Paschall will serve as team captains and anchors. There will be only one other scholarship upperclassman on the roster – graduate transfer Joe Cremo.
 
A touted crop of freshmen, including McDonald's All-American Jahvon Quinerly, Saddiq Bey, Brandon Slater and Cole Swider joins sophomores Collin Gillespie, Dylan Painter (redshirted 2017-18), Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Jermaine Samuels on the Wildcats roster.

"This is really different for us," stated Wildcats head coach Jay Wright. "We've been really blessed the last five years to have a lot of veterans that the younger guys could learn from. Now, we've got a lot of first year guys and second year guys.

"We've got a lot of teaching to do, a lot of learning to do. It's a good group of guys; I like coaching them."

Wright notes that the program learned what it meant to carry the moniker of defending national champion after it claimed the 2016 title.

"I don't think they realize yet what it is going to be like," stated Wright. "They don't know what it's like to go into a road arena as the defending national champion. How could they? They're going to get a taste of it early and then they''re going to have to learn from it."
 
An open practice/scrimmage will be held on Saturday, Oct. 13 in the renovated Finneran Pavilion. Action that day gets underway at 11 a.m. and admission to the event is free.
 
Villanova's 99^th regular season of college basketball gets underway on Tuesday, Nov. 6 when it hosts Morgan State in the first regular season game at the Finneran Pavilion. Tip time is 7 p.m. (FS1).