The third in a spring series of Nova Notebook features profiling members of the 2019-20 Wildcats zeroes in on junior Collin Gillespie.
 
 It's a sun-splashed Thursday afternoon and, with his final assignment complete, Collin Gillespie can now start looking ahead to his senior year.
 
 "I just finished my last paper yesterday," he says from his home in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., where he has been quarantined with his family. "Junior year is now officially finished as far as schoolwork goes."
 
And while 2019-20 tossed an early couple of health curveballs his way – more on that in a bit – there is no other way to define it other than as a resounding success. Gillespie was voted second team All-BIG EAST and first team All-Philadelphia Big Five after averaging 15.1 points per game while helping lead his team to a 24-7 overall record and a share of the BIG EAST regular season title.
 
"It was a special season for our team," he states. "We were a younger group that had to learn how to play Villanova Basketball together. I think we made a lot of progress doing that this season."
 
At the close of 2018-19, Gillespie and classmates Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Jermaine Samuels Jr. understood that a new responsibility had been thrust upon them. With the exits of resident veterans Phil Booth and Eric Paschall, the trio of juniors to be was charged with offering guidance to a gifted but untested collection of younger Wildcats.
 
That process began in the spring and then was paused in July, when Gillespie and Samuels left to be part of the BIG EAST contingent of student-athletes representing the United States at the Pan American Games. Gillespie thrived there after earning the starting spot at point guard. Team USA picked up a bronze medal, no small feat for a group of collegians facing opponents rosters filled with international veterans in their mid to late 20s.
 
"It was just a great experience to represent your country," Gillespie states now. "I got to do that with Jermaine, which was really cool. It's a very different style of basketball but it was a lot of fun to be part of."
 
 Gillespie returned home in August with plans for a bit of rest and relaxation. When he returned to Villanova for the fall semester later in the month, he quickly immersed himself in preparations for the 2019-20 college season. All was on track until he began to feel pain in his foot. Further investigation revealed plantar fasciitis.
 
 "It felt like I was walking on nails," he recalls.
 
He spent a September week in a boot. That break and an adjustment to his footwear seemed to have remedied the problem as October got underway. Then, taking part in Hoops Mania activities, Gillespie caught a teammate's elbow in a Monday morning practice that resulted in a fractured nose.
 
  "I was just starting to feel healthy again after getting through the pain in my foot," states Gillespie.
 
Alas, the fracture would send him back to the sidelines. He underwent surgery a week after suffering the injury, forcing him to miss Villanova's trip to Los Angeles during fall break. When the Wildcats took the court for an exhibition game at USC on Oct. 18, Gillespie was watching from home.
 
"That was really weird," he says. "They didn't want me flying cross country so soon after the surgery. The team was gone for what felt like a week. All I could do was watch on television. Being one of the older guys, it was so strange seeing all of the younger guys out there making their debuts."
 
Gillespie then traveled with the 'Cats to North Carolina for a closed scrimmage with the Tar Heels. He didn't suit up but at least was present on the bench. Not long after he was cleared to resume basketball activities while wearing a face mask. He did that for the Wildcats' first three games of 2019-20 – wins over Army and Ohio sandwiched around a loss at Ohio State – but never felt truly comfortable in it.
 
 As Nova got set to depart for the Myrtle Beach Invitational, Gillespie sought out Head Athletic Trainer Jeff Pierce.
 
"Uncle Jeff told me it was a risk/reward kind of thing," he says. "If I went without it, there was a chance it could break again if I got hit. But I just never felt comfortable in it. I decided to stop wearing it and fortunately it worked out."
 
Coincidentally or not, Gillespie suddenly found an offensive groove when Villanova next took the court, at the Myrtle Beach Invitational. He averaged 20.3 points and 7.0 assists in wins over Middle Tennessee and Mississippi State before a finals loss to Baylor, a team that would climb to No. 1 in the polls later in the season. The junior carried that strong play into a perfect December, which included a 56-55 victory over No. 1 Kansas that featured a series of clutch plays by the Archbishop Wood High School product in the final 90 seconds. Indeed, it was his feed that set up Samuels' game-winning 3-pointer.
 
  "I thought that game showed we were resilient," Gillespie states. "Even when we trailed late, we understood that there was plenty of time left if we got a couple of stops. We got the stops and pulled it out."
 
January demonstrated further progress as the Wildcats reeled off a seven-game winning streak at the end of the month that included a convincing 76-61 Finneran Pavilion victory over Butler. A three-game losing skid pushed the Wildcats into a significant hole in the BIG EAST title hunt, but the 'Cats bounced back with a league win over Marquette on Feb. 12 to get back on track. Then, on the Sunday of NBA All-Star weekend, Villanova rallied after a sluggish first half to roll past Temple 76-56 as Gillespie notched 29 points. The win wrapped up a perfect 4-0 campaign in the Philadelphia Big Five.
 
Among those watching from behind the bench that day was a group of Gillespie's former 'Cat teammates – Booth, Joe Cremo, Paschall, and Jalen Brunson. Brunson, of course, had served as Gillespie's mentor in 2017-18 as the Wildcats constructed a 36-4 season capped with an NCAA national championship.
 
 "I knew that those guys were coming," he says now, "but it wasn't anything I was thinking about when the game started. We were just trying to play Villanova Basketball."
 
Late in the game, though, Gillespie was removed from the contest with the outcome no longer in doubt.
 
"I could hear those guys pretty clearly," he says with a chuckle. "That was kind of cool."
 
Gillespie speaks with Brunson often. The pair regularly connected after each Villanova game this season and still talk often now.
 
The Wildcats, of course, dug themselves out of that BIG EAST hole by knocking off Seton Hall and Georgetown on the road in the final week of the regular season. That pulled them into the 3-way tie with the Pirates and Creighton for the league's top spot. Then, the BIG EAST Tournament and NCAA Tournaments were both cancelled less than a week later in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
"That was difficult," Gillespie states. "We were locked into our DePaul scout and suddenly Coach (Jay Wright) brought us together to say the Big East Tournament had been cancelled. Then we took the bus back to school and learned that the NCAA Tournament was off too.
 
"We understood that this is a huge issue for the entire world. But it was disappointing. We put in a lot of hard work and felt great about where we were at by the end of the season."
 
These days Gillespie is doing his best to stay fit. He's relied upon a small home gym set up in the basement of his residence along and has found ways to get some shots up nearby. And yes, he did catch a bit of last Monday night's 2K simulation between the Villanova 2016 NCAA national champions and many of his former 2018 mates (the Wildcats still in college did not participate directly) that raised funds for Philabundance.
 
"I caught the fourth quarter," he says. "It was strange to see versions of Jalen, Mikael (Bridges) and Phil playing against each other. That was a little weird. But it was all for a good cause."
 
For the record, the 2016 edition prevailed over 2018, 57-55 in overtime. While Gillesipe gave props to the victors, he left no doubt about where his rooting interest fell.
 
"I was part of '18," he says. "Those are my guys."
 
Now, he is left to prepare as best he can in these uncertain times, for one final run at Nova, in 2020-21.
 
 "We're all staying connected by Zoom and text," he says. "We came a long way as a young group last season and we're excited about where that can take us next year."
               
The 2019-20 Villanova Basketball season – the program's 100^th – is presented by Hartford Funds and Coca-Cola.