The Nova Notebook Summer Series checks in with redshirt junior Eric Dixon as we continue to look ahead to the 2022-23 men's basketball season.
 
As he toiled quietly as a redshirt during the 2019-20 season, Eric Dixon came to know a whole new world. One of the principal figures in it was then assistant coach Kyle Neptune.
 
 "During my redshirt year, Coach Neptune worked me out a lot," noted Dixon, who in 2021-22 emerged as a starter at forward for a Wildcats unit that finished with a 30-8 overall record, advanced to the NCAA Final Four and claimed a BIG EAST Tournament title at Madison Square Garden.
 
"We spent a lot of time together that year and had a lot of conversations with him. I feel good about having him back here to lead us."
 
Neptune returned to Villanova on April 20 as the program's head coach in the wake of the retirement of Jay Wright.
 
Another important presence in Dixon's life also stepped forward in his first year on campus. Strength coach John Shackleton found a willing pupil in the product of nearby Willow Grove, Pa., and the two set about helping fine-tune Dixon's 6-8 frame. That transformation helped Dixon seize upon a void in the starting lineup after the exit of Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to the National Basketball Association and become one of the BIG EAST's most improved performers a season ago.
 
 "I'm not really sure I can put into words how far I've come," Dixon states of his Nova journey. "You know, it's not just on the court. Everyone back home, friends from high school, people in the area I have known a long time tell me, 'You carry yourself so differently, you talk differently, everything you do is just so different.' From where I've come from back then, you can't really put into words."
 
 The Abington High School alumnus and former Pennsylvania state player of the year started all 38 contests for Villanova last season, averaging 9.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per outing. He connected on 17-of-35 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc (.486), including a gigantic 3-ball in the final minutes of VU's 72-61 victory over Ohio State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament that helped snuff out a Buckeyes' rally.
 
"The progress was a testament to my coaching staff and teammates continuing to work with me, not giving up on me," says Dixon while seated on a recent steamy afternoon in Gibbs Family Press Room inside Finneran Pavilion. "I really appreciate their faith in me.
 
"We came in to work hard every single day. We took some lumps early in the season, but we weren't worried about it. We were playing hard, and we felt good about that. The result isn't always going to be a win but as long as we're playing Villanova Basketball for 40 minutes, we're going to be OK with the outcome."
 
Of course, while Dixon enjoyed the run of success in the postseason, he's not basking in that glow.
 
"It's behind us," he states. "It was a great moment, and we were happy to accomplish that in the last season for Collin (Gillespie), Jermaine (Samuels) and Da Da (Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree). It was their time. Starting in May, we were back to work."
 
Now, Dixon enters his fourth season in the Blue and White (including the redshirt campaign of 2019-20). No longer is he a dutiful younger part of the squad but entrenched as a leader alongside Justin Moore, Caleb Daniels, and Brandon Slater.
 
"I've been blessed to have a lot of the same guys around me in my time here," states Dixon. "This is probably the most amount of change I've had since I've been here. But to have learned from those older guys and still have some of them around me, I think it will be easier to help us lead as a group."
 
As one who has lived it, Dixon's message to any younger roster member who might inquire is straightforward: "be open to (learning). Don't give up on it. It may be difficult now in the summertime, but it will all make sense in the end and help you get where you want to get to."
 
As a returning starter, Dixon will face more lofty expectations than he did a season ago when he was still largely an unknown quantity. With the departures of Gillespie and Samuels, opponents' figure to list Dixon's name higher on the scouting reports than they did in 2021-22.
 
"I think anyone who has watched me play over the last few years knows that working on my body and conditioning is thing No. 1," Dixon says. "If anything, this offseason I've probably worked more on ball-handling and decision-making than I did before. For the most part though, it's just trying to get better, stronger, faster to try to make my weaknesses my strengths.
 
"Even in practice now, it's different. They send doubles to attack me when I have the ball in the post. I make some turnovers here and there. But all my teammates are great. They tell me to keep working on it, keep believing in yourself. I've just got to find a way to be aggressive and always make smart decisions."
 
Once the summer session of classes concludes at the end of July, the Wildcats will have the chance for some down time before the start of the fall semester later in August. Dixon doesn't expect to alter much of his routine, however.
 
"I'm just going to keep working out," he says. "We took some time off in May because it was a long season. I'll probably leave here in August, wake up the next day and head to a gym."
 
Why tamper with a formula that has already delivered impressive results?