PHILADELPHIA — The question for Villanova coach Jay Wright about his point guard was a basic one: If Collin Gillespie has more upside to show, how can we spot that?
"Creativity, offensively," was the first thing that came to Wright's mind. "Being really crafty about finding more ways to score. Defensively, I think he is what he is — he's a tough, really good defender. Great rebounder for a guard. I don't know if he can get that much better in those areas."
Wright went back to offense, and made a point about the point guard who mentored Gillespie when he first got to Villanova.
"Kind of like Jalen Brunson was," Wright said. "All those pivot moves, isolation moves. I think that's his final piece of development."
Opening Wednesday against Boston College, Villanova starts this season third in the Associated Press poll because it has all sorts of ways to beat you, and all sorts of ways to play. This season always seemed like a target date for when the parts could come together again and it wouldn't seem outlandish to think again about the Final Four.
In college ball, such thoughts typically start with a veteran guard. If you look back to Villanova's 2016 NCAA title team, you think of all sorts of things, but much of it started with Ryan Arcidiacono. In 2018, it began with Brunson, that season's consensus national player of the year.
Here we are with Gillespie, a unanimous pick for preseason all-Big East first team, a respected national figure, after averaging 15.1 points and 4.5 assists as a junior.
Let's pause to also remind ourselves ... this is one of the best tales in the sport. The guard who left the summer before his senior year of high school with zero Division I offers despite playing for a top Archbishop Wood program.
It's fun now to look back at how Gillespie already had many of the same ingredients in his game. The questions were about the next level. Or more like, which level?
Go back to June of 2016, the City of Basketball Love College Exposure Camp.
"I was telling the D-II coaches there, 'Be on this kid, he's really good,' " said Josh Verlin, who ran the camp. "He killed it. He had like 30 points in all three of the games. He was so clearly the best player in that gym — I wasn't prepared for how much better he would be. Part of what makes him so good: He was awesome in drills, locked in in practice — all that comes out when you see him for a whole day. He picked up multiple high-level Division II offers."
The Gillespie write-up from that day still exists on the City of Basketball Love website: "Gillespie showed exactly how the point guard position is to be played today. Gillespie got all of his teammates involved and was fantastic in transition finding his man for an easy bucket. Gillespie was also in a groove from downtown, converting on several from downtown on the day. Gillespie showed a lot of effort on the defensive end, making it difficult for his opponent to do much offensively. Division II schools flocked to see him play, and with one D-II offer already in his pocket (Holy Family) it's hard to see him not picking up a few more."
