November 8, 2026
Let's meet Coach Sims' first Villanova team:
Code:
Player # Pos Yr Ht Wt Sch Acd Status Hometown
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Devin Guzman 1 PG Jr* 6-0 182 Yes 64 OK Daly City, CA
Corey Hicks 3 SG Fr 6-3 199 Yes 92 OK Riverside, NJ
Bradley Christmas 4 SF Sr 6-5 223 Yes 44 OK Indiana, PA
Douglas Dinkins 11 SF Fr 6-7 215 Yes 48 OK Silver Spring, MD
Richard Pray 13 SF So 6-3 182 Yes 70 OK Glen Burnie, MD
Duncan Sims 14 PG Jr 6-3 201 Yes 98 Redshirt Easton, PA
Mark Jones 20 PF Fr 6-8 207 No 36 OK Valdosta, GA
Jacob Allen 21 PG So 5-10 173 Yes 33 OK Franklinville, NY
Bruno Le Fleurquin 22 SF Jr 6-8 210 Yes 53 OK Kapuskasing, Canada
Caleb Blaney 25 SF So 6-9 227 Yes 21 Unhappy Ramsey, NJ
Charles Vancleave 30 PG Jr 6-2 188 Yes 84 OK Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Canada
Jose Blanco 31 C Jr 6-9 227 Yes 54 OK Newark, NJ
Tommie Johnson 35 C Sr 6-10 232 Yes 66 OK Pasadena, MD
Joshua Parkin 42 C Fr 6-9 205 Yes 53 OK North East, MD
Joseph Buford 54 PF Fr 6-5 234 No 53 OK Nazareth, PA
How did they do in preseason training?
Code:
#15 VILLANOVA Training Results
Player Ins Jps Fts 3ps Hnd Pas Orb Drb Psd Prd Stl Blk Qkn Str Jmp Sta
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Devin Guzman 1 3 1 2 4 4 1 1 0 5 0 1 1 1 1 4
Corey Hicks 2 4 6 8 2 2 2 4 4 6 6 2 2 4 3 10
Bradley Christmas 4 5 1 9 3 5 11 7 14 4 1 7 1 2 0 0
Douglas Dinkins 4 2 4 6 2 2 2 8 4 6 8 2 1 4 1 10
Richard Pray 4 4 2 1 2 3 4 2 2 4 6 2 0 2 1 14
Duncan Sims 2 3 4 4 4 4 1 1 1 3 1 1 0 2 1 8
Mark Jones 2 2 2 0 0 0 6 4 6 2 2 4 2 6 2 10
Jacob Allen 2 11 8 11 4 2 1 2 1 9 6 3 1 1 0 8
Bruno Le Fleurquin 9 2 0 2 2 2 9 9 3 11 6 2 1 3 1 9
Caleb Blaney 2 2 3 3 2 1 1 1 2 2 3 1 1 2 1 4
Charles Vancleave 3 5 0 1 0 4 3 3 2 11 0 1 1 2 0 10
Jose Blanco 2 1 3 0 0 1 5 4 7 1 1 3 1 3 1 8
Tommie Johnson 2 1 1 1 4 1 3 6 14 3 7 9 1 3 1 8
Joshua Parkin 2 6 2 2 4 0 2 6 4 2 2 8 3 10 2 18
Joseph Buford 2 2 4 0 4 2 6 4 6 2 2 2 0 6 0 16
Two starters from
Mark Pulliam's only Villanova team are safe bets to return to their roles in
Graham Sims' first starting five.
Senior center
Tommie Johnson averaged 11 points and almost 8 rebounds per game last season. Already a formidable post defender, Tommie worked on his game in camp and is now truly elite. His arsenal of post moves is good, and opponents have to guard him.
His classmate,
Bradley Christmas, will start once again at forward. He's improved his shooting percentages each year, and Coach Sims will look to him to take another step forward this season. Bradley averaged 11.6 points last season, and he's a very good rebounder for a mid-sized wing (6.8 RPG). He can defend big men, despite his 6'5" height.
Sophomore
Jacob Allen started at point guard last season. He's a fairly secure ballhandler, but he lacks a pure point's knack for distributing the ball. He'll move to shooting guard, while junior
Devin Guzman takes over the responsibility for running Coach Sims' offense. Guzman, a transfer from Stanford, has played only 17 minutes in his collegiate career, but I believe his ballhandling, passing, and defensive abilities should enable him to handle the demands of Big East play. Meanwhile Allen, a very good shooter, will be free to do the things he does best. He improved his shot significantly during preseason practice.
The fifth starter will be
Bruno Le Fleurquin, a 6'8" junior forward. BLF was a Top Ten recruit as a high school senior in Quebec, and he's paid his dues as a rotation player. Now he'll be one of the focal points of the team.
Freshman guard
Corey Hicks will be the first man off the bench. He has exciting potential as a long-range shooter. Big man
Jose Blanco and guard
Charles Vancleave, both juniors, will also get significant playing time off the bench. Youngsters
Richard Pray,
Caleb Blaney,
Joshua Parkin, and
Douglas Dinkins will share the minutes that remain.
The Villanova roster contains players recruited by two other coaches, so it's a bit challenging to know exactly what kinds of players they are. There's some talent available, based on the color ratings I see on the roster. Johnson and Le Fleurquin are Blue/Blue players. Allen, Guzman, and Blanco are Green/Blue, while Christmas is double Green. Hicks and Pray are Yellow/Blue. So is
Duncan Sims, who is redshirting.
Most of them were highly-regarded recruits. Christmas and Le Fleurquin were five-star high school seniors. Allen was a high four-star recruit, while Hicks, Dinkins, Pray, Blaney, and Johnson also earned four stars from the experts. Le Fleurquin is being touted as a possible first round pick in the pro draft, should he decide to leave school a year early.
Coach Sims won lots of games with players like these at Lafayette. Can he do the same in the Big East? We're about to find out.