By ADAM ZAGORIA
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl isn’t quite ready to announce whether he will enter the NBA Draft, but coach Jay Wright has already said he expects his star sophomore to be in the NBA next season.
The 6-foot-9 sophomore averaged 15.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists while being able to guard every position for a Villanova team that won the Big East regular -season title and lost to Baylor in the Sweet 16.
“I think he’s definitely ready. I think he has the ability to be a complete player at the next level,” Wright said Monday. “I actually think his offensive game will fit the next level even better than it is in college because he’s a face-up guy, an iso guy, but he can also score in the post on any mismatch and he’s a great rebounder. For the position he’ll play in the NBA, I think he’ll be even better than in college. In college he got stuck guarding five men a lot, still was a great rebounder.
“But the way we played, we switched him out on point guards a lot so he was out on the perimeter guarding a point guard and that’s the final piece that is going to make him an outstanding NBA player. He can guard 1 through 5, even in the NBA.”
The NBA announced Monday the Draft will be July 29 with the NBA Combine June 21-27 and the Draft Lottery June 22.
According to ESPN, Robinson-Earl is rated the No. 59 “Best Available Player” this year.
Robinson-Earl said he hasn’t yet made a final decision and hast just “kind of been relaxing and been able to see my mom. But for sure we’ll sit down with my mom and the coaches and talk about my future and see where that will lead.”
Villanova currently has eight NBA players, yet none were one-and-done. Robinson-Earl could have spoiled that trend last year but opted to come back.
“A big thing for me is just staying in the moment and just taking one day at a time instead of looking at that far angle,” Robinson-Earl said. “I think it just goes to show the coaching staff and how great of a job they do of preparing you for the next level. They don’t try to prepare you, ‘Oh, this is for the NBA.’ They prepare you for the moment and the moment leads to that. So being in the moment is so important and think everybody can see for themselves that Villanova players are just prepared going into the NBA and they do a great job and they’re so focused on the little things and they have all the talent and ability that the NBA likes.
“It just shows that the coaching staff does a great job developing players.”
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