Freshmen develop at different rates. For every Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett, there are newcomers taking a little longer to adapt to their new surroundings.
Top-50 recruits are the ones with the most pressure and expectations, and there are a few who have been slow to make an impact through the first month of the season. We reached out to opposing coaches in an attempt to figure out why these highly touted freshmen are struggling and to see whether those struggles will change moving forward.
Things hit a head with Quinerly on Tuesday night following the Wildcats' loss to the Penn Quakers. Quinerly reportedly took to Instagram to post something along the lines of "Was my 2nd choice for a reason" -- then quickly deleted it. Quinerly, a former five-star prospect, originally committed to Arizona over Villanova but reopened his recruitment following the FBI investigation and ended up with the Wildcats. Despite the loss of four starters from last season's team, Quinerly is struggling to get any time. He has logged three DNPs so far, played one minute against Penn and hasn't scored since Nov. 22.
Rumors have swirled regarding a potential departure, especially since the deleted Instagram post, but Villanova generally doesn't have players leave midseason -- and sources close to the team have said that the team hasn't noticed a drop-off in practice or off the court.