Villanova, which could lose as many as four players from its national championship team to the NBA draft, picked up a valuable addition Tuesday when Albany guard Joe Cremo announced he will transfer to the Wildcats for his final season of eligibility.
The 6-foot-4 Cremo, who led the Great Danes and finished fourth in America East with a 17.8-point average last season, will be able to play right away for Villanova as a graduate transfer.
The Wildcats lost two starters when consensus national player of the year Jalen Brunson and swingman Mikal Bridges announced they were leaving for the NBA draft shortly after the team defeated Michigan to win its second national championship in three years.
In addition, guard Donte DiVincenzo and forward Omari Spellman entered the draft process to gauge their chances of moving on to the next level. Both players have been invited to next week’s NBA draft combine and have until May 30 to decide whether they want to return to Villanova.
If both depart, the Wildcats would lose four of their top six players from last season, returning just two starters – guard Phil Booth and forward Eric Paschall. As a precaution, Wildcats coach Jay Wright and his staff wanted to find players who could help right away, and Cremo was one of the top available graduate transfers.
Cremo, who selected Villanova over Kansas, Texas and Creighton, said on Twitter that he wanted to “thank all the coaches that recruited me throughout this process and invested their time in me.”
“Time of a new chapter and I’m very excited to be a part of #Nova Nation,” he concluded.
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— Joe Cremo (@JCremo24) May 8, 2018
Cremo showed all-around talent for Albany, averaging 4.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists in addition to leading the team in scoring. He led the conference in three-point percentage at 45.8 and ranked fourth in threes per game at 2.4. He also finished fifth in assists, fifth in free-throw percentage (81.9 percent), sixth in assist-turnover ratio (1.8) and seventh in average minutes played (35.2).