THE GOOD NEWS
This was supposed to be the transition year for the Wildcats, and Villanova still made it to the Sweet 16. With Scottie Reynolds back for his junior season, Villanova should be poised to contend for the conference title. The Wildcats look a little like the stalwart squads the school had a few years ago, guard-focused but still strong defensively and on the glass.

THE BAD NEWS
The big question marks are on the inside. Dante Cunningham had a solid season as a junior, but didn't take over games as the coaching staff hoped. With the status of Casiem Drummond and Shane Clark uncertain heading into the offseason, the Wildcats may not return a very deep squad on the interior.

KEY RETURNEES
Assuming Scottie Reynolds resists the call of the NBA, the Wildcats will have a deep backcourt next season led by one of the early favorites to make the first team All-Big East squad. Both Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes should be better as sophomore. Shane Clark will be a wildcard he was limited by fatigue issues as a junior, but he rebounds in 2008-09 he'll give the team a legitimate threat inside the arc to go along with Dante Cunningham in the paint.

ROSTER REPORT

--G Malcolm Grant plans to transfer for the 2008-09 season. The Wildcat freshmen had some stellar efforts, including one outburst where he scored 14 points in the last three minutes of a comeback victory over LSU in December. But he fell behind fellow freshmen Corey Fisher and Corey Stokes in the pecking order, and felt he'd have a better chance at starter's minutes elsewhere.

--C Casiem Drummond's injury-plagued season came to a fitting conclusion when he fractured his right ankle in the Wildcats' victory over Siena in the NCAA Tournament. He earlier had suffered a stress fracture in the same ankle that hampered him for much of the season.

--F Shane Clark started the first 17 games of the season, but was severely limited after that because of fatigue issues. If those can be diagnosed and corrected in the offseason, he could be poised to provide a big boost to the squad in 2008-09.

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