Villanova First Impression

The Colosseum stands illuminated against the evening sky, showcasing its ancient architectural grandeur in the heart of Rome.

Luigi Suigo

Luigi Suigo is a big bodied Italian Center. Before playing for Villanova, he played for Mega Superbet last season in the ABA League in Europe. He had the opportunity to enter the 2026 NBA draft but decided to forgo his entry to play a season of college basketball. I evaluated him and prepared a full summary that I will share a brief portion below. 

Summary

Suigo presents as a large reserve center who supports an offense as a screen setter, play finisher, and offensive rebounder while protecting the rim on the defensive side of the ball. Suigo's overall offensive impact is low and he requires extensive development but possesses potential due to his combination of size, soft hands, and shooting ability. Early on, Suigo offers a big body to set screens, receive passes, and compete on the offensive glass. He needs to improve his aggressiveness to command touches on the block especially versus mismatches. Other areas of improvement involve his footwork, court awareness, decision making, and shooting efficiency. Defensively, Suigo is very limited at this time. He struggles to move laterally and is at a disadvantage while defending in space. At this point, he anchors the paint as a rim protector. Although Suigo has great size and strength, he needs to improve his physicality and intensity to secure defensive rebounds at a higher rate to end possessions for his opponents. 

Strengths

Size/strength, 3-point potential, Above the rim ability, Screen and pop/roll ability, Large catch radius, Low-post footwork, Court vision/unselfish, Ready hands to receive passes, High points rebounds, Defensive communication, Offensive rebounding activity, Screen setting ability

Weaknesses

Slow/heavy footed, Physicality, Late closeout, Low impact, Lateral agility/foot speed, Balance, Ball handling, Effort/rebounding pursuit, Screen coverage versatility, Shooting efficiency/consistency, Defending in space, Inconsistent footwork, Subbed out at the end of the game due to defensive limitations, Defensive discipline, Offensive spacing/awareness, Late reactions

This was my evaluation of Suigo entering the season and the areas of weakness I identified were areas I was going to monitor closely this season. In the words of the late Dennis Green, “They are what we thought they were.”

Debut Impressions 

It was evident throughout the game that Suigo struggles to defend in space. He was consistently targeted and attacked by Notre Dame during the game. He plays strictly in drop coverage and is reluctant to step out to defend on the perimeter. The fighting Irish’s guards had opportunities to pull up from the midrange any time they wanted to. Villanova’s guards had a lot of pressure navigating screens since he was anchoring the paint during his heavy drop coverage. 

Opposing stretch bigs will have plenty of open shot opportunities throughout the season. Quality shot after quality shot was generated by Notre Dame involving Suigo in ball screen actions. This was an area of concern I had regarding Suigo’s ability to translate to the next level. His inability to defend in space was due to his deficient reaction time, slow foot speed, and lateral agility concerns. There were times when Suigo was in position to contest a shot at the rim but his lack of speed diminished his presence on the court. Due to his defensive limitations, Villanova chose to sit him during the final defensive possessions of the game. 

If his defensive impact is problematic, he needs to make his presence felt on the offensive side of the ball. And other than a lob finish and a pick and pop shot, his imprint on the game was uninspiring. He is an imposing screen setter due to his large size. He also has massive soft hands to receive passes. Suigo is a play finisher and should play to his strengths at this time. His ball handling and creation ability is limited and the few times he put the ball on the ground, it resulted in a turnover or loose ball opportunity for the Fighting Irish.

Going forward, I want to see him command the glass on both sides of the ball. I was disappointed to see Suigo fail to secure a defensive rebound after a few free throw attempts. I want to see him use his large frame to impose himself within the restricted area. He needs to play with strength and physicality to secure rebounds at a higher rate. I’d rather see Suigo gather rebounds than stretch the floor from the perimeter. If Suigo’s rebounding doesn’t increase, my prospects of him will lower. 

This was only one game so there is no need to overreact or panic. Suigo has something that you cannot teach and that is his size. Size with potential has a place within basketball. Rebounding rate and his ability to defend in space or protect the rim are areas I hope to see improvement as the season progresses. 

Other prospect impressions

I have kept my eye on Kwame Evans each of the past three seasons. He was a highly touted high school prospect but has failed to reach the expectations following his McDonald’s All-American selection. 

His size, length, and stretch ability have always been tantalizing. Unfortunately, consistency and production have been challenging. Against Notre Dame, Evans was very active. He was hustled throughout the game and consistently made his presence felt on the offensive and defensive glass. His hands were active and generated deflections. His shooting volatility is evident as he missed all his 3-point attempts during the game. He was also terribly loose with the ball and continued to struggle to create his own shot.

Tyler Perkins is the other prospect I monitored closely throughout this game. His footwork is sound and effective. He catches the ball with balance ready to attack out of the triple threat. He made 3-point attempts while spotting up, off the catch, and off the dribble. His shot selection was questionable at times and efficiency was lacking during his step back attempts. I also liked his activity throughout the game. He chased down loose balls and tracked balls off of the rim. 

The areas where Perkins struggled revolved around ball screen navigation. His struggles weren’t for a lack of effort. He worked hard to fight over or around screens but his angles were poor or his reactions were delayed. This put Perkins in a trailing position and with his primary screen defender, Suigo, playing in drop coverage, it was a consistent target by the Fighting Irish. Overall I was impressed by his game and he moved up slightly in my grades to warrant further attention going forward.