Late Monday morning, Villanova Basketball added another name to their class of 2019 when five-star shooting guard Bryan Antoine announced in a tweet his verbal commitment to the Wildcats.

Shocking many both in the timing and the location of his commitment, Antoine was impressed enough by head coach Jay Wright and the Wildcats’ pitch last week during his unofficial visit to the Main Line to forgo his entire slate of NCAA sanctioned official visits. Notably, this is the third year running that the Wildcats have beaten out Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski, the perceived favorites to land Antoine, for a coveted recruit.  In 2017 four-star forward Jermaine Samuels chose the Wildcats over the Blue Devils while in 2018 four-star forward Cole Swider followed suit.

As to why Villanova was the right choice for him as opposed to a more well-known recruiting powerhouse like Duke, Antoine explained to Prep Circuit that, “the reason I chose Villanova was because it was family. Family goes a long way with me and their school.”

Wright and his staff have always stressed a strong family atmosphere as a vital tenet of their program, however, Antoine’s commitment, along with Jahvon Quinerly last year and Omari Spellman three years ago, show that the elite tier of five-star prospects are beginning to recognize it as a prime quality to look for as well. Along with family, the Wildcats’ recent draft success is impossible to ignore in evaluating this recruitment. For a long time, The Wildcats were stigmatized as a strong program that did not allow players to advertise themselves well to NBA teams. Following the recent draft successes of Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo, Spellman and Jalen Brunson, this stigma has dissipated.

Antoine joins what could become a second consecutive top ten recruiting class for the Wildcats, joining four-star guard Justin Moore and four-star forward Eric Dixon.