Villanova head coach Jay Wright joined Mike's On during Tuesday afternoon to preview the college basketball season.
The Wildcats won the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game over the Michigan Wolverines last season.
Villanova host the Morgan State Bears on Tuesday night to tip-off the season.
"We moved the start time up this year," Wright said. "Usually, we start on this Friday, but we're able to start the first Tuesday of this year. So, this is the earliest we've ever started. But we like that. We like to get to the games. So, we're fired up."
Jalen Brunson (18.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG), Mikal Bridges (17.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG), Donte DiVincenzo (13.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG) and Omari Spellman (10.9 PPG, 8.0 RPG) are departures from the title-winning team.
"We've been very blessed with five straight years of veteran players that have stuck around," Wright said.
Villanova enters the new season as ninth in the AP Preseason Top 25 rankings.
Eric Paschall (10.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG), Phil Booth (10.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG), Collin Gillespie (4.3 PPG, 1.3 RPG), Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree (3.1 PPG 2.4 RPG) and Jermaine Samuels (1.1 PPG, 1.2 RPG) return from last season. Jahvon Quinerly, Cole Swider, Saddiq Bey, Brandon Slater and Joe Cremo are among newcomers.
"We've got some good young pieces, we've got a lot of depth," Wright said.
Villanova enter the new season as favorites to win the Big East.
Listen to the entire interview with Wright below: