Villanova freshman guard Adam Oumiddoch quit competitive swimming at age 10 and turned himself into one of the top basketball recruits in the country.
The 6-foot-5, 202-pound guard from Woodbridge, Virginia, is on campus preparing for the Wildcats' season opener against Notre Dame in Rome. Oumiddoch (pronounced ooh-me-doosh) was ranked No. 53 in the 2026 recruiting class by 247Sports, making him a four-star prospect who chose Villanova over Illinois and Oregon.
His path to the Main Line started in a swimming pool. Oumiddoch won local swim meets as a child and received a U15 club team offer at age 10, according to Villanova's Nova Notebook feature published Sept. 1. But he walked away from the sport that same day.
"I was doing the warmups in practice for a 50-meter freestyle," Oumiddoch said in the profile. "I told my mom that I didn't want to do this anymore."
For the next two years, he casually shot baskets at a local court with no organized training. By seventh grade he had earned a spot on a local team. By ninth grade, college scholarship offers arrived.
After his freshman year of high school, Oumiddoch joined Overtime Elite, an Atlanta-based basketball academy for players aged 16 to 20. He and his father, Mehdi Oumiddoch, relocated from Virginia to Atlanta when Adam was 15.
There he trained alongside Mikel Brown Jr., who went on to average 18.2 points per game at Louisville and was selected sixth overall by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2026 NBA Draft. Oumiddoch said training alongside future NBA talent at a young age prepared him for the college level.
On the AAU circuit, Oumiddoch averaged 17.4 points and 7.4 rebounds for the Wildcat Select on the Adidas 3SSB circuit, according to The Villanovan.
Oumiddoch initially committed to St. John's before reopening his recruitment in February. His mother, Nezha "Nancy" Oumiddoch, offered simple advice that stuck.
He told Villanova's site his mother always said, "go where your heart is." Villanova, he said, was that place.
Senior guard Tyler Perkins, a fellow Virginia native who earned BIG EAST Most Improved Player honors in 2025-26, has been mentoring Oumiddoch since his arrival. Oumiddoch is one of three freshmen on the roster alongside Carter Fisk and Luigi Suigo.
Both of Oumiddoch's parents are originally from Morocco. The family spent 10 days there in early August, his first visit in about a decade.
The Wildcats open the 2026-27 season against Notre Dame on Sunday, Nov. 1, at the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome. The men's game tips off at 9:30 a.m. ET on FOX.
