Getty Jay Wright's struggling Villanova squad will take on UConn at Madison Square Garden.
Villanova capped off its second national championship in 2 years last April with a 79-61 victory over Michigan. Only 7 months later, the Wolverines visited Finneran Pavilion in Philadelphia and routed the Wildcats 73-46.
Jay Wright’s crew has taken a while to regain its footing after that beating. The next game was a loss to Furman. Less than a month later, the Wildcats dropped another clunker to Penn. This was a long ways away from a 36-4 record and a No. 1 seed.
Flash forward to today, and Villanova is still on top of the Big East. The Wildcats sport a 22-8 (13-4) record and a one-game lead over Marquette with a single game to go before conference tournament time. Eric Paschall and Phil Booth, 2 of the contributors from 2018, have kept continuity from a winning culture.
Entering this afternoon’s contest at Seton Hall (12 p.m. EST, FOX), the Wildcats have some room to raise its potential NCAA Tournament seed a few notches.Let’s take a look at the latest on their bracketology outlook, along with their resume and a few key wins and losses that stand out.
Villanova NCAA Tournament Resume
In the non-conference, the loss to Furman aged well. Several different projections have the Paladins right on the bubble. Penn, on the other hand, has a losing record in the Ivy League, keeping that as a really “bad” loss.
Those blemishes are lessened by triumphs over Florida State and Temple. The Seminoles rank No. 17 in the NET. Temple is fighting for one of the final at-large berths.
The Wildcats pounced early in Big East play, but has dropped 3 of their last 5 contests. The conference is only the 5th-best in the nation per Ken Pomeroy, and much of the competition sits just outside “good win” territory. Outside of the 6-point win over Marquette (No. 29 NET), Villanova’s only other accomplishments are sweeping bubble teams in Creighton and Butler.
On the bright side, there are no other “bad” losses. A 12-point defeat at 18-12 Georgetown (No. 80 NET) is undertandable.
Villanova Bracketology Breakdown
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi bestows Villanova with a No. 7 seed in the South Regional in his latest Bracketology. This would send the Wildcats to the Columbus pod for an opening round matchup with Texas. A win sets up a Round of 32 tilt withKentucky or Loyola-Chicago. Look out, Sister Jean.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports pegs them with a No. 6 seed out of the West. If they take care of business against projected No. 11 seed Florida, the Wildcats would face the winner of Texas Tech-Georgia Southern in Tulsa.
The Red Raiders faced Villanova in the Elite 8 last season, coming up short 71-59. The Wildcats scored their lowest output of the tournament.
Bracket Matrix aggregates 101 prognostications from across the internet. Michigan State averages out to a 5.67, which puts them as a 6-seed, with a smattering of brackets calling for a 5.
The Wildcats don’t have a lot of room to move up, since the best-case scenario has them beating a decent, but not elite, Marquette team in the Big East Tournament next week. However, losses can send them tumbling.
Seton Hall will be desperate trying to clinch its own bid. That means Villanova has to be on its toes to prevent the upset. If the Pirates plunder the Wildcats, expect a seeding closer to No. 7 than No. 5.