KenPom Ratings: Villanova Ranks No. 4 in Big East After Week 1

Villanova Men’s Basketball continues to inch up the KenPom Ratings, clocking in at No. 47 as of the morning of Monday, Nov. 10. The Wildcats entered the season at No. 50, then dropped a spot following their loss to No. 8 BYU.

Villanova currently holds the No. 4 spot in the Big East, behind UConn (No. 6), St. John’s (No. 20) and Creighton (No. 43). To begin the season, they also fell in behind Marquette and Providence, but those two tumbled down the rankings after opening week losses.

Although head coach Kevin Willard said that the Wildcats aren’t good on offense or defense yet following their win over Queens, they check in at No. 56 in KenPom’s offensive rating and hold the No. 47 defensively. Their adjusted offensive tempo ranks No. 271 with 70.5 possessions per game, much lower than Willard planned to begin the season, but with point guard Devin Askew still limited coming off a knee injury, that could speed up in the coming weeks.

Before the first NET rankings come out in December, KenPom provides the best gauge of how close a team is to securing an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Because 32 of the 68 tournament bids go to conference champions, a team needs to land in the top 40 to feel really strong about their chances: any lower than that, and bid stealers can begin to eat up the remaining spots.