Villanova Bracketology: Four Big East Teams Make Lunardi’s First Assessment

The transfer portal closed at 12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 22 and although teams still have two days to finish filing paperwork for prospective entrees, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi made his preliminary assessment of the 2027 NCAA Tournament field, including Villanova and three other Big East teams.

The Wildcats landed as a No. 8 seed in the East region, the same seed they occupied this past season… albeit on a coast 2,000 miles closer. Villanova has most of next season’s minutes accounted for with a five-player transfer class, three returning athletes and incoming freshman Adam Oumiddoch, but they’ll still need to find some depth in the portal.

Lunardi ranks UConn as a No. 2 seed, St. John’s as a No. 4 seed and Creighton as a No. 10 seed and member of the First Four. He also includes Providence (No. 71) and Xavier (No. 72) in the first four out, Marquette (No. 73) lagging just behind them. With the NCAA Tournament likely to expand to 76 teams as soon as next season, the Big East could send well over half their members to the Big Dance… but offseason rankings only mean so much.

ESPN’s Charlie Creme hasn’t released his bracket projection for the women’s tournament yet, but Villanova Women’s Basketball should have an excellent shot of returning to the postseason after finishing second in the Big East last year. They lost just one player to the transfer portal, backup point guard MD Ntambue, and have a young core that should take another step in the right direction next season.

Both Villanova teams will open the 2026-27 season in Rome on Sunday, Nov. 1 against Notre Dame.