Villanova Bracketology: Georgetown Loss’ Impact Not Yet Arrived

Villanova remains in position for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after their meltdown against No. 11 seed Georgetown in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament, but that ugly loss — their worst since dropping a home game against a struggling Creighton team — will put a damper on their postseason projections.

For a young, streaky team like these Wildcats (24-8), tournament seeding can play a major role in their ability to advance, and the Hoyas’ loss has them in danger of falling to a No. 9 seed or even further. Losing starting forward Matt Hodge to an ACL tear gives the team even less of a margin for error. After the loss, Villanova dropped to No. 36 in the NET rankings and No. 33 in the KenPom Ratings.

With a full weekend of conference tournament games to play heading into Selection Sunday, the impact of Villanova’s loss hasn’t fully arrived.  ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi still lists them as a No. 7 seed as of the morning of March 13, predicting them to play NC State in Buffalo during the Round of 64, while Bart Torvik slots the Wildcats in as the last team on his eight seed line and the No. 36 team overall. Analyst Evan Miyakawa’s simulations also slot them as a No. 7 seed.

However, as other teams continue to play and shore up their own résumé’s for March — or go home early like the Wildcats did — Villanova could shift further up or down the various brackets.