Villanova Bracketology: Joe Lunardi’s Take on the Wildcats

After struggling to a 2-3 record through the first two weeks of the 2024-25 campaign, Villanova Men’s Basketball has turned their season around, going 8-2 and currently occupying the No. 5 spot in the Big East.

It’s an impressive turnaround for a team that looked dead in the water, especially with head coach Kyle Neptune seemingly on the hot seat. As of games played on Jan. 7, 2025, Villanova occupies the No. 49 spot in the NET rankings and the No. 41 spot in the KenPom ratings. They’re far from a shoe-in for the NCAA Tournament at this time, especially as bid stealers begin to pop up during the conference tournaments in March, but they’re trending in the proper direction, balancing out their earlier struggles with authoritative wins… including a 44-point shellacking of the DePaul Blue Demons on Saturday, Jan. 4 that marked one of their best wins of the season to date.

The Wildcats also enjoy the services of one of the best players in the country in forward Eric Dixon, who leads Division 1 with an average of 25.9 points per game. Where does ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi rank Villanova, then?

Bursting the Bubble?

Still on the outside looking in. In Lunardi’s latest bracketology update, the Wildcats sit just outside the bubble: not in the first four out or the next four out, but as the fourth team in the final category of teams trying to wiggle their way into the postseason picture.

Lunardi notes, however, that the Wildcats have an excellent chance to move their way into the bubble when they host No. 9 UConn at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, a matchup he calls “arguably the biggest game of the Kyle Neptune Era,” continuing that “Villanova could officially join the Bubble with a win over the two-time defending champs.” They’d previously appeared among teams considered, occupying the No. 92 spot in Lunardi’s seed list published on Saturday, Dec. 28.

Read our preview to see how the Wildcats stack up against the Huskies.