Villanova Bracketology: Nearly Healthy Wildcats On the Bubble

Villanova Men’s Basketball’s three game winning streak has helped propel them into the NCAA Tournament picture, but the Wildcats need to do more work to bolster their reputation under a new head coach after three straight years without a bid to the Big Dance.

The Wildcats (3-1) checked in as the fourth team in ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s “First Four Out” category in his most recent tournament projection published on Tuesday, Nov. 18. That would slate them as the No. 72 team outside the field of 68.

They currently hold the No. 43 rank in the KenPom Ratings, similarly on the cusp of a tournament spot: with 32 of the 68 slots going to conference champions, a team needs to land in the top 40 on KenPom (and especially in the NET rankings, first published in December) in order to feel confident about their chances of an at-large bid.

After a slate of injuries to begin the season, Villanova is close to full health: backup forward Tafara Gapare should return from a foot injury soon, and transfer wing Zion Stanford made his Wildcats’ debut against Duquesne on Nov. 15, at least two weeks ahead of schedule. That could give their defense a significant upgrade.

Three of Villanova’s next four games will come against Big 5 opponents, always tough matchups even if they wouldn’t provide the biggest strength of schedule boost, before they get into tough out-of-conference games against Wisconsin and Michigan heading into Big East play. The Wildcats have a long runway before talk about a tournament spot gets serious, but they’re trending in the right direction.