Villanova Bracketology: Wildcats Showing A Pulse Again?

Villanova Men’s Basketball has managed to bring their season back from the brink repeatedly this year. Can they do it one last time?

The Wildcats (16-12, 9-8 Big East) picked up their fourth ranked win of the season on Friday, Feb. 21 when they knocked off No. 16 Marquette in commanding fashion, 81-66.

With that dominant margin of victory came a four spot surge in the NET rankings, all the way up to No. 50. The KenPom ratings ended up a tougher judge, promoting the Wildcats just one spot to No. 55.

Villanova possesses a 2-6 record in Quadrant 1 matchups, 4-3 in Quad 2, and 4-2 and 6-1 in Quadrants 3 and 4, respectively. With just three games to play in the regular season, the Wildcats managed to take down Marquette, their toughest remaining matchup. They looked dead in the water after falling off the bubble following the Providence loss, but could wriggle their way back into the picture if they win out against Seton Hall, Butler and Georgetown… far from difficult matchups, to put it kindly.

Nevertheless, with just a 1.5 percent chance of an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, they’d need to go on a deep run in the Big East Tournament (whether winning the conference outright or picking up a handful of résumé boosting wins) in order to make their way back to the Big Dance for the first time since 2022.