Villanova Bracketology: Wildcats Still Inching Up Projections

Villanova Men’s Basketball landed as a No. 6 seed in ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest assessment, published on Tuesday, Jan. 6. The Wildcats (12-2, 3-0 Big East) won both their games last week, although they needed to mount a second-half comeback to do so on both occasions.

Per Lunardi’s projection, Villanova would face the winner of a First Four matchup between NC State and Ohio State and would enter the section of the bracket hosted in Tampa. While the Wildcats narrowly missed making their first AP Poll appearance in more than two years, they did land in this week’s coaches poll, earning the No. 24 spot with 70 points. Virginia (120 points, No. 23) and SMU (42 points, No. 25), flank the Wildcats in that ranking.

Both the NET rankings (No. 18) and the KenPom ratings (No. 22) like Villanova more than the voters do.

Villanova Women’s Basketball also looks like a tournament team, hitting their highest spot this season as a projected No. 10 seed last week. After losing to Marquette on the road, however, Charlie Creme, compiler of the women’s bracketology list, sees them as a First Four candidate and the last team in, setting them up as a No. 11 seed. Even after winning ten games in a row, opening Big East play on a 5-0 run, the women’s team has yet to earn a vote in their AP Poll this season.