Villanova Bracketology: Xavier Leapfrogs Wildcats in NET

Villanova Men’s Basketball continued to hold firm in the NET rankings after knocking off Butler on Saturday, March 1 for their third straight win.

They checked in at No. 51 on the morning of March 2 (and No. 54 in the KenPom ratings), the same spot they’ve occupied since their Feb. 26 win over Seton Hall, which actually made them fall down a slot from No. 50. Xavier dominated Creighton on March 1, leapfrogging Villanova (18-12, 11-8 Big East) in the NET rankings and keeping them stagnant. The Wildcats hold a 2-6 record in Quadrant 1 matchups, 4-3 in Quad 2, 6-2 in Quad 3 and 6-1 in Quad 4.

Following their horrendous blown lead against UConn on Feb. 18, Villanova needed to win out — and pick up at least two wins in the Big East Tournament —in order to have any prayer of making the NCAA Tournament. Now they’re one win away from accomplishing that first goal, taking the court for their regular season finale against Georgetown on Tuesday, March 4. If the Big East tournament began today, the Wildcats would enter as the No. 6 seed, setting them up against the worst team in the conference — either DePaul or Seton Hall — in the first round before facing the No. 3 seed (currently Creighton) the following day.

At minimum, they’d need to win both those games to feel even remotely confident about securing an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and even then it would be no sure thing. As things stand right now, the Wildcats possess just a two percent chance of receiving an at-large bid… but running the Big East Tournament gauntlet to win an automatic bid is no sure thing either.