Villanova Men’s Basketball: How the ‘Cats Schedule Compares With Big East

Statistician and college basketball analyst Kenneth Pomeroy released his preliminary rankings for the 2025-26 season on Sunday, Oct. 12, giving an idea of how teams might perform based on the past production of their athletes. While preseason estimations aren’t ever perfect — especially in the era of the transfer portal, where teams change dramatically from year to year instead of building around the same core group of players — they do provide a useful estimation of what a team might face.

With each of the 361 Division I college basketball programs ranked somewhere on Pomeroy’s eponymous KenPom Ratings, it’s now possible to rate the out-of-conference strength of schedule… and Villanova will face the toughest task of any team in the Big East, with an average opponent rank of 120.4. Out-of-conference Quadrant 1 matchups for the Wildcats include Michigan (No. 11), BYU (No. 18), Wisconsin (No. 20); Pitt (No. 63) qualifies as a Quadrant 2 matchup at home.

The Wildcats’ strength of schedule doesn’t include their matchup in the Big 5 Classic, where they’ll face one of St. Joseph’s (No. 109), Penn (No. 276) and Drexel (No. 238) depending on how they perform in pod play.

Preparing a Résumé

Of the 11 teams in the Big East, both St. John’s and Marquette will face a similar out of conference strength of schedule to Villanova; DePaul will face the easiest schedule, with an average opponent rank around No. 260.

Because of the loaded Big East schedule — Villanova plays 20 conference games, compared to just 15 conference matchups in the SEC — a strong out of conference performance is crucial to flesh out a March Madness résumé. Wildcats head coach Kevin Willard has even hinted at backing out of or dramatically changing the historic Big 5 schedule because it waters down Villanova’s strength of schedule.

As things stand right now, the Wildcats’ strength of schedule including conference games will see them play teams with an average rank of 40.28. If they can steal some wins, that will put Villanova in an excellent spot come Selection Sunday.