Villanova Metrics: Overtime Win Gives Slight Boost

Villanova Men’s Basketball eked out an overtime road win over Xavier on Tuesday, Feb. 17 and, despite the Musketeers’ struggles this season, the Wildcats (21-5, 12-3 Big East) still managed to inch up the metrics as a result.

The Wildcats checked in at No. 29 in the NET rankings and No. 27 in the KenPom ratings on the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 18, climbing one spot in the former and dropping one in the latter. The NET matters more than the KenPom ratings when it comes time to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament — and Villanova is a near lock regardless — so the slight hit from KenPom matters less.

Win quality is a point of concern for the Wildcats this season as the Big East endures a down year, but their best remaining chance at making a regular season statement will come on Saturday, Feb. 21 when they host No. 5 UConn at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Villanova dropped an overtime decision to the Huskies on the road back in January and, even with an at-large bid almost locked up, a ranked win could help them move up in the tournament field, securing a more favorable path once March Madness begins.

Teamrankings.com and ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi both have the Wildcats as a No. 7 seed right now, while Torvik projects them as a No. 8 seed.