Villanova Metrics: Time to Root for Creighton

Villanova Men’s Basketball picked up a borderline Quadrant 1 win on Saturday, Feb. 14, knocking off the Creighton Blue Jays 80-69 in Omaha. 

The Blue Jays currently hold the No. 81 spot in the NET rankings, and if they’re able to climb back into the top 75, that would furnish the Wildcats (20-5, 11-3 Big East) with their fourth Quad 1 win of the season. It would also promote Villanova’s Jan. 7 home loss to Creighton from Quadrant 3 to Quadrant 2, which could become a critical résumé booster as the Wildcats attempt to climb up the NCAA Tournament field.

As of the morning of Sunday, Feb. 15, Villanova holds the No. 30 spot in the NET rankings and the No. 26 spot in the KenPom ratings, their five-game winning streak inching them back toward the top 25. They received 15 points in this week’s Associated Press poll, good for the fifth team out of the rankings, and two more wins should propel them onward still. Teamrankings.com currently sees Villanova as a 100 percent lock for the NCAA Tournament, with a No. 7 seed as their most likely outcome.

The Wildcats will return to action at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at Xavier, concluding a stretch of six games against teams with a .500 or worse record in Big East play. They’ll face No. 6 UConn and No. 17 St. John’s in the last eight days of February, their last chances for Quadrant 1 wins ahead of the conference tournament.