Villanova Women’s Basketball Draws Marquette in Big East Tournament

The Big East Women’s Basketball Tournament will begin on Friday, March 7 at UConn’s Mohegan Sun Arena, but after finishing as the No. 5 seed in the conference, Villanova Women’s Basketball will enjoy a first round bye.

Despite the day off, the Wildcats (17-13, 11-7 Big East) won’t get much of a respite. As the lowest seed of the five teams locking up a bye, Villanova will have to jump right into the action against No. 4 seed Marquette in the conference quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 8.

The Wildcats put together a respectable regular season but ultimately struggled to hold their own against conference powerhouses like UConn and Creighton, going a combined 1-6 against the top four seeds in the Big East. That mark included a heartbreaking buzzer-beater in a 56-55 loss to Seton Hall at the Finneran Pavilion and a quartet of double-digit losses between the Huskies and Blue Jays.

Luckily for Villanova, the one team they played close was Marquette: they traded home wins with the Golden Eagles, winning 65-53 at home after losing a 64-59 tilt in Milwaukee. Should the Wildcats prevail — ESPN Analytics pegs them as a slight underdog with a 49.3 percent chance of winning — they’ll almost certainly advance to face UConn… assuming neither St. John’s (No. 8 seed) nor Butler (No. 9) manages a shocking upset.

Much like the men’s team, Villanova Women’s Basketball needs a run for the ages in order to sneak into the NCAA Tournament. Currently listed at No. 72 in the NET rankings, they’d need to run the table and lock up an automatic bid.

Click here for the full tournament bracket.