The Villanova Wildcats, fresh off of their Big East tournament Championship, will begin their title defense on Thursday against the winner of the 16 seeds play in game. Villanova is the #1 overall seed for the third time in program history, including two years ago when the team lost to NC State in the second round.
The Cats will play either New Orleans, or Mount Saint Mary’s. A 16 seed has never beaten a 1 seed, and I do not think this will be an exception. Villanova comes into the tourney on a hot streak. Though they didn’t shoot great in a few of their Big East tournament games, the team still managed to win, something I think is a good sign heading into the tournament. Though Villanova basically started, and stayed hot throughout the 2016 NCAA tournament, it is very rare for a team to not go through a dry spell at some point. Obviously, the best teams will find a way to win despite these dry spells.
Nova will be playing in the East, which features Wisconsin(8) vs Virginia Tech(9), Virginia(5) vs UNC Wilmington(12), Florida(4) vs East Tennessee State(13) and SMU(6) vs Kansas State or Wake Forest(11). Virginia Tech was a surprising team this season under former Marquette coach Buzz Williams, and comes from probably the best conference in the nation. They are tested, and have played numerous good to great teams throughout the year, so they should not be intimidated by the #1 Wildcats. Wisconsin has been a mainstay in the tournament in recent years, and feature a guard in Bronson Koenig that has seen his share of tournament success in his four years with the Badgers. Baylor(3) vs NMSU(14), South Carolina(7) vs Marquette(10), and Duke(2) vs Troy(15).
Looming in the Sweet 16 is a potential rematch with Virginia, who were hold Villanova’s offense at bay for much of their matchup earlier this season, and were only beaten when Donte Divincenzo tipped in a missed shot at the buzzer. If Villanova is able to get past the Sweet 16, a potential matchup with star laden Duke stands between them and a second straight Final Four trip. Duke enters the tournament on a hot streak, but a game vs Villanova would be a great matchup of experience vs talent, not that Villanova isn’t talented, but Duke features at least 4 NBA lottery picks alone on their roster. Villanova on the other hand has one, maybe two, NBA players on their roster.
Despite winning the whole thing last year, I still get nervous for any Villanova tournament game. Aside from last season, Nova has a tendency to not meet expectations in March. I think people forget about that, and rightly so since Villanova went on an epic run in 2016, capped off by the most clutch shot in NCAA basketball history. Hopefully last seasons success leads to even more this year and the Cats lift another trophy at the Final Four in April.