The Villanova Wildcats will begin the 2017-18 college basketball season against Colombia. What can we expect between the two on Friday night?
TV Schedule: Friday, Nov. 10, 8:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 2
Arena: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Last season, the Villanova Wildcats got off to a hot start by winning their first 14 games, including all of their non-conference games. The Wildcats would only lose two more games after that loss on their way to a Big East regular season title, Big East Tournament championship, and a No. 1 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Villanova would eventually fall in the second-round to a highly under-seeded Wisconsin Badgers’ squad (what were you thinking, Selection Committee), but the season as a whole should be considered nothing but a massive success.
Heading into the 2017-18 season, however, Villanova loses a few key players and still enters the season as one of the top five or so teams in college basketball. At some point, we’re going to have to start putting Jay Wright’s Villanova up there with Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, etc. as one of the top programs in all of college basketball.
Villanova’s first game will be against the Columbia Lions, who, after finishing last season with an 11-16 overall record, are not expected to be one of the better teams in the Ivy League.
Next: 2017-18 Villanova season preview
In fact, this one should not even be close. The Wildcats are far superior, and there should be plenty of garbage time for Wright’s bench players to showcase their talent.
Prediction: Villanova 80, Columbia 52