NCAA Basketball: Kentucky, Arkansas fall in latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
23. Villanova (3-1)
It would be very easy to be underwhelmed with this Villanova program since Kyle Neptune took over the program prior to last year. Last year the Wildcats certainly failed to meet expectations and faltered to a .500 record and they’ve already slipped and fallen once this season. However, the jury is certainly not out on the Wildcats and they also had a pretty impressive performance in recent days.
Villanova started the week at the Palestra against Penn and lost that true road test, falling 76-72 against the Quakers. It was a tough defensive effort for the Wildcats, though a 25-point, 7-rebound effort from Justin Moore was certainly a great sight to see. Villanova was back on track on Friday night, hosting Maryland as part of the Gavitt Tipoff Games. They delivered in a 57-40 victory that wasn’t close early, with Trey Burton’s 15 points leading the charge.
Many people won’t rank Villanova based on that performance against Penn, but the team we saw dominate the Terrapins deserves recognition. While it’s true that the Wildcats have to play more consistently, especially on defense, it’s hard to win true road games against local rivals, and they did play a more complete game by the weekend. These Wildcats are now off to the Battle 4 Atlantis, facing Texas Tech and then potentially North Carolina and someone else in what should be a big early season test.