NCAA Basketball: Buy or Sell Duke, Kentucky, Purdue, Villanova, and UConn?

Villanova Wildcats

I thought we were sold on the Wildcats after winning the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. They got three good wins, including over UNC and Memphis. They followed that up with a loss to St. Joe’s but the Hawks have the talent to make that a somewhat understandable defeat at the time.

What can’t be defended is Villanova following that up with another loss in the Big 5 Tournament, losing to Drexel of the CAA. They aren’t an awful team but they already have losses to Temple, Old Dominion, and La Salle and if you’re a top-15 squad, you shouldn’t lose to them.

But that’s become a problem in the short Kyle Neptune era. In the 55-53 loss, only one starter had more than four points (Eric Dixon with 21 pts). Justin Moore had an off game with 1/11 shooting but the other three starters combined for just 7 pts on 2/16 shooting, with Mark Armstrong giving them nothing on offense.

The biggest problem has been that the four high-profile transfers have been underwhelming overall. Tyer Burton and TJ Bamba have struggled, while Hakim Hart and Lance Ware aren’t giving much off the bench either. And these performances have been against mid-major opponents. It won’t get any better against Big East opponents and the supporting cast has become too big of a concern to ignore.

Sell