Villanova
Things went quite poorly for head coach Kyle Neptune in his first season helming the Wildcats last season, finishing right at .500. This was far beyond the expectation in Villanova, even in the first season succeeding a legend, though there was certainly hope for a significant bounce back this year.
The Wildcats got the season off to a nice start by winning the Battle 4 Atlantis, claiming victories over Texas Tech, North Carolina, and Memphis that continue to look impressive. Unfortunately, they’ve also had significantly struggles with their local rivals, losing to Penn, Saint Joseph’s, and Drexel this season. All three of those games are currently Quad 3 losses.
One piece of good news was Villanova’s road win over Creighton to open league play in the Big East, but it’s been downhill since then. Xavier is the only team the Wildcats have beaten in the last month outside of DePaul. They’ve currently lost four straight games, though all were Quad 1 opportunities and a few were really close, including to Connecticut a week and a half ago.
A November performance in the Bahamas cannot singlehandedly build the resume of an 11-9 team that can’t win consistently in the Big East. It’s clear that this Wildcats program is still off in Neptune’s second season, but have they done enough to impress the Selection Committee? Obviously, getting off the snide and stockpiling solid performances is a must in the coming weeks.