NCAA Basketball: Big Ten, Villanova, Siena, and Grand Canyon headline this weeks Sunday Mailbag
By Bryan Mauro
When should Villanova fans hit the panic button about Kyle Neptune? Looks like he’s missing the tournament again and while he’s recruited pretty well does he simply not have the coaching touch of Jay Wright? - Patrick Madden (@TheSportsJD)
It has been a weird year for the Wildcats; they have their signature wins against Creighton, North Carolina, Memphis, and Texas Tech. They have also lost to Drexel, Penn, and Saint Joseph’s in the Big 4. Even with that the Wildcats are still comfortably in the tournament field as of today. Why because their metrics are favorable and they have great wins. They have also won games outside of Philadelphia which is always favorable to the committee.
As of today they are currently on a 4 game losing streak and have lost 4 out of 5 games in the Big East. The fans are getting restless and it makes sense given how much success the Wildcats are used to but it may be to early to hit the panic button. Current head coach Kyle Neptune is replacing a legend in Jay Wright and the facts are the coach Neptune is not Jay Wright and isn’t going to ever be coach Wright. Coach Neptune is his own man and he is running his own program.
Anytime there is a coaching change especially when you are replacing a legend it is going to take time to build the program up to where it was. It is hard to have a good sense of the program after only a season and a half. I will admit last year was a disaster but it did result in a lottery pick for Cam Whitmore. Villanova will get it rolling again soon and should make the tournament fairly easily. The fanbase is restless. I get that but give Neptune some time to get this figured out. If after year 4 and these same problems are still there for the Wildcats then go ahead and panic.