One month out from Selection Sunday, here’s where the experts, novices, and everyone in between is seeding the ‘Cats.
Happy Friday Nova Nation! This weekend will mark exactly one month until Selection Sunday, the Christmas morning of the college basketball world. Last year, Villanova fans woke up to a #5 Seed in the South that turned into a Sweet 16 run. So what will this season’s tournament hold in store?
There are a couple of predictor’s to keep your eyes on if you want to play Nostradamus and devine the Wildcat’s seed. The first is the tool the Selection Committee uses to start the evaluation process, The NET. The NET is a complicated formula that takes in multiple metrics and season rankings. The big questions the NET seems to concern itself with are who did you beat, and who will you beat? Villanova has ranked very highly in the NET this season, currently ranking 6th in the country. Some additional details:
- Villanova is 5-5 in Q1 and 3-1 in Q2, with no losses in Q3 or Q4
- Nova ranks Top 10 in KenPom, BPI, and Sagarin
- The Wildcats have three Q1 games, two Q2, and one Q4 remaining on their schedule
So not only does Villanova rank very high in the computer numbers, they also have a lot of opportunity for impact wins left on the schedule. This is a great position for Nova to be in to continue improving their tournament resume.
The other thing to keep an eye on is bracket predictions. There are a few out there that have gotten really good at predicting this stuff, and some others that just end up guessing correctly sometimes. The site www.bracketmatrix.com does a great job compiling all of those brackets out there and spitting out the “hive mind” prediction for seeding as they’re updated. Currently, they have Nova averaging out as the final #3 seed, alongside Houston, Wisconsin, and Texas Tech. The collective of over one hundred bracketologists have Nova ranked anywhere from a #2 Seed to a #5 seed, which means the general consensus is that Nova will finish as at least a Top 20 team.
It’ll be fun to keep an eye on as the Wildcats try to close out strong through the regular season and what should be an exciting Big East Tournament. So for our poll today, the question to you is what seed will Villanova end up with in the Tournament?
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