Spencer Haigis

Sports Journalism

3/6/17

                                                Villanova’s Chances and Why

Villanova will do very well in both the Big East tournament and in March Madness. They are first place in the Big East with a record of 28-3, 15-3 inside their conference. The Big East tournament a few days before March Madness starts and will be less challenging because there are fewer teams. Villanova has a good chance of winning the Big East for many reasons.

First off, Villanova is in first place in their conference, which means that they have a better record than any team in the Big East. Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson lead the team in scoring. Hart, who is only a sophomore, averages 18.7 points per game while Brunson, a senior, averages 14.8 points per game. They have only lost two games during the regular season. They lost to Marquette once and Georgetown twice. They lost to Georgetown by only eight both times and fell to Marquette by only two. These two teams are the only threats that Villanova might have for this tournament. Butler more than Marquette because they beat them earlier in the season by twelve.

Villanova gets a buy for the first round and will either play Georgetown, who is the 9^th seed, or St. John’s, the 8^th seed, in the quarter finals. Either of these teams would easy for them. They easily beat St. John’s 70-57 and 92-79. Villanova also recently beat Georgetown 81-55 with Josh Hart scoring 21. After that round they would play the winner of Seton Hall and Marquette. They have beat both teams before, but Marquette would be more challenging considering Villanova has lost to them this season. I still believe that Villanova would move past both these teams and advance to the finals. In my opinion, Villanova will be playing either Butler or Providence. They beat Providence, who is in 3^rd place, by ten earlier in the season. Butler, on the other hand, is in 2^nd place and has a 12-6 record. They beat Villanova in both of their match-ups by eight. I believe that Villanova could beat Providence and Butler in the finals and win the tournament.

March Madness will be a complete different story for Villanova. There are many more teams in the tournament compared to the Big East. There are 68 teams in March Madness compared to only ten in the Big East so it would be a bigger challenge for them to win it all. Villanova still has a decent chance to win March Madness. They are a potential first seed in this tournament and are defending March Madness champions. They have many returning seniors from last year that will lead the team this year as well under the coaching of Jay Wright

There are many excellent teams that are favored to win March Madness this year like Kansas, Gonzaga, UNC, and UCLA. Many say that Villanova will not be able to beat teams like Kansas. Kansas has always been a strong team, and with Frank Mason III leading the team with an average of 20.5 points per game.

Villanova would not have to face other high-ranked teams until further into the tournament, considering their high seed. They will be playing teams that are ranked lower than them for the first couple rounds. In my opinion, they will advance past the first couple rounds with ease. Eventually they will face a team that they cannot beat and will lose to them. I do not believe that the will win it all this year. I think they can still make it far into the tournament. I predict that they will make it into the elite eight at least and possibly final four.  Some teams that could potentially beat Villanova include Kansas, UNC, Duke, and UCLA.

Villanova has had a tremendous season so far and it is not over just yet. They still have two more big opportunities to extend their season. We will see how it plays out and if my predictions were correct. I predict that they will win the Big East tournament and make it to the elite eight in March Madness.