It has been a miserable end of the season so far for Villanova fans, but one thing they can take solace in is that it's not over yet. Despite their swoon, the Wildcats still have a resume deserving of an NCAA tournament bid according to ESPN's Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi.
Let me quickly and directly answer the most pressing question of the day: Villanova is NOT going to miss the NCAA Tournament (and this is coming from a St. Joe's guy!) . . . Villanova's seed is, and should be, very much in doubt. Its selection . . . is not."
"Overall, they’ve beaten eight teams -- eight different teams -- that are in the field, and I’d be hard pressed to find anybody in any season that has done that and missed, so my nickel is that Villanova will make it as a double-digit seed and then run their losing seed to six games."
According to Lunardi, the only danger is if the selection committee just can't bring themselves to give the Big East 11 seeds. In that scenario, the Wildcats are definitely 11 out of 11 teams and would be the odd one out. However, as Lunardi explained, the committee really wouldn't be justified in shutting out a deserving Big East team just on principle.
"Might there just be some, ‘We just can’t possibly do this’ feeling in the committee room? Yeah, I guess," Lunardi said. "And if any of them are going to miss, it’s going to be Villanova. But in terms of team-by-team comparisons, it really isn’t close. The facts are the facts and the records are the records and the numbers are the numbers and 11 of their teams are among the top 37, period."
So while it doesn't look likely that they'll spend too long in the tournament, it does look very likely that Villanova will at least be there.