Nova Quest For A Second Straight Big East Tournament Crown

For the first time since the Big East was realigned back in 2013, Villanova will not play its opening game in the Big East Tournament at noon on a Thursday at the Garden.

Reserved for the No. 1 seed in the tournament and the winner of the eight vs. nine game played the night before, it will be the regular season champions Xavier playing in the lunch hour time-slot in 2018.

Villanova will have to wait seven hours to play its opening game as the Wildcats tip off at 7 p.m. as the No. 2 seed on Thursday night. They’ll play against the winner of Marquette and DePaul as they begin their quest for a second straight Big East Tournament crown and their third in four years.

Villanova hasn’t had much of a problem with DePaul, beating them 103-85 in their first matchup this season in Chicago and then beating the Blue Demons 93-62 in Philly.

It should be noted that Marquette has come close to beating Villanova twice this season. In their first matchup, they put up 90 points against the Wildcats at the Wells Fargo Center but ultimately fell, 100-90. In their second matchup, Marquette gave Villanova a run for their money but loss 75-72 in Milwaukee.

Compared to the Villanova teams from the past four years, the 2017-18 team has been the worst team in terms of record. Yet, they stand at a very impressive 27-4 with a 14-4 record in conference play and are still very much alive to earn their third No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in four years.

Led by All-Big East first team selections Jalen Brunson (19.0 ppg) and Mikal Bridges (17.6 ppg), Villanova has a better chance to win the Big East Tournament as the two seed than Xavier does as the one seed according to KenPom.

After heading into conference play at 12-0 which included wins over Tennessee, Gonzaga and Penn, Villanova started its quest for a fifth straight regular season Big East title at 1-1 after they beat DePaul and lost at Butler 101-93 on Dec. 30, 2017.

After the loss in Indianapolis, Villanova rattled off nine straight victories to improve their conference record to 10-1.

Then the Wildcats started to struggle.

After losing guard Phil Booth (11.0 ppg) and forward Eric Paschall (10.2 ppg) for extended periods of time due to a broken hand and a concussion, respectively, Villanova was shocked at home by St. John’s, losing 79-75 on Feb. 7.

After a bounce back victory over Butler, Villanova lost again. This time, they lost at Providence on Valentine’s day, 76-71.

Villanova then responded in a huge way by beating then No.4 ranked Xavier in Cincinnati, 95-79. After beating DePaul at home, Villanova then lost to Creighton in overtime 89-83 on Feb. 24 in Omaha.

Villanova closed out their regular season on a two-game winning streak by beating Seton Hall on the road in overtime and by beating Georgetown at home.

Now that everyone is back and healthy, there could not have been a better time for the Wildcats to try and make a run in the Big East tournament heading into the NCAA Tournament.