The NCAA Tournament has officially expanded to 76 teams.
Regardless of your personal opinion on it, one thing is for sure — there is definitely no excuse for Kevin Willard and Villanova to be left out.
Many publications are putting together projections following the news becoming official by the NCAA. This includes college hoops analyst Andy Katz, who predicted Villanova to make the tournament as a 12 seed.
According to the bracket put together by Katz, the Wildcats would play West Virginia in one of the play-in games on Tuesday and Wednesday. If it advanced, Villanova would take on fifth-seeded Purdue.
Considering Villanova played in the 8-9 game this year, it is hard to imagine the team being worse in 2026-27. Of course, the team can only be taken as it is right now. While Willard has crushed the transfer portal, there is still an injury to Matt Hodge and the frontcourt is lacking without the presence of a center.
There are ways to work the rotation with Kwame Evans Jr. playing the five but he will likely take on a stretch four role once the Wildcats add another big. Evans is one of two four-stars who transferred in along with Devin Royal.
Willard checked other boxes as well after losing both Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay. The duo of Elijah Crawford and Buddy Simmons will bolster the backcourt. Jake Fiegen is also in the mix to take on the Devin Askew role of a volume shooter off the bench.
There are some if’s left this offseason as Villanova works to fill out the roster, but it is safe to assume that if the Wildcats are a 12 seed next year, it would not be considered a success.
