Villanova Wins Big East Tournament, Likely Locks Up No. 1 Overall Seed

Villanova just won the Big East Tournament and all but surely locked up the No. 1 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The team’s 74-60 win over Creighton all but sealed the deal.

Jay Wright’s defending national champion squad entered the week in a tight battle with Kansas and North Carolina for the tourney’s top spot in the tourney. Both the Jayhawks and Tar Heels were upset in their conference tournaments, leaving the Wildcats alone on top.

Villanova will enter the tournament with a 31-3 record and a ton of momentum. The Wildcats have won five in a row and 12 of their last 13 games. On top of that, their resume is nearly impeccable.

The team is No. 1 in the RPI, its strength of schedule ranked 38th entering Saturday, it finished with a 15-3 conference record and was 13-0 in the non-conference, plus the three wins in the conference tournament. The Wildcats were 8-0 on neutral courts, and 9-2 on the road, while posting 5-2 record against the RPI top 25, 12-2 record against the top 50, 17-3 against the top 100 and 24-3 against the top 150. That’s the best resume you’re going to find this year.

There should be no doubt that Nova is the No. 1 seed, and North Carolina has distanced itself as the No. 2 overall. Kansas is still likely locked in to the No. 3 overall seed, while Gonzaga would appear to be hanging on to the final No. 1 spot. It would be a tremendous shock if that wasn’t how things played out.