Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
The Villanova Wildcats made the NCAA tournament last season and the same should be the case in the upcoming one. However, let’s take a look at some key games in their non-conference schedule.
How about the matchups against Syracuse, La Salle and Temple.
The Orange are usually good in college hoops and by good I mean a top 10 team. La Salle had a great season last year winning 24 games and they will compete once again. Temple loses some talent and it will be interesting to see how it will fair without leading scorer Wyatt Khalif. Nonetheless, that game will be played on the road for the Wildcats.
It is important to note that the Wildcats will also play in the Battle 4 Atlantis. The Kansas Jayhawks highlight the field, but teams such as Tennessee and Xavier will be in it as well. If Villanova does in fact play Kansas, then that game will completely boost the toughness of its non-conference schedule.
Even without that game, Villanova has a solid out-of-conference schedule and will be challenged quite a bit.
The Wildcats won 20 games last season and made the NCAA tournament as a No. 9 seed. Earning that seed in the upcoming season would likely be a disappointment as JayVaughn Pinkston and other players return. Pinkston led the team in scoring last season, averaging 13.3 points per game.
The Syracuse matchup is what really makes this non-conference schedule so tough, but other teams cannot be overlooked.
Villanova has a real shot at winning the Big East this year, but it needs to worry about its non-conference schedule first, which could provide some serious resume builders.
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