NCAA Tournament Preview: Villanova awaits Mount St. Mary’s in Buffalo

“He plays the top of our press, he plays different players – he’ll guard point guards, he’ll guard forwards – and he’s got to know the personnel and their tendencies, he’s got to know our scouting report”. If the NCAA Tournament plays to form of the betting odds, a rematch awaits.

The eighth-seeded Badgers (26-9) made all the big plays in the closing minutes to set up a meeting with top-seeded Villanova tomorrow. However, there are several advantage to being the 2-seed in the East. Duke has less distance to travel and won’t have to deal with changing time zones. The Blue Devils are out to win their second championship in three years, a feat no program has pulled off since Kentucky in 1996 and “98”. Between now and then, more than 60 basketball games to be played.

“They come up to him everywhere”, Hart said. That, of course, is less of a challenge than what the Blue Devils faced in Brooklyn at the ACC Tournament. Villanova played there in 2014, as a No. 2 seed, and lost to eventual national champion UConn. No team with 8 losses has ever received a 1-seed.

“Sometimes people just see the great looking guy dressed to the nines and they don’t think there’s as much substance as there really is”. No. 10 Marquette could pull off the mini-upset over No. 7 SC. Keep in mind that there will be a lot of UNC fans there too because they are also playing in Greenville.

Villanova’s run to the title past year also alleviated some pressure felt by the new-look Big East. Will Duke pull it all together?

Villanova fought back – Villanova always fights back – and took a 30-29 lead into the halftime dressing room, and DiVincenzo had grabbed eight rebounds. Baylor and SMU are good teams but Duke should be able to handle match-ups with either. The Gators took a far different path a season later, playing with lofty expectations, mounting pressure and the highest of profiles.

Freshman Miles Wilson scored 22 points as the Mountaineers (20-16) gave the defending champions all they could handle in the first half.

What’s one bold prediction for March Madness this year? The final three matchups were against ranked teams in Louisville, North Carolina and Notre Dame. “Every team in this tournament wants to win the tournament”. That’s simply to make it Phoenix where powers like Arizona, Gonzaga, Kansas, North Carolina or someone else could await. Both of them are challenging.

Florida was a champ in 2006, relying on size, shooting and maybe some obscurity to win its first national title.

Villanova opens the defense of its NCAA title at 7:10 p.m. Thursday in Buffalo when the Wildcats face Mount St. Mary’s.

The NCAA’s East Region has been tabbed by some as the region of death because there are so many accomplished teams among its 16-team group.

“My first NCAA Tournament game ever (in 2000), where we were at Hofstra, was at Buffalo, same place”.

Despite being proficient at scouting their opponents, executing game plans, working arduously in practice, and following a comparatively intense system for the players’ bodies to recover from a long season, Wright believes his team understands what it takes to repeat as champions.

They all understood they better play 40 minutes of Villanova basketball Saturday against the Wisconsin-Virginia Tech victor.