Villanova men slip to 8-seed in NCAA Tournament, women a 10-seed

First the only men’s team in the bracket is 8-seeded Villanova.

The one-time Big East powerhouse will face off against 9-seeded Utah State, a game they’ll no doubt be favored in due to their big conference experience and name recognition. They seemed like a shoe-in for a much better seed last week, but they were upset in the conference tournament by dreadful Georgetown and it put a huge dent in their tournament bonafides despite a solid 24-8 regular season campaign.

The Cats are scheduled to tip off in San Diego on Friday afternoon.

If they can handle the Aggies, the Wildcats will have the unenviable task of trying to unseat 1-seed Arizona, which should have a cakewalk win over 16-seeded Long Island in their tourney opener. Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Arkansas and Purdue are also high seeds who lurk in the western regional.

The Nova women will also have a tough road ahead trekking for a deep stint in the 2026 tournament. They were solid in the regular season, earning the second best record in the Big East at 25-7. They were pummeled in the tournament final by the No. 1 overall team in the country in UConn. With the 10th seed in the Sacramento Region, the Wildcats will play Texas Tech, a 7-seed on Friday.

The second best team in their region, LSU, will very likely await in a potential second round bout. 

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