Villanova earns No. 1 seed, will play winner of LIU Brooklyn and Radford

All season, the Villanova Wildcats were considered one of the top favorites to make a run in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, and rightfully so when looking at how dangerous Jay Wright‘s team has looked, especially from beyond the arc. Now, it’s time for the Wildcats to continue living up to the hype after earning a No. 1 seed in the East Region with a matchup against the winner of the LIU Brooklyn and Radford game.

When looking at the history of No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, there’s a good chance that Villanova will have little trouble winning their first game, no matter who they end up playing in the opening round. Then again, there’s always the extra pressure of a top seed losing early on since their opponents tend to have nothing to lose, meaning just because the Wildcats will be heavy favorites doesn’t mean they can afford to take this game lightly.

Winning the way they did against Providence in overtime during the Big East tournament championship shows how tough this Villanova team can be, and as long as guys like Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson are on top of their games, Villanova is going to be a very dangerous team to compete against in the East Region. But before jumping too far ahead, the Wildcats will wait to see who comes out of the play-in game between LIU Brooklyn and Radford as the winner.

Two years ago, Villanova came out on top of one of the most amazing championship games in the big tournament when Kris Jenkins hit the game-winning shot from beyond the arc to give the team their first title since 1985. Only time will tell when it comes to whether the Wildcats will be able to win their second title in three seasons, but it’s hard to pick against them when seeing how favorable of a region they’re fortunate enough to play in this year.

Next: Get ready for March Madness with brackets

If all goes well over the next few weeks beginning in Pittsburgh a few days from now, Villanova will be in a great position to potentially cut the nets down in San Antonio come April. There’s a reason why sports fans are obsessed with this time of year, and here’s to hoping for better results than last year for the Wildcats when they lost in the second round to Wisconsin.