Villanova Basketball: Michigan gives Wildcats major wake-up call during recent loss
By Dan Parzych
In their first big test against a strong contender, the Villanova Wildcats were blown out by the Michigan Wolverines on Wednesday.
Rightfully so, the Villanova basketball team started off the 2018-19 season as one of the early favorites to make another run at winning the NCAA title, even if they were missing some of their key players from last year’s run.
Deep down, Jay Wright knows this season may be filled with some growing pains as a result of the roster adjustments along with the expectations surrounding the Wildcats. But what took place on Wednesday against the Michigan Wolverines, well let’s just say this was completely embarrassing for Villanova.
Similar to the Wildcats, the Wolverines entered this year with high expectations as well after reaching the championship game last April before falling to Wright’s squad. And even though Wednesday’s game wasn’t anywhere close to being as meaningful as winning the tournament, Michigan still felt good to get a little revenge.
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Even more impressive for the Wolverines, Wednesday’s game against the Wildcats seemed to be well over by halftime when seeing how they were up 44-17 before going on to win 73-46.
Whether this means that Michigan is underrated and should be viewed as more of a threat this season or simply the fact that Villanova wasn’t prepared at all for this matchup, it doesn’t look good either way for the Wildcats.
Cruising to two easy wins over Morgan State and Quinnipiac was expected when looking at how both teams compare to Villanova on paper, but Wednesday’s game against Michigan was the perfect opportunity to make a statement.
Instead of proving they do deserve to be viewed as a top-10 team by taking down the Wolverines, the Wildcats look more like a team that could be in for an early elimination come March when the tournament officially gets underway.
As bad as it sounds, if Villanova looked this awful against Michigan, one can only imagine what the middle of December is like when they square off against the No. 2 team in the country, the Kansas Jayhawks.
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Just like the Wolverines, the Jayhawks will be playing with a little extra revenge on their minds after losing to the Wildcats in the Final Four last spring, so let’s hope Wright’s team has made the necessary adjustments by then, or this outcome could be brutal as well.