Villanova Basketball: Loss to Kansas Jayhawks was still major statement

The Villanova basketball team deserves some credit for keeping things close with the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday.

As bad as it sounds, the Villanova basketball team looked like they were going to be in for a brutal outing on Saturday when facing the Kansas Jayhawks, mainly because of how their seasons have been a tale of two stories.

While the Jayhawks have been looking like one of the top teams in the country with an undefeated record, the Wildcats entered Saturday’s game with three losses to their name already during the 2018-19 season, all of which happened to be upsets.

Despite winning their second title in three years last season, Jay Wright knew there was a chance his team would be dealing with some adjustment issues when looking at some of the key players lost to the NBA.

However, it’s safe to say not even the Villanova head coach expected his team to be sitting with three losses before the middle of December rolled around, which obviously makes it seem like their chances of locking up another title seem slim.

With that being said, when seeing the results of Saturday’s game in which the Wildcats only lost to the Jayhawks 74-71, maybe Wright’s team does have what it takes to make another run come March after all.

There’s a reason why Kansas is still undefeated at this point in the season when looking at the talent Bill Self has to work with, whether it’s Lagerald Vick (29 points with seven rebounds) at guard or simply Dedric Lawson (28 points) leading the way in scoring.

Come March, this Jayhawks team seems to have the talent to make another serious run at the Final Four, which only gives the Wildcats even more to be proud of from Saturday’s contest.

In order to be the best, a team like Villanova needs to prove during the regular season they do in fact have what it takes to compete with the top teams in the country, whether it happens to be Kansas or someone else.

Having four losses already at this point in December is obviously beyond frustrating  for the Wildcats to see, but hopefully the team can figure out a way to heat things up when it matters the most later on in the season.

Plus, if Villanova needs to be positive about anything from Saturday’s loss besides the 29-point outing by Phil Booth, it should be the defending champions made a statement about competing with the No. 1 team in the country.