NEW YORK — Villanova faces 10/1 odds of repeating as the NCAA champion, according to Bovada.lv.
Duke and Kentucky — both of which are loaded with freshmen, talented freshmen but freshmen nonetheless — are the only teams with better odds. (Kansas is also at 10/1.)
If you ask Jay Wright’s Big East coaching brethren, they think Villanova has a good shot to get to the Final Four in Glendale, Az., and cut down the nets again.
“I do,” Butler’s Chris Holtmann told me Tuesday at Big East Media Day. “I think they’re probably one of a handful of teams that you would look at right now on paper and say that if things go right for them, if they catch their breaks” they could repeat.
“One of the things that Villanova did last year was from the opening game of the NCAA Tournament on they just got better and better part offensively,” Holtmann continued. “They’ve always been good defensively. They were in a great rhythm offensively, so if they get hot again like that along with a number of teams I wouldn’t be surprised to see them cut down the nets.”
Seton Hall was the last team to beat Villanova last season when they beat the Wildcats in the Big East championship game at Madison Square Garden.
Kevin Willard also thinks Big East Preseason Player of the Year Josh Hart and the Wildcats have a chance to repeat.
“I think so, yeah,” he told me. “I mean, I’m not going to put any pressure on Jay but I think the way Josh Hart has developed, as good as Jay has done at developing them. They’re going to be better offensively and defensively they’re unbelievably tough. So I think when you have good offensive players and tough defense, they have a chance.”
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