Can Villanova Pull Off the Big East Tournament Win?

Well as the Big East Tournament has gotten underway and we have already seen what makes the Big East so great.

At Noon today the 16 seed DePaul Blue Demons who were 0-18 in conference play before the game, beat the No. 9 seed Cincinnati. A win no one saw coming was followed by something even greater at 2:00.

The Georgetown Hoyas went to battle with St. Johns in a game which many would think was more lopsided than a 13 seed against a 12. But when the game was over Georgetown had fallen to St. Johns.

Now that out of two games we have seen two upsets, as a Villanova fan I started to wonder if our chances this year where greater than ever.

March is always a fun, surprising time in college basketball and if we have learned anything its that "anything is possible" if I may quote Kevin Garnett. So is it possible that 'Nova goes all the way in the Big East.

Their journey would start on Thursday as the No. 4 seed in the tournament against the winner of Marquette vs. St Johns. History would show that the Wildcats have beaten St. Johns twice this year and lost to Marquette twice.

But lets say that Villanova wins against whoever they face, then coming next would be  Louisville, DePaul, or Providence. Once again the Wildcats beat DePaul and Providence twice but lost to Louisville.

So they beat any of those three it gets them to the championship. Since there are many teams that they could end up against in the championship game I am not going over them but I like their chances against any one of them because they have beaten many of them and played close games with the others.

Now that we have looked at their chances lets look at how the team actually looks.

For those who don't know Villanova ended the season 25-6, 13-5 in the Big East and ended No. 13 ranked overall and No. 4 in the Big East.

Their top scorer, re-bounder and blocker was forward Dante Cunningham who has played great and is one of the pieces why the Wildcats got this far.

Their second best scorer and leader in assists is Scottie Reynolds who I would nominate for face and leader of the team. Watching Villanova play he is always stepping up to make the big play when it matters.

But now I'll finally answer the question. Can Villanova win the Big East Tournament?

And my answer to that is yes. Villanova is a great basketball team and they have great leadership and coaching which is something that any great team needs.

The one thing about this team that does worry me is their ability to beat the big name teams in the Big East. Their five Big East loses came against Marquette, Louisville, UConn, Georgetown, and West Virginia.

This can be a good thing and a bad thing though because it shows that they need to beat better teams but it also shows that they don't lose to teams that they aren't supposed to.

When the Big East Tournament comes to an end anyone of the remaining teams could punch their ticket to the Tournament but don't be surprised if that team is the Villanova Wildcats.