Last year, rookie Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune had the daunting task of taking over for Jay Wright. Villanova is a top-tier national championship College basketball betting favorite. And the are held in the same esteem by the masses with such teams as the Duke Blue Devils, Purdue Boilermakers, Baylor Bears, Kansas Jayhawks, Auburn Tigers, and UCLA Bruins. The Villanova Wildcats have a total of six Final Four appearances. Specifically, three of them since 2009 under Jay Wright. They have three national championships, won in 1985 under Rollie Massimino and then in 2016 and 2018 under Wright.
2023-24 Villanova Basketball Preview
| National Championship Odds: | +4000 |
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2023-24 Villanova Wildcats Basketball Outlook
As was previously noted, Villanova has plenty of national championship lineage. Also, Villanova was runner-up in 1971. The Wildcats program has had some of the biggest sports betting coaching personalities that the game has ever seen.
With movie-star good looks and suits that fit the part, Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright was one of the most recognizable figures in college basketball. Most important of all, Wright was one of the biggest winners in the sport. Wright transformed Villanova into a perennial national power and a “new money” blue-blood college hoops. However, Villanova has a long and proud basketball tradition but has never won at the level that Wright produced.
The first winning coach at Villanova was Alex Severence. Correlate, he led the program from 1936 through 1961 and produced a Final Four with a total of four March Madness appearances. Next, Jack Kraft followed and raised the bar with six NCAA Tournament appearances from 1962 through 1972. Kraft compiled a career record of 242-96. Also, Kraft was the 1971 runner-up team coach who lost to the powerhouse dynasty UCLA in the championship game.
And then came Rollie Massimino. Massimino was a larger-than-life character who led Villanova basketball from 1973 through 1992. Of course, he won the 1985 national championship in one of the biggest upsets ever against Georgetown.
Namely, Massimino was a part of the Big East glory years of the 1980s when their games were featured on ESPN Big Monday telecasts. The league was famous for its bruising battles on the hardwood. Great teams and coaches went to war every year in what was a golden age for the sport. In addition to his national championship, Massimino led Villanova to three Elite Eights and two Big East titles. His career record was 355-241.
Steve Lappas followed the legend and had a good NCAABB betting career-winning percentage of .613 from 1993 through 2001. But he was unsuccessful in the Big Dance and parted ways with the school as a winner, but not a big one.
Jay Wright was hired to get Villanova back to March Madness success. Naturally, he did that in spades. He was an understudy to Massimino and knew what it would take to get Nova to glory.
Villanova Basketball returns a nice mix of returners and transfer portal acquisitions. Accordingly, they look to fare a whole lot better in Year 2 under head coach Kyle Neptune. Neptune led the Wildcats to a 17-17 record overall and 10-10 in Big East action. Still, the season was an ultimate learning curve for him and his coaching staff in the first season.
Now, with a retooled roster, Villanova looks to return to the top of the conference once again and compete for an NCAA title in March. They return a solid trio of players, Eric Dixon, Justin Moore, and Mark Armstrong, from last year’s squad. Still, they’ll need their new pieces to fill some of the voids from last year’s struggles.