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Villanova was in the top 10 of basically everybody’s preseason rankings, even though it lost the top four scorers from last season’s title-winning team, largely because of the return of Eric Paschall and Phil Booth — plus the enrollment of a top-10 recruiting class highlighted by Jahvon Quinerly.
But did everybody underestimate the impact of those losses?
On Wednesday night, at least, it sure seemed so — because Michigan went to Villanova, jumped the Wildcats early and recorded a 73-46 victory that was arguably even more impressive than Duke’s 34-point destruction of Kentucky considering Michigan was a 6.5-point underdog that won by 27 in a true road environment. And now it’s fair to wonder just how good Villanova is in its current state because, again, the Wildcats are a team that lost its top four scorers — and the recruiting class, save Saddiq Bay, has had little impact so far. Quinerly, for instance, only played eight minutes against Michigan.
To be clear, Villanova should be fine … in time.
But the Wildcats are still obviously trying to figure out life without Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Omari Spellman and Donte DiVincenzo. So I dropped them to 21st in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1. And Michigan is now No. 8 because John Beilein is a wizard.
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