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Villanova basketball excluded from March Madness, will miss 2024 NCAA Tournament

Delaware News Journal

Villanova Wildcats head coach Kyle Neptune speaks to his players in the first half of the NCAA basketball game between Xavier Musketeers and Villanova Wildcats at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.

Villanova will likely have to center its postseason basketball aspirations on National Invitation Tournament success.

As expected, the Wildcats were not selected for the NCAA Tournament field Sunday for the second year in a row.

They had been in each NCAA Tournament held except one from 2005 through 2022, winning 2016 and 2018 titles and also reaching the Final Four in 2009 and 2022.

Marquette guard Kam Jones (1) goes to the basket against Villanova forward Eric Dixon (43) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Conference tournament, Thursday, March 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

But with an 18-15 record after losing in the Big East quarterfinals as a No. 6 seed, Villanova will likely settle for its first back-to-back NIT trips since 2003 and 2004. The NIT field will be announced at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.

The NCAA announced last fall that the NIT would no longer automatically include regular-season champions who fail to win their conference tournaments to earn NCAA Tournament qualification, a blow to mid- and low-major schools.

Instead, the NIT’s 32-team field will feature the top two remaining teams based on NET Rankings from the six major conferences – ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12. They will be joined by what the NIT selection committee deems the next best 20 teams.

Villanova was 41st overall and fifth among Big East teams in the NCAA NET Rankings before Sunday's games.

Villanova will hope to do better in the NIT also, having lost 62-57 at Liberty in the first round last year to finish 17-17.

A 71-65 overtime loss to Marquette Thursday night at Madison Square Garden sealed the Wildcats’ present-day fate. ESPN's Bracketology early Saturday rated Villanova 8th among teams not making the field, but it fell from that spot after a rash of conference tournament upsets.

Villanova has struggled to continue its success since Jay Wright retired as coach after the 2022 Final Four under successor Kyle Neptune, the former Wildcats assistant who returned to succeed Wright after being Fordham head coach for a year.

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.