8* Villanova (8:00 ET): This pains me a bit as Marquette treated me so nicely in convincing victories over Providence (88-56) and Georgetown (92-64) earlier this month. The Golden Eagles have now won four in a row after home wins over DePaul and Seton Hall in the L10 days. But they’re running into an even hotter - and better - squad this evening. Villanova is currently ranked #11 in the country and probably ought to be even higher. Both KenPom and my own power ratings have the Wildcats as a top five team.

‘Nova certainly looked like a Top 5 team on Sunday when they blasted Butler for a 40-point win. That was the Wildcats’ sixth consecutive victory, four of those coming by 15 points or greater. The 82-42 beatdown of Butler tied their largest MOV for the season, matching what they did all the way back in the very first game (beat Mount St. Mary’s 91-51). Jay Wright’s team shot almost 60% overall from the floor on Sunday and was 12 of 19 from three-point range.

Now you may be thinking it will be difficult to repeat that kind of performance. That’s true, but we also don’t need a 40-point win here. Villanova is 6-0 SU at home with an average margin of victory of 29.1 PPG though! Marquette had some shooting issues in the 2H vs. Seton Hall on Saturday, a game they won by a single point on a late free throw. The ultra-slow tempo that Nova likes to play at will bother the Golden Eagles here. As good as they’ve looked recently, Marquette is still not a Top 40 team in the country. 8* Villanova