Villanova’s loss to Columbia could already be school basketball’s Upset of the Yr

Columbia entered the 2024 season picked to complete fifth within the Ivy League. The Lions haven’t completed above .500 in a decade. It hasn’t defeated a crew from the Huge East over that span, both.

Properly, at the least it hadn’t till Wednesday night time when Columbia walked into Finneran Pavilion as a 17-point underdog and delivered Villanova a surprising defeat, 90-80.

Congrats to anybody who took the Lions at 100-1 on the moneyline, however let’s be trustworthy. This catastrophe is far more about what’s occurred to Villanova than something the Lions did proper.

(Although shoutout to Columbia’s Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa and his 22 factors, 4 assists and three steals within the win.)

2-0‼️ Some tape from final night time’s 90-80 upset over Villanova 😤😤#RoarLionRoar🦁 // #OnlyHere🗽 // #MaxEffort pic.twitter.com/bqvEdyQbXp

— Columbia Males’s Basketball (@CULionsMBB) November 7, 2024

“If we had received that recreation, we’d nonetheless must get so much higher,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said after the loss. “We’re simply not the place we must be proper now. We’ve acquired to return, watch this movie, study from it and transfer onto the following recreation and get higher.”

We’ll see how a lot time the Wildcats give Neptune to proper the ship. As ESPN’s Myron Medcalf famous, that is his sixth loss to a crew that entered the sport with a sub-100 rating on KenPom since taking up for Jay Wright forward of the 2022-23 season. He’s now 35–33 with two first-round exits within the NIT.

Villanova reached the Last 4 in 2016, 2018 and 2022 and people groups appear lightyears away from the place this system is now.

Lower than per week into the season, school basketball has it’s first coach actually on the recent seat and it’s exhausting think about Neptune will escape it rapidly or simply.

Within the meantime, contemplate this your invitation to fade the Wildcats till additional discover. The Wildcats had been 17-14-0 in opposition to the unfold final season, 13-18-0 the yr earlier than and are actually 0-2 ATS to start the 2024-25 marketing campaign.