March 15, 2026
Robert Deutsch/Imagn Images
Can the Wildcats make a deep March Madness run in either bracket?
We're days away from another March Madness and the Philly region will be (lightly) represented by three teams combined in both the men's and women's brackets.
First we'll look at the 8-seeded Villanova men.
The one-time Big East powerhouse will face off against 9-seeded Utah State, a game they'll no doubt be favored in due to their big conference experience and name recognition. They seemed like a shoe-in for a much better seed last week, but they were upset in the conference tournament by dreadful Georgetown and it put a huge dent in their tournament bonafides despite a solid 24-8 regular season campaign.
The Cats are scheduled to tip off in San Diego on Friday afternoon around 4:10 pm.
If they can handle the Aggies, the Wildcats will have the unenviable task of trying to unseat 1-seed Arizona, which should have a cakewalk win over 16-seeded Long Island in their tourney opener. Wisconsin, Gonzaga, Arkansas and Purdue are also high seeds who lurk in the western regional.
The UPenn men's team makes it two Big 5 schools in The Big Dance, as they bested Yale in the four-team conference tournament. As the 14-seed in the South region, the Quakers will try and be a feisty upset team against 3-seeded Illinois. An improbable win would pit them versus UNC or VCU in the second round.
The Nova women will also have a tough road ahead trekking for a deep stint in the 2026 tournament. They were solid in the regular season, earning the second best record in the Big East at 25-7. They were pummeled in the tournament final by the No. 1 overall team in the country in UConn. With the 10th seed in the Sacramento Region, the Wildcats will play Texas Tech, a 7-seed on Friday.
The second best team in their region, LSU, will very likely await in a potential second round bout.
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Evan on Twitter:@evan_macy
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
