NCAA basketball: Top 15 appointment-worthy teams to watch this season

1. Villanova Wildcats

The most exciting team to watch entering the season has to be Villanova, which has won two of the past four national championships. The Wildcats rebuilt ahead of schedule in 2020 and looked poised to be a top-4 seed in the NCAA Tournament before the pandemic canceled it.

Jay Wright will suffer a big loss with Saddiq Bey going pro, but they do have two big additions to their current core. Tulane transfer Caleb Daniels is now eligible and should add some serious scoring punch to the lineup, while Bryan Antoine should be healthier, adding more depth to the group.

This Villanova team can also score in a ton of ways thanks to its talented wings and perimeter depth. Whether it’s Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Collin Gillespie or Cole Swider, there is plenty of star power up and down the Wildcats’ depth chart.

The most intriguing game on Villanova’s non-conference slate is a matchup with Virginia in December. Those two teams should be jockeying for top positioning in the polls then, and it could have major seeding ramifications in March.

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