For nearly 30 years, former Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levy held the record for most consecutive Super Bowl losses. His Bills lost four in a row between 1990 and 1993.
Fortunately for Levy, Villanova head coach Kyle Neptune snatched the record on January 30, 2024, as he recorded his fifth-straight Super Bowl loss to No. 9 Marquette at the Finneran Pavilion. Neptune had already tied the record in 2022, recording four straight losses in the Big Game.
This is clearly nonsense. Villanova did not lose five consecutive Super Bowls. It lost five-straight Big East games in the month of January. But, according to Neptune, the team prepares as if every game is its Super Bowl.
“All our guys, we talk about every single game being our Super Bowl no matter what,” Neptune said after the team’s 83-76 loss to Big 5 rival Saint Joseph’s on Nov. 12. “[The] Big 5 is obviously a big rivalry between all the schools. We know it takes on extra meaning, especially for fans and schools in general, but for us, every game that we go into it’s, ‘This is our Super Bowl and our biggest game of the year.’”
As losses have piled up across Neptune’s 74-game tenure, it’s gotten harder to believe him. The ‘Cats have dropped three games this season, including a 90-80 loss at the Finneran Pavilion to NET #225 Columbia.
An 83-76 loss to Big 5 rival Saint Joseph’s last week meant the ‘Cats needed the Hawks to lose to Penn to have a shot at playing in the Big 5 title game. After the Hawks concluded an 86-69 drubbing of the Quakers, Villanova was eliminated from Big 5 title contention for the second straight season. Villanova has not appeared in the first-place game of the Big 5 Classic tripleheader since the transition from round-robin to pod play.
Previously, Neptune has made reference to the Super Bowl before the Wildcats play. After a 66-56 loss at Seton Hall in the penultimate game of the 2023-24 regular season, he said the team was approaching its final matchup with No. 10 Creighton as “our Super Bowl.” The ‘Cats lost that game, 69-67.
The comment makes more sense in the lead-up to a game, though it still lacks sincerity. Neptune wants to emphasize that the team buys into the mentality that the next game is the most important game on the schedule by making the lowest-hanging analogy possible. But to deploy it after a second-straight loss to St. Joe’s in the Holy War is baffling.
If being outplayed by the Hawks, whom the Wildcats beat 10 times consecutively between 2012 and 2021, is the result of Super Bowl-level game planning, it may be time to re-evaluate what is part of that preparation process.
As alarming as it is to hear Neptune pull out the Super Bowl reference this early in the season, it makes sense considering the kind of pressure that has mounted on the third-year head coach. There are a lot of games left on the schedule for the team to make up for a catastrophic start to its season. The ‘Cats have two power conference opponents left to play on their non-conference schedule, as well ample opportunities for resumé-boosting wins through Big East play.
However, just because it could get better does not mean it will. Early season play suggests that Villanova would be fortunate to finish higher than eighth in the 11-team Big East. The last time Villanova finished eighth or below in the conference was in the 2011-12 season, prior to realignment.
After the ‘Cats’ 70-60 loss to Virginia in Baltimore last Friday, there was nothing left to be said. Under the guidance of interim head coach Ron Sanchez, the Cavaliers surged to erase an early 9-2 deficit. An Isaac McKneely three with 10 minutes remaining in the first gave Virginia a 14-11 lead. The Cavaliers stayed in front for the remaining 30 minutes of the game, with the lead ballooning to 18 points with 1:55 remaining.
Sanchez took over the team after former head coach Tony Bennett retired in October. Virginia’s 70 points against the ‘Cats was more than the Cavaliers scored in either of their two previous matchups, which came against Campbell and Coppin State.
Villanova’s defense is the worst in the Big East by defensive rating, allowing 107.8 points per 100 possessions. It is probably the factor that should receive the most blame for the Wildcats’ start, but it is also a reasonable conclusion to say it’s all bad.
The ‘Cats will have to prepare for either the third or the fifth place game of the Big 5 Classic as their Super Bowl, even as the game is specifically marked as a consolation prize. Neptune gave the classic the greatest gift it could ask for. After a long stretch of Villanova dominance, the Big 5 is competitive again.
