Nova, Temple Earn High NCAA Seeds
Temple to play Cornell
NBCPhiladelphia Sports - John Clark
Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright isn't looking past the Wildcats' first-round opponent.
Maybe Temple should have entered the NCAA tournament in a slump.
The three-time defending Atlantic 10 tournament champion Owls were surprised with their fifth seed in the East Regional and will play No. 12 seed Cornell (27-4) in the NCAA tournament. Local rival Villanova shook off a miserable slide and earned the No. 2 seed Sunday in the South Regional and will play No. 15 Robert Morris (23-11) in the tournament.
The Owls (29-5) have won 10 straight games, shared the A-10 regular season championship with Xavier and beat Richmond 56-52 earlier Sunday to clinch another conference tourney title.
The Wildcats (24-7) have lost five of seven after a 20-1 start. The Wildcats, who last won a national championship in 1985, are trying to reach the Final Four for the second straight year.
Temple defeated Villanova 75-65 in December.
Villanova opens the tournament Thursday in Providence, R.I. Villanova's six straight NCAA trips are the second-longest run in team history, trailing only the seven straight appearances from 1980-86. The Wildcats are 48-30 in 30 overall trips.
“We lost to some good teams at the end of the season and I think the committee saw that we're still a very good basketball team,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “I think it's also a product of maybe some of the success that the previous teams have had, a kind of respect for the program in the tournament.”
Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw called the Owls' fifth seed ``disappointing.''
``Someone said last week that the committee was not at all interested in how you finished,'' Bradshaw said. ``There's no better examples of that than Temple and Villanova. That might be true.''
Temple opens the tournament Friday in Jacksonville, Fla., trying to win an NCAA game for the first time since 2001. The Owls, who have their highest seed since they were No. 2 in 2000, lost first-round games in 2008 and '09.
The Owls gathered in front of a few hundred fans at the Liacouras Center and were cheered when they entered shortly before the selection show holding the A-10 trophy. Temple's bracket was announced first, and the crowd booed when Villanova's No. 2 seed flashed on the screen.
Copyright Associated Press
Posted Sunday, Mar 14, 2010 - 10:01 PM EST
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