Round 1 Preview: Temple & Nova
First I would like to congratulate Villanova for getting placed as a 2 seed. That’s a very lucky break. They’re heading into the tournament having lost 5 of their last 7 games. They played very well for most of the year but seem to have lost something over the past month.
As for Temple, they had a great season too. They won the A-10 regular season title and tournament, are currently ranked 13th in the country and had great games against Villanova, Xavier, Georgetown and other solid teams. I guess the selection committee missed all that because instead of getting a 3 or 4 seed like almost every analyst predicted, they are a 5 seed which makes their road to Indianapolis that much tougher.
It all starts with the first round and here’s how it breaks down for Temple and Villanova:
Villanova vs Robert Morris (Thursday 12:30 pm)
Even though they have been playing poorly as of late, Villanova should with this one easily. It’s very rare to see a 15 beat a 2 in the NCAA tournament and from every angle this one seems like a lock.
Robert Morris finished their season 23-11 but are in a very weak conference and only made the tournament by winning their conference championship. They have a fairly stingy defense but Nova averages over 82 points per game and it will be too much for them to handle. We all know about the players to watch on Villanova but one person to keep an eye on for Robert Morris is Karon Abraham. He has been their leading scorer all season at guard.
The road will get more dificult for Nova quickly though. If Richmond advances to the next round, that could be an interesting matchup to watch. Richmond is a very good, underrated team that beat Temple once this season by double digits.
Temple vs Cornell ( Friday 12:30 pm)
Cornell is one of the tougher matchups Temple could have landed with in round 1. They are a very solid team and some college basketball experts have already predicted Cornell would take this one. However, the smart experts know that Temple will win this one and will be very dangerous down the road.
Temple has the 4th rated defense in points allowed and they defend the three very well. They also have the scorers and big men to control flow of the game on the offensive side of the ball. Cornell is the best team in the country at shooting threes at 43.4% but Temple only allows opponents to shoot 28.1% from downtown. This means Cornell will have to find another way to score.
Overall, Temple will get out of the first round and play either Wisconsin or Wofford. Analyst Greg Anthony said on Yahoo sports that if Temple plays Wisconsin in round 2, they can win that game too and he wouldn’t consider it an upset. Keep an eye on this team to make the Sweet 16.
