Temple Owls take on dangerous Cornell in opener
The Temple Owls will seek their first tournament win since John Chaney was at the helm. It won't be easy for Fran Dunphy's squad when it takes on a dangerous Cornell Big Red in a 5-12 matchup.
It's an intriguing 5-12 matchup, and the promise of 'old school basketball' has me circling the game on my must-see slate for Friday.
Perhaps the old school basketball comment is relying too much on a cliché. But I'm not sure what else to call the first round meeting between fifth-seeded Temple and 12-seeded Cornell. Defense and perimeter shooting will be on display, with very, very little of the game played above the rim. And if that's not old school, I don't know what is.
Ranked 12th in the latest AP poll, the Owls opened as 4 ½-point favorites over the Big Red, though that has settled to four at most offshore shops. Bookmaker.com was the first to hang a total on the contest at 118 ½.
Fran Dunphy's Temple squad ranked third nationally on the defensive end of the floor, allowing opponents a tad over 56 points per game on just 37.9 percent shooting. That shooting clip dropped to 28.1 percent from outside the arc, and Owls adversaries were able to squeeze only 10.1 PPG from the free throw line.
In Sunday's 56-52 win to claim its third-straight A-10 title, Temple permitted Richmond to take just five free throws, making just one. Meanwhile the Owls sank 12 of their 14 freebies, well above their season average from the line where they shot less than 69 percent.
The Argentinean Bomber, Juan Fernandez, paced the Owls with 18 points, committing four of Temple's nine turnovers. Fernandez averaged 12.6 PPG during the regular season, but upped that with 49 points combined in the three conference tourney games. The 6-foot-4 soph is a sharpshooter from long range, sinking over 46 percent of his three-pointers (71-of-154).
The four-point margin of victory in the A-10 Championship was officially a 'push' for bettors, ending a six-game string of spread wins for the Cherry and White.
Steve Donahue's Big Red should be well rested by the time it hits the court this Friday. Cornell closed out the regular season schedule on March 7 at home with a 60-51 win over Princeton, one of only two schools to surrender fewer points per game than Temple.
Cornell pushed its way into the coaches' top-25 back in early February, sitting 22nd on Feb. 8 with a 20-3 record. The only loss in Ivy League pay, 79-64 at Penn as 16-point road chalk, followed shortly thereafter. That's about the time the oddsmakers started to catch up to the Big Red who closed 3-7 ATS after covering 13 of the first 16 lined outings.
A respectable 63.2 PPG average on defense has the Big Red 50th in the country in that category. Cornell's 75.3 average on the offensive end puts it more than 10 points ahead of Temple's 64.9 scoring rate. Much of that difference comes from three-point land where the Big Red converted over 43 percent of its attempts.
Ryan Wittman led the Ivy champs at 17.5 PPG, and that's one matchup to watch when the 6-foot-7 senior for the Big Red is drawing Temple's 6-foot-9 Lavoy Allen.
The Owls are also going to have to contend with Cornell's seven-footer, Jeff Foote. The senior scored 12.3 per game with a team-best 8.2 boards. Allen could be asked to take him on if 6-foot-11 sophomore Micheal Eric isn't up to the task.
The Temple Owls are old vets as far as NCAA Tournaments go, appearing in their 28th overall. They fell in the opening round to Arizona State last season, 66-57, as a No. 11 seed and five-point underdogs. The Owls will be looking for their first NCAA win since 2001 when the legendary John Chaney took the Owls to the Elite Eight.
Cornell is making its third straight appearance in the Dance, and fifth overall. Seeded 14th in last year's event, the Big Red lost to Missouri by a 78-59 count, with the Tigers covering the 12 ½-point spread.
There isn't any head-to-head history between the two schools with this being the first-ever meeting. However, don't think that means they are completely in the dark about one another. Donahue and Dunphy worked together for 10 years at Penn when Dunphy coached the Quakers. Donahue was Dunphy's assistant and recruiting coordinator during that span.
Tip-off is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. (ET) on Friday from Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Florida. I'm banking on Temple to get its first tournament win in nine years, and cover the four points with a 68-60 victory.
The Temple Owls will seek their first tournament win since John Chaney was at the helm. It won't be easy for Fran Dunphy's squad when it takes on a dangerous Cornell Big Red in a 5-12 matchup.
It's an intriguing 5-12 matchup, and the promise of 'old school basketball' has me circling the game on my must-see slate for Friday.
Perhaps the old school basketball comment is relying too much on a cliché. But I'm not sure what else to call the first round meeting between fifth-seeded Temple and 12-seeded Cornell. Defense and perimeter shooting will be on display, with very, very little of the game played above the rim. And if that's not old school, I don't know what is.
Ranked 12th in the latest AP poll, the Owls opened as 4 ½-point favorites over the Big Red, though that has settled to four at most offshore shops. Bookmaker.com was the first to hang a total on the contest at 118 ½.
Fran Dunphy's Temple squad ranked third nationally on the defensive end of the floor, allowing opponents a tad over 56 points per game on just 37.9 percent shooting. That shooting clip dropped to 28.1 percent from outside the arc, and Owls adversaries were able to squeeze only 10.1 PPG from the free throw line.
In Sunday's 56-52 win to claim its third-straight A-10 title, Temple permitted Richmond to take just five free throws, making just one. Meanwhile the Owls sank 12 of their 14 freebies, well above their season average from the line where they shot less than 69 percent.
The Argentinean Bomber, Juan Fernandez, paced the Owls with 18 points, committing four of Temple's nine turnovers. Fernandez averaged 12.6 PPG during the regular season, but upped that with 49 points combined in the three conference tourney games. The 6-foot-4 soph is a sharpshooter from long range, sinking over 46 percent of his three-pointers (71-of-154).
The four-point margin of victory in the A-10 Championship was officially a 'push' for bettors, ending a six-game string of spread wins for the Cherry and White.
Steve Donahue's Big Red should be well rested by the time it hits the court this Friday. Cornell closed out the regular season schedule on March 7 at home with a 60-51 win over Princeton, one of only two schools to surrender fewer points per game than Temple.
Cornell pushed its way into the coaches' top-25 back in early February, sitting 22nd on Feb. 8 with a 20-3 record. The only loss in Ivy League pay, 79-64 at Penn as 16-point road chalk, followed shortly thereafter. That's about the time the oddsmakers started to catch up to the Big Red who closed 3-7 ATS after covering 13 of the first 16 lined outings.
A respectable 63.2 PPG average on defense has the Big Red 50th in the country in that category. Cornell's 75.3 average on the offensive end puts it more than 10 points ahead of Temple's 64.9 scoring rate. Much of that difference comes from three-point land where the Big Red converted over 43 percent of its attempts.
Ryan Wittman led the Ivy champs at 17.5 PPG, and that's one matchup to watch when the 6-foot-7 senior for the Big Red is drawing Temple's 6-foot-9 Lavoy Allen.
The Owls are also going to have to contend with Cornell's seven-footer, Jeff Foote. The senior scored 12.3 per game with a team-best 8.2 boards. Allen could be asked to take him on if 6-foot-11 sophomore Micheal Eric isn't up to the task.
The Temple Owls are old vets as far as NCAA Tournaments go, appearing in their 28th overall. They fell in the opening round to Arizona State last season, 66-57, as a No. 11 seed and five-point underdogs. The Owls will be looking for their first NCAA win since 2001 when the legendary John Chaney took the Owls to the Elite Eight.
Cornell is making its third straight appearance in the Dance, and fifth overall. Seeded 14th in last year's event, the Big Red lost to Missouri by a 78-59 count, with the Tigers covering the 12 ½-point spread.
There isn't any head-to-head history between the two schools with this being the first-ever meeting. However, don't think that means they are completely in the dark about one another. Donahue and Dunphy worked together for 10 years at Penn when Dunphy coached the Quakers. Donahue was Dunphy's assistant and recruiting coordinator during that span.
Tip-off is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. (ET) on Friday from Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena in Florida. I'm banking on Temple to get its first tournament win in nine years, and cover the four points with a 68-60 victory.
