Wrapping up Villanova and Temple
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Wrapping up Villanova and Temple
Neither Villanova nor Temple came close to playing to their seeds. I did not think Villanova had much jump against Robert Morris. Liked their effort much more against Saint Mary's, a team that runs great offense and has the amazing Omar Samhan (24-for-32, 61 points in two games).
You can coach a lot of things, but you can't coach the possibility that Scottie Reynolds, a truly special player for 4 years, is going to shoot 4-for-26 in his last two NCAA games, Nor can you coach against a well defended banked three as the decisive shot. One could, of course, make the argument that, as the favorite, you have only yourselves to blame if you are in position to get beat by a lucky shot.
Somewhere, the spark went out for this Villanova team. And they could not get it relit. Still, it is kind of amazing the Wildcats almost made the Sweet 16 again despite shooting 36 percent against a team that shot 50 percent. The program is a consistent national player now and this finish doesn't change that.
Temple did not look at all like the team that won 29 games and the Atlantic 10 Tournament. And I really don't think it had much to do with Temple.
I think it had everything to do with Cornell's personnel. A coach told me last Sunday night that Cornell was not only going to win, but that it wasn't going to be close.
He explained that Cornell's attack was the perfect antidote for the way Temple defended. I really did not understand what he meant until I saw the teams on the floor. Then, after about 5 minutes I got it.
Cornell has so much skill at every position that it can attack the basket if you shade the arc and fire from the arc if you try to protect the hoop. And if those long shots start to go in, you can't win. That is precisely what happened to Temple and, today, to Wisconsin.
I think this Temple team would have had few issues with 45 or so teams in this tournament. Unfortunately, Cornell was not one of those 45.
In the pre-season Temple was projected to finish 5th in the A10 - they won the A10 regular season and then won the A10 tournament. Temple also won the 'Big 5' (4-0) - a good year. They ran into a real good Cornell team in the NCAAs.............I would be remiss if I didn't mention here - that of the eight(8) Big East teams in the NCAAs only two(2) made it to the 'Sweet 16' - that's 25%..............of the three(3) A10 teams in the NCAAs one(1) made it to the 'Sweet 16' - that's 33%....— JimKlein
Understand that Temple played against "(12)" Cornell. Playing to its seed isn't easy when you're playing against the most under-seeded team in the tournament. Your right, Temple could do nothing about it. Sometimes even on a good shooting day (52%) you can still find ways to lose-- turnovers.— Owlified- Understand that Temple played against "(12)" Cornell. Playing to its seed isn't easy when you're playing against the most under-seeded team in the tournament. Your right, Temple could do nothing about it. Sometimes even on a good shooting day (52%) you can still find ways to lose-- turnovers.— Owlified
Comment removed.- To Jimklein, that is a simple minded observation. Taking an obscure mark and trying to extrapolate worth of the leagues. Spoken like one who never played sports beyond t ball. I imagine you will be citing this stat all next year long also.— jakelbi
- Temple beat Nova this year.— ameadie
- Comment removed.
- How embarassing to lose so quickly in the Tournament when division II Northern Iowa can go in and whip big time, top ranked, Division I, Kansas!— atp2007
- Northern Iowa is not division II. Temple was underseeded and had to play the most underseeded team in the tournament. It was a cruel joke for Temple. Temple shot over 50% from the floor (Cornell over 60%), but when a team trades 2 pointers for 3 pointers on many possessions the result is what happened with Temple losing and Cornell winning. Temple: Big 5 champions (4-0), A-10 regular season champions, and 3x A-10 tournament champions. That's a good season.— xxx
- I agree with "XXX"; Temple got "bit" by the committee, and doubly so, because Cornell - off its play this year - should have been a 7 or 8. As far as Nova, it is a terrific program. Would they have beaten st Mary's if Reynolds was on? There's a good chance, but they were darn lucky to get past Robert Morris, and they, and Reynolds, benefited from some "reputation calls" down the stretch to force an OT. Hopefully, both these teams and maybe one more Big 5 school can make it back to the NCAA's next year.— MG44
- ok--the Philly year is over. Any good recruits coming next year to the Big 5 teams?— skipdog
- Great season for Temple.— pieman
- I don't know - I just wish temple had played harder on defense- it looked like they were flat the entire game - not at all like the team that went thru the A 10 reg season and tournament - the wonderful ball mocement- the hard D- it all seemed to evaporate against Cornell. Credit Cornell- I guess.— jbcanoe
- I would like to see Temple get more creative on offense. Maybe in the off season Coach Dunphy can come up with something. I would have liked to have seen Ramon Moore used more in the Cornell game: clear a side and let him go and at least draw fouls on Cornell's shooters. Moore is still a defensive liability right now so you would suffer on the other end. It would have been nice to press Cornell to not allow them so much time to set up. Again, Temple is not a 'quick' defensive team so you run the risk of wearing out the guards. Finally, Lavoy Allen came up small in the game it appears. Hopefully, next year. Go Owls!— epm522
