The Schuylkill 16 2010-11: Week 18

As we get set to tip off the NCAA Tournament tonight, here's your take on how the local teams stack up against each other.

One last reminder to make your selections in Philly.com's NCAA Tournament Pick'Em contest. You can join the Soft Pretzel Logic readers group by clicking here.

1. Temple, 20 points
- "Someone should have told the selection committee to play the Temple/ Penn State game at the Reading outlets, not all the way in Arizona."

Or the Palestra. Or in Washington, because heaven forbid you should put teams at a subregional site where their fans can actually travel to.

2. Penn State, 55 points
- "Jimmer Fredette has already outscored Penn State by himself once in the last week. Too bad they won't meet in the tournament for a head-to-head rematch." (Jeff Shafer)
- "Any at large team regardless of Conference that loses 14 games should have trouble getting into the NIT yet alone the NCAA tournament." (JR Beech)

3. Villanova, 59 points
- "See, all you doubters (me included) thought they were getting a N.I.T. home game at the Pavilion. Instead they get a chance to be embarrassed one more time by George Mason, who happens to have won 16 of their last 17 games. Damn. I'd rather take the 11th seed and play Xavier!" (Ralph Manoppello)

4. Princeton, 73 points
- "How about Philly kid Douglas Davis sends Princeton dancing! Would have loved to see him Dougie after he made that shot" (Stephen Goldsmith)

Stephen and I were both at the Harvard-Princeton game (you might have seen me in the background on the late Saturday night SportsCenter). He and I can both attest that there was no way Douglas Davis was going to get out of that mass of humanity easily, much less find space to dance.

5. Bucknell, 102 points
- "I'm liking Bucknell in an upset over UCONN. Those extra games in the Big East has to have killed the Huskies." (Ralph Manoppello)

6. Drexel, 113 points

7. Rutgers, 127 points

8. La Salle, 129 points

9. Rider, 158 points

10. Saint Joseph's, 162 points
- "Did THID U manage ELEVEN whole wins this year? Damn, I was totally wrong about them, they showed a little moxie in the season run in the A-10 tourney. Does this save Phil's job? Shouldn't." (Ralph Manoppello)

I have found it interesting all season that a Villanova fan such as Ralph would want to see Martelli go. Or does he secretly want St. Joe's to be good?

11. Penn, 166 points

12. Lafayette, 171 points

13. Lehigh, 187 points

14. Delaware, 189 points

15. Monmouth, 224 points

16. Delaware State, 241 points

1. The 76ers
- "Can we please start showing some love to the squad, they are making it to the Conference Finals baby!" (Carl Minniti)

I'll leave that up to you all, but I'm inclined to say no. This is a college basketball blog after all.

Unranked. Charles Barkley
- "Charles Barkley - Nobody is WINNING more than the man who will be paid an obscene amount of money to do no homework and say ridiculous things about college basketball teams he had never seen play before than Barkley. A true Champion." (Brian Ewart)

I stayed late at the Frist Campus Center after Princeton's Selection Show event working on my coverage. The only player left when I finally departed two hours after the Tigers' name had appeared on the giant TV in the lounge temporarily filled with orange and black balloons was Douglas Davis.

He was unable to cut off the steady stream of fellow undergraduates who wanted to congratulate him or talk with him about Saturday's shot to beat Harvard and send the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament.

Welcome to the life of a folk hero.

And welcome to a horrendous first-round matchup against Kentucky. I guess Gary Walters' influence on the Selection Committee has finally ended.