A coach, not a recruit

When he was Penn's head coach, Fran Dunphy tried to recruit Chris Mooney out of Archbishop Ryan but lost him to Pete Carril and Princeton. "Obviously I didn't make too good of an impression on Chris or his dad," Dunphy says now. The two will meet up again Thursday night when Dunphy's Temple Owls take on Mooney's Richmond Spiders at the Liacouras Center to see which team will move in as the No. 1 challenger to Xavier in the Atlantic Ten. Dunphy said Mooney's success at Richmond isn't by accident. "He's made the most of the opportunity to hang around with Coach Carril and the whole culture of how to play the game," he said. "He's done a great job with it . . . a terrific job of coaching."

Penn has encountered some tough luck through the first half of its Ivy League schedule but 6-foot-8 senior Jack Eggleston is doing his part to get the Quakers over the hump. Eggleston ranks in the top six in the Ivy in five statistical categories in all Penn games, including averages of 14.4 points (sixth), 8.1 rebounds (third) and 53.8 percent shooting (fifth). For the most part, those numbers improve in Ivy League play - 17.9 points (third), 8.1 rebounds (fourth) and 58.3 percent shooting (fifth). He is averaging a robust 39.1 minutes in Ivy games, a figure raised by the four overtime games the Quakers have endured in league play.

St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli isn't worried as much about his team's youth against Xavier's veteran lineup when the two teams meet Wednesday night at Hagan Arena. He frets more about the size factor, and we're not talking just about height. "The concern is not the age of the players, it's the bodies of the players," he said. The No. 24 Musketeers' primary interior players are 269-pound Kenny Frease and 245-pound Jamel McLean, while the Hawks counter inside with 189-pound freshman C.J. Aiken. Martelli said he has spent the days before the game formulating a game plan "that can at least let us answer the physical challenge."

The ESPN BracketBusters idea hasn't been all that beneficial to mid-major teams trying to attract the attention of NCAA tournament selectors, and it comes as conference battles are reaching their peak. But to Drexel coach Bruiser Flint, it always has its advantages. "It's good for our conference because we've had TV exposure that we're going to have again," said Flint, whose team will host Kent State on Friday night in a game to be shown on ESPNU. Flint called BracketBusters "somewhat of a reward for how we've been doing throughout the whole year," particularly if television is involved.

Jay Wright called Villanova's ESPN "College GameDay" experience "90 percent positive," falling short of perfection only because the Wildcats lost a hard-fought game to No. 4 Pittsburgh at the Pavilion to end the day. But overall, he said, it was a success. "I think it was awesome, I really do," he said. "We didn't finish with a win. But everything else was great - the way our students handled it the whole day and night of the game, the passion of the fans in there. The place looked great, and it sounded great."

League Update

Big East

Pittsburgh continues to impress in the Big East, especially considering that it is 6-0 in conference road games. That unblemished mark will be put to the test Saturday at Madison Square Garden, where St. John's has defeated four teams ranked in the top 13. Connecticut has an interesting week against a pair of ranked rivals — Georgetown on Wednesday, Louisville on Friday. Villanova heads to the suburbs of Chicago for a brunch matchup (11 a.m. Central) Saturday against DePaul. The race for one-round and two-round byes in the Big East tournament still is wide open.

Atlantic 10

A half-game out of first place, Temple could use a little help from St. Joseph's when the Hawks play conference leader Xavier on Wednesday. La Salle has positioned itself to make the tournament but needs to move up to avoid a first-round playoff game at an opponent's site. St. Joe's is tied with Charlotte for the final playoff berth.

Colonial Athletic Association

The Dragons are just outside a spot in the top four, which would earn them a bye in the first round of the league tournament. Drexel was fifth going into its game at North Carolina-Wilmington on Tuesday night. The Dragons have league games remaining against Virginia Commonwealth at home on Feb. 23 and at Towson on Feb. 26.

Ivy League

Unless Princeton and Harvard both go on extreme slides, the Quakers have no chance to overtake them in the league standings. What's left for the Quakers is to finish with a better record in the conference than they did last season, when they went 5-9. Penn is on the road again this weekend, at Brown and Yale.