| | It happens every year, doesn't it? Temple shakes off whatever early-season
ills it may have had and surges toward the NCAA Tournament.
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Projecting the NIT
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An early look at a possible field for the National Invitation Tournament (as of Feb. 21):
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Akron
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Arizona State
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Ball State
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BYU
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California
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Colorado
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Creighton
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Fresno State
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Long Beach St.
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Marquette
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Marshall
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Michigan
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Mississippi
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New Mexico
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N.Mexico State
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N.C. State
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Penn State
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Princeton
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Richmond
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Rutgers
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Saint Louis
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USC
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Southern Illinois
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South Florida
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St. Bonaventure
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UAB
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UCLA
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UNLV
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Villanova
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Wake Forest
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Wisconsin
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Xavier
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Sometimes the Temple surge is merely to make the NCAA field. Other years the
Owls are playing for an Atlantic 10 championship. This time, Temple is using
the backstretch to live up to the most lofty preseason expectations in school history.
John Chaney's February (and March, for that matter) record is truly staggering. Of course, many of those victories over the years have come against softer A-10 competition. This month, however,
featured one of the most impressive late-season weeks any program could have.
In a span of eight days, the Owls knocked off RPI No. 8 (Maryland), RPI No.
32 (Dayton) and consensus No. 1 Cincinnati. It took a fluke for St.
Bonaventure to defeat Temple in mid-January; otherwise, Temple wouldn't have
a single Y2K glitch.
So, don't ask how the Owls jump all the way to a No. 2 seed this week (we
just explained it). And here is how the rest of the NCAA Tournament field
would look if Selection Sunday were Monday, Feb. 21:
West Region
March 16, 2000/Tucson, Ariz.
(1) Stanford vs. (16) MID-CONTINENT/Southern Utah
(8) North Carolina vs. (9) SMU
(5) St. John's vs. (12) Southern Mississippi
(4) Indiana vs. (13) AMERICA EAST/Hofstra
March 16, 2000/Salt Lake City, Utah
(3) Texas vs. (14) SOUTHERN/Charleston
(6) Purdue vs. (11) Gonzaga
(7) Connecticut vs. (10) DePaul
(2) Tennessee vs. (15) BIG SKY/Eastern Washington
Midwest Region
March 16, 2000/Cleveland
(1) Cincinnati vs. (16) SWAC/Alcorn State
(8) Missouri vs. (9) Kent
(5) Maryland vs. (12) Southwest Missouri State
(4) Auburn vs. (13) MCC/Butler
March 16, 2000/Minneapolis
(3) Oklahoma State vs. (14) CAA/James Madison
(6) Vanderbilt vs. (11) BIG WEST/Utah State
(7) Seton Hall vs. (10) WCC/Pepperdine
(2) Michigan State vs. (15) SLC/Sam Houston State
East Region
March 17, 2000/Winston-Salem, N.C.
(1) Duke vs. (16) MEAC/Bethune Cookman
(8) Oregon vs. (9) Notre Dame
(5) LSU vs. (12) MAAC/Siena
(4) Tulsa vs. (13) IVY/Pennsylvania
March 17, 2000/Buffalo, N.Y.
(3) Florida vs. (14) NEC/Central Connecticut State
(6) Kansas vs. (11) Tulane
(7) Illinois vs. (10) Miami
(2) Temple vs. (15) PATRIOT/Navy
South Region
March 17, 2000/Birmingham, Ala.
(1) Arizona vs. (16) TAAC/Troy State
(8) Louisville vs. (9) Dayton
(5) Iowa State vs. (12) Bowling Green
(4) Kentucky vs. (13) SUN BELT/Louisiana-Lafayette
March 17, 2000/Nashville, Tenn.
(3) Syracuse vs. (14) OVC/Murray State
(6) Oklahoma vs. (11) Virginia
(7) Utah vs. (10) Indiana State
(2) Ohio State vs. (15) BIG SOUTH/Winthrop
Blue Ribbon bits
Teams preceded by their conference name in ALL CAPS are the current league
(or RPI) leaders. Teams from multiple-bid conferences, or who would earn an
at-large bid regardless of their league position, are listed without such a
prefix.
The Mountain West and WAC are without automatic bids this season. Thus,
there are only 29 conferences (instead of the maximum 30) which will place an
automatic qualifier into the NCAA field this year.
Please note that Syracuse (East) and Texas (South) cannot be placed in
their respective regions, as each host a regional final this year.
Who's really hot? The following projected tourney teams are 10-0 in their
last 10 games: Butler, Navy, Pennsylvania, Stanford, Temple, Utah State.
Looking for impressive wins? The most notable records vs. RPI Top 25
competition include: Michigan State (5-4), Kentucky (5-6), Purdue (4-1),
Arizona (4-2), LSU (4-3), Tennessee (4-4), Vanderbilt (4-4), Notre Dame
(4-5), Connecticut (3-3), Florida (3-3), Maryland (3-3), Ohio State (3-3),
Texas (3-4), Wisconsin (3-6).
The only teams remaining perfect in road games (neutral sites excluded) are
Duke (9-0) and Stanford (7-0). And thanks to all who pointed out an error in
last week's column: Cincinnati is 9-1 in true road games this season (not
10-0 as originally reported). The Bearcats lost at Xavier on Dec. 18.
The following poor road records are worth noting, as this category has been
emphasized by the NCAA Selection Committee in recent years: North Carolina
State (1-7), Wisconsin (2-9), Colorado (2-8), Marquette (2-7), Saint Louis
(2-7), Auburn (2-4), Xavier (3-7), Louisville (3-6), Notre Dame (3-6),
Villanova (3-6), Arizona State (3-5), Maryland (3-5), Ball State (4-6),
Southwest Missouri State (4-6).
Among the so-called "mid-major" conferences, the following teams are projected to
earn at-large bids regardless of their conference tournament outcome:
Indiana State (MVC), Pepperdine (WCC), Utah State (Big West).
Purdue is listed one slot lower than its true seed this week in order to
comply with all bracketing criteria (the Selection Committee allows teams to
be moved in such instances no more than one line from their true seed). The
beneficiary -- one team moved up a seed line -- is St. John's.
Moving up (alphabetical order): Alcorn State, Arizona State, Bethune Cookman,
Bowling Green, Butler, Charleston, Colorado, James Madison, Kansas,
Louisville, Navy, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Pennsylvania, Southern Mississippi,
Siena, SMU, Southern Illinois, South Florida, Southwest Missouri State,
Temple, Tulane, Villanova, Winthrop.
Going down (alphabetical order): Appalachian State, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Indiana,
Marquette, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pepperdine, Saint Louis, UNC Charlotte, West
Virginia, Xavier.
Multiple-conference breakdown: Big 12 (6), Big East (6), SEC (6), Big Ten
(5), Conference USA (5), ACC (4), Pac-10 (3), Atlantic 10 (2), Mid-American
(2), MVC (2), WAC (2), West Coast (2).
Last four in: Gonzaga, Southwest Missouri State, Southern Mississippi,
Bowling Green.
Last four out: Arizona State, BYU, Villanova, Colorado.
Joe Lunardi can be contacted at "jlunardi@sju.edu". He will also appear Monday nights (10:20 p.m. ET) and Saturday afternoons (2:20 p.m. ET) on ESPN Radio and chat every Friday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.com.
To order the adidas Blue Ribbon Tournament Preview, call 1-800-828-HOOP
(4667). This 80-page volume is prepared on Selection Sunday and rushed to
you in time for first-round games. BLUE RIBBON postseason reports -- including new online editions -- are also available at www.collegebaskets.com.
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