BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY With less than a week to go before the NCAA Tournament field is announced, lets take a look at how the local basketball programs are positioned. [The NIT, CBI and CIT are secondary, tertiary and gawd-awful tournaments, respectively, for teams that don’t make the NCAA Tournament].
LaSalle
The Explorers will miss the Atlantic 10 Tournament after finishing 13th in the conference. Only the top 12 make the field. Saturday’s loss to Saint Joe’s sealed their fate.
Season Highlight: Um, lets see…snapping their 8-game losing streak by beating UMass? Or maybe the 19-point pasting of Penn.
NCAA Chances: 0%
NIT Chances: 0%
CBI/CIT Chances: 0%
Temple
The Owls ended on a 7-game win streak and will take the #1 seed in to the Atlantic 10 Tourney. A balanced squad that hangs its hat on defense, Temple has allowed more than 60 points in regulation only once in the last 10 games.
Season Highlight: December’s 10-point win over Villanova.
NCAA Chances: 100%
Seed range: Winning the A-10 Tournament will probably net the Owls a 3-seed. An early exit could see them drop as far as a #6.
Saint Joseph’s
A win over LaSalle Saturday got the Hawks into the Atlantic 10 Tournament field, which only guarantees that they will finish the year with 20 losses (Saint Joe’s is currently 11-19). They’ll likely be put out of their misery on Tuesday against the #5 team in the conference, Rhode Island. It would take four wins on the trot to get the Hawks into the NCAA field.
Season Highlight: Beating Boston College in November to move to 3-0.
NCAA Chances: 1%
NIT Chances: 0%
CBI/CIT Chances: 0%
Villanova
Four losses in their final six games dropped Nova from a national Top 5 ranking to fourth place in a stacked Big East. Scottie Reynolds and the Wildcats have great tourney experience after their Final Four appearance last year. They’ll try to use the Big East Tournament to regain their momentum.
Season Highlight: The first 21 games (20-1).
NCAA Chances: 100%
Seed range: Nova is fading, but a strong showing in New York this week could vault them as high as a #2. More likely is a 3- or 4-seed, while a flop in the Big East Tourney could find them as low as a 5.
Drexel
A decent season for the Dragons (11-7 in conference) ended with a first-round loss to James Madison in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.
Season Highlight: Beating both Northeastern and George Mason as part of five wins out of six in January/February.
NCAA Chances: 0%
NIT Chances: 0%
CBI/CIT Chances: 5%…you never know
Penn
Strangely the Quakers’ season isn’t over yet, as they have a makeup game with Princeton on Tuesday. But that will be the end, as there is no Ivy League Tournament. Penn won only one game out of conference (at Maryland-Baltimore County) in going 6-21.
Season Highlight: Whenever the last game ends. Or maybe a 15-point win against Ivy champ Cornell.
NCAA Chances: 0%
NIT Chances: 0%
CBI/CIT Chances: 0%