Bonnies seek A-10 tourney upset of top-seeded Owls

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - Atlantic City, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The two-time defending Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Champions, the 17th-ranked Temple Owls, hit the floor at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City this afternoon in the quarterfinals of the 34th annual event versus the Bonnies of St. Bonaventure.

Top-seeded Temple is trying to become just the second school in A-10 history to string together three straight conference tournament titles, second only to UMass which ran off five in a row in the 1990s. The Owls have run off a seven- game win streak and part of that was the team's 73-55 rout of the Bonnies in New York back in February.

Temple has won more games (49) in this tournament over the years and has the most crowns (eight) than any other program. When taking part in the quarterfinals, the Owls have won all but two of their 26 matchups. As the top seed in the tourney, Temple has a record of 10-1, winning the championship three times.

As for the Bonnies, this year's eighth seed, they took care of ninth-seeded Duquesne in the first round on Tuesday night at home in the Reilly Center. Unfortunately, St. Bonaventure has had very little success in the event, posting a 13-26 record and failing to bring home a trophy to this point.

In terms of the all-time series between these two schools, not only has Temple won both meetings during the A-10 Tournament previously, the Owls hold a commanding 50-6 mark after capturing the regular-season meeting last month.

The winner of this matchup will be back on the hardwood tomorrow versus the winner of the Rhode Island/Saint Louis battle in the semifinals.

Andrew Nicholson is the focal point of the offense for the Bonnies with his 16.5 ppg, stemming from 58 percent shooting from the field and 76 percent accuracy at the free-throw line. In addition, Nicholson also leads the group on the glass with better than seven boards per game, although that still doesn't make up for the fact that he has but 14 assists this entire season. Jonathan Hall picks up the slack in the passing department with his 100 dishes over 27 games, adding in another 13.1 ppg and almost six rebounds per contest to make himself into a complete player. Chris Matthews checks in with 12.7 ppg, thanks in large part to his 98-of-251 effort out on the perimeter. Against the Dukes earlier this week, Matthews erupted for a game-high 28 points on 6-of-8 shooting behind the three-point line, followed by Nicholson with 25 points and seven rebounds and Hall who recorded 10 points, seven boards and five assists.

Head coach Fran Dunphy has put himself in the running for national coach of the year honors by stressing defense with the Owls this season. As a result, Temple has limited opponents to just 56.8 ppg, one of the best marks in all of college basketball. Those foes have converted only 38.1 percent from the field and a feeble 27.8 percent behind the three-point line. At the offensive end of the floor, Ryan Brooks heads the list of scorers with his 14.5 ppg, thanks in large part to being only one of two players to have started every game this season. Juan Fernandez (12.2 ppg) has stepped up to become a true perimeter threat with his 44.7 percent accuracy and at the same time has kept defenses on their heels by handing out a team-best 105 assists as well. Lavoy Allen is the one who does the dirty work in the paint with his 11.7 points and team- best 10.8 rpg, helping to provide the Owls with a rebounding advantage of nearly five per game.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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