Penn, Duke, VCU, Ohio State, and Siena make an NCAA Tournament of reunions in Greenville
The Quakers will be in the same arena as one of Fran McCaffery's former teams, one of TJ Power's former teams, many of McCaffery's longtime friends, and a team McCaffery once beat in a March epic.
The NCAA Tournament loves to throw in coincidences at early sites. Usually, fans only think of ones in individual first-round matchups, or possibilities in the second round. But look at all eight teams heading to Greenville, S.C., and it’s quite a picture.
Penn-Illinois, the South Regional’s 3-14 matchup, will feature Fran McCaffery coaching against a team he knows well from 15 seasons at Iowa. He called Illini coach Brad Underwood “a dear friend.”
The corresponding 6-11 tilt, which tips off right before, will feature Phil Martelli Jr.’s Virginia Commonwealth against North Carolina.
It’s no surprise that the Philadelphia-born McCaffery knows Phil Martelli Sr., the former St. Joseph’s coach who is a Big 5 cornerstone. But he also knows the son and recalled offering him a job at UNC-Greensboro in the early 2000s.
“Then he was at Niagara with Joe Mihalich when I was at Siena,” McCaffery said. “So obviously, I’ve known Phil for years, and I got to know Phillip really well as professional colleagues. He’s one of the best in the game right now.”
Duke headlines the other quartet of games in Greenville and tips off at 2:50 p.m. Thursday. For all the dominance of freshmen in today’s college game, this Blue Devils squad does have one junior and five seniors or graduate students. Penn standout TJ Power is close with that junior, Caleb Foster, and he was childhood friends with one of the seniors, former Princeton guard Jack Scott.
» READ MORE: What to know about the NCAA Tournament in Philly: Who’s playing, ticket prices, and more
“If we’ve got time, I’ll see them, for sure,” Power said, though he knew there might not be. “I’m still close to the staff. All the managers, training staff, they were all great to me, and I cherish those relationships. They taught me a lot.”
Down south, they’ll notice that the Blue Devils and Tar Heels will be in the same building. It happened there in 2017, too, and Arkansas helped make the day even more profitable. This time, Ohio State plays the third box office role, facing Texas Christian in an 8-9 game.
Ohio State, in turn, will be in the same building as Siena — Duke’s first-round opponent. That will stir a heap of memories.
The Saints are in the big dance for the first time since 2010, McCaffery’s last season in Loudonville, N.Y. In each of the two previous seasons, McCaffery led Siena to NCAA wins, including a memorable overtime victory over Ohio State in 2009.
That game’s hero was Ronald Moore, a Plymouth Meeting native who’s now a Penn assistant coach. His big three-pointers were hailed on CBS by Bill Raftery, who will be calling the Greenville action with the top team of Ian Eagle, Grant Hill, and Tracy Wolfson.
“I’m really happy for Siena — and Lehigh,” McCaffery said, noting another team he used to coach that’s in this year’s field. “One of my former players, Riley Mulvey [a center who transferred from Iowa] is playing really well for Gerry [McNamara, Siena’s coach]. He’s done a fabulous job there. There will be a lot of Siena people in Greenville that I will get to see that I’m really looking forward to.”
» READ MORE: Ronald Moore was once a March Madness sensation. Now he’s a Penn assistant coach.