City Six: Owls will be tested by Bonnies and Nicholson
1. Owls take flight In Duke's Austin Rivers, Temple faced a lethal scorer. At St. Louis, it played a very good team in a hostile road environment. And against Xavier, it faced a 7-foot, 275-pound post player in Kenny Frease.
Five Topics
1. Owls take flight
In Duke's Austin Rivers, Temple faced a lethal scorer. At St. Louis, it played a very good team in a hostile road environment. And against Xavier, it faced a 7-foot, 275-pound post player in Kenny Frease.
Their experiences this season have prepared the Owls for the Atlantic Ten test they face Wednesday - a trip to St. Bonaventure.
The Bonnies (13-9, 6-4 A-10) will look to win their ninth straight home game in a nationally televised "whiteout" game at the Reilly Center.
Having Andrew Nicholson gives the Bonnies reason to feel optimistic. The 6-9, 240-pound senior forward had 21 points and 23 rebounds in a lopsided victory over Duquesne on Saturday. That enabled him to become the first Bonnie to post a 20-20 effort since Bob Lanier in 1967.
"Will it be a tough challenge for Mike? Absolutely," coach Fran Dunphy of Temple (19-5, 8-2) said of Owls center Micheal Eric's matchup with Nicholson. "I wish he was the only challenge we had to deal with at St. Bonaventure. We know how good their team is and how big the win was on Saturday."
2. Jones finding form
St. Joseph's point guard Carl Jones says that his ankle, which he hurt in mid-December, is feeling better and he hopes that his shooting woes are also diminishing.
In Saturday's 73-62 win over Massachusetts, Jones scored 15 points and kept the Hawks in the game early with 13 in the first half. St. Joseph's led 29-28 at halftime.
For the game, Jones shot 6 for 12 from the field. Remarkably, he had gone the previous 14 games shooting under 50 percent. Saturday's effort was the first time Jones had shot 50 percent from the field since going 9 for 17 in an 80-71 win over visiting Creighton on Dec. 10.
He hurt his ankle the week after the Creighton win, and even though Jones has missed just one game, he said his ankle hasn't always been 100 percent.
That's not the case now.
"It's feeling better," he said.
3. Ready to bust
The Colonial Athletic Association had three teams in the NCAA tournament last year, but there are rumblings that it might have trouble getting more than the postseason conference champion selected this year. That's because the league hasn't had many marquee nonconference wins.
That is why the Bracket Busters Competition is so important, especially for a team like Drexel. The Dragons will visit Cleveland State in Saturday's 11 a.m. game that will be telecast on ESPNU.
"Our teams [in the CAA] tend to get overlooked because we don't get as much exposure," Drexel coach Bruiser Flint said. "One of the things that really helps with Bracket Busters is people get to see us."
Drexel is 3-0 in its three previous Bracket Buster games.
4. Trying too hard
Junior guard Ramon Galloway leads the La Salle in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game, but he has struggled in his last three games, all losses.
Galloway is averaging 11.3 points and shooting 8 for 31 from the field in those contests. He has had 14 assists, but 14 turnovers.
The performance hasn't been from lack of effort, coach John Giannini said . In fact, it's been the opposite.
"The reason he has struggled lately is, quite frankly, he is trying to do too much and it's because he wants to win, he is emotional, and is forcing the issue," Giannini said.
5. Boosting Yarou
Junior Mouphtaou Yarou has experienced an up-and-down year as he patrols the middle for Villanova.
Yarou missed his first eight shots in a Feb. 5 game at Pittsburgh and wound up 3 for 13. Two days later, he was far more active and efficient against Providence, going for 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting in the Wildcats' comeback victory.
Villanova coach Jay Wright said Yarou "is getting better at not getting down on himself," and he wants his 6-10 big man to consider his entire performance in his self-evaluations, not just shooting numbers.
Yarou grabbed 14 rebounds (eight offensive) in the Pitt game.
City Six Rankings
Inquirer Staff
Staff voters are Joe Juliano, Keith Pompey, Mike Jensen, Marc Narducci, John Quinn, Gary Miles, and Gary Potosky.
1. Temple
2. Drexel
3. St. Joseph's
4. Villanova
5. La Salle
6. Penn
Fan Voting
Fans' votes are counted from submissions on the SportsInq Facebook page submissions and votes on www.philly.com/city6 since last Tuesday.
1. Temple
2. Drexel
3. La Salle
4. St. Joseph's
5. Villanova
6. Penn
League Update
Big East
A few wins could put Villanova right into the middle of the pack in this league, although a postseason bid looks very unlikely. The Wildcats are under .500, and would have to finish the Big East tournament at least at .500 to be considered. A No. 1 seed seems almost certain for Syracuse. The prime chasers remain Marquette, Notre Dame, and Georgetown. Villanova has games remaining with Notre Dame and Georgetown, who play each other in Washington on Feb. 27. Georgetown also has to visit Marquette, so advantage for the race to the No. 2 seed goes toMa rquette and Notre Dame.
Atlantic Ten
The big question in the A-10 is how many teams will be chosen at-large for the NCAA tournament. Bracketologist Joe Lunardi says Temple and St. Louis only. This league, which has seen NCAA success from Xavier and St. Joseph's in the last decade, will have to make a case for more. Temple has emerged as the league's hottest team at just the right time, and the Owls won at St. Louis in January. Deep runs in the A-10 tourney could warrant NCAA looks for Xavier or UMass.
Colonial Athletic Association
Drexel is part of a two-team top tier with George Mason, with VCU and Old Dominion hanging around behind them. Drexel's chance to win the regular season title could hinge on a visit to Old Dominion in the season finale on Feb. 25.
Ivy League
Harvard remains a heavy favorite to win the Ivy and finally get an NCAA bid so long in waiting. But the Crimson's loss Saturday to Princeton gave Yale and Penn a fighting chance. Penn visits Harvard on Feb. 25, but then has to visit Princeton on March 6.
This Week's Games
Wednesday
Villanova at South Florida, 7
St. Joe's at Rhode Island, 7
Temple at St. Bonaventure, 8
Friday
Cornell at Penn, 7
Saturday
Drexel at Cleve. St., 11 a.m.
Duquesne at Temple, 2
St. Joe's at G. Washington, 4
La Salle at UMass, 6
Columbia at Penn, 7
Notre Dame at Villanova, 9
Monday
UConn at Villanova, 7