The Cornell-Temple showdown will take place on Friday at 12:30 in Jacksonville FL, according to ESPN’s Bracket.
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Fran Dunphy said in response to discovering Temple would be facing Cornell: “I would have rather see any other name except for Cornell because Steve and I are such good friends,” Dunphy said.
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ESPN’s Dana O’Neil thinks Cornell-Temple is a humorous matchup.
Nice to see you, mentor: Steve Donahue spent 10 years working at the University of Pennsylvania before finally branching out on his own, jumping to Ivy League rival Cornell. Since Donahue relocated to the shore of Cayuga Lake, his mentor, Fran Dunphy, left the Ivy League and took the head-coaching job at Temple. Both coaches were glad about that. No fun going against your mentor and dear friend.
So imagine the pinched-lemon face both made when the bracket was revealed: No. 5 seed Temple and Dunphy versus No. 12 seed Cornell and Donahue in the first round.
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The Providence Journal breaks down how conferences make profits during the NCAAs, and notes that the Ivy League probably won’t profit much financially:
For each game a team plays up to the finals at Lucas Oil Stadium, it earns one “unit.” A team that makes it to the finals earns five units. In all, 126 units are awarded each year.
Those units are worth money –– projected at $222,206 each for the 2009-2010 season, according to the NCAA’s latest Revenues and Expenses report. That’s up slightly from 2008-2009, when each unit was worth approximately $206,000.
The NCAA tallies up those units and then awards the money to the college sports conferences based on a six-year rolling average. So, the money conferences get after the 2009-2010 basketball season is determined by the total units their teams racked up during the tournament from 2004 to 2009. The units are then multiplied by the pre-determined dollar value to arrive at the payments for each conference.
Most conferences, in turn, divide that money equally among the schools that are members of its men’s basketball conferences –– regardless of how the teams performed on the hardwood during a season.
“Conferences are urged, but not required, to distribute money from the basketball fund equally among all their member institutions,” according to the NCAA.
A rolling distribution “takes away the pressure of that $1-million free throw,” said Robin Harris, the Ivy League’s executive director.
Regardless of how Ivy League champion Cornell University fares in the tournament, Brown University won’t see a dime –– at least not directly. The Ivy League uses whatever money its teams get to defray its operating costs.
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In discussing potential expansion of the NCAA tounament, the Miami Herald commented on potential 5-12 upsets.
The tournament should be about what it is right now. It’s about choosing the right 5-12 upset (that’s gonna be UTEP over Butler, no matter what the Ivy League snobs say about how good Cornell is).
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The Ithaca Journal discusses the interesting subplots in the Cornell-Temple matchup: the Donahue-Dunphy relationship. He describes Donahue’s reaction to Cornell v Temple:
Big Red coach Steve Donahue spent 10 years as an assistant at Penn under Fran Dunphy, who took over Temple’s program in 2006. The two are close friends, so it was no surprise that when the 1,500 players, families and fans at Newman Arena erupted when CBS flashed the matchup, Donahue reeled.
“That was a hard one to stomach,” he said. “See, we would never play each other in a regular season game because it would be torture. In this profession, you want your friends to advance. The NCAA tournament is the pinnacle of what you do, so both of us will have to get over that.”
He said the two would speak Sunday night, then try to move past the obvious emotions.
“I’ll get over (this) in an hour,” Donahue said. “He’s the most competitive person I’ve ever met. He’ll get over it. He’ll want to kick my butt and I’ll want to do the same. It’s just the initial reaction is, you don’t want to do.
Donahue also discussed how he thought Cornell would match up with Kansas:
“For our guys and his players, I think it’s a great game,” said Donahue, who said he followed the Owls’ progress throughout the season. “I think (Temple’s) a very good basketball team but I also think it’s a team where we match up fairly well.”that.”
Cornell senior Alex Tyler commented on the matchup:
“I think everybody who knows their basketball knows it’s an A-10 school, not one of the major conference schools,” senior Alex Tyler said. “They’re very talented, but we’re more used to playing those — not mid-majors, they’re higher than that — but they’re not as big and athletic as power conference teams. I think we were more excited about that.”
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The Ithaca Journal also recapped the Selection Sunday event at Cornell, which was attended by 1,500 fans and televised by CBS.
“That was definitely cool to see,” Cornell senior forward Ryan Wittman said. “As a little kid, you’re watching the Selection Show, you kind of dream of being able to play in the tournament and be one of those teams. It was pretty cool to see today.”
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The Ithaca Journal takes an early look at Temple.
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The Virginian Pilot writes:
Mid-major trouble Don’t sleep on the Temple Owls. The 5th seed in the East could create a little havoc after winning the underappreciated Atlantic 10. They meet Cornell in the first round for a chance to play Wisconsin, most likely.
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About.com picks Cornell to advance to the Sweet 16 and writes:
Upset Potential
The selection committee did Temple no favors. As a top-25 team and Atlantic 10 champion, some are arguing the Owls deserved a three seed. Instead, they’re a five, and facing a very difficult first-round matchup with Ivy League champs Cornell — a team that beat St. John’s at Madison Square Garden and gave Kansas fits. Oh, and St. John’s beat Temple in December.
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The Florida Times-Union writes:
Poison Ivy in Jacksonville
An Ivy League champion hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since fifth-seeded Princeton upended UNLV 69-57 in 1998, but a lot of analysts feel that Cornell (27-4) might have the ingredients to make history when Big Red takes on Atlantic 10 champion Temple on Friday at Veterans Memorial Arena.
Cornell’s best players are 7-foot center Jeff Foote (12.3 ppg, 8.2 rebounds) and leading scorer Ryan Wittman (17.5 ppg). The senior pair carries the sting of having lost in the first round of the NCAAs the past two years. As a No. 14 seed, Cornell lost by a combined 43 points to Missouri and Stanford, respectively.
This time, the Big Red is seeded 12th and a dangerous team because they’re capable of lighting it up from behind the arc. Cornell is averaging nearly 10 3-pointers per game, which is remarkable considering they only average 23 attempts. Their .434 percentage (304 of 701) from 3-point range is tops in the country.
Cornell didn’t play a meaty schedule, but it did send a message about its potency by losing only 71-66 at Kansas on Jan. 6. Temple comes in with a long-standing reputation as one of the best defensive programs, a tradition long established under legendary coach John Chaney, a Jacksonville native.
This could be the best matchup from this regional.
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The University of Wisconsin Badger Herald picks Cornell as an early upset. Cornell could face Wisconsin if it pulls the upset off and #4 Wisconsin beats #13 Wofford.
The first round should be simple, though Cornell could knock off Temple in another 12 over a five, but the second round is where things get interesting. Cornell could take out the fourth-seeded Badgers and Marquette could knock off New Mexico. Regardless, both games should be great second-round matchups.
My early upset pick is Cornell. Although Temple is a great team, a No. 12 seed is quite low for the Ivy League champions. They should easily have been anywhere from a No. 7 to No. 10 seed. And while I certainly see the potential, I do not see Wisconsin or New Mexico falling in the second round.
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AnnArbor.com writes picks Cornell to make it to the second round:
Out East, the best first-round matchup of the tournament unfolds between No. 5 Temple and No. 12 Cornell. Neither team should be in its seed, with the Owls more like a three or four seed to me and the Big Red more like a No. 7.
But take Cornell to beat Temple and lose to Wisconsin in the second round. And just pencil Kentucky into the Elite Eight.
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ESPN’s Pat Forde thinks Cornell and Temple both deserved better seeds:
For the Wildcats, the greater dangers are thereafter. Both fifth-seeded Temple and 12th-seeded Cornell deserved better seeds, and No. 4 seed Wisconsin could potentially frustrate the Cats with tempo.
… Seeded too low: Pretty much all of the Atlantic-10 (Temple, Richmond and Xavier), Cornell at No. 12, and probably Tennessee at No. 6.
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SBNation.com picks Cornell to make it to the Sweet 16.
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Intro by Bill Bradley.