By Warren Crossley on 3/16/2008

After staring at a city shutout just a couple of weeks ago, St. Joes, Temple, and Villanova all received berths to the NCAA tournament.  All 3 are led into the Big Dance by terrific coaches.  After 9 Ivy League Titles at Penn, Temple’s Fran Dunphy decided to try coaching scholarship kids two years ago in succeeding the legendary John Chaney at Temple.  Dunphy had some rebuilding to do, but has Temple returning to prominence at least a year early.  Villanova’s Jay Wright rallied his young squad after a 5-game February losing streak to just enough victories to grab one of the at-large berths.  This is Villanova’s 4th straight appearance, which in today’s Big East is quite an accomplishment.  Phil Martelli of the Hawks continues to get good players to come to one of the smallest schools around, and continues to field competitive teams.  St. Joes also looked to be in trouble 2 weeks ago, but Martelli go ... Read More »