Soft Pretzel Logic

We have tip-off times for the first round, and let's start with the local games. All times Eastern:

Thursday, March 20

5. Michigan State vs. 12. Temple, 12:30 p.m.

Friday, March 21

6. Oklahoma vs. 11 St. Joseph's, approx. 7:10 p.m.
5. Clemson vs. 12. Villanova, approx. 9:50 p.m.

Isn't that the second year in a row the Wildcats have been put in the last Friday night game?

Also, you can print your own bracket by clicking here.

After the jump, the full schedule.

Okay, I'm back in Philadelphia now, and as this night finally comes to an end, here's all the video and audio from the championship game.

Video

Temple, in which Mark Tyndale talks about just what it means for Temple to be back in the NCAA Tournament.
St. Joseph's, in which Phil Martelli tells fans to "pray your ass off for us, please" that his team gets an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament

Audio

Temple: Fran Dunphy, Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas
St. Joseph's: Phil Martelli, Pat Calathes and Ahmad Nivins

Your video highlight is presented in honor of Stormingthefloor.com, because the Temple fans delivered a pretty good one at the final buzzer, and also in honor of the guy in the Flyers jersey who came up to me on the train back to Philadelphia and said he reads the blog. Thanks for that.

To close things out, I'd like to throw this out there. I've watched Fran Dunphy's teams for six years now, and I've talked to a lot of people who've seen him coach for much longer.

I have a hard time believing he's ever done a better job of coaching a game than he did tonight. Temple simply owned the second half, and Dunphy deserves full credit for getting the Owls to step up in the second half and take things over.

And as Tyndale alluded to in his remarks in the video, the fact that Temple is back in the NCAA Tournament is an important thing. It's been a while since Temple has been front and center like this, and I'm willing to bet that even St. Joe's fans will begrudge the Owls some time in the spotlight.

ATLANTIC CITY -- As I wait for a train back to Philadelphia, here's a quick rundown of the game stats:

St. Joe's shot 23-for-54 from the field (42.6%), including 5-for-21 from three-point range (23.8%) and 18-for-33 from two-point range (54.5%), and a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line (100.0%). Twelve offensive rebounds, 20 defensive rebounds, 13 assists 13 turnovers, three blocks, three steals and 20 fouls committed.

That adds up to 61 possessions and 1.054 points per possession.

Ahmad Nivins led St. Joe's with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting, though he was only 1-for-3 with six points in the second half. Nivins also pulled down 10 rebounds, of which six were on offense.

Temple shot 21-for-48 from the field (43.8%), including 9-for-18 from three-point range (50.%) and 12-for-30 from two-point range (40.0%), and 18-for-27 from the free throw line. Eleven offensive rebounds, 18 defensive rebounds, 13 assists, 12 turnovers, four blocks, seven steals and 12 fouls committed.

That adds up to 61 possessions and 1.133 points per possession.

Of note, St. Joe's recorded seven assists and four turnovers in the first half, followed by six assists and nine turnovers in the second half. Temple recorded four assists and eight turnovers in the first half, followed by nine assists and four turnovers in the second half.

Line of the game goes to the game's high scorer and the tournament's most outstanding player, Dionte Christmas:

The all-tournament team was Christmas and Mark Tyndale of Temple, Nivins and Pat Calathes of St. Joe's, and Leemire Goldwire of Charlotte.

I voted for Tyndale, Christmas, Calathes, Goldwire and Chris Clark, with Clark as most outstanding player.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Temple 69, St. Joe's 64.

I can't believe it.

Somehow in that locker room at halftime, Temple was completely transformed. The Owls team that exploded out of the locker room on a 14-2 run was the polar opposite of what we saw in the first 20 minutes.

And they kept coming.

The passes were all there, the threes were flying in. St. Joe's kept coming, and for quite a while there it looked like Temple was going to slip and go tumbling back down the mountain.

But somehow, it was St. Joe's that couldn't quite get to the top. The Hawks missed passes, missed shots, and then everyone seemed to realize all at once that it wasn't going to happen.

As the final seconds slowly ticked away and the Temple students got ready to rush the court, the noise started coming from the very upper reaches of Boardwalk Hall.

It was an old noise, the kind of noise you hear in movies when a ghost is stirring in the attic, and as I looked around I saw pockets of Temple fans where I thought I had seen St. Joe's fans earlier.

"Let's go dancing!" the Temple students chanted during the game's last timeout. And so they will.

Stats and more to come.

ATLANTIC CITY -- It's 32-25 St. Joe's after 20 minutes, and it would be a 10-point game if not for a three-pointer with five seconds to go in the half.

The Hawks shot 13-for-30 from the field (43.3%), including 2-for-9 from three-point range (22.2%) and 11-for-21 from two-point range (52.4%), and 4-for-4 from the foul line (100.0%). Seven offensive rebounds, 10 defensive rebounds, seven assists, four turnovers, two blocks, one steal and six fouls committed.

That adds up to 29 possessions and 1.123 points per possession.

Ahmad Nivins leads St. Joe's with an impressive 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting.

The Owls shot 7-for-25 from the field, including 5-for-10 from three-point range (50.0%) and 2-for-15 from two-point range (13.3%), and 6-for-8 from the free throw line (75.0%). Eight offensive rebounds, nine defensive rebounds, four assists, eight turnovers, three blocks,t wo steals and six fouls committed.

That adds up to 29 possessions and 0.877 points per possession.

Dionte Christmas leads Temple with 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.

But more importantly, Temple just looks nervous. The passing isn't as crisp as it's been the last few games and the players haven't been as aggressive with the ball. That two-point field goal percentage is very telling. So was Ryan Brooks' shot clock violation with 30 seconds in the half, when he just held the ball before realizing he was out of time.

Meanwhile, St. Joe's looks calm and collected, and like a team that knows exactly what it's doing here.

If that keeps up, it will decide the game way more than any number could.

ATLANTIC CITY -- In January, it was St. Joe's by a point on Temple's floor. Two weeks ago, it was Temple by a point at a pro-St. Joe's Palestra. Both games were pulsating, nerve-wracking affairs that went down to the very last shot.

Frankly, they deserved a chance to decide this thing once and for all. Tonight, they -- and we -- get it.

The setting is Boardwalk Hall, an arena whose roof is twice as high as the Palestra's but with a buzz just as palpable. To the winner goes the ultimate jackpot: a berth in the NCAA Tournament. It would be the Hawks' first since 2004, and the Owls' first since 2001.

For Temple, the stakes are even higher. Win and the big prize is theirs; lose and all those chips they've piled up in recent weeks vanish in an instant.

St. Joe's, though, might not need to play another hand. The signature wins are there, twice over Xavier and a blowout of Villanova. With chips like that in their pocket, the Hawks can probably afford to stay out of Temple's double-or-nothing game.

But this is a rivalry, and not just any rivalry. It's two schools and two coaches with decades worth of bonds between them, of intense battles under the Big 5's brightest lights.

You don't just walk away from that, do you?

So come on over to the table, Fran Dunphy and Phil Martelli. Time for another round. Forty more minutes of motion offense and swarming defense. Of ball screens, flares to the wing, hard drives to the basket and equally hard blocks in the lane.

It's time, once and for all, to see who has the strongest hand.

Ante up, gentlemen.

Here are the opening hands:

Temple

F Sr 13 Mark Tyndale
F Fr 24 Lavoy Allen
C Jr 41 Sergio Olmos
G So 10 Luis Guzman
G Jr 22 Dionte Christmas

St. Joseph's

F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G Jr 0 Tasheed Carr
G So 13 Darrin Govens

The game's on ESPN; watch it and leave your thoughts here. I'll be back at halftime.

Philadelphia's 30-year streak of sending teams to the NCAA Tournament just turned 31.

With Temple's 60-45 win over Charlotte, we can now be sure of at least one local representative in this year's field of 65.

It'll be Temple-St. Joe's in the championship game tomorrow. And believe it or not, it will be the first time ever that the Owls and Hawks have met in the final.

Stats and more from this game soon.

Amazing how far we've come in the last few days isn't it?

ATLANTIC CITY -- That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you walk -- or perhaps fly, in this case -- through an open door.

Yes, it got a little hairy at the end, but St. Joe's really toughed it out in the final minutes. The Hawks made the free throws when it mattered and got themselves a season-defining win over Xavier, 61-53, to advance to the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game.

St. Joe's shot 20-for-43 from the field (46.5%), including 6-for-17 from three-point range and 14-for-26 from two-point range (53.8%), and 15-for-21 from the free throw line (71.4%). Four offensive rebounds, 22 defensive rebounds, 15 assists, 11 turnovers, three blocks, four steals and 19 fouls committed.

That adds up to 59 possessions and 1.030 points per possession.

Xavier really had a bad day from the field. The Musketeers made only 19 of 52 shots (36.5%), including 1-for-14 from three-point range (7.1%) and 18-for-38 from two-point range, though they made a respectable 14 of 18 free throw attempts. Twelve offensive rebounds, 23 defensive rebounds, eight assists, 12 turnovers, one block, four steals and 20 fouls committed.

That adds up to 60 possessions and 0.885 points per possession.

No question about who gets line of the game, frankly.

ATLANTIC CITY -- 1:33 to go, St. Joe's up 54-47. Sean Miller calls timeout with 26 seconds on the shot clock.

Can the Hawks hold on?

It's getting pretty loud in here...

ATLANTIC CITY -- With 11:56 to go in the game, St. Joe's leads, 44-32. Almost all the big shots have come from the perimeter, as the Hawks are 4-for-8 from the arc in the second half. Pat Calathes has all three of the makes, with the fourth coming from Rob Ferguson as I mentioned below.

The St. Joe's fans are starting to feel it. But I can't help thinking there's a little anxiety in the air given how Xavier came back late at the Fieldhouse last week. We'll see.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Twenty more minutes of that and there won't be any doubt.

Thanks to a swarming defense and a big three by Pat Calathes three seconds before halftime, St. Joe's hit the locker room with an impressive 30-20 lead over a Xavier team that seemed overwhelmed by all that crimson in their shirts.

The offense wasn't so great, but if St. Joe's is winning 20 minutes from now that won't matter a bit.

The Hawks shot 11-for-25 from the field (44.0%), including 2-for-7 from three-point range (28.6%) and 9-for-18 from two-point range (50.0%), and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line (100.0%). One offensive rebound, 11 defensive rebounds, nine assists, four turnovers, two blocks, three steals and six fouls committed.

That adds up to 31 possessions and 0.979 points per possession.

The Musketeers shot only 8-for-25 from the field (32.0%), including 0-for-7 from three-point range (0.0%) and 8-for-18 from two-point range (44.4%), and 4-for-5 from the free throw line (80.0%). Five offensive rebounds, 13 defensive rebounds, four assists, seven turnovers, one block, two steals and seven fouls committed.

That adds up to 29 possessions and 0.685 points per possession.

Xavier also committed three shot clock violations and was a buzzer-beating jumper away from a fourth, which is even more impressive than any of that.

And Rob Ferguson just opened the second half with a big three of his own.

ATLANTIC CITY -- The stakes tonight could not be more clear.

If Saint Joseph's and Temple both lose tonight, the Philadelphia region will almost surely be shut out of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 31 years come Sunday evening.

If they both win, the streak stays alive and the Atlantic 10 could have as many as three teams in this year's field of 65.

The pressure is probably stronger on St. Joe's. Xavier came to play yesterday and showed why it's the bets team in the conference. If that happens again tonight, they will be really tough to beat tonight no matter how many Hawks fans are here.

And the fans do seem to be coming. St. Joe's has a really big student section in the horseshoe end of the seating bowl, and there are a good few fans sitting back behind them -- a place I haven't seen fans in at any time in both years I've been here.

There are some Xavier fans too, including these four:

It's almost time to get this thing started. The door to the NCAA Tournament is wide open for St. Joe's and Temple right now. Will they walk through it?

Both games tonight are on Comcast SportsNet CN8 (thanks for the correction), so feel free to watch on TV and leave your comments here.

The starting lineups:

St. Joe's

F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G Jr 0 Tasheed Carr
G So 13 Darrin Govens

Xavier

F So 5 Derrick Brown
F Jr 20 C.J. Anderson
C So 31 Jason Love
G Sr 24 Drew Lavender
G Sr 34 Stanley Burrell

St. Joe's won, 61-47, and really was never in danger the entire second half.

The Hawks shot 22-for-45 from the field (48.9%), including 6-for-18 from three-point range (33.3%) and 16-for-27 from two-point range (59.3%), and 11-for-14 from the free throw line (78.6%). Seven offensive rebounds, 27 defensive rebounds, 13 assists, 16 turnovers, five blocks, six assists and 16 fouls committed.

That adds up to 60 possessions and 1.014 points per possession.

Richmond shot 17-for-46 from the field (37.0%), including 5-for-18 from three-point range (27.8%) and 12-for-28 from two-point range (42.9%), and 8-for-11 from the free throw line (72.7%). Three offensive rebounds, 18 defensive rebounds, 12 assists, 15 turnovers, six blocks, six steals and 15 fouls committed.

That adds up to 63 possessions and 0.652 points per possession.

And Spiders coach Chris Mooney's mentor, legendary former Princeton coach Pete Carril, was here to see it. I'm sure he quite enjoyed the tempo.

Line of the game goes to Rob Ferguson for his perfect night from the field:

Since the wireless internet here is being balky and La Salle-Temple is only a few minutes away from starting, I'm not going to link to all the multimedia stuff until after the game. I'll try to get it attached to the recap stories on Philly.com, because that doesn't take as long, so keep an eye on that.

But everything from all the games will be listed here at the end of the night.

And with an impressively big Temple student section on its feet, here come the Owls...

... but it's 50-33 St. Joe's with 6:17 to play. Rob Ferguson has 15, while Ahmad Nivins and Pat Calathes have 12 each.

Not much else in it, honestly.

It's 30-22 at intermission, and the Hawks look pretty well in control of things.

St. Joe's shot 13-for-27 from the field (48.1%), including 3-for-9 from three-point range (33.3%) and 10-for-18 from two-point range (55.6%), and 1-for-2 from the free throw line (50.0%). Four offensive rebounds, 12 defensive rebounds, eight assists, seven turnovers, one block, two steals and five fouls committed.

That adds up to 31 possessions and 0.972 points per possession.

Rob Ferguson leads all scorers with 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three-point range.

Richmond plays a Princeton-style offense, which is no surprise given coach Chris Mooney's roots in Old Nassau (he's an Archbishop Ryan grad too). And the Spiders put forth a half worthy of comparison to the Tigers these days.

They made only nine of 22 field goal attempts (which is still somehow 40.9%), including 3-for-9 from three-point range (33.3%) and 6-for-13 from two-point range, and 1-for-2 from the free throw line (50.0%). One offensive rebound (also very Princetonian), 11 defensive rebounds, eight assists, 10 turnovers, three blocks, two teals and five fouls committed.

That adds up to 32 possession and a mere 0.690 points per possession.

It took the Hawks a little while to get the offense in rhythm, but in the last few minutes the gears have clicked at both ends of the floor.

St. Joe's just capped an 11-0 run after a Garrett Williamson block bounced to Pat Calathes, who raced away for a layup to give the Hawks a 17-12 lead.

St. Joe's has also held Richmond without a field goal for the last five minutes, a span in which the Spiders have committed three turnovers.

Well, the St. Joe's fans finally did show up, just in time for the 5-seed Hawks' tipoff against 4-seed Richmond. As the game's on Comcast SportsNet, I'm not going to liveblog it as closely as I did yesterday's game, but I'll check in a few times.

Looks like a student section of 20 or so spread out behind the band and the stage end basket, and there's a healthy contingent of Hawks fans in four sections behind my side of the court. There's about a section and a half of Richmond fans, plus their band.

The starting lineups:

St. Joe's

F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G Jr 0 Tasheed carr
G So 13 Darrin Govens

Richmond

F Fr 12 Kevin Smith
F Sr 15 Gaston Moliva
C So 41 Dan Geriot
G So 5 David Gonzalves
G So 14 Kevin Anderson

Feel free to post your thoughts on the game in the comments.

Postgame multimedia

Fordham: Dereck Whittenburg, Bryant Dunston and Marcus Stout
St. Joseph's: Phil Martelli, Pat Calathes and Tasheed Carr

Video highlights of Martelli and Carr

ATLANTIC CITY -- To shoot 56.9 percent from the field in a game is impressive enough. To do it in a conference tournament game, even against the 12-seed, at least strikes me as being a pretty big deal.

Not having a bye, this is exactly what St. Joe's needed in the first round: an 80-62 blowout of Fordham in which no one played more than 30 minutes. And although the afternoon attendance was announced as 3,342, the Hawks didn't seen fazed at all by playing in front of a diminished atmosphere for the first time in a while.

Fordham shot 23-for-56 from the field (41.1%), including 6-for-23 from three-point range (26.1%) and 17-for-33 from two-point range (51.5%), and 10-for-18 from the free throw line (55.6%). Fourteen offensive rebounds, 18 defensive rebounds, 12 assists, 13 turnovers, four blocks, six steals and 20 fouls committed.

That adds up to 63 possessions and 0.985 points per possession.

In his final college game, Bryant Dunston led the Rams with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting; he was 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Dunston also recorded five rebounds (two on offense), three blocks, one steal and one assist,

St. Joe's shot 29-for-51 from the field (56.9%), including 7-for-15 from three-point range (46.7%) and 22-for-36 from two-point range (61.1%), and a mildly concerning 15-for-25 from the free throw line (60.0%). Nine offensive rebounds, 23 defensive rebounds, 17 assists, 11 turnovers, four blocks, nine steals and 18 fouls committed.

That adds up to 64 possessions and a nice, round 1.25 points per possession.

Pat Calathes led all scorers with 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting, including 2-for-4 from three-point range, but line of the game goes to Tasheed Carr:

Of note, Martelli went on a bit of a riff in his remarks about why players don't care about winning anymore because they think there will always be another game.

There's also postgame audio from Saint Louis-Dayton, which I got mainly to listen to Rick Majerus. Here's Dayton, and here's Majerus and a few of his players. You guess which one lasts 20 minutes.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Okay, time to take things up a notch. It's the Big 5's first entrant in this year's Atlantic 10 Tournament, and since most of you are probably stuck at your desks, I'll be here from start to finish blogging the game.

But be sure to check the posts below for more from Saint Louis-Dayton and Villanova-Syracuse.

And check the bottom of this post for the latest update on this game.

Pregame: About two minutes before tip, and this place is pretty empty. Not nearly as many Hawks fans as I expected, but there is a small contingent of St. Joe's students under the basket closer to the big wall mural. At least both bands are here, and maybe the place will fill up more as the game goes on.

Starting lineups

Fordham

F Sr 21 Michael Binns
F Sr 30 Sebastian Greene
F Sr 42 Bryant Dunston
G Sr 1 Marcus Stout
G Sr 14 Kevin Anderson

Saint Joseph's

F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G Jr 0 Tasheed Carr
G So 13 Darrin Govens

19:23 1st, 2-0 St. Joe's: Govens opens the scoring with two free throws after being fouled driving by Fordham's Kevin Anderson.

18:53 1st, 3-2 Fordham: Stout gets the Rams on the board with a three from the right side.

16:54 1st, 6-4 St. Joe's: A floater in the lane by Carr gives the Hawks the lead back.

14:50 1st, 10-4 St. Joe's: A Fordham turnover leads to a Pat Calathes layup.

14:03 1st, 10-5 St. Joe's: Ahmad Nivins picks up his first foul, blocking a driving Herb Tanner. But Tanner only makes the second free throw.

12:39 1st, 12-9 St. Joe's: Trapped against the Fordham baseline, Pat Calathes is forced to call a timeout.

12:09 1st, 12-11 St. Joe's: Out of the timeout, Garrett Williamson gets the ball with three seconds on the shot clock... and passes the ball to Calathes as the clock expires And he knew it. At the other end, Bryant Dunston makes a layup to bring Fordham within a point.

11:29 1st, 16-11 St. Joe's: Another Fordham turnover leads to a Williamson fastbreak. He dished a backwards bounce pass in the paint to Rob Ferguson, who was blocked going up by Sebastian Greene.

The Fordham fans behind me wanted a travel on Williamson; I'm not sure about that, though I did think Greene got the ball on the block. Coming out of the media timeout, Ferguson makes both free throws.

7:53 1st, 22-16 St. Joe's: Another media timeout, and as you can tell I'm having some trouble with the blogging software at the moment. So I'm going to need a minute to get it fixed...

6:50 1st, 27-18 St. Joe's: Rob Ferguson hits a three at the top of the arc, and a very angry Fordham coach Derek Whittenburg calls timeout.

5:41 1st, 30-18 St. Joe's: A three from the right side by Garrett Williamson pushes the Hawks' lead to double digits.

5:03 1st, 33-19 St. Joe's: Tasheed Carr double-pump-fakes and drains a pretty three right at the top of the arc.

3:52 1st, 38-19 St. Joe's: Another Carr three, another angry Whittenburg timeout. St. Joe's has outscored Fordham 16-3 in the last four minutes.

3:29 1st, 38-19 St. Joe's: Right at the end of the media timeout, one of the refs yelled at the Fordham mascot for staying on the court too long. The Ram duly high-stepped it off the floor in a hurry.

3:08 1st, 40-19 St. Joe's: Carr steals the ball and races away for an uncontested layup. Great job by the Hawks so far.

HALFTIME: 44-25 St. Joe's: A Pat Calathes layup with seven seconds on the clock rounded off the scoring, though Marcus Stout's buzzer-beating three was about an inch to the wrong side of the rim.

Here are the stats:

Fordham shot a paltry 8-for-21 from the field (38.1%), including 1-for-7 from three-point range (14.3%) and 7-for-14 from two-point range (50.0%), and 8-for-13 from the free throw line (61.5%). Three offensive rebounds, six defensive rebounds, six assists, eight turnovers, one block, three steals and seven fouls committed.

That adds up to 31 possessions and 0.788 points per possession.

St. Joe's shot an impressive 16-for-25 from the field (64.0%), including 5-for-8 from three-point range (62.5%) and 11-for-17 from two-point range (64.7%), and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line (100.0%). Three offensive rebounds, 11 defensive rebounds, seven assists, seven turnovers, two blocks and four steals.

That adds up to 32 possessions and 1.029 points per possession.

Tasheed Carr leads all scorers with 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting, including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. He also has four rebounds, five assists and two steals. Pat Calathes has 12 points and Rob Ferguson has 10. Ahmad Nivins has none, but this time it really doesn't matter.

Bryant Dunston leads Fordham with nine points on 3-for-6 shooting; he also has one assist, one block and one steal.

19:41 2nd, 46-25 St. Joe's: Rob Ferguson opens the scoring with a layup.

18:35 2nd, 49-27 St. Joe's: Bryant Dunston forces his way for a layup to score Fordham's first points of the half.

16:34 2nd, 53-27 St. Joe's: Nivins makes a pretty move to score his first points of the game.

15:00 2nd, 58-32 St. Joe's: A few seconds after an angry Fordham fan behind me yells "GET UP, WHITTENBERG!" Darrin Govens drives for a layup and Whittenberg indeed stands... to call a timeout.

11:40 2nd, 60-36 St. Joe's: A foul is called on Marcus Stout, and we head to a media timeout.

Kyle Whelliston is here, which I find rather amusing. I guess he really does like the Atlantic-Eastern-Southern-Midwestern 14 that much.

9:02 2nd, 64-38 St. Joe's: Idris Hilliard misses a long 2 from the top of the arc, but Ahmad Nivins puts it back and draws the foul from Sebastian Greene. And he makes the free throw.

7:27 1st, 72-43 St. Joe's: After making the free throw of a basket-and-one, Pat Calathes is subbed out by Phil Martelli for Edwin Lashley. If Martelli is able to get the rest of his regulars out too, that will go a long way in helping the Hawks maintain the energy needed to win four games.

5:49 2nd, 74-45 St. Joe's: And that's it for Ahmad Nivins, as Arvydas Lidzius comes in to replace him.

3:49 2nd, 74-51 St. Joe's: It's the last media timeout. Fordham hit a couple threes, and then threw up a few more that were nowhere close. The Fordham mascot walks out on the floor iwith a cardboard pair of scissors that read "HAWK CLIPPERS." A bit late for that... though he does a funny impression of the St. Joe's cheerleaders where he holds up one leg, then falls flat on his face.

2:53 2nd, 77-53 St. Joe's: Idris Hilliard throws down a strong slam, and even though it hit the basket after the shot clock expires the refs counted it anyway. Um.

1:32 2nd, 78-60 St. Joe's: Fordham's Sebastian Greene throws down a monster slam dunk, but gets whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim. Ouch.

1:08 2nd, 78-62 St. Joe's: Whittenberg subs out Bryant Dunston, who gets a nice ovation from the Fordham fans in attendance. He's a great athlete, no question about that, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if he goes on to play professionally somewhere on the planet in the years to come.

FINAL, 80-62 St. Joe's: C.J. Brown gets to dribble out the clock, as St. Joe's records a very impressive first-round win over Fordham. The Hawks will next face Richmond, tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

Stats to come in a bit. I'm off to record the press conferences.

It got a little hairy at the end, but that win puts St. Joe's right back on the bubble. Not on the right side of it yet, but beating Xavier was an enormous step in the right direction.

I can't help asking, though: Why rush the court? I'd like to think the Hawks are good enough for a home win over Xavier to not be that big a deal, even if the Musketeers are ranked No. 11 in the country.

I have no problems with a court-storming if you win the conference tournament or even the regular season title in a game, but I honestly believe tonight's win doesn't rise to that level.

Then again, if the students wanted it that badly, who am I to argue against it that much.

Teek writes:

The best NCAA tournament game in town takes place this Friday night at 8:00 at Ursinus College where the 25-2 Ursinus Bears, Centennial Conference champions with a 20-0 league record, take on Baptist Bible College in an opening round Division III NCAA Tournament game.

$6.00 for adults, $3.00 for kids - to see an NCAA game cheaper you'd have to be playing in it.

He's got a good point. I can't make it, but maybe you can.

I can't make it to the Fieldhouse tonight either -- though most of us won't be able to because there won't be so much as an inch to spare tonight when St. Joe's hosts Xavier.

Among the absolute must-read stories on Philly.com today is Ray Parrillo's look back at the Hawks' 59-year-old home floor, and some of the great memories that have been created there over the years.

The other outstanding story today is Mike Jensen's feature on basketball players from Philadelphia who are now pros in Europe. It's the first of a two-part series on Philly athletes abroad, and it runs on the front page of the print edition of today's Inquirer.

Mike went all the way to Poland to find a bumper crop of expats on the hardwood out there, ranging from Rashid Atkins to Chet Stachitas to Mustafa Shakur. He came back with an outstanding story that might be the best piece of college basketball journalism in the city this whole season.

There's also a great map showing where a bunch of players with local ties are now.

Now, I happen to know what the second part of the series is, and if you look in today's paper you'll find it too. But if you don't know, I'm not telling. Let's just say it won't surprise you too much.

Other stories:

Jeff McLane and Steve King on Temple's win over Duquesne that locked up second place in the conference for the Owls

Joe Juliano and Mike Kern on Villanova's win over South Florida

And La Salle got blown out at UMass.

Let's give a Line of the Day to Dionte Christmas for breaking out of a mini-slump:

Ray Parrillo
Jeff McLane
Bob Ford
Dick Jerardi
Rich Hofmann

Inquirer photographer Jerry Lodriguss' gallery

(and Dick Jerardi's usual Monday column)

(and Joe Juliano and Mike Kern's reports from Villanova's loss at Louisville)

Philadelphia Will Do has video highlights from the last few minutes.

I'm editing the College HoopsCast right now and will have it posted later this afternoon.

Temple's Mark Tyndale drives for the winning basket. (Jerry Lodriguss/Inquirer)

Postgame audio

Temple: Fran Dunphy, Mark Tyndale and Chris Clark
St. Joseph's: Phil Martelli

Inquirer staff writer Ray Parrillo's early recap

Mark Tyndale admitted after the game that he felt Temple deserved some sort of revenge for the Owls' controversial loss to St. Joe's earlier in the season.

Tonight, he got it.

Tyndale delivered the game-winning basket with 22 seconds left, and 9-6 Temple now sits alone in second place in the Atlantic 10 after its 57-56 win over St. Joe's. The Hawks fell to fourth place in the conference below Massachusetts, and are even with the Minutemen, Richmond and La Salle at 8-6.

The Owls shot 21-for-50 from the field (42.0%), including 7-for-20 from three-point range (35.0%) and 14-for-30 from two-point range (46.7%), and 8-for-11 from the free throw line (72.7%). Eight offensive rebounds, 23 defensive rebounds, 12 assists, 11 turnovers, four blocks, five steals and 13 fouls committed.

That adds up to 59 possessions and 0.962 points per possession.

St. Joe's shot 20-for-52 from the field (38.5%), including a frigid 2-for-16 from three-point range (12.5%) and 18-for-36 from two-point range (50.0%), and 14-for-16 from the free throw line (87.5%). Ten offensive rebounds, 22 defensive rebounds, six assists, nine turnovers, seven blocks and five steals.

That adds up to 58 possessions and 0.972 points per possession.

Just as significantly, after scoring 24 points in the paint in the first half, the Hawks only scored six from there in the second half. At the other end of the floor, Temple scored six points in the paint in the first half and 20 in the second.

Line of the Game goes to the guy who took the thing on his back in the second half and carried the Owls to the win:

So as I head off to sleep, I leave you with this question:

What does finishing second in the Atlantic 10 get you this year?

Honestly, I have no idea.

Off we go from the Palestra at what is simply a monstrous game for St. Joe's if the Hawks are to have any chance of making the NCAA Tournament.

But the Owls surely have that crushing last-second loss to St. Joe's at the Liacouras Center front and center in their memories, and will be out for revenge tonight.

This game counts as the Big 5 game for the season, in addition to its impact on the Atlantic 10 standings and which teams will get byes in Atlantic City.

It's a full house and then some, with the corners jammed well before tipoff. The St. Joe's student section is surprisingly small, though -- just section 120, and maybe a few rows of 220. It's certainly not the wall of crimson we're used to when the Hawks play on 33rd Street.

The Temple students and band are together in section 108. The brass players in the band have little cutouts of Phil Martelli's head in full scream attached to their music holders. Nice tough.

As always, check back here for all the rollouts, chants and so forth. The game is on CSN, so feel free to post comments as you watch.

The starting lineups:

Temple

F Fr 24 Lavoy Allen
C Jr 41 Sergio Olmos
G Sr 13 Mark Tyndale
G Jr 22 Dionte Christmas
G So 10 Luis Guzman

St. Joseph's

F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G So 13 Darrin Govens
G Jr 0 Tasheed Carr

15:57 1st, 6-4 St. Joe's: The first rollout of the night comes from Temple: "YOU HAVE ONE OF OUR ROLLOUTS."

Well now. Seeing as how the St. Joe's students snuck a "THE HAWK WILL NEVER DIE" rollout into the Villanova section at the Holy War (yes, that's my admission that I completely missed it during the game), let's see where that goes.

And here it is, as the Temple students chant "That's our rollout!" : "YOU CAN'T SPELL DIONTE W/O NIT"

I maintain, as I've been saying on the College HoopsCast for a while now, that an NIT bid would be a pretty nice accomplishment for Temple.

And if St. Joe's isn't careful, they might end up there too.

11:58 1st, 17-13 St. Joe's: I thought I just saw a Temple rollout coming, but it fell over. Oh, it was upside down. Here it is: "NBA SCOUTS TO CALATHES ... YAWN"

7:29 1st, 22-16 St. Joe's: Another Temple rollout: "FLAP YOUR WINGS IF YOU SUCK"

At the St. Joe's end, there's one unfurling slowly. Now it's just sitting there held up behind a row of students, and I can't tell if they're going to lift it. They finally do: "STUDENTS @ TU... TYPICAL UNDERACHIEVERS" The Temple students chant "Boring, boring..."

3:51 1st, 27-22 St. Joe's: Another Temple rollout, and I'm starting to wonder why they've got more than St. Joe's by some distance: "OUR FOOTBALL TEAM WON HOMECOMING... DID BC'S?"

Oh wow. Can I please take some credit for that? Seriously, I had the BC-St. Joe's football thing on here way before anyone else in the Philly media did. So I'm going to take credit for insipring that rollout, thank you very much.

HALFTIME, 31-27 St. Joe's Whereas the Liacouras Center game was an up-and-down, frenetic affair, this game has been much more deliberate and methodical.

I'm not too surprised, to be honest; it's the time of year where you don't want to make too many mistakes, and it's also the time of year when legs get a little weary as the regular season nears its end.

Here, then are the numbers.

For Temple: 9-for-25 from the field (36.0%), including 5-for-14 from three-point range (35.7%) and 4-for-11 from two-point range (36.4%), and 4-for-6 from the free throw line (66.7%). Four offensive rebounds, 11 defensive rebounds, eight assists, seven turnovers, two blocks, two steals and six fouls committed.

That adds up to 31 possessions and 0.875 points per possession.

For St. Joe's: 12-for-26 from the field (46.2%), and all the made baskets were inside the arc -- the Hawks were 0-for-8 from three-point range. They also shot 7-for-8 from the line (87.5%). Four offensive rebounds, 12 defensive rebounds, two assists, six turnovers, five blocks, three steals and six fouls committed.

That adds up to 32 possessions and 0.975 points per possession.

And it's not just that all the made baskets were from two-point range. St. Joe's scored all of their 24 points from the field in the paint. A lot of them came from driving guards, but Ahmad Nivins has stepped up with nine points on 4-for-5 shooting.

Dionte Christmas leads Temple with 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting, including 2-for-5 from three-point range.

Okay, time for the second half.

15:41 2nd, 41-29 St. Joe's: The Hawks jump out on a 10-2 run to start the half, five of the points coming from Tasheed Carr. A Temple rollout: "ST. JOE'S HAWK: FAILED 2ND GRADE ART PROJECT"

15:00 2nd, 43-29 St. Joe's: As Rob Ferguson hits a short jumper, the St. Joe's students unfurl a rollout during the run of play" ¡HOLA OLMOS! DONDE ESTA EL "POST GAME"? A few people behind me laughed, for what it's worth.

11:18 2nd, 49-38 St. Joe's: Another Temple rollout: "SJU BBALL ENDS IN 2 WEEKS X-MAS IS ALL YEAR LONG"

While I was reading the rollout, they had that contest where two students have to run down the floor and make a layup dressed in Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup costumes. Apparently the Temple student in the contest did something illegal, so the St. Joe's student won.

Public address man Brian Startare announced that the winner got "a great prize pack from Dunkin' Donuts because Temple didn't follow the rules." That drew one of the louder cheers on the night.

6:45 2nd, 52-42 St. Joe's: As the game just sort of rolls on, the atmosphere pretty muted by Big 5 standards, at least we get a Temple rollout with a little spice to it: "PHIL'S NEXT BOOK: HOW TO SET A MOVING PICK"

And I thought we were almost past that. I guess not.

5:08 2nd, 52-49 St. Joe's: Serves me right again. Chris Clark hits an open three at the left corner and Phil Martelli quite angrily calls a timeout. We have a game again.

3:59 2nd, 52-51 St. Joe's: Mark Tyndale almost coast-to-coast for a slam to bring the Owls within one point, but Lavoy Allen has picked up a pair of fouls in literally the last 10 seconds. After the media timeout, Pat Calathes will go to the line to shoot two free throws.

Another Temple rollout: "THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: GET ONE"

1:44 2nd, 54-53 St. Joe's: With Pat Calathes trapped against the far baseline, Phil Martelli saves him by calling a timeout. The St. Joe's students bring down the "THE HAWK WILL NEVER DIE" rollout.

1:35 2nd, 56-53 St. Joe's: With a second on the shot clock, Calathes twists and turns his way for a tough bank shot in the lane.

1:24 2nd, 56-55 St. Joe's: Ahmad Nivins goaltends a Mark Tyndale runner.

0:44.6 2nd, 56-55 St. Joe's: After Calathes misses a long stepback two from the left corner, Temple gets the rebound and Fran Dunphy calls timeout after the ball crosses midcourt.

0:23 2nd, 57-56 Temple: With two on the shot clock, Tyndale turns on the jets for a nifty layup to give the Owls the lead. The Temple fans go nuts, including an a capella rendition of "Rock N' Roll Part II." Wow.

(And it's nice to hear the Hey Song at the Palestra again. It's been a while.

FINAL: TEMPLE 57, ST. JOE'S 56: Unbelievably, the Owls pull off the win and all but surely eliminate the entire Big 5 from NCAA Tournament contention for the first time since 1977.

The Hawks had the ball at the end, but Calathes, Carr and Ferguson all missed chances to win the game from close range.

The Temple students rush the floor, and after the security guards force them back to the sidelines they all start jumping up and down chanting "I believe the Hawk is dead!"

Meanwhile, most of the St. Joe's students are still here, and are standing around in one giant mass of stunned disbelief.

Back later with final stats and the press conferences.

Postgame audio

La Salle: John Giannini, Rodney Green and Darnell Harris
St. Joseph's: Phil Martelli

Inquirer recap by Ray Parrillo
Daily News recap by Bob Cooney

Inquirer photo gallery by Ron Cortes

It was a lot like the St. Joe's-Temple game. Except this time, the Hawks didn't win... and this time, the end of the game was even crazier.

With nine seconds left and La Salle up, 90-89, Darnell Harris clanked the front end of a one-and-one off the back rim. Tasheed Carr brought the rebound down the floor and was driving to the basket, but lost the handle trying to get the ball to Rob Ferguson. Rodney Green got into the scrum, got the ball and called timeout.

Paul Johnson threw a football inbounds pass to Green, who caught it halfway over the midcourt line and was bear-hugged by Carr. Green missed the free throw, but somehow managed to commit a lane violation before the second free throw.

Rob Ferguson launched the ensuing inbounds pass down the floor and it was batted down by Johnson. Tasheed Carr got the loose ball and threw it up, but he was too late -- and the ball bounced off the rim anyway.

Cue another hailstorm of streamers, a tidal wave of La Salle students rushing the floor, and one of the most stunned Palestra crowds you'll ever see -- in both directions.

This had to be the best Big 5 game not only this year but in quite some time.

La Salle shot 30-for-59 from the field (50.8%), including 16-for-19 from three-point range (55.2%) and 14-for-30 from two-point range (46.7%), and 14-for-21 from the free throw line (66.7%). Fourteen offensive rebounds, 18 defensive rebounds, 22 assists, 12 turnovers, one block, seven steals and 16 fouls committed.

That adds up to 67 possessions and 1.343 points per possession.

St. Joe's shot 34-for-54 from the field (63.0%), including 8-for-16 from three-point range (50.0%) and 26-for-38 from two-point range (68.4%), and 13-for-16 from the free throw line (81.3%). Four offensive rebounds, 17 defensive rebounds, 19 assists, 11 turnovers, seven blocks, three steals and 18 fouls committed.

That adds up to 67 possessions and 1.297 points per possession.

It was an extraordinary display of offensive efficiency by both teams, and even more remarkable because it was in a Big 5 game. Even though a lot of City Series games this year have been high-scoring, there's no denying that the Big 5 has historically been defined by low scores.

Pat Calathes and Darrin Govens tied for game-high scoring honors with 26 points each. Calathes shot 10-for-15, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. Govens was 10-for-14, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, and 17 of his points came in the second half.

Honestly, it's so hard to ignore what Calathes did in so many ways tonight that I have to split Line of the Game honors between him and Darnell Harris, who really put the Explorers on his back.

And finally, the second half rollouts:

La Salle

14:38 -- SJ HOSTS TOURNY --> WILL THEY PLAY?
7:56 -- St. Joe's has class... Rivera usually cuts
2:39 -- HOLY CRAP! HOLY CROSS?

St. Joe's

11:39 -- KEEP EXPLORING THE BOTTOM OF THE A10

We also had, with 11:36 to go, the Hatfield Meats pig on the floor shooting hot dogs and t-shirts into the stands. As happens at least one almost every time I see him/her/it, one of the hot dogs exploded all over the floor.

Okay, now I really have to get out of here and go to sleep.

What kind of a Big 5 game is this?

Here we are at halftime, and St. Joe's is up 50-46. That's right, 50-46. La Salle even led a couple times.

Want to know why?

La Salle shot 14-for-30 from the field (46.7%), including 10-for-17 from three-point range (58.8%) and 4-for-13 from two-point range (30.8%), and 8-for-10 from the free throw line (80.0%). Six offensive rebounds, 10 defensive rebounds, 14 assists, 7 turnovers, no blocks, two steals and seven fouls committed.

That adds up to 36 possessions and 1.287 points per possession.

Yves Mekongo Mbala and Darnell Harris have 13 points each, on 3-for-3 and 3-for-5 shooting from the perimeter, respectively.

St. Joe's shot an even better 20-for-30 the field (66.7%), including 4-for-10 from three-point range (40.0%) and 16-for-20 from two-point range (80.0%), and 6-for-7 from the free throw line (85.7%). One offensive rebound, 11 defensive rebounds, 14 assists, four turnovers, four blocks, three steals and eight fouls committed.

That adds up to 36 possessions and 1.376 points per possession. Whoa.

Pat Calathes already has 20 points, having shot 7-for-9 from the field -- including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.

And these were the rollouts:

La Salle

12:34 -- "La Salle has rollouts?!"
7:22 -- "SJU is an armpit"
3:30 -- "RECORD □"

St. Joseph's

12:55 -- "HAWKS SALUTE LA SALLE FANS (BOTH OF THEM)
3:27 -- "EVEN DR. G CAN'T CURE LA SALLE"

Greetings from the Palestra, where La Salle and St. Joe's have just tipped off in a Big 5 clash. The place is not full, but the crowd is still pretty healthy -- probably 7,000 -- and the split is about 60-40 for St. Joe's.

In other words, there's a quite healthy contingent of Explorers blue and gold in the house. The St. Joe's student section fills sections 120 and 220, but not much more; the La Salle student section fills sections 108 and 109.

As I've been feeling a bit under the weather the last couple days, I don't really have the energy to do a full liveblog as I have for other Big 5 games this year.

But here are the starting lineups:

La Salle

F 12 Yves Mekongo Mbala
F 20 Jerrell Williams
F 31 Paul Johnson
G 10 Rodney Green
G 11 Darnell Harris

St. Joseph's

F 52 Rob Ferguson
F 12 Pat Calathes
C 34 Ahmad Nivins
G 12 Darrin Govens
G 0 Tasheed Carr

I can also tell you that while the Hawks got out to an early 6-0 lead, prompting John Giannini to call timeout, Darnell Harris hit a three on the ensuing possession and the Explorers students threw blue and gold streamers backwards from the front row. That was awesome.

I don't know if there will be a photo in any of the papers tomorrow, but I wish that could happen more often.

Finally, this week's College HoopsCast is now online; you can listen to it here. This week, Mike Jensen joins me to discuss:

-- How high Temple will finish in the Atlantic 10
-- Whether Villanova will make the Big East Tournament
-- Monday night's game between St. Joseph's and La Salle
-- And a look at the week's big national stories, including the Kelvin Sampson controversy at Indiana and Saturday's big game between Tennessee and Memphis.

I'll be back at halftime with stats and a recap of rollouts, and again after the game.

-- Photo gallery by the Inquirer's Ron Cortes
-- Video highlights of Phil Martelli and Jay Wright's postgame remarks
-- Audio of Phil Martelli's full press conference
-- Audio of Jay Wright, Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds

When it was over, Phil Martelli said that "the team with the best players always wins," and that Villanova has "guys on that team that are better players than I have."

Yet it was Martelli's team that not only came out on top, but did so in as convincing a fashion as you could possibly come up with.

The final score was 77-55, and as I wrote during the game, it barely seemed even that close. Just as importantly, it wasn't an upset.

The margin of victory was a surprise, but the fact that St. Joe's won the game was not at all. I get emails from midmajority.com whenever an "upset" occurs, a function that is defined almost entirely by how much money a conference has to throw around.

But I bet that even the text-messaging machine paused for just a moment and wondered whether it was really worth the effort this time around.

Because the real reason why St. Joe's won tonight was the exact opposite of what Phil Martelli said: they were the better team.

The Hawks played better defense, committed fewer turnovers, dished seven more assists and generally made life miserable for a Villanova team that seemed out of sorts for large chunks of the game.

The final stats were as follows.

For Villanova: 21-for-51 from the field (41.2%), including 4-for-17 from three-point range (23.5%) and 17-for-34 (50.0%) from two-point range, and 9-for-15 from the free throw line. Fourteen offensive rebounds, 16 defensive rebounds, seven assists, 17 turnovers, three blocks, five steals and 20 fouls committed.

That adds up to 61 possessions and 0.900 points per possession.

For St. Joe's: 23-for-47 from the field (48.9%), including 11-for-23 from three-point range (47.8%) and 12-for-24 (50.0%) from two-point range, and 20-for-25 from the line. Ten offensive rebounds, 20 defensive rebounds, 14 assists, 11 turnovers, eight assists, six steals and 13 fouls committed.

That adds up to 59 possessions and 1.316 points per possession, and thanks to Eric for noting that I forgot to post those numbers initially.

We pull out assists and turnovers as the key stats: 7 and 17 for Villanova, 8 and 6 for St. Joe's.

Individually, this was a night where Garrett Williamson took no shots whatsoever but still had a huge impact on the game: four rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals in 29 minutes.

It was a night where Pat Calathes' 20 points, nine rebounds and three blocks stood out, and only bolstered his growing case for Big 5 Player of the Year.

(I would still vote for Dionte Christmas, but let's see what happens when the two meet at the end of this month.)

But the line of the game goes to the one guy who I felt coming in could truly decide the game for the Hawks. If I was on the other side, the guy who would scare me the most is Rob Ferguson, because if you don't put the clamps on him he's capable at any time of uncorking a performance as remarkably efficient as what he did tonight:

Scottie Reynolds had his moments from beyond the arc, but he finished the night 3-for-12 from the field. Corey Fisher's Palestra debut included five turnovers and a 2-for-7 shooting night.

It is no stretch to say that when those two next play on 33rd Street they will almost surely do better. But for tonight, they lost to the better team, and when last I checked, that's how basketball usually works.

With that, I'm off to sleep. I've been up since 5 a.m. working, and I'd rather not make it the full 24 hours. I'll be back early in the evening with a new edition of the College HoopsCast, and if you're into politics be sure to check out Philly.com's extensive Super Tuesday coverage. I have a bit of a hand in that as well.

If nothing else, we know Phil Martelli will be paying attention.

Note: Latest updates are at the bottom.

Preamble: Greetings from the rafters of an absolutely sweltering Palestra, which is already rocking in anticipation of the 65th Holy War game between Villanova and Saint Joseph's.

There's still well over half an hour to go before tip as I start writing this, and it's as hot in here as it's ever been. The only saving grace is that my seat in the upper press row is not right in front of one of the heaters.

I am, however, right under a bag weight that helps support the loudspeaker apparatus over the court, and I've hit my head on the thing twice three four times already when standing up.

(I've also been up since 5 this morning working, so if you see any errors in the post, please feel free to email me.)

Those of you who've seen me at games before know that I always wear short sleeves when covering games here because of how hot it gets, even on night when the place is 2/3 empty.

Well, because this game is such an occasion, I decided to show up in long sleeves and a sportjacket.

Big mistake.

The jacket has been consigned to sitting on the back of my chair for the rest of the night, and the sleeves have been rolled up. I really should have known better.

Anyway, as is the custom here on the blog, I'll be bringing you all the highlights of the atmosphere: the rollouts, chants, and whatever else comes along. The game is on CSTV, and while I know a lot of you don't have it at least someone's broadcasting it. You could also listen to the radio, which I know for sure because Villanova analyst Whitey Rigsby is sitting right next to me.

I'm going to head back downstairs and get a few extra bottles of water, and I'll rejoin you again in a bit.

Preamble, part 2: If you needed any further proof of what kind of a basketball town this is, consider the fact that the buzz in the building right now has next to nothing to do with tonight's game. Bobby Knight has resigned as head coach of Texas Tech, and all of a sudden that's what everybody is talking about.

None of the media here seem to know why. And that might actually be saying something, considering that in the house tonight are ex-Villanova coach and CSTV analyst Steve Lappas, St. Joe's color analyst and ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi, and Dana O'Neil, formerly of the Daily News and now with ESPN.com.

Preamble, part 3: Seven minutes to go and already the St. Joe's students have unfurled two rollouts. The first one said "FREE LEE!" and was rather discreet. The second one was much more for public consumption, and read, "CAUSE OF NOVA VIRUS: CAFE FOOD OR RU LOSS," with the "RU" in appropriate red.

By the way, even though I usually sit courtside, I actually quite like sitting up high, especially when the building is sold out. It's great to be able to look over the whole scene, with th ecorners full and everyone looking straight down at the court. On nights like this, the place becomes a theater as much as it does a sporting venue.

Preamble, part 4: Paging Father Lannon? Yet another St. Joe's rollout, and this one gets caught by the old shot clock pole in the stands and has to get torn up before it hits the lower level: "WE'RE SORRY YOUR MASCOT IS A PUSSY."

Just reporting what I see, folks.

The starting lineups:

... and hasn't a lot already happened even before the game starts.

Villanova

C So 5 Casiem Drummond
F Jr 33 Dante Cunningham
G So 1 Scottie Reynolds
G Fr 10 Corey Fisher
G So 15 Reggie Redding

St. Joseph's

F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G So 13 Darrin Govens
G Jr 0 Tasheed Carr

15:40 1st, 10-4 St. Joe's: We knew the crowd was going to be overwhelmingly in the Hawks' favor, but the place is really roaring at the first media timeout. St. Joe's is 4-for-5 from the field to Villanova's 2-for-5, with the loudest shot so far a three by Pat Calathes just now. Tasheed Carr also had a nice jumper from the right corner just inside the arc with a man pretty well in his face.

Here comes a St. Joe's rollout with a not too surprising theme: "EVEN TIM DONAGHY BET ON SJU"

For or against?

8:30 1st, 24-18 St. Joe's: A rollout during play, which isn't something you see every day: "ST. JOE'S INVADES NOVA NATION!"

I have a hunch there's more too that.

... And there is: "BIG 5: PENN TEMPLE LA SALLE ST. JOE'S DREXEL"

Given the numbers of people on the Main Line over the years who would agree with that, I'm not so sure how good an idea it is to put that on a rollout. But that's just me.

A bit about the game, by the way: 'Nova had cut the Hawks' lead to 19-18 with a three from Corey Fisher, but Darrin Govens answered with a three of his own at the other and and that was as close as the Wildcats have come.

4:07 1st, 35-20 St. Joe's: A classic Rob Ferguson three from the top of the arc, and Jay Wright has seen enough of that. Timeout Villanova, and it's all one way traffic on the floor and in the stands.

3:46 1st, 35-20 St. Joe's: A media timeout, and a St. Joe's rollout: "HAWK D [in red] WRAPS REYNOLDS [in black]." For the record, Reynolds is 2-for-8 and 2-for-4 from three, with seven points total.

2:36 1st, 42-22 St. Joe's: Another Villanova timeout, this one caused after Pat Calathes grabs a Wildcats turnover and races away for a deafening slam. This thing is getting out of hand in a hurry.

HALFTIME, 42-26 St. Joe's: What a half for the Hawks, capped off by a ridiculous off-balance heave by Darrin Govens for a shot clock-beating three with a few seconds left. I thought St. Joe's would be winning, but not by this much. I'll report the full stats in a bit, but let's start with 11 Villanova turnovers and St. Joe's shooting 15-for-19 from the free throw line.

Okay, here are the numbers.

For Villanova: 10-for-26 from the field (38.5%), including 2-for-8 from three-point range (25.0%) and 8-for-16 from two-point range (50.0%). Seven offensive rebounds, eight defensive rebounds, three assists, 11 turnovers (how's that for a ratio), two blocks, three steals and 13 fouls committed.

That adds up to 33 possessions and 0.780 points per possession.

For St. Joe's: 12-for-22 from the field (54.5%), including 6-for-12 from three-point range (50.0%) and 6-for-10 from two-point range (60.0%). Four offensive rebounds, 11 defensive rebounds, eight assists, six turnovers, five blocks (wow), six steals and seven fouls committed.

That adds up to 33 possessions and 1.363 points per possession. Almost double Villanova's. Wow.

Off we go in the second half.

16:22 2nd, 53-29 St. Joe's: Whoa. Rob Ferguson ball fakes Shane Clark at the top of the arc, Clark goes sailing by him and Ferguson easily drains a three.

15:51 2nd, 53-29 St. Joe's: A media timeout after Shane Clark is whistled for his first foul. A rollout: "2 COREY'S DON'T MAKE A WRIGHT"

14:36 2nd, 56-31 St. Joe's: This is the kind of night it's been for Villanova: St. Joe's tries to trap Scottie Reynolds at the perimeter with under ten seconds on the shot clock. Reynolds drives a bit, but can't get too far because Ahmad Nivins is in his way. He finds Dante Cunningham underneath with two seconds left, Cunningham just gets the layup off, it goes in the basket -- and he's called for a charge. On top of that, it's Cunningham's fourth foul.

11:42 2nd, 58-35 St. Joe's: It wouldn't quite be right to say that the atmosphere has gone flat, but there's a definite sense that this game is pretty close to being done.

A rollout: "nOVA DIET... NO MSG." Fair enough. I would like to know why the first n is lowercase, if any St. Joe's students see this.

9:24 2nd, 61-40 St. Joe's: Dwayne Anderson pokes the ball free at the arc, and as it bounces away he goes chasing after it. Anderson can't run fast enough to get to the ball, so upon crossing the foul line he basically pulls a Slip N' Slide move on the well-polished hardwood and goes sailing all the way from there into the photographers behind the basket. Applause from both ends of the floor.

7:30 2nd, 65-42 St. Joe's: A few Villanova fans are starting to leave. Not that there were many to begin with, but in all fairness most of them are staying. Lest you Hawks fans try to start something.

5:59 2nd, 70-42 St. Joe's: Garrett Williamson soars to block a Scottie Reynolds three. He dishes it up the court to D.J. Rivera, who can't quite get the fastbreak layp to go, but Pat Calathes puts it back. Jay Wright calls timeout. This is getting a bit ridiculous.

A rollout: "HOW DOES VU GET TO B.E. TOURNEY?"

The answer follows: "CALL TICKET MASTER"

3:56 2nd, 70-44 St. Joe's: The last media timeout. Commemorated by my hitting the sandbag above me for the sixth time tonight. Joe Lunardi bet the over when I told him I had already hit it three times, which just goes to prove once again how smart he is.

No rollouts during that timeout, though. I figure there's one left.

3:23 2nd, 73-44 St. Joe's: My goodness. The Hawks beat the shot clock yet again, this time on an NBA-range three from the top of the arc by Rob Ferguson that went in off the backboard.

2:20 2nd, 75-44 St. Joe's: Okay, enough with the shot clock-beating already. This time, Ferguson at the arc feeds Pat Calathes, who drives a step or so with a second left and lays it in off the glass. Timeout Villanova.

The St. Joe's fans start chanting "This is our house!" and the Villanova fans who two years ago chanted "This is Penn's house!" don't even bother doing anything.

A rollout: "WHAT THE BIG 5 MEANS ON THE MAIN LINE..."

and part two: "5 STRAIGHT LOSSES"

0:57 2nd, 75-48 St. Joe's: Phil Martelli points to the Hawks fans and pumps his fist. A few seconds later, a rollout comes down from the top of the St. Joe's student section that says "REDRUM." Explain that one?

FINAL, 77-55 St. Joe's: It's over, finally. Some St. Joe's fans rush the court and mug for the TV cameras. I have a hunch that they didn't have to, but they did stop Villanova's record Big 5 win streak.

Now to get through the throng and down to the press room, and who knows how long that will take.

Back with stats and more later.

This is the picture that big5fan linked to in his comment, and I had to take it out because URLs in comments do bad things to our servers.

I was pretty sure, though, that JBird was right that the expiration of time is governed by the light on the backboard, not the scoreboard clock.

So in the name of public service, I once again took out my scuba diving gear and plunged into the 181-page monstrosity that is the "NCAA Basketball 2008 Men's and Women's Rules and Interpretations" manual. (the link goes to a .pdf version of it).

Art. 2. Each period shall end when the red light or LED lights has become activated. When the light fails to operate or is not visible, each period shall end with the sounding of the game-clock horn.

Except it seems like that is contradicted by this:

b. In games with a 10th-of-a-second game clock display and where an official courtside monitor is used, the reading of zeros on the game clock is to be used to determine whether a try for goal occurred before or after the expiration of time in any period. When the game clock is not visible, the officials shall verify the original call with the use of the red/LED light(s). When the red/LED light(s) are not visible, the sounding of the game-clock horn shall be utilized. When definitive information is unattainable with the use of the monitor, the original call stands.

I'm going to do some research for clarification and get back to you. Seems like the refs can go either way, though. For what it's worth, the Princeton-Temple game in 2004 had a similar controversy -- actually, looking in the Inquirer archives, it might have been more obvious that time -- and the Owls came out on top.

I do know this. Whether or not the shot would have counted, the block superceded it in the end and St. Joe's won the game. So why are all the Hawks fans going around screaming about how the clock had expired when it didn't matter anyway?

Well, maybe I know the answer to that one...

Postgame audio

-- St. Joe's: Phil Martelli and Pat Calathes
-- Temple: Fran Dunphy
-- Temple: Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas

I thought it was a goaltend.

After Mark Tyndale let fly with what was going to be the game-winning, buzzer-beating layup, I thought I saw the ball just barely start coming down before Ahmad Nivins swatted it away.

So did a guy I know who was sitting under that basket and wasn't explicitly rooting for either team, and so did all the Temple fans in the Liacouras Center crowd of 10,045 -- the largest this place has seen in almost four years, and a hell of a lot larger than anything I've ever seen here in person.

But I didn't see the replay, just a split-second of live action that for now only lives in my mind.

Mike Jensen, who will definitely be talking about this on Monday's College HoopsCast, did see the replay and thought it was a fair block.

Regardless, the ref's judgement stands.

In what has to be one of the great games in this rivalry, St. Joe's beat Temple, 68-67, and danced on the Owls' floor when all was said and done.

The deciding sequence went something like this. After Mark Tyndale hit a layup with 42 seconds left to give Temple a 67-65 lead and Phil Martelli called timeout.

On the ensuing possession, Rob Ferguson coughed the ball up with 38 seconds left. It took 18 more seconds for the teams to battle it out for possession, but Dionte Christmas got it in the end and called timeout. Three seconds later, D.J. Rivera fouled Mark Tyndale, and he went to the line to shoot one-and-one.

Call it nerves, humanity, or whatever else you want, but the free throw hit the back iron and Ferguson got the rebound. Down the floor the Hawks went, and after the ball moved around a bit, Pat Calathes was wide open for a three.

The crowd held its breath, Calathes let fly, and the shot was perfect. Cue bedlam from the Hawks fans, but Tyndale saw a path to victory. Fran Dunphy didn't call timeout, so Tyndale raced downcourt, got the layup off in plenty of time... and could only watch Nivins get the last laugh.

"From one angle it looked like a goaltend, from the other it looked like a good block," Tyndale said afterwards. "So I've got to give Nivins some credit, he hustled back, so I give him credit for a great block, I think."

Phil Martelli couldn't quite believe it all.

"The better team didn't win tonight," he said. "That was the hardest handshake I've had in this rivalry, because I didn't know what to say."

The final stats really were as close as the score.

For St. Joe's: 24-for-53 from the field (45.3%), including 11-for-22 from 3-point range (50.0%) and 13-for-31 from 2-point range (41.9%), and 9-for-10 from the free throw line -- all in the second half. Six offensive rebounds, 21 defensive rebounds, 14 assists, 10 turnovers, two blocks, three steals and 15 fouls committed.

That adds up to 62 possessions and 1.101 points per possession.

For Temple: 25-for-51 from the field (49.0%), including 11-for-23 from beyond the arc (47.8%) and 14-for-28 from within it (50.0%), and 6-for-10 from the line. Six offensive rebounds, 22 defensive rebounds, 12 assists, 11 turnovers, eight blocks, four steals and 15 fouls committed.

That adds up to 61 possessions and 1.103 points per possession.

Line of the game is tough. Dionte Christmas did everything he could, scoring 21 points on 6-for-12 shooting, including 5-for-10 from three. Rob Ferguson's 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting, including a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range, would also be a worthy nominee.

But in the end, I think it has to go to the guy who won the game. Sixteen points in the second half on 5-for-7 shooting, including 2-for-4 from the arc, to go with a perfect 4-for-4 from the line and four rebounds for this guy:

If anything was absolute at the end, it was this: the only sound in the arena was that of the St. Joe's students in the upper deck screaming, "The Hawk will never die!" and "This is our house!" at the top of their lungs.

It was the fifth straight St. Joe's win in this series and the 10th in the last 11, and I have to believe it was the most painful of all of them for Temple fans.

You tell me: was it?

The true indication of how far Temple has come over the last few weeks came in the first half today.

Running an offense that is finally starting to look like the Fran Dunphy system we know, the Owls moved the ball around well, took their time, and got good shots from the perimeter on the way to a 35-28 halftime lead.

That margin also had a lot to do with Temple's defense, certainly more so than the St. Joe's offense. The Owls blocked five Hawks shots, with three coming from Sergio Olmos and one each from Dionte Christmas and Lavoy Allen.

Ahmad Nivins was only 2-for-7 from the field, and Pat Calathes only 3-for-7. St. Joe's as a whole did not even get to the free throw line once.

Since the second half is already underway, I'll keep this brief and just give you the numbers.

For St. Joe's: 11-for-28 from the field (39.3%), including 6-for-13 from 3-point range (46.2%) and 5-for-15 from 2-point range (33.3%), and no free throws taken. One offensive rebound, 10 defensive rebounds, eight assists, seven turnovers, no blocks, two steals and eight fouls committed.

That adds up to 34 possessions and 0.824 points per possession.

For Temple: 13-for-26 from the field (50.0%), including 6-for-11 from 3-point range (54.5%) and 7-for-15 from 2-point range (46.7%), and 3-for-5 from the line (60.0%). Three offensive rebounds, 15 defensive rebounds, six assists, seven turnovers, five blocks, two steals and six fouls committed.

That adds up to 32 possessions and 1.081 points per possession.

Will it last? I don't really know for sure. But we'll find out soon enough.

Okay, back to the action.

Okay, it's time to move on from Penn for a while. Yes, the discussion about the state of the Quakers generated more comments on this blog than any other subject in its history, and you're welcome to continue that discussion below. But Penn is off for a week, and tomorrow the big boys take center stage.

You heard me right. Villanova, St. Joe's and Temple are the marquee programs in the city right now, as they have been historically. They all play big games on Broad Street tomorrow, the former against Notre Dame at the Wachovia Center and the latter two against each other at the Liacouras Center.

I'll be at both, hopefully doing at least some liveblogging. Whether or not I end up doing any in-game writing, I'll post the press conferences from both games here when they're done and offer some analysis as well.

Yes, that means I won't make it to Saint Louis-La Salle. It is a game I would otherwise be interested in, given how much the Billikens have been in the headlines lately -- both for their historic loss at George Washington and Rick Majerus' recent controversial step into the political arena.

Still, I hope a few of you all will be joining me for tomorrow's doubleheader. A quick check of the web shows that both games still have tickets available, reminding us that there's no better city in the country for watching multiple college basketball games in person in the same day.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the University of Pennsylvania Palestra, college basketball's most historic gym. Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky and his staff* welcome you to tonight's matchup, a Philadelphia Big 5 city series game featuring the Saint Joseph's University Hawks and the University of Pennsylvania Quakers.

* -- It is their home game.

I think that's how it goes, right? Anyway, welcome to live coverage of tonight's Big 5 Hall of Fame Game between the Hawks and the Quakers. The game is being televised on CN8, so I'll be doing the same thing I usually do for Big 5 games: bringing you highlights of the atmosphere. All the rollouts, chants, and stuff like that.

First, a bit of injury news: both teams' top point guards, Tasheed Carr and Harrison Gaines, aren't dressed tonight.

And a crowd count: Within the official sellout of 8,722, the Hawks' student section is at least twice the size of the Quakers', if not more. Penn's fills sections 119 and 20, while St. Joe's goes from 109 to the back of 209 and across to 208. The big drum is in the third row on the aisle between sections 108 and 109.

With that, let's get this thing started.

Some hijinks from the Penn band before the game starts. First, they forgot to play "Also Sprach Zarathustra" with a minute left on the pregame clock, as they usually do. Then, they played the national anthem in their traditional up-tempo style, completely throwing off the St. Joe's student section's traditional singing of the last verse.

Time now to meet the starting lineups. First, for the Hawks of Saint Joseph's University:

-- At one forward, a freshman, six feet, eight inches tall, from Noblesville, Ind., number 24, Jack Eggleston.
-- At the center spot, a junior, six feet, eight inches tall, from Washington, D.C., number 33, Cameron Lewis.
-- At one guard, a freshman, six feet, six inches tall, from Carlsbad, Calif., number 3, Tyler Bernadini.
-- At another guard, a junior, six feet, three inches tall, from Ridley Park, Pa., number 15, Kevin Egee.
-- And at the other guard, a senior, six feet, four inches tall, from Media, Pa., number 21, Brian Grandieri.

16:28 1st, 13-3 St. Joe's: As the Hawks fans chant "Why so quiet?" the answer is fairly obvious: the Hawks are dominating this game from the outset. Darrin Govens has two threes, Rob Ferguson has one, and Penn has already committed a few turnovers.

The St. Joe's student section unfurls perhaps the longest rollout I've ever seen in terms of the amount of paper used, honoring Rob Ferguson's 1,000 career points achieved at Charlotte on Wednesday: "FERG's 1,000... QUINTESSENTIAL SCORING: CONGRATS!"

15:44 1st, 13-3 St. Joe's: A media timeout, and Penn's first rollout: "Your Rollouts Suck." Uh, no they don't. Round one to St. Joe's by far.

10:57 1st, 21-3 St. Joe's: Garrett Williamson is whistled for his second foul of the game, which is the only bad thing to have happened to the Hawks thus far. They're 5-for-6 from three-point range, while Penn is 1-for-11 from the field and those 10 haven't been open.

10:45 1st, 21-5 St. Joe's: Penn's Jack Eggleston puts back a missed three from the right corner by Remy Cofield, drawing as much applause from the St. Joe's fans as from Penn.

7:21 1st, 21-5 St. Joe's: A media timeout. I have to say, if Savannah State hadn't already broken Penn's record for fewest points in a half, I'd be getting worried.

A St. Joe's rollout, this one on red paper: "3 + 3 = PENN'S 1ST HALF vs. FLORIDA GULF COAST." Maybe they should have waited another point?

5:46 1st, 30-7 St. Joe's: A third-chance putback by Brian Grandieri puts Penn over its total against FGCU. At the other end, Tyler Bernardini fouls D.J. Rivera missing a three. Rivera makes all the free throws.

Bob Weinhauer, who coached Penn to the Final Four in 1979, is sitting in the front row at center court. I wonder what he's thinking.

5:07 1st, 32-8 St. Joe's: Ahmad Nivins picks up his third foul. Not that it matters, but it did happen.

4:23 1st, 32-12 St. Joe's: Rockwell Moody misses the front end of a one-and-one and Penn's Dan Monckton gets the rebound, He fires a 3/4-court pass to Brian Grandieri who makes a layup without having to take a dribble. Phil Martelli calls a timeout. Leading by 20 points.

HALFTIME, 38-14 St. Joe's: A Brian Grandieri three rims out at the buzzer to close things. During the last few seconds, the St. Joe's student sections started unfurling a rollout that takes two pieces of paper to fully display: "CONGRATS, RAP, NEWEST HAWK IN BIG 5 HALL of FAME"

St. Joe's shot 13-for-25 from the field, including 6-for-9 from three-point range, and 6-for-10 from the free throw line. Three offensive rebounds, 14 defensive rebounds, 9 assists, 7 turnovers, 3 blocks, 7 steals and 7 fouls committed. That adds up to 34 possessions and 1.126 points per possession.

Penn shot 6-for-29 from the field, including 1-for-12 from three, and 1-for-2 from the line. Eight offensive rebounds, 12 defensive rebounds, three assists, 12 turnovers, three blocks, three steals and nine fouls committed. That also adds up to 34 possessions, and 0.412 points per possession.

At the end of halftime, the St. Joe's students quickly unfurled and refurled a rollout that said "FREE QUINT." I gather this has something to do with the Hawk Hoop Club message board, but that's just something I overheard. It does put the earlier Ferguson rollout in some context though.

16:00 2nd, 49-19 St. Joe's: A long two-pointer by Ahmad Nivins leads to the "Up by 30" chant from the St. Joe's students.

15:40 2nd, 49-19 St. Joe's: Another media timeout, another St. Joe's rollout: "THE SMARTEST PERSON TO EVER LEAVE PENN WAS FRAN." That's good. The Penn fans respond by chanting " 'Nova Rejects," and the St. Joe's fans chant "Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!"

10:37 2nd, 59-25 St. Joe's: The Hawks student section is so bored that they're trying to get a wave going from front to back. It isn't working.

7:51 2nd, 64-30 St. Joe's: A Penn rollout for the first time in a while: " 'Nova's still better." I can't tell if the boos from the St. Joe' s students are for the rollout or the Penn dance team. It seems to be the latter. St. Joe's has another rollout, in two parts that descend separately: "HEY PENN, LOAN FREE AID IS COMING... / BUT GOOD BASKETBALL IS GONE!"

4:26 2nd, 71-40 St. Joe's: Glen Miller calls timeout, the St. Joe's students start chanting "Put in C.J. [Brown]," and fans at both ends are heading for the exits.

3:29 2nd, 73-40 St. Joe's: Just before the final timeout, the St. Joe's students start chanting "This is our house!" And nine months or so from now, they'll finally be right.

2:19 2nd, 76-40 St. Joe's: Phil Martelli yells, "C.J.!" and the predictable response comes from the fans.

1:42 2nd, 78-40 St. Joe's: Phil Martelli calls timeout to get Brown on the floor.

0:00 2nd, 82-42 St. Joe's: A Jack Eggleston backdoor layup closes out a St. Joe's rout -- on the court and in the stands.

Final stats: St. Joe's shot 32-for-56 from the field, including 9-for-16 from three-point range, and 9-for-14 from the free throw line. Seven offensive rebounds, 27 defensive rebounds, 27 assists (!), 10 turnovers, five blocks, 12 steals and 10 fouls committed. That adds up to 66 possessions and 1.249 points per possession.

Penn shot 16-for-59 from the field -- 27.1 percent -- including 5-for-27 from three... and yes, that's almost half their field goal attempts, and 5-for-6 from the line. 15 offensive rebounds, 21 defensive rebounds, 12 assists, 19 turnovers, 4 blocks, 4 steals and 15 fouls committed. That also adds up to 66 possessions, but 0.638 points per possession.

That wraps it up for now; I'll post the press conferences later.

A maintenance worker hangs posters of this year's Big 5 Hall of Famers.

Greetings from the Palestra. As I mentioned on Thursday, this is my second annual attempt to get here before the St. Joe's student section arrives for their game against Penn.

I arrived at 3:52 p.m., and on my way down I expected the doors to be locked and the place to be pretty quiet. But much to my surprise, the building was full of activity.

It turned out there was a JV game going on between Penn and Northfield Mount Hermon, a high school in Mount Hermon, Mass., that has sent a number of players to the Ivy League in recent years. It is also the alma mater of La Salle's Terrell and Jerrell Williams.

Admission to the game was free, so I grabbed the first door handle I came across and walked right in. But as far as I could tell, there were no St. Joe's fans in the building.

I had actually expected some to be here by now, or at least for my project to be noted in some form on the Hawk Hoop Club message board. But maybe they were still trying to park over by New Deck Tavern for their pregame festivities (and they have good taste in pregame establishments, I must say).

So I did a quick lap around the concourse, then went outside to sit and wait.

The newly decorated St. Joe's display case on the Palestra concourse.

At 4:10, St. Joe's athletic director Don DiJulia arrived. He said that "probably by about 6-ish we'll see some bodies," because that's when the school-chartered buses are leaving campus.

So mission accomplished, I guess. But it does leave me with a lot of time to kill. Check back for updates; I'll start a new liveblogging post at game time.

Jack asks:

By the way, how many teams from the A-10 do you think get in this year?

Before last night, I would have been able to make a good case for four: Xavier, Dayton, Massachusetts and Rhode Island in order of probability.

Rhody definitely hurt itself last night by losing at Saint Louis, while UMass took an enormous step by winning at Dayton.

My gut tells me that there is a second tier of A-10 teams comprised of Charlotte and St. Joe's, and that if either wins its big games it could beat Rhode Island to a bid.

Charlotte, with an RPI of 91 and a strength of schedule of 190, took a big step by winning at Clemson. St. Joe's might have a better shot, with an RPI of 48 and a hefty strength of schedule of 64.

Charlotte (schedule here) goes to UMass tomorrow, and could take another big step by winning that game. The 49ers get Xavier at home on Feb. 13, which is their only home game left of much consequence. But they go to Rhode Island for their last regular game of the season, March 8, and there could be a lot on the line in that game.

Now for the Hawks, and it's really this simple: win all your home games. Their next game on City Ave. is against UMass and their last one is against Xavier, which could probably afford to lose that game and not be troubled for an at-large bid.

Yes, that includes Villanova, and yes, that includes a technical road game against Penn. But I can't imagine the crowd tomorrow night being any less than 60-40 in the Hawks' favor.

Having said that, beating Villanova isn't mandatory. It would go a long way, though, because St. Joe's has to go to Xavier, Rhode Island and Dayton in that order -- the last one being on the last day of the season.

A deep run in Atlantic City would also help, knocking off at least one of the above along the way.

It wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing way to ring in the new year, but Saint Joseph's had little trouble in overcoming Drexel at the Palestra tonight, 69-51.

Drexel shot only 33.3 percent from the field, and continued its struggles from the perimeter with a 2-for-20 performance from three-point range. A big part of that fell on Tramayne Hawthorne's shoulders, who was 1-for-10 from the field and 1-for-8 from beyond the arc.

St. Joe's shot 53.2 percent from the field and 6-for-10 from three, and also had a 32-28 edge in rebounding.

The Hawks recorded 16 assists on 25 made field goals with 22 turnovers, while the Dragons recorded 12 assists on 16 made field goals and 17 turnovers. A good ratio, but all the numbers were lower than the Hawks' and there's the difference.

Drexel's big men had a good night against a St. Joe's defense that had been allowing only 44.2 percent two-point shooting. Randy Oveneke led the Dragons with 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting and 6-for-8 from the line, while Frank Elegar scored 17 on a perfect 6-for-6 night from the field and 5-for-7 from the line.

Because Drexel pulled down 12 offensive rebounds, there was a big differential in possessions. The Dragons recorded 66 and St. Joe's recorded 71. But St. Joe's averaged 0.97 points per possession to Drexel's 0.77.

In his postgame press conference, Hawks coach Phil Martelli praised his defense. Listen to his remarks here.

Bruiser Flint admitted that his team's shooting performance simply would not do, noting that while his team got some good looks, "you've got to make them, though."

But he politely reminded the reporters in the room after the game that his team is 7-6 heading into its CAA opener at home against UNC-Wilmington on Wednesday. Listen to his remarks here.

Line of the game goes to Pat Calathes for his double-double:

With that, I'm taking the rest of the year off. See you all in 2008!

It wasn't as big a win as any of the four non-conference losses would have been, but St. Joe's' 74-68 victory at Siena last night should serve as a pretty big confidence boost heading into Monday's game against Drexel at the Palestra.

There were a few good signs. First, the Hawks won playing at Siena's pace, registering 70 possessions to the Saints' 71. St. Joe's came into the night averaging 63.6 possessions per game.

Second -- and I'm sure this is quite important to Phil Martelli -- the Hawks held Siena to only 8-of-24 shooting from 3-point range. St. Joe's had been giving up 42.7 percent from long range.

On offense, a ratio of 20 assists to 28 made field goals and 12 turnovers is impressive, as is a 10-for-20 night from beyond the arc. Let's give a Line of the Day to a player who got the job done from outside and inside, though:

Since I haven't been paying attention to known Soft Pretzel Logic reader Joe Lunardi's Bracketology of late, I figured I'd take a look at today's latest edition.

If you're a Villanova fan, it should make you very happy. The Wildcats are an 8-seed and draw California in Raleigh, N.C., with the winner to face North Carolina. Except... wait a minute.

Villanova vs. Cal for the right to play UNC within earshot of Chapel Hill. Am I the only one hearing an echo in the room?

I'm not saying it'll actually happen that way, but I've always thought the selection committee has a bit of a sense of humor to it.

The other bit of good news for Villanova fans about this field is that the Wildcats are the only local team in it, as Lunardi has discarded St. Joe's. But the field is good news overall for the Atlantic 10, as Rhode Island and UMass join Xavier to give the conference three bids. Another A-10 team, Dayton, is the seventh team out.

15-seed Brown knocks off Cornell for the Ivy League bid, which shouldn't surprise the Penn fans out there much at all, while the CAA gets only one team, George Mason. The 11-seed Patriots would get to play St. Mary's in Washington, D.C., site of their East Regional championship in 2006 and a 20-ish mile straight shot east on Interstate 66 from the school's Fairfax, Va. campus.

I'd tell you how long it takes to make the drive but that stretch of road puts the Conshohocken Curve to shame by some distance when it comes to traffic. Regardless, that's an unfair fight for the Gaels if you ask me. But I only said that the selection committee was funny, not fair.

And I ask that you direct your correspondence to the Fieldhouse, not my office...

First of all, a special welcome to the blog for all you who've come here by way of the Daily News' Philly Feed podcast. For everything you need to know about the trivia contest that was mentioned on this week's show, click here.

The question is: when was the last season three ACC teams played in Philadelphia? The winner will be randomly selected from all the right answers submitted in the comments.

The prize is, of course, a free soft pretzel at a game that both I and the winner are attending. Rest assured that I get to all the schools' games over the course of the season, so we'll work it out.

Which brings me, not coincidentally, to the ruffled feathers among the St. Joe's fans over my ranking the Wachovia Center above the Fieldhouse in my favorite places to watch a game.

First, thanks to the poster on the Hawk Hoop Club club message board for linking to the blog, because I need all the traffic I can get.

Second, I really wasn't trying to knock the Fieldhouse. I like it just as much as everyone else, believe me. If I was ranking on terms of atmosphere alone, I would have been right there with the commenter who put it second to the Palestra. I might even have split the Palestra between when it's full and when Dartmouth's in town, and put the Fieldhouse in between.

Here's the thing, though. To me, the Wachovia Center is like the really nice set of dishes my mother got out for family dinners when I was growing up. Because we didn't use them often, it gave the meal a special sense of occasion. If we'd used the plastic plates I usually ate dinner off of, it wouldn't have been the same.

Now that doesn't mean those plates are bad. In fact, I brought some of them with me when I moved here because I liked them so much.

If Villanova played all its games at the Wachovia Center, it wouldn't be as important. Georgetown doesn't make a big deal out of playing at the NBA arena in D.C. because the Hoyas play almost all their games there, so it's not as special. The same goes for Seton Hall and, to a lesser degree, St. John's (which is now so bad that they're playing more games on campus than they used to).

So we draw a distinction between the Pavilion and the Wachovia Center for Villanova games -- and to some degree, we draw a distinction between the Fieldhouse and the Palestra for St. Joe's games.

The Hawks play their Big 5 games and their big out-of-conference games on 33rd Street, which in most years ends up being about the same number of games the Wildcats play at the Wachovia Center.

I hope that makes sense.

Welcome to the Pavilion, which is a sea of white tonight thanks to the free t-shirts that were placed on on every seat for the usual sellout crowd.

But unlike the Bucknell game, where there was a significant amount of orange in the stands, there are almost no Penn fans here at all. Maybe two rows at the very top of the north end, including the Penn band. I'm surprised a visiting band would be let in, even though it is a Big 5 game.

As for the game I was just at, I left the Palestra just as St. Joe's made its big run to start the second half, and the Hawks held on from there for a 79-67 win.

I could only follow Drexel from my computer, though, and was surprised to see yet another terrible offensive performance -- only 18 made field goals in the game and 27 turnovers.

So we're off and running here on the Main Line... and Villanova is already out to a 18-4 lead just over five minutes in.

I got exclusive interviews with all of the Big 5 coaches at a luncheon held for the media at the Palestra this afternoon. I was a bit surprised that Drexel wasn't there, but this was a Big 5 event and for better or worse, those were the schools present.

Anyway, we have:

-- Introductory remarks from all of the men's coaches and women's coaches Pat Knapp (Penn) and Dawn Staley (Temple). The master of ceremonies was Brian Seltzer, who reports for WPEN 950-AM and also is the radio play-by-play voice of Penn basketball.

(Sorry for the less-than-stellar audio quality on that one. I couldn't get the microphone close enough to the podium.)

-- Phil Martelli
-- Jay Wright
-- Fran Dunphy
-- Glen Miller
-- John Giannini

-- I have to admit, I'm not sure which was the bigger surprise: Temple beating a pretty good Ohio team or Drexel getting crushed at George Mason. Here's the box score. Look at Frank Elegar's line:

Unbelievable, isn't it.

-- I thought the Gonzaga-St. Joe's game was great, even if there wasn't a lot of scoring. I wish I could have been there, but even watching on TV I could tell just how much the Fieldhouse was rocking. It was thrilling to see the Hawks come back, but that jumper by Austin Daye to make it 65-61 was as gutsy as it was beautiful.

Mike Jensen mentioned on Monday's podcast that the winner of the game deserved to be ranked. There aren't ties in college basketball the way there are in soccer, but I feel like this game was effectively played to a draw and I wonder if that will change things.

-- The Inquirer's Frank Fitzpatrick reminisces about his old memories of the Palestra in his Morning Bytes column today.

There's also an http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/">Incites Sports Poll asking readers to choose whether the Big 5 is: "A historic collection of long-standing rivals," "The most overrated group since the Spice Girls" or "Irrelevant until after the Super Bowl."

We all know the answer to that.

-- Speaking of the Big 5, all six men's coaches and a few of the women's coaches will be at the Palestra this afternoon for a Media Day. A bit late, to be sure, but I'm headed over there anyway because this week is giving us some good stuff to talk about.

-- And speaking of the CAA, the night got even weirder for the conference when Virginia Commonwealth lost at Hampton, 64-55. Eric Maynor scored 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting (4-of-4 from three), but the Rams committed 21 turnovers and 29 fouls. The Pirates committed 13 and 16. As ESPN.com's Andy Glockner (a known reader of this blog) notes, it's been quite a season so far for the MEAC.

-- I missed a Bracketology earlier in the week. Villanova and St. Joe's are in.

No, I don't really know what it would be like to do that. But I've just had what felt like an out-of-this-world college basketball statistics experience. It's certainly nothing like anything I've ever felt before.

See, I was looking at the Basketball State box score for last night's St. Joe's-Syracuse game and all of a sudden... whoa. I was moved.

Okay, I have to put in a disclaimer here. Basketball State is the brainchild of Kyle Whelliston. He's the guy who writes The Mid-Majority (including some astoundingly good travelogue essays), and more than occasionally serves as a pundit for ESPN.

He's also a known reader of this blog and a guy I know as more than a passing acquaintance (though I might never live down interviewing him).

But lest you think I'm shilling for him, fear not. He has not bribed me at all to praise his site -- in fact, I stumped up the $20 for a subscription to his stuff. And so should you, not least because I'm going to link to his site a lot.

He's got a lot of really interesting data comparing teams, conferences, players, and so forth. It's a bit denser (and in a smaller font) than Ken Pomeroy's site, but there's some really amazing things.

Among the cooler toys are a map showing every basketball game in the country on a given day and a nifty way of graphically representing how good all the teams in a conference are on offense and defense (this is the A-10's for last season).

Anyway, here's what I've figured out so far about last night's game that you won't find in the box scores in the Inquirer and Daily News:

-- St. Joe's had a higher points-per-possession average, 1.13 to 1.06. That's a pretty big differential as this thing goes.

-- St. Joe's had a lower turnover rate (TOs per 100 possessions), 20.9% to 23.0%.

-- The teams were almost dead even in the percentage of baskets that were assisted: 70.8% for St. Joe's and 70.4% for Syracuse. That's a little less than three out of every four. I'm inclined to think that for two teams with young backcourts, that's pretty good.

-- Although St. Joe's shot a lower 3-point percentage (42% to 43%) and FG percentage (44% to 46%) than Syracuse, the Hawks had a higher effective FG% (which gives 1.5x weight to threes), 54.6% to 50.8%.

-- Despite that, Syracuse had almost seven more statistical possessions than St. Joe's, 74.0 to 67.1.

-- That's because the Orange had more of all the factors that go into the possessions formula (field goal attempts + turnovers + [0.475 x free throw attempts] - offensive rebounds) than the Hawks did.

-- St. Joe's had more "points per weighted shot," a measure of how efficiently a team scores, by 1.13 to 1.06. But Syracuse had a higher "floor percentage," which measures the percentage of offensive possessions in which a basket is scored, 50.0% to 47.1%.

Now, I've thought all this time that scoring efficiency and scoring on a percentage of possession basis were the same thing. So if there any lawyers or law school students out there -- or if Kyle himself stumbles across this when not sleeping for 84 minutes -- can explain the difference between the following, please do:

Floor % - Floor Percentage. Measures the percentage of offensive possessions in which there is at least one point scored.

PPWS - Points per Weighted Shot. Measures how efficiently a player translates field goal attempts and free throw attempts into points. Formula: PTS/(FGA + (0.475 x FTA))

UPDATE: The best way to describe it, apparently, is that Floor % is the number of made baskets as a percentage of shot attempts, while PPWS is the number of points as a percentage of shot attempts.

That explains why PPWS is a number greater than 1, because you score more points than your number of attempts (unless you miss a ridiculous number of shots). It also explains why St. Joe's had a higher PPWS, as they made 11 three-pointers to Syracuse's 6 even though the percentages were similar.

My preferred reason for why the Hawks lost last night, though, has nothing to do with any of what I just wrote:

That was one clutch shot by Jonny Flynn.

Okay, I'm off to see if Davidson can keep North Carolina from being No. 1 when the Tar Heels come here next month.

And by the way, the hoops on TV start bright and early at 9 a.m. tomorrow with Houston against Eric Maynor's Virginia Commonwealth on ESPNU. The game is in the same Puerto Rico tournament in which Temple plays Providence at 2:30, also on ESPNU.

Okay, let's try something new.

I have a prior commitment that is going to keep me away from my computer for most of the St. Joe's-Syracuse game. So taking after two of my favorite bloggers, Will Bunch of the Daily News and Steven Goff of the Washington Post (despite the fact that I'm not on either blog's blogroll), I'm going to let you all do the in-game commentary for me.

So leave your thoughts on the game in the comments. I hear that there will be a lot of Hawks fans in the Carrier Dome tonight (including a few known readers of the blog), but hopefully there are a few more of you out there who can clear out the tumbleweeds on here for a few hours.

Mike Kern and Kevin Tatum recap the game. And here's postgame audio from Drexel and Penn.

Brian Grandieri led all scorers with 23 of the quietest points you'll ever see in a noisy Palestra. He shot 8-of-14 from the field, a somewhat surprising 0-of-1 from three-point range, and only 7-of-12 from the free throw line -- which he admitted wasn't good enough.

For Drexel, Tramayne Hawthorne (6-of-12 fg, 4-of-10 3pt) and Gerald Colds (6-of-11 fg, 6-of-9 3pt) tied for top scorer with 18 points. But look at the breakdown by halves: