Villanova Nets Top March Madness Seed, Temple Out

By James Boyle:

Riding high on a record-breaking regular season and a first place finish in the Big East Tournament, the Villanova Wildcats enter the NCAA college basketball championships with a number one seed in the East Regional bracket, according to philly.com.

Villanova finished the season with a school record 32 wins and two losses, topped by a 69-52 victory against Xavier Saturday night to win the Big East tournament crown. The Wildcats open the first round Thursday against No. 16 ranked Lafayette College in a 6:50 p.m. game that will air on TBS. Located in Easton in the Lehigh Valley, Lafayette is coached by former Villanova player Fran O’Hanlon.

A number one team has never lost to a number 16 team in the history of the NCAA tournament. The winner of Thursday’s game will play the winner of North Carolina State versus Louisiana State on Saturday.

Villanova is the only school from the Philadelphia region to advance to the March Madness tournament. Of the remaining teams, the most vocal protests have come from Temple University fans, who felt that the Owls’ 23-10 record and third place finish in the American Athletic Conference was good enough for a seed. Instead, Temple will compete as a number one seed in the National Invitation Tournament.