Cornell vs Temple Picks – Can Temple Hold Off Underrated Big Red?

The sports betting road to Indianapolis begins in Jacksonville, Florida for Cornell and Temple. Although neither team may make it to the national title game, what is certain is that one of these teams will make it in to the second round. Cornell earned an automatic bid in to March Madness once again by capturing the best mark of the Ivy League schools by tying a conference single-season mark for the second most wins history with 27. The last team to accomplish that feat was Princeton back in 1997-1998. The Big Red will now test their strengths against a Temple squad that clinched both the regular season and tournament Atlantic-10 titles.

• What: NCAA Basketball Betting
• When: Friday March 19, 2010
• Where: e Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida

The Owls had one of the best seasons of any Atlantic-10 team in recent history. Temple battled through a regular season in which it won seven straight to close the season atop the standings with a 14-2 conference mark. Then it flexed its muscles in the conference tournament against St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island to reach the final against Richmond. Temple improved to 14-1 when playing as the number one seed with a 56-52 win to complete the A-10 sweep, its third A-10 tournament win, and became just the second team to win three or more A-10 championships. The Owls will look to continue that college basketball betting run when they bump in to the Big Red in the first round of March Madness.

Although Cornell is coming out of the Ivy League conference, college betting enthusiasts haven’t ruled them out as a potential underdog team capable of making a run, and with just cause. Although they did fall to Syracuse by double digits early in the season, the Big Red proved that they had come a long way losing by just five at top ranked Kansas, before embarking on a run during which they won 15 of 16 games.

Offensive Matchups

In out of conference losses to Syracuse and Kansas, Cornell averaged 69.5 points. However, those losses were back in November and January, and the Big Red has come a long way since then. Forward Ryan Wittman leads all scorers with an average of 17.5 points per game while also contributing with 4.0 rebounds and two assists per game. Cornell has just three scorers that average over 10 points per game. In addition to Wittman, center Jeff Foote has scored an average of 12.3 points, while guard Louis Dale has dropped an average 11.9. Although this team doesn’t have as many high-scoring players as some of the others that qualified for March Madness, Cornell does boast quality depth and can run the floor.

Temple has struggled with consistency on offense this season, and could be in tougher than most people think in the March Madness contest against a smart, hard-working Big Red squad. The Owls are led on offense by the backcourt tandem of Ryan Brooks and Juan Fernandez. The senior Brooks led all scorers with an average of 14.3 points per game, as well as averages of 4.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Fernandez, a sophomore, has cored 12.6 points per game, and led the team with an average of 3.6 assists. Lavoy Allen is the only other Owl to average over 10 points a game with a 11.5 mark, and in grabbing 10.9 rebounds per game is the only player to average a double-double.

Defensive Matchups

Cornell has done an excellent job all season of playing an up-tempo, workmanlike defensive system that has been a big part in its record-tying Ivy League conference run. But while the Big Red did an excellent job against Ivy League opponents, the memories of losses to Seton Hall and Syracuse in which they allowed 89 points in each of them have not completely faded. That was at the beginning of the season however, and Cornell has come a long way at both ends of the floor, but on defense in particular.

Defense is the biggest reason why Temple was so good in conference play this season. In three conference title tournament games, the Owls held their opponents to an average of 48 points per game, including allowing Richmond just 52 points in the final, which was largely the result of a late Spiders’ surge with the game already over late in the fourth quarter. The ability to play so well on such a big stage was a good confidence boost for the players heading in to the March Madness tournament.

Injuries:

Cornell has no significant injuries to report.

Temple has no significant injuries to report.

Betting Predictions: Cornell vs Temple

Although it is hard to go against a team that has been as dominant as Temple have been all season through regular season and conference tournament title runs in the Atlantic-10, this is the perfect situation for an upset to occur in March Madness betting. The Owls may be the better team on paper, but if history is any indications, the better team does not always prevail in all 32 first round match ups, and there are always underdogs that surprise. Cornell will be one of them. Sure, they are coming out of a weaker Ivy League conference, but the Big Red have already established that they are far superior to the teams in their conference by dominating them for 27-win season, tying the single-season mark for second-most wins in the Ivy League. Cornell is smart, athletic, and well coached. Not only that, but with so many doubters and critics to silence, the Big Red will have that extra desire to go out and prove on the national stage that they are finally good enough to play with the bigger out of conference teams.

Washington’s Pick: Cornell