Really excited for this game tonight, though a tough one for me. I have followed both teams for several years (son graduated from Belmont in 2015; daughter will graduate Temple in May and son's best friend graduated there in 2015). Here are a few things you might want to know about them:
Temple (23-9):
Coach Fran Dunphy is retiring after this season. Team has a lot of incentive to win for him. One of 15 active coaches with 500 wins. Also one of only 6 coaches to win more than 200 games at two different schools and take both schools to at least 6 NCAA tournaments. Great guy.
Temple has two fantastic guards, junior Shizz Alston Jr. (19.7 ppg, 5 apg) and senior Quinton Rose (16.5 ppg). Both could play in the NBA. Rose is 6'8" and a Corey Brewer type, and considered leaving last year for the NBA but returned. Alston is just a baller, a hardnosed Philly guard who is fast and crafty. Good outside shooter. Also a 90% FT shooter. He may go to the NBA this year. They also start guard Nate Pierre-Louis (13.3 ppg) who went to Roselle Catholic in NJ (Isaiah Briscoe, Khalil Whitney). Have some size inside but they run through their guards.
Temple finished third the AAC this year behind Cincinnati and Houston. Lost in the AAC tournament to Wichita State (split the season series with them.)
Good wins: Houston, UCF.
Good losses: UCF, Cincinnati (only played once), Houston, Villanova, VCU.
Bad losses: Penn, Tulsa, Memphis (split with them), Wichita State twice (split reg season)
Belmont (26-5):
Coach Rick Byrd is well known as one of the top mid-major coaches of all time. Got his 800th win this year. Candidate for the Naismith Hall of Fame this year. A tremendous coach, leader, and developer of players.
Unlike previous guard-oriented Belmont teams, this one is led by its frontcourt players. Dylan Windler (21.4 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 85% FT) may be the best player you have never seen. A candidate for the Senior Class Award and the Julius Erving award, Windler is one of only two players in D1 this year to average 20+ points and 11 rebounds per game (#7 scorer and #2 rebounder in the tournament). He is a rebounding machine but also a very efficient offensive player, shooting 55% overall and 43% from 3 (over 200 attempts too.) Can take over a game, as he did in the OVC semis when he scored 22 points in the second half to lead Belmont to a come from behind win. Center Nick Muszinsky (15 ppg, 6 rpg) is unlike any other big Belmont has had in recent years. He is 6'11, 235 lbs and really good, although a freshman. He was injured in the OVC semis and did not play against Murray State, one of the big reasons they lost. He is expected to play tonight. Belmont's guards are typically good but not as great as in past years. Point guard Grayson Murphy is just a freshman, very unusual for Belmont, and can be shaky at times, though he averages an excellent 7 assists and under 2.5 turnovers per game.
Belmont won the OVC regular season and lost the tournament championship game to Murray State. It is the first at-large team from the OVC to make the NCAA tournament since 1987.
Good wins: Murray State (regular season), UCLA in LA(!!), Lipscomb
Good losses: Purdue, Murray State
Bad losses: Green Bay, Jacksonville State (twice, only losses in OVC until the tournament)
Analysis:
Talent wise, this is a pretty even and fun matchup. Temple has two possible NBA players, Belmont has one for sure in Windler and possibly another in Muszinsky although he is a freshman. It is a contrast in terms of scoring, with most of Temple's points coming from its backcourt and most of Belmont's from its frontcourt. Temple has a very big advantage with Alston against Murphy. Murphy was lost against Ja Morant, and Alston is a similar type player. However, Temple is going to have a hard time with Windler. Not sure the AAC has a player like him.
Having watched a lot of both teams, I give a slight edge to Belmont because of the efficiency and consistency of their offense (6th nationally in offensive efficiency), and their excellent rebounding (6th nationally). They averaged over 87 points a game this year (2nd nationally) and shot 50% as a team (5th nationally). Belmont leads the nation in assists per game. They had a poor shooting night against Murray State, but those are rare. Temple isn't a particularly good defensive team, nor is it a great rebounding team. it is also inconsistent offensively and can struggle to score for long stretches. Belmont loses tournament matchups against more athletic teams, but Temple loses to good shooting teams. Belmont is 0-7 in it previous NCAA tournament appearances, but this team seems built to win one finally, and possibly more than one.
Really happy the Committee selected both of these teams, they deserved to be in much more than teams like Alabama and Indiana.
Temple (23-9):
Coach Fran Dunphy is retiring after this season. Team has a lot of incentive to win for him. One of 15 active coaches with 500 wins. Also one of only 6 coaches to win more than 200 games at two different schools and take both schools to at least 6 NCAA tournaments. Great guy.
Temple has two fantastic guards, junior Shizz Alston Jr. (19.7 ppg, 5 apg) and senior Quinton Rose (16.5 ppg). Both could play in the NBA. Rose is 6'8" and a Corey Brewer type, and considered leaving last year for the NBA but returned. Alston is just a baller, a hardnosed Philly guard who is fast and crafty. Good outside shooter. Also a 90% FT shooter. He may go to the NBA this year. They also start guard Nate Pierre-Louis (13.3 ppg) who went to Roselle Catholic in NJ (Isaiah Briscoe, Khalil Whitney). Have some size inside but they run through their guards.
Temple finished third the AAC this year behind Cincinnati and Houston. Lost in the AAC tournament to Wichita State (split the season series with them.)
Good wins: Houston, UCF.
Good losses: UCF, Cincinnati (only played once), Houston, Villanova, VCU.
Bad losses: Penn, Tulsa, Memphis (split with them), Wichita State twice (split reg season)
Belmont (26-5):
Coach Rick Byrd is well known as one of the top mid-major coaches of all time. Got his 800th win this year. Candidate for the Naismith Hall of Fame this year. A tremendous coach, leader, and developer of players.
Unlike previous guard-oriented Belmont teams, this one is led by its frontcourt players. Dylan Windler (21.4 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 85% FT) may be the best player you have never seen. A candidate for the Senior Class Award and the Julius Erving award, Windler is one of only two players in D1 this year to average 20+ points and 11 rebounds per game (#7 scorer and #2 rebounder in the tournament). He is a rebounding machine but also a very efficient offensive player, shooting 55% overall and 43% from 3 (over 200 attempts too.) Can take over a game, as he did in the OVC semis when he scored 22 points in the second half to lead Belmont to a come from behind win. Center Nick Muszinsky (15 ppg, 6 rpg) is unlike any other big Belmont has had in recent years. He is 6'11, 235 lbs and really good, although a freshman. He was injured in the OVC semis and did not play against Murray State, one of the big reasons they lost. He is expected to play tonight. Belmont's guards are typically good but not as great as in past years. Point guard Grayson Murphy is just a freshman, very unusual for Belmont, and can be shaky at times, though he averages an excellent 7 assists and under 2.5 turnovers per game.
Belmont won the OVC regular season and lost the tournament championship game to Murray State. It is the first at-large team from the OVC to make the NCAA tournament since 1987.
Good wins: Murray State (regular season), UCLA in LA(!!), Lipscomb
Good losses: Purdue, Murray State
Bad losses: Green Bay, Jacksonville State (twice, only losses in OVC until the tournament)
Analysis:
Talent wise, this is a pretty even and fun matchup. Temple has two possible NBA players, Belmont has one for sure in Windler and possibly another in Muszinsky although he is a freshman. It is a contrast in terms of scoring, with most of Temple's points coming from its backcourt and most of Belmont's from its frontcourt. Temple has a very big advantage with Alston against Murphy. Murphy was lost against Ja Morant, and Alston is a similar type player. However, Temple is going to have a hard time with Windler. Not sure the AAC has a player like him.
Having watched a lot of both teams, I give a slight edge to Belmont because of the efficiency and consistency of their offense (6th nationally in offensive efficiency), and their excellent rebounding (6th nationally). They averaged over 87 points a game this year (2nd nationally) and shot 50% as a team (5th nationally). Belmont leads the nation in assists per game. They had a poor shooting night against Murray State, but those are rare. Temple isn't a particularly good defensive team, nor is it a great rebounding team. it is also inconsistent offensively and can struggle to score for long stretches. Belmont loses tournament matchups against more athletic teams, but Temple loses to good shooting teams. Belmont is 0-7 in it previous NCAA tournament appearances, but this team seems built to win one finally, and possibly more than one.
Really happy the Committee selected both of these teams, they deserved to be in much more than teams like Alabama and Indiana.
