"Will it be a tough challenge for Mike? Absolutely," coach Fran Dunphy of Temple (19-5, 8-2) said of Owls center Micheal Eric's matchup with Nicholson. "I wish he was the only challenge we had to deal with at St. Bonaventure. We know how good their team is and how big the win was on Saturday."
2. Jones finding form
St. Joseph's point guard Carl Jones says that his ankle, which he hurt in mid-December, is feeling better and he hopes that his shooting woes are also diminishing.
In Saturday's 73-62 win over Massachusetts, Jones scored 15 points and kept the Hawks in the game early with 13 in the first half. St. Joseph's led 29-28 at halftime.
For the game, Jones shot 6 for 12 from the field. Remarkably, he had gone the previous 14 games shooting under 50 percent. Saturday's effort was the first time Jones had shot 50 percent from the field since going 9 for 17 in an 80-71 win over visiting Creighton on Dec. 10.
He hurt his ankle the week after the Creighton win, and even though Jones has missed just one game, he said his ankle hasn't always been 100 percent.
That's not the case now.
"It's feeling better," he said.
3. Ready to bust
The Colonial Athletic Association had three teams in the NCAA tournament last year, but there are rumblings that it might have trouble getting more than the postseason conference champion selected this year. That's because the league hasn't had many marquee nonconference wins.
That is why the Bracket Busters Competition is so important, especially for a team like Drexel. The Dragons will visit Cleveland State in Saturday's 11 a.m. game that will be telecast on ESPNU.
