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NCAA Tournament First Round Coverage: Arizona State vs Temple

A year ago, Selection Sunday brought disappointment and bitterness for the Arizona State Sun Devils, who were shut out of the 2008 NCAA Tournament despite having a resume that they believed was worthy.

This season, the Sun Devils left nothing to chance, presenting credentials of a 24-9 overall record, an 11-7 finish in the Pac-10 and a pair of impressive victories in the conference tournament. Their reward, which was revealed Sunday on CBS-TV’s NCAA Tournament Selection Show, is a No. 6 seed in the South Region -- and a first-round matchup on Friday at Miami against the 11 th-seeded Temple Owls (22-11).

“We are very excited to be in the field,” said Arizona State head coach Herb Sendek, “and I know we play an outstanding Temple team -- a team that’s playing terrific basketball right now having just won the Atlantic 10 championship. I’ve known Coach Fran Dunphy for a long time and have tremendous respect for him. He had great success at Penn and has certainly carried on the Temple tradition, which goes a long way back in basketball.”

The Sun Devils and Owls will tip off at approximately 2:45 p.m. Eastern time (11:45 a.m. Pacific) in the second of four games on Friday at Miami’s American Airlines Arena. The first game at the site will pit third-seeded Syracuse against 14 th-seeded Stephen F. Austin at 12:15 p.m. Eastern time (9:15 a.m. Pacific).

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Friday’s ASU-Temple winner will play either Syracuse or Stephen F. Austin on Sunday in Miami for the right to advance to the South Regional in Memphis.

The Sun Devils, who finished in a tie with California for third place in the Pac-10, defeated rival Arizona 68-56 in the quarterfinals of last week’s conference tournament. Arizona State beat Pac-10 regular-season champion Washington 75-65 in the semifinals before losing to USC 66-63 in the conference tournament championship game.

By Tom Kessler
DFN Sports Staff Writer