The three-time defending Atlantic 10 tournament champion Owls were disappointed with their fifth seed in the East Regional and will play No. 12 seed Cornell (27-4) in the NCAA tournament. Local rival Villanova shook off a miserable slide and earned the No. 2 seed Sunday in the South Regional and will play No. 15 Robert Morris (23-11) in the tournament.
The Owls (29-5) have won 10 straight games, shared the A-10 regular season championship with Xavier and beat Richmond 56-52 earlier Sunday to clinch another conference tourney title.
The Wildcats (24-7) have lost five of seven after a 20-1 start. The Wildcats, who last won a national championship in 1985, are trying to reach the Final Four for the second straight year.
Temple defeated Villanova 75-65 in December.
Villanova opens the tournament Thursday in Providence, R.I. Villanova's six straight NCAA trips are the second-longest in team history, trailing only the seven straight appearances from 1980-86. It's Villanova's 31st tournament.
Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw called the Owls' fifth seed "disappointing."
"Someone said last week that the committee was not at all interested in how you finished," Bradshaw said. "There's no better examples of that than Temple and Villanova. That might be true."
Temple opens the tournament Friday in Jacksonville, Fla., trying to win an NCAA game for the first time since 2001. The Owls, who have their highest seed since they were No. 2 in 2000, lost first-round games in 2008 and 2009.
Cornell coach Steve Donahue was an assistant for 10 years under Temple coach Fran Dunphy at Penn.
The Temple-Cornell winner will play the winner of Wisconsin-Wofford. Cornell won the Ivy League championship.
"I think this was a planned endeavor by the committee," Dunphy said. "They do some things to have this be a matchup. That's my sense."
The Owls gathered in front of a few hundred fans at the Liacouras Center and were cheered when they entered shortly before the selection show holding the A-10 trophy. Temple's bracket was announced first, and the crowd booed when Villanova's No. 2 seed flashed on the screen.
"They got a two seed!" Temple forward Lavoy Allen said when the Wildcats' bracket was announced.
Dunphy refused to be drawn into a Temple-Villanova debate. "There's nothing I can do, I have no control over it, so there's no need to worry about it," Dunphy said.
The Owls are in the tournament for the 28th time. Patriot League champion Lehigh, north of Philadelphia in Bethlehem, Pa., faces No. 1 overall seed Kansas. The Mountain Hawks (22-10) are going to the tournament for the fourth time and earned the automatic bid with a win Friday over Lafayette.
