Temple and Villanova teams head out to begin March Madness

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- March Madness is setting in on the campuses of Villanova and Temple Universities.

Both teams have games this week as the NCAA tournament gets underway.

The Temple Owls are in Ohio for Tuesday night's play-in game against Belmont. Tip-off is at 9:10 p.m.

Excitement is building on North Broad.

Freshman Jackie Terpak exclaimed, "I'm sure everyone will be watching. Everyone is really excited for them that they made the tournament!"

Temple and Belmont have never faced each other in program history.

The winner plays Maryland in Jacksonville on Thursday.

Freshman Taylor Newland said, "It would be super exciting. They're doing really well this year, so I think they can do it."

This is Temple Head Coach Fran Dunphy's final season at Temple and the players clearly want a win for him.

Dunphy told them to change their mindset, relaying to Action News, "You need to play for yourself, your family, your university, and most of all each other. Take care of one another as your brothers in basketball. Take care of them, and all will be okay."

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Meanwhile, Jay Wright and the Villanova Wildcats are leaving Tuesday evening for Hartford.

The reigning NCAA champs have a tough opening matchup in St Mary's on Thursday, a team that can run up and down the court with the best of them.

The Wildcats have won two of the past three tourneys, but guard Phil Booth knows that doesn't guarantee a thing.

"There's no perfect recipe to get to that central game- it doesn't work like that," he said. "People don't realize it's a lot of luck. A lot of balls your way, a lot of bounces your way. You can't just say you're going to win and things will be that easy."

Nova nation has its big send-off on campus Tuesday evening at 5:15 p.m.