Analyze This: St. Joe’s to Face Packer’s Team
Phil Martelli and Saint Joseph’s were never going to get a chance to play against Billy Packer. Instead, the Hawks will get the next best thing -- the CBS analyst’s alma mater.
In a juicy pairing that only seems possible in the NCAA tournament, the team denounced by Packer as not being worthy of a top seeding will face Wake Forest in the round of 16.
“I guarantee you he won’t be rooting for us,” Saint Joseph’s guard Delonte West said of Packer, who starred for the Demon Deacons in the early 1960s.
Packer downplayed the matchup. “I think it should be a heck of a game,” he said Saturday.
The Hawks advanced Saturday by beating Texas Tech in Buffalo, N.Y. Packer was working in Denver.
Last weekend, Packer questioned whether Saint Joseph’s deserved a No. 1 seed. That led to a heated response from Martelli, who called Packer a “jackass” and wondered “Is Billy Packer playing for a team?”
Packer countered by saying he helped Wake Forest beat Saint Joseph’s in the 1962 tournament.
“He needs to learn a little history about the school where he coaches,” Packer said.
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