Monmouth's reward: Villanova

The Hawks hadn't come close to winning any of their three previous NCAA appearances.
DAYTON (AP) -- A Monmouth team with a history of being on the short end of NCAA blowouts opened the tournament on the other side of one.
Chris Kenny set an opening-round record with six 3-pointers Tuesday night, and 7-foot-2 center John Bunch entertained the crowd with his bulk and his blocks during a 71-49 victory over Hampton in the play-in game.
No. 1 vs. No. 16
Monmouth (19-14) moves on to Philadelphia to play No. 1 seed Villanova in the Wildcats' backyard Friday, looking to pull off that elusive 16-over-1 upset.
Even if they don't get it, the Northeast Conference champions have already had a breakthrough tournament. The Hawks hadn't come close to winning any of their three previous NCAA appearances.
Monmouth lost by 24 points to Marquette in 1996, by 43 points to No. 1 seed Duke in 2001, and by 33 points to Mississippi State in 2004. The conference hadn't even won an NCAA tournament game since 1983.
Kenny and Bunch helped the Hawks finally get it going.
Only a handful of students from both schools made the short-notice trip for the tournament opener, held at the University of Dayton Arena since the NCAA returned to a play-in format in 2001.
The crowd of 7,764 waited to choose a rooting interest. Midway through the first half, the game's hottest shooter and its most imposing player won the applause.
Finger flicking
Kenny made five 3-pointers in the first half, matching his career high and the record for an NCAA play-in game. After one long-range swish, he and guard Dejan Delic retreated down the court flicking their trigger fingers at each other as if in a shootout.
Kenny finished with 18 point, and Delic had 14. Overall, Monmouth went 10-of-26 from behind the 3-point arc.
As if that wasn't enough, Hampton (16-16) had to contend with the game's most imposing player as well. The 7-foot-2 Bunch weighs 320 pounds and stood at least a head taller than almost everyone else on the court.
Bunch has one of the most unusual recruiting stories of the entire tournament. He didn't play all four years in high school, and was working at a movie theater showing "Ice Age" when a college coach's wife noticed him and passed his name along.
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