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Villanova, St. Joe's Students Eagerly Anticipate Possible March Madness Matchup

By Mike DeNardo

VILLANOVA, Pa. (CBS) - Almost as soon as the brackets were announced Sunday night, students at St. Joe's and Villanova noticed the possibility of a "holy war" in the third round of the NCAA Tournament (see related story).

If Villanova and St. Joe's each win their second-round games Thursday, they would play each other -- a Holy War -- on Saturday in Buffalo.

For St. Joe's Senior Vince Giella, it would be the ultimate: "It's a dream come true, almost. I've been waiting four years -- I'm a senior now -- to see them in the tournament and then to play 'Nova, a rematch, we lost by 30 here (during a regular season game in December). So it would be really great to just get another shot at them and try to beat them in the tournament."

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St. Joseph's University. (Credit: Mike DeNardo)

Villanova Freshman Michael Waterfield says any time 'Nova and St. Joe's square off, it's war.

"Absolutely. It's always a huge, great competition between us and St. Joe's and it's always something here that every student here looks forward to. So if we do get to play them it'll definitely be fun."

Villanova freshman Greg Arning says any Villanova-St. Joe's game is a big draw, "Even during the regular season those games are packed.  So that would be awesome if that's the way it turns out."

St. Joe's junior Ronald Klepadlo is eager for a rematch, but he says let's take it one game at a time.

"I think it would be escalated but we have to win Thursday. That's going to be a big game. So let's focus on that and hope for the possibility."

But first: second-seed 'Nova needs to beat Milwaukee, and the Hawks need to knock off UConn.

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