Phil Sheridan: Owls stay cool under pressure

ATLANTIC CITY - With all due respect to the chaps in the baggy brown unis, St. Bonaventure was not the Temple basketball team's toughest opponent yesterday.

With too much time to prepare for the Atlantic Ten tournament, the Owls' toughest matchup was in their own heads. For the first time, this group is dealing with the rarefied air of a top-20 ranking and a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

Ask Villanova and Syracuse, both one-and-done in that other tournament a bit north of here, how easy it is to handle prosperity.

"This year, everybody is thinking we're going to win the championship because we have the first seed," Temple guard Juan Fernandez said. "But it's going to be hard for us. We have to keep showing that what we did during the regular season wasn't for nothing. Our mind-set is different this year."

Credit coach Fran Dunphy and his players for the way Temple calmly dispatched the Bonnies, 69-51, at Boardwalk Hall. Temple will play Rhode Island in a semifinal this afternoon. Win that and there's a third consecutive trip to the conference championship game.

But this year is very different.

Temple isn't the fourth seed with a bus ticket to the NIT tucked into its gym bag, as it was in 2009. The Owls were locks for the NCAA tournament before this quarterfinal game and they'll be locks whatever happens the rest of the weekend.

What's at stake, other than a nice A-10 banner to hang at the Liacouras Center, is a chance to earn a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. A No. 3 is probably pushing it, although a 29-5 record and 10-game winning streak would make for a compelling argument.

Provincially speaking, the Owls could slide past perplexing Villanova in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee. A share of the A-10 regular-season championship, the conference-tournament title, a strong finish, and a head-to-head victory over the Wildcats would give Temple a convincing case there.

Dunphy is loath to indulge in that kind of talk, of course. It is because he has kept his players focused on each task as it comes that they were able to take care of the Bonnies so dispassionately. The game was never in doubt. There was no chance for a couple of turnovers or a lucky three-point shot to shift the momentum.

"We don't think about anything in the future," Dunphy said. "That's one of the great coachspeak lines of all time. We're not thinking ahead. I'm sure the kids do. I'm sure they have thoughts in their minds about what they'd like to accomplish."

"It's on our minds all the time," Fernandez said. "We know that winning the A-10 is going to help us get a higher seed and, hopefully, play an accessible team in the first round of the [NCAA] tournament."

Last year, the Owls had a 22-11 record after their surprise run through the conference tournament. That earned them a No. 11 seed and a first-round matchup against Arizona State in Miami. Xavier, the regular-season conference champion, with its 25-7 record, received a No. 4 seed.

So a No. 4 seed seems the least Temple should expect with two more wins here. And a No. 4 seed would mean a legitimate chance to win the program's first NCAA tournament game under Dunphy and a solid shot to advance to the second weekend.

That would be a fantastic season for a still-young team that was a preseason pick to finish fifth in the A-10.

The Owls have developed into a balanced squad this season. Fernandez, Lavoy Allen, Ryan Brooks, and Luis Guzman play together with a cumulative basketball IQ that is uncommonly high. The emergence of sophomores Micheal Eric and Ramone Moore gives Dunphy a presence inside and depth in the backcourt.

Villanova may have a more talented group of players, but Temple is playing better as a team at the more important time of the season. And the Owls really do reflect Dunphy's unflappable demeanor. They may be thinking ahead to that other tournament, but they know exactly how much is at stake today and tomorrow.

"We have some short goals," Fernandez said. "We want to win [today] and we want to win the finals. When it comes to the NCAAs, we really want to improve on what we did last year. That would mean passing the first round."

It is something Temple hasn't done since 2001, and something Dunphy hasn't done personally since 1994, when Penn beat Nebraska in the first round. It is something this program and this coach need to validate their continuing ascent together.

They proved they're ready for that step yesterday by taking care of a dangerous opponent, and it wasn't St. Bonaventure.