Temple's NCAA tourney fate in its own hands
LIVING ON the edge. That's the way Temple coach Fran Dunphy described his basketball team a few weeks ago. Who would know better?
LIVING ON the edge.
That's the way Temple coach Fran Dunphy described his basketball team a few weeks ago.
Who would know better?
The Owls have played 29 games this season. Thirteen have been decided by five points or fewer. They've won nine of them.
For a program that's trying to make it into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years, that's a good thing. Maybe even mandatory.
They've also won eight of their last 10. Maybe the selection committee looks at that stuff. But I'm not a bracketologist. Thursday night at the Liacouras Center, in their last home game unless they are playing in the NIT, they won a game that didn't come down to the last possession.
They beat Memphis by 10. Of course, it was a three-point game with 4 1/2 minutes left. Doesn't matter. What it does for their RPI will have to be somebody else's guess. I'm not that smart. But at this point a loss would have seriously derailed their at-large resume. Especially against a team that's 1-8 on the road.
"Our goal is to make the NCAA Tournament," said senior forward Jaylen Bond, who hopefully closed out his home career with 15 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes. "Our work is never done."
The best thing the Owls have going for them is they clinched the top seed in next week's American Conference Tournament in Orlando, after being picked to finish sixth. And they've done that by going 7-2 against the next five teams in the standings. That includes sweeps of Cincinnati and Connecticut, two teams that for whatever reasons seem to be slightly ahead of them in the latest field projections. And as someone duly pointed out, when was the last time anyone who won the regular-season title in a Top 10 RPI league didn't make the Madness?
Sorry, I didn't have time to look up an answer. Just tossing it out there.
This much is certain: On Sunday, they close at Tulane (10-20, 3-14). If they don't take care of business, it might put them in a position where they need to win the AAC tourney.
The Owls, who improved to 19-10 and 13-4, had lost by two at Memphis in mid-January on two late free throws.
"We're just living in the moment," said senior guard Quenton DeCosey, one of five double-digit scorers (13 points) despite getting in foul trouble. "We have to continue to win and make our bid."
A year ago, the Owls were supposedly the last team out. That didn't make them feel any better. Dunphy has been doing what he does since 1989. Only two times have his teams failed to make the NCAAs three consecutive years: his first three seasons at Penn, before they won 10 Ivy titles in 14 years; and from 1996-98. But the Quakers did tie Princeton in 1995-96 as the three-time defending champs before losing the playoff game.
Last year, the Owls struggled against the other top AAC teams. It might have made the difference.
"If we could have got one win against SMU or Tulsa, we were probably in," DeCosey said. "Every game's important."
If they win Sunday in New Orleans and get to the AAC title game, that would appear to be enough. If they lose in the semifinals, it might not. Sometimes it depends on what else happens around the country. If nothing else, that would make for a long wait until the brackets are announced. And who wants to go through that?
Then again, they could just hoist the trophy and be done with it. The Owls last did that in 2010, when they won their third straight Atlantic 10 crown.
It could be an interesting week or so.
"We want to make a run," said junior guard Josh Brown, who had 12 points, eight assists, seven boards, two steals and zero turnovers, which gives him 44 assists and five TOs in his last eight games. "We hope to get our named called."
Once again, they look to be squarely on the bubble. Last year they left the decision in the hands of others, and it didn't go their way. They'd like to make it an easy choice this time. The good news is, they very much control their destiny.
Maybe the hardest part is ignoring all the noise.
"I'm sure it's out there," Dunphy said. "We're talking about Tulane. It's the only thing on our mind . . . We are who we are.
"We need to finish. We're in a situation where we need to win as many as we can.''
That's how it is on the edge.
@mikekerndn