Dunphy: Temple needs more wins to make NCAAs
When the American Athletic Conference coaches participated in a conference call Monday, there was one universal theme. They all enter with the mind-set that they have to win the AAC tournament to secure the NCAA automatic bid.
When the American Athletic Conference coaches participated in a conference call Monday, there was one universal theme. They all enter with the mind-set that they have to win the AAC tournament to secure the NCAA automatic bid.
That, of course, includes Temple, the regular-season champion with a record of 20-10, 14-4 in the AAC.
The conference tournament opens Thursday at the Amway Center in Orlando. Temple will play the winner of Thursday's game between No. 8 East Carolina and No. 9 South Florida in a quarterfinal Friday at noon.
Despite being the conference champion, Temple still has work to do, coach Fran Dunphy said.
"I am sure any of us in this league would say we need to do our best and win games to get in the NCAA tournament," Dunphy said.
Last year, Temple advanced to the AAC semifinals before losing to eventual champion SMU. Temple - and many others - thought it had done enough to earn an NCAA berth, but the Owls were the first team out, No. 69 in a 68-team field.
So the Owls and every other team in the tournament don't want to leave it up to the NCAA selection committee if they can help it.
"There are a lot of us in the same boat," Dunphy said.
SMU (25-5, 13-5) is ineligible for the conference and NCAA tournaments because of several NCAA violations.
Even after finishing second to Temple, SMU was considered one team that wouldn't have needed to win the conference tournament to earn an NCAA bid.
Now that the Mustangs are out, the dynamic has changed.
"When you look at the concept of the top 68 teams, there are five teams [in the AAC] that had really good years - Temple, Houston, Tulsa, Cincinnati and UConn," said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose team improved from 13-18 to 22-8 and is the second seed in the conference tournament. "I think all five of those teams are deserving."
That could be the case, but it's doubtful that all five are going.
Last year, SMU was going to the NCAAs whether it won the AAC tournament or not. SMU and Cincinnati were the AAC's NCAA representatives last year.
This year, there are no assurances, even with those five teams all having at least 20 wins.
Each tournament game will have tremendous meaning. For example, one quarterfinal has Cincinnati facing UConn, with the loser likely earning a trip to the NIT.
Temple is 4-0 against UConn and Cincinnati this year.
"It's a battle each and every night in this league," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said.
And that should continue in Orlando, where the pressure to advance will be immense. To that, Dunphy says: Bring it on.
"It is such a privilege to be in pressurized situations for coaches and players," Dunphy said. "Anybody would want to be in that situation."
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