Is There An Un-Must Win For Temple?

Tonight the Temple Owls continue their quest to become more than just a bubble team. Winners of five in a row the Owls face the LaSalle Explorers in a matchup that means much more to Temple's chances of getting into the big dance than LaSalle's chances of getting into the A-10 tournament. LaSalle 14-12 (5-7 in the A-10) are on a two game slide and roll into the Liacouras Center to face a team trying to win the conference, or at least a bye in the tourney. The Owls are 9-3 in conference games, tied with Rhode Island, 1/2 game behind Xavier, and 1/2 ahead of Dayton. A win tonight will go a long way in the standings and hopefully get Fran Dunphy and crew revved up enough to go into Dayton on Saturday and pull off an upset. Dionte Christmas should also be able to score 20 points for the first time since facing URI on January 28th, as the NBA prospect will be called upon to lead the team as it approaches post-season play. There is not, and make no mistake about their tournament chances, a game that Temple can afford to lose, including Dayton, if they want to dance for the second straight year.

Be Careful Temple

Temple cannot afford to squander a 10 point lead late in the game and even hope to sniff NCAA consideration. This years A-10 looks a bit tougher than it did last year so if Xavier doesn't win the whole thing, including the conference tournament in March, someone else might...like Dayton. Last year, Temple got hot at just the right time and was able to win the A-10 crown. This year is a different story. Right now, at 14-9, they're not really on the bubble. They need to keep winning and get their win total up. They do have wins against Tennessee and and upsurgent Penn State that will help them when they haven't had those wins in the past. With seven games left, if they can pull out six wins (accounting for a loss against Dayton), a 20-10 record may get them enough on the bubble for the big dance that they slip in as an 11th seed. Not that they'll do much in the tourney, but Dionte and company need to do something that will put Temple Basketball back on a consistent track to the NCAAs.