In the spirit of full disclosure, I am currently wearing my “Wild Cherry” t-shirt–the gift to all Temple basketball season ticket holders one year in the mid-90’s. But, tell me I’m crazy thinking that the Owls have a real chance to knock off the 7th-ranked Dukies tonight.
There are several reasons for my blind optimism:
- 1). These two teams play every year, so the Duke “prestige” is lost on the Owls
2). The game is in Philly, which is not necessarily a big advantage for Temple, but it certainly isn’t the HUGE disadvantage that they would have in Cameron Indoor- 3). The best way to beat Duke (as seen by Pittsburgh a couple weeks ago) is to get physical with them. Now, Temple does not have a huge team, but they certainly don’t win with finesse. They are an aggressive, physical, hit-you-in-the-mouth kind of team. Plus, freshman Lavoy Allen is beast in the paint and Duke’s best inside player, Brian Zoubek, has a broken foot and is out indefinitely
- 4). One thing you have to do against Duke is get in the face of the shooters. Well, the Owls have officially gone away from the John Chaney match-up zone and have fully adopted Fran Dunphy’s in-your-face man-to-man defensive style. And, with the incredible length and athleticism on the wing, getting in the face of shooters is not a big problem
- 5). Just about any time a lesser team pulls a big upset, it usually comes down to a big-time performance by one single player stepping up. Well, the Owls have two guys that are capable of exploding in this way. Dionte Christmas is averaging 21 pts, 7 rebs and 3 assists, while Mark Tyndale is averaging 15 pts,6 rebs and 3 assists. Either one of these could blow up on ESPN tonight
Okay, yes, it may seem like a longshot for an average Atlantic 10 team to take out a top-10 team (particularly Duke), but I think it just might happen tonight.
Tell me I’m crazy…
Sorry to go off topic Bry. But while we’re on hoops, it’s riddle time: Hey Ian, what do you get when you combine “productive quality cheap young NBA players (Lee, Robinson, Collins, Balk)…two young bigs, two energizers in Lee and Nate, and either a shooter in Quentin or a young scorer in Crawford?” The third worst record in the whole league! And, I might add, 5 games down on Philadelphia about who you’ll recall you said “it could be worse” because the Knicks could be Philadelphia. Ian Sidkar: Just as smart as James Dolan. Kind of has a nice ring to it, no?
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