Owls Swoop Back Into The Dance
For seven seasons the Temple Men’s Basketball program has resembled that kid, who for whatever reason couldn’t get into the neighborhood house party. Although close enough to hear the music or maybe steal a peek inside the window, there was never enough room on the dance floor to work his way in. For all of he knew, the Big Dance was just a rumor.
Well, Temple coach Fran Dunphy and the rest of the Owls can go out and grab a new pair of shoes because Temple is going back to The Big Dance.
Fran Dunphy’s coaching tenure at The University of Pennsylvania is legendary. In his 15 seasons at Penn, he has won 10 Ivy League titles, nine 20-win seasons, three Big 5 City series titles, seven Ivy League players of the year and three Ivy League rookies of the year. From 1992-96 Penn won 48 consecutive conference games. The Quakers played a tough non-conference schedule which primed them for NCAA competition. They would win a tournament game against Nebraska in 1994.
For anyone who wishes to look down upon Ivy League Athletics consider that the Ivy League does not issue athletic scholarships. Coaches have to sell the benefits of an Ivy League education over the athletic program. One of the players who bought into Dunphy’s plan was my cousin Jerome Allen who was a three-time Ivy POY and a second round pick of the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1995. He has spent time with the Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks before finding his niche overseas. He is currently playing in Italy.
Upon his arrival at Temple, Dunphy was replacing a Hall of Famer in coach John Chaney, who in 24 seasons at Temple compilled 492 wins (724 overall) while putting the program back on the basketball map. Chaney’s teams were sound disciplined young men who embodied the character of their coach. Temple for years has boasted one of the country’s toughest non-conference schedules. The Owls are one of the few programs that has an annual date with Duke that plays outside of the ACC. Chaney has never landed a blue-chip recruit, but he got the most out of his players whether they were not top flight recruits or were Proposition 48 casualties. Chaney took the players that no one wanted - the underdogs, and molded the Temple program one of the most respected in the nation.
It was with Chaney’s blessings that Dunphy took on the job of bringing Temple basketball back to the surface. Now in a position to offer scholarships to some of the Philly’s best high school and talent as well as national, Dunphy hopes to revive basketball on North Broad St.. The Owls had been a no-show at the NCAA Tournament since 2001. Towards the end of Chaney’s tenure, there was the “Goongate” scandal, and talk of incidents in the past where he had stirred things up and how he had gone too far. All of the sudden for all the good he had done it was outweighed by a few transgressions. Keep in mind Temple basketball has never been involved in ANY kind of scandal under Chaney, while his player graduation rate has always ranked near the top. Through it all, Chaney never lost control nor the respect of his players and was by all accounts allowed to write his own ticket. At the close of the Owls’ 2006 season he decided that enough was enough.
Dunphy’s first season on North Broad St. was a tough one to put things mildly, the Owls came out of the gate 5-3 only to finish the season 12-18. The team went through two tough stretches; in January they lost eight of nine games and a string from February into March where they dropped six of seven to close the season.
This season the Owls early again and at by mid-January were 6-8. If there was a silver lining, it was that four of those eight losses were by three points or less, so the team was playing hard, just coming up short.
The turning point of the season came when the Owls upset then 20th ranked Xavier 78-59. From that point, the Owls would go 15-4, including winning 12 of their last 15 games which includes a current streak of 7.
Under Chaney, because of the tough non-conference schedule, the Owls would hit a wall around January. Chaney would somehow work his magic and gather the team together to make a late season run in the A-10 tournament and eventually get into the NCAA’s. There have been a few seasons where Temple has been a lock to get in but none recently.
Saturday night the Owls bested cross-town rival St. Joseph’s to win the A-10 crown and earn a berth in the NCAA tournament. Temple earned a #12 seed in the South Region and will play #5 seeded Michigan State Thursday afternoon. These two teams last met in the regional finals in 2001, ironically, it was the Owls’ last appearance in the tournament.
Temple boasts an effective but underrated 1-2 punch in senior forward Mark Tyndale and junior guard/forward Dionte Christmas. Christmas leads the Owls as well as the A-10 in scoring at 20 ppg. Tyndale is second on the Owls at 15 ppg. but leads the team in assists (141), rebounds (7.2) and steals (51). Teammates Ryan Brooks (G), Lavoy Allen (F) and Sergio Olmos(F/C) have stepped things up over the past month and look forward to carrying that momentum into the tournament.
The Owls will have their work cut out for them but with so much parity in the NCAA’s this season there is a legitimate hope for an upset. With the momentum and confidence that this team has built over the past month, they should be considered as much of a dark horse as a Butler, Vanderbilt, Drake or Marquette.
I grew up about 5 blocks from the Temple campus in North Philly so I’ve always rooted for the Owls in whatever (Yes, football too!) with Big 5 teams spread throughout the city it becomes a regional thing depending what neighborhood the school is in. Temple has always been like a 5th pro team in Philly to me.
I’m filling out my NCAA brackets slowly but surely, and I can’t wait to tune in Thursday evening, I’ll get updates on the Temple/Michigan State game online.
I’ve got a good feeling that somewhere, the wisest of all Temple’s Owls will be watching.
One of the best images of any coach all time