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Just an observation. The band is both good, and they look like they are having fun. They are the best in my many years of attending games. Additionally, most of the members seem to really be into the games. They add a positive dimension to the entire event. As for the students, they really are a factor when they turn out en mass as they did last night. They bring the Center to life. Conversely, when they are on break, the reduction in excitement is noticeable. Many will be involved alumni. I wish I could say the same for more of the alumni my age.

LaSalle upsets #20 VCU
St. Joe's upsets (tied for #1) Rhode Island

St. Joe's was still a loss that shouldn't have happened, but that'll bump them up a bit with a win over the #56 RPI team.

JDC: Is Cherry & White Day April 25? And is there any way to find out the home Saturdays for the 2015 football sked?

Since I often have to work weekends, I'm trying to set up vacation days for home games and I need it before March 1. Is that possible?

Say what you will about Fran Dunphy, but when he is not happy with the guys' play he lets them know about it. They get an earful and they get a seat. And he gets results.

Evidence: Q sat the last 9:45 of the Memphis game because he was lazy getting out on 3 point shooters a couple of times. Last night, Q played 35 minutes against Cincy and he closed out on Bearcat shooters with energy and purpose every time.

Evidence: Jesse jacks up 3s early in the shot clock two times - and misses - a few games ago ( I forget the opponent ). He gets pulled. Morgan pouts. I sit in Sec 105 and I can tell you FD is not shy about letting JM know why he is sitting and orders him to sit in a particular seat. He sits for the next 8ish minutes. Result is JM has exhibited a lot more patience and passing before a shot goes up. He is, also, driving it more to the goal. He made a couple of great feeds off drives to Jaylen vs Cincy last night.

I understand the complaints vis a vis FD and recruiting. But Dunphy can really coach this game IMO.

Outstanding game against a tough opponent in the Bearcats last evening. This team is exceeding my pre-season expectations big time.

Go Owls !

I loved how Dunphy used the team last night, aided by the fact that I looked up at the under 12 timeout and we had not committed a foul. Using our best 5 players, 4 guards and Bond to ice games is very good. With Obi back, I truly expect a tight 8 man rotation for the rest of the season with Williams and Coleman essentially out.
Here is my question: If Josh Brown didn't tweak his ankle, was Coleman going to play last night? I think not, and if he did it would have been a 2-3 minute cameo. Opinions?

Just saw The Bilas Index: Top 68 Rankings on ESPN's website and guess who is not listed? You got it, TEMPLE. It was published today so I am even more baffled that we are missing even after the beat-down on Cincy. Oh by the way Cincy is 41.

What are our chances for the tourney? And how many teams from the American will go?

I like our chances right now. Were 18-7 with a 34 RPI, 6-6 vs. rpi top 100, and have a nice top ten win. With six games left we have a nice mix of cupcakes and opportunities to add quality wins. My guess is that we end with a record around 22-9 or 23-8. So anyhow, given what we have done thus far I think were in a good position. ESPN has LSU and Texas A&M was the last to teams with byes. LSU is 17-7 is 6-4 against the top 100 but has a three loses again teams with 100+ rpis, two of which were 150+ teams. Texas AM is similar, they are 39 rpi but are only 3-5 vs the top 100 and have no top 50 wins. Anyhow, I think there is a strong case for temple over each of these teams.

A big question though will be how many teams will the AAC get? I hope at least four. SMU and Tulsa have been good all year, and Tulsa is even getting top 25 votes. Cincy is heading for 20 wins and a top 30 rpi finish and we are in a good position. But none the less I am nervous that our conference will be disrespected again. I think it will be a major warning sign if we don't get at least 4 teams in.

Wrote an article for this site and another Cincy-focused one for Cincinnati.com - http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/college/university-of-cincinnati/2015/02/10/uc-temple-game-feb-10/23210559/

That's a nice double dip.

In case you missed it, here's my interview from Friday night with 97.5 The Fanatic's Nick Kayal.

OwlScoop.com on 97.5

Lets go Owls. Crush the Bearcats!!!

This is clearly the biggest game of the season for Temple. They MUST win this. If they were to lose, they would be 0-4 against the Big 3 in the AAC, with 2 road games left at Tulsa and SMU. 0-6 would look very bad to the committee against the Tournament level teams.
As for the game, Obi was our best player against them last time, and they shot 54% against us. Their athletic wings (Ellis, Clark, Thomas and Sanders) play so big. Our guards are going to have to DOMINATE Caupain and Cobb which won't be easy. Dingle didn't play last time until garbage time (coaches decision). Williams was horrible. He committed 4 fouls in 12 minutes, and shot 1 for 4, all from 3. He grabbed 1 rebound. Cincy's athleticism prevents him from being a positive factor in this game and if he is forced to play, it will really hurt. Coleman's lack of size against their larger wings would also present a problem. He struggled mightily in the first meeting as well. If Obi is out, that really only leaves a rotation of 7.
This is a bad match-up athletically. They typically shoot poorly from the perimeter, so Temple should again try and pack it in and dare them to shoot over the top. If they slash to the rim and get to the offensive boards, it could be a long night.

Will Cummings for Co-MVP for having the speed to get the ball up court and to find Josh for the pass when Memphis thought the game was over.

Anyone know if its possible to stream cbs sports? I am in San Francisco traveling for work and my hotel room does not have CBS Sports. I'll find a bar if no one has any ideas.

Consideration is being given to revive the Big 5 doubleheader at the Palestra and rotating 4 of the 5 schools annually. Good idea or not? IMO this will burnish Philly's reputation as a center for college basketball and benefit all of the schools.

A little piece on the three transfers to get you ready for tonight's game.

Three transfers

I may be reading way too much into this one, but this past weekend the NY Times had an article on UCONN women's basketball with the primary topic of when Geno Auriemma leaves as coach will the team will have a hard time remaining a power given that it doesn't play in the Power 5 conferences. The timing was probably more about the UCONN - South Carolina game earlier tonight (UCONN kicked butt). Anyhow mention is made about UCONN finally going to the ACC or even the SEC (seriously?).

The pompous Times reporter did refer to the AAC as a rump league. I have better reasons to cancel my Times subscriptions, but so far I'm still a subscriber.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/sports/ncaabasketball/after-geno-auriemmas-reign-uconn-could-lose-clout.html

If anyone is offended by me placing a women's basketball article in the men's basketball section I sincerely apologize.

Obi Enechionyia will be a "game-time" decision for Tuesday's game against Cincinnati. I'll be at practice tomorrow afternoon and will pass along any update if I have one, but I wouldn't expect Temple to tip its hand even if the staff knows Enechionyia can play.

Unreal

I am planning on buying walk up or StubHub tickets for both games, but I'd be happy to buy from anyone on here who can't go and doesn't want to incur the steep fees that StubHub charges.

Has there been any talk of a white out game this year? I am assuming it would be vs UConn if it were to happen. (senior day, saturday afternoon, nationally televised).

If it was planned wouldnt it be better to do a cherry out instead? Costs aside, it usually looks better using a bold color, especially one that isn't in the opponents color scheme.

I normally don't pay any attention to those wannabe Wildcats, but they did get a 6-2, 225-pound linebacker named Drew Wiley from Hopewell Valley, N.J., who was rated the No. 1 middle linebacker in New Jersey, fourth in the East and No. 53 in the USA by Scout.com

And they got some beef on the OL.

Kind of ticks me off that they can get a kid like Wiley.

Note we received six votes on weekly AP poll as honorable mention, but none on USA Today. "Cinci" received honorable mention on both for what it's worth.

Nice story about the Owls recruit. It also includes his teammate at Lakewood, Datrell Reed, who is going to Villanova.

http://shoresportszone.com/main-story-section/richs-blog-signing-day-mean/

Folks, I know that many of you were not able to attend any
of the Signing Day events, for various reasons.
The videos on the Owl Sport site were the same ones we saw at the
dinner, and JDC and crew did a better job here, IMHO.


Firstly, this was a FIRST RATE event. Back in the day, it was a couple of dozen
(maybe) ham-n-eggers/goofballs showing up in some random meeting room in the
S.A.C. Wednesday, all the stops were
pulled out! The boy and I decided to
dress up a little, wearing ties, and we were probably under-dressed. In case you're considering next year, a
bargain at twice the price.


Secondly, many of us had the pleasure of meeting John
Christopher, Brandon McGowan, Will Hayes, Praise Martin Oguike, Tyler
Matakevich, Avery Ellis and Stephaun Marshall.
To a man, stand up guys, we'd all be proud to call Owls! In fact, if Matt Rhule won six games a year,
but turned out 25 fine, upstanding young men, I'd be satisfied.


A question I like to ask players at these events is (beyond
their academics): What player, that you
think I don't know, and I do know them, will make a big impact this year? Now, I won't align rising stars with the
players who mentioned them, but the list was:


·
Matt Eaton


·
Ventell Bryant


·
Romand Deloatch


·
David Hood


·
Sam Benjamin


I should have asked which position Benjamin was playing, but
I assumed it was CB. Also mentioned, but
in a response to questions: Ruff, McHale
and Robinson had all made very good improvements and could pay dividends this
season. Jabo Lee is healthy. Also, without betraying any privacy, expect
bigger and better things from T. Mat, bright kid who's made good decisions and
is now in a spot to make a quantum leap forward.


Comments by M.R. on the signees:


Logan Marchi - Rhule spoke
about him as an "athlete", reading into it, possibly a position change, but
that is just a guess.


Ryquell Armstead - M.R.
actually compared him to Bernard Pierce.
He was the fastest kid in NJ and was widely recruited. From my notes, the kid had graduated H.S.
early and was working full time at a Wendy's.


Jeremiah Atoki -
Extremely smart. He wanted to play WR,
but impressed the coaches by learning 3 different defensive schemes.


Chapelle Cook -
Most of us have looked at him as a RB.
Matt Rhule was adamant that he was going to play LBer. In fact, he approached T. Mat at the table
and asked him who was going to replace him when he graduated. M.R. was VERY excited about this young man.


Jovahn Fair - despite what
many of us may have noticed on tape (a brawling bull dozer of a man but lacking
technique) M.R. stated that this gentleman may play right away and was an
excellent wrestler.


Jager Gardner - a big
back, recruited by VA and L'Ville.


Benson Israel - M.R.
stated that he was tipped off on this kid by Chris Snee who said he was one of
the best H.S. OLs he'd either seen or coached.


DeAndre Kelly - Came at
the recommendation of LeVar Arrington.


Dana Levine - Came to
T.U. because his family, grandparents are from N. Phi.


Roy Pugh - His mother
was an Olympian. It was suggested that
this guy will red-shirt.


Jake Robinson -
Extremely competitive which won M.R. over.


T.J. Simmons - Even faster
than we'd thought, ran a 4.37 40.


Taiyir Wilson - 6' 2"
230 and runs a 4.5. Projects to an OLB.


Dawayne Young - Up to
315 lbs, compared to Terrance Knighton.