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.

I have not seen Memphis play this year. Has anyone watched them closely and know what to expect? From what I've read, it sounds like they could present match up problems for us inside, but their guards are erratic.

I'm surprised they beat Cinncy with some of their losses Regardless, this will be a challenging game on the road.

Go Owls.

I was on OWLSPORTS.COM, and it has a decent Signing Day package.

The highlight is the package of videos of each of the recruits.

There is a some serious talent in this class.

Gettin it done with no stadium and the worst facilities in the entire conference. This dude is the real mother f-ing deal. If this admin isn't staying up late to extend him, I hope he takes one of the many offers on his table.....

At least Morgan was focused. Will uncharacteristic 5 of 11. DeCosey in a slump. Won the hard way ..

Two questions about the 6-10, 260-pound center:

Can he play? Do the Owls have a shot to get him?

If George P. isn't coming here, then we need to pursue another big man.

We lack size and ruggedness inside. We need tough, athletic, mean, rugged, hungry, defensive-oriented players. If Ogide can be that, then we should get him. Same with Keita for 2016.

After Brown's game winning shot, I thought it might be interesting to compare Brown's season so far to Cummings as a sophomore.

Cummings (2012-2013): 34 games, 23.2 MIN, .386 FG%, 2.2 REB, 1.9 AST, .685 FT%, 1.4 STL, 1.3 TO, 5.8 PTS
Brown (2014-2015): 23 games, 21.2 MIN, .421 FG%, 3.3 REB, 1.7 AST, .844 FT%, 0.8 STL, 1.2 TO, 6.3 PTS

Note that ESPN's stats haven't updated to include today's game yet. When looking at these numbers , it wouldn't be surprising at all to see Josh make the same type of jump next year that Will made during his junior season.

Let alone brothers...
Earlier in this week we read about Bobby Petrino and what a jerk he is...
His brother on the other hand, the HC at the University of Idaho... is honoring the four year scholarship of an incoming Freshman who told the coach that he's got cancer and probably won't be able to play football ever again.

Kudos Coach!

I find thinking about the team and how it is shaping up as interesting fodder during the off year. There is all the excitement over another great recruiting still fermenting in my belly, so lets take a quick look at where my imaginations have taken me...

I remember the first full year of Rhule's recruiting. It seems like it was just last year... Oh yeah, it was just last year. I look back on how the team performed and what rhule did to address it...

So lets see what he saw and what he did...

The obvious problems were in the defensive backfield. There was a lack of talent and a lack of depth on the team. Also, there were problems with the defensive line. The offense functioned ok, but the kicker was a problem.

Rhule went out and brought in a ton of defensive back help. These guys were not only high school players, but also prep school and juco help. He knew he had to upgrade that position immediately. Also, he seemed to get more in the defensive help and finally targeted some tall wide receivers.

I find this interesting because we all could see that those were the weak spots of the team. Fast forward one year and we see the defensive backs have improved tremendously from one year to last year. Also, the defensive line improved dramatically but this was from many players already on the team maturing. It was a tremendous improvement.

Rhule found the problem and targeted it and fixed it. This past year, the entire offense was just not good. Qb play, running backs, offensive line and wide receivers were all bad. The offense this year was just as bad as the defense was the year before against the pass. Horrible.

I find it interesting that Rhule didn't get juco offensive line help or juco qb. No more panic and bringing in a lot of receivers. He just went out and brought in 2 o linemen and Marchi who they saw last year. But what did they get? They got three big time running backs. I should say they got three guys who will likely stay at running back.

Going by the guess that Rhule knows what this team needs, well, perhaps he likes his offensive line, qb, and wrs and feel all they needed was this year to get up to par. It was a tough year but I find it interesting that Rhule seemed to target only rbs.

I find that very promising because the defense had a spectacular turn around after that year. And with the wrs and olinemen in the system for a year at least, well perhaps these guys will step up. And running backs can have an immediate impact as freshmen.

Could we be seeing the offense come roaring back this year? Could we be set up for another dramatic turn around? Will the offense be as much fun to watch next year as the defense was at times this year? And what are we going to see from the defense this year? All the redshirts coming out. Another year in the system and a year of maturing.

Imagine a PJ who didn't have to run for his life. Imagine him actually learning to go through his progressions. Imagine the receivers and walker being on the same page. Imagine an oline that blocks in a coordinated fashion for both running and passing plays and are big and strong enough to get that push. Imagine any one of the three superb freshmen backs breaking off a long run or Gilmore or Williams stepping up in a big way because I suspect they are going to need to...

And I suspect the kicking game will be fixed this year. These kids just needed time to get used to the speed of the game.

I wonder what would happen if the offense turns around like the defense did this year and the defense gets even better...

It could be a very memorable year. I recommend everyone keeps their arms and legs in the car. It is going to be an exciting ride this year...

Congrats Will on reaching the 1000 point milestone!

He signed, per Bright House!