Big 5 Goes Down Hard

Friday was a very disappointing day for Big 5 basketball.  Temple, St. Joes, and La Salle all lost yesterday in the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament in Atlantic City.

Temple started off the disappointing day falling to UMass by a final of 77-71.  Although Temple led late in the game, UMass kept scratching and clawing their way back into the game and eventually came out victorious.  Temple was the top seed in the tournament and will still receive an at large bid to the NCAA tourney.  But this defeat is definitely hard to swallow, and a bit shocking to say the least.  Temple senior Ramon Moore had this to say on the devastating defeat:

“It’s very difficult.  My five years being here, we've always done a great job down here. This is our first time going home the first day. It hurts a lot, you know, and this is our last go-round, I wanted it as bad as anybody.”

Moore and Khalif Wyatt led the way for Temple in scoring with 14 and 15 points respectively.  Temple will have a few days off before they begin preparing for their first round matchup in the big dance.

St. Joe's followed Temple with a loss of their own falling to St. Bonaventure 71-68.  The Hawks hung around for much of the game but they forced some tough shots late in the second half that simply didn't fall.  Basically it seemed like when the Hawks needed a bucket to go ahead they simply couldn't get it.  St. Joe's guard Carl Jones was a big reason the Hawks were able to stick around.  He led the way with 24 points and was a dazzling 4-8 from beyond the arc.  But in the end it was a sour defeat for Phil Martelli and the Hawks.

“It had nothing to do with any of our preparation. We wanted to play tomorrow. That’s all,” Martelli said. “We just wanted to play tomorrow and see how things would play out.  These players have never heard ‘NCAA’, they’ve never heard 'bubble.' They’ve just heard about what we’ve talked about since August and that’s win.”

St. Joe's is 20-13 overall and 9-7 in the Atlantic 10.  With this defeat it's safe to say that they are now a long shot to make the dance.

La Salle took to the court in the night cap and they had the same fate as their fellow Philadelphia teams.  The Exploreres started out the game absolutely horrendously and they were never able to fully recover from the slow start.  La Salle was able to battle back and make it an interesting game but overall it was their defense, or lack there of that was their eventual down fall.  La Salle played awful team defense and St. Louis was able to get fairly easy high percentage baskets.  Although La Salle will not make it to the NCAA tourney, head coach John Giannini was optimistic about the prospects of playing in the NIT.


"We're 0-4 to St. Louis and Temple – two good teams. But we're 4-0 against UMass, St. Bonaventure and Xavier. (All teams still alive in the A-10 tourney) We would love to be in the NIT. I think when that bracket is announced, you see some of the best programs in the country. Obviously everyone would prefer to be in the NCAA tournament, but you're judged by the company you keep and you're going to see household names in that tournament.We would love to be among those household names."

Overall I was hoping to watch St. Joe's, Temple, or La Salle battle for the A-10 crown this weekend.  But all three teams were ousted yesterday making this a very disappointing weekend for Big 5 basketball.

Temple Upsets Duke

On Wednesday night, Fran Dunphy and the Temple Owls arrived at the Wells Fargo Center via the Broad Street line subway.  Meanwhile, Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils arrived in nice luxurious buses.  Simply put, the matchup had upset written all over it well before the game even began.

In the first half Temple did a great job of getting out into the open floor and speeding up the tempo.  They were able to overcome some early turnovers and going into the half led 35-33.

In the second half, Temple jumped out to a quick 6 point lead and really never looked back.  Temple was able to maintain their lead by getting great dribble penetration and then kicking the ball out to their shooters who knocked down some big shots.  Ramon Moore went 1-2 from beyond the arc while Khalif Wyatt went 3-5 from long distance.  Defensively, Temple was undersized going up against Mason and Miles Plumlee.  But they did an outstanding job of double teaming the Plumlee brothers and keeping them in check.  

For me Juan Fernandez was one of the key players of the game.  Although he only had 4 points, he stayed calm and had some amazing passes late in the game to set his teammates up with some key easy baskets.  Overall Dunphy did a great job of getting his guys to play hard and keep their composure even when it looked like Duke was closing in.  

In the end Temple won by a final of 78-73, pulling off the improbable upset over Duke.  I was on the edge of my seat for the entire game.  You just had this sense that eventually Duke was going to make a run, but it just never happened.  Temple's stingy defense was able to stave off  the Blue Devils and Duke never even took the lead in the second half.

It was a very impressive win for Temple, and a very big win for the city of Philadelphia.