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Temple still playing anyone, anywhere
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
DAYTON — Temple always had a certain fearlessness with its schedule — some might say hubris — playing anybody, anytime, anywhere under longtime coach John Chaney. And his successor, Fran Dunphy, sees no reason to discontinue that tradition.
The Owls suffered a 71-59 setback at Kansas two weeks ago, and will get a home game from the Jayhawks next season. They just finished a two-year series with Tennessee and have started one with Penn State.
Of course, they also have their annual Big Five game with Villanova.
"To have an opportunity to go to Kansas and play at Phog Allen Arena and have them come back to the Liacouras Center, I don't think you can replace that in terms of the kinds of things you want to present to your students, both from an athletic standpoint and an attendance standpoint," Dunphy said.
"Playing Penn State home-and-home is a great game for our program. And to have Tennessee come back here after going there was great for us."
The Owls are ranked 22nd in the RPI despite a 5-6 record. Their strength of schedule is No. 1 nationally, one spot ahead of Pittsburgh and two in front of Xavier.
"I'm pleased by that, but also we need to play better if we're going to challenge ourselves as much as we are," Dunphy said.
A-10 slips in RPI
The Atlantic 10 wasn't able to maintain that momentum it had through November and early December and has fallen from seventh to ninth in the conference RPI standings, one spot ahead of the Horizon League.
Xavier suffered a surprise home loss to Butler. George Washington is coming off drubbings by Coppin State and Longwood. Saint Joseph's suffered defeats to Siena and Drexel. UMass has been blown out in its last two games by Houston and Vanderbilt. And Fordham is groping along with a 2-10 record.
But Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli sees two strong teams in Xavier and Dayton and healthy parity elsewhere.
"Take Xavier out of the conversation and Dayton for now out of the conversation, and between three and 14 or three and 13, there maybe is not going to be any separation," he said. "That, to me, speaks volumes about the league being a very good league."
The A-10 still has four teams in the RPI top-50 — Xavier (4), Temple (22), Rhode Island (40) and Dayton (44) — but there's a major dropoff after that.
Road warriors
Remember the rumblings about lopping off St. Bonaventure and maybe one or two more low performers in the A-10 to make it a more competitive league? Well, the Bonnies are 9-4 under second-year coach Mark Schmidt with a 5-0 road record.
Schmidt's team won its first road game at Marist by 23 and has been on a roll since then.
"It's just that mentality. We know how to win," Schmidt said. "We have confidence that if we need baskets, we can get them. If we need stops, we can get them."
"I read an article on Jack Nicklaus. He said the only way to learn how to win is by winning. We've been able to do that."
Frease making impact
Xavier coach Sean Miller still has his usual assortment of athletic front-line players, but the program has landed its first true inside banger during his tenure in 7-foot, 265-pound freshman center Kenny Frease, who had 13 points and five rebounds in Saturday's rout at Virginia.
"For all of us, it's an adjustment to coach someone like Kenny, who's so big and physical," Miller said.
"His field-goal percentage in December dipped below 30, and that's nowhere near reflective of how good a low-post scorer he is. He's someone who can be a difference-maker around the basket because of how physical he is."
Contact this reporter at 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
