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Temple Owls trying to fly high once again
by Eric Williams
Although the Temple Owls are no longer one of the elite basketball powerhouses in the country, I firmly believe that Hall of Fame head coach John Chaney is still the best collegiate coach in the country - bar none. Chaney, along with assistant coach Bill Ellerbee, the longtime head coach at Simon Gratz High School and a man with whom I have a long personal history, are two of the finest coaches to ever diagram a basketball play in any era.
Both coaches are not only basketball geniuses whose respective roundball IQ’s can’t be measured, but two of the finest role models and teachers of life lessons that any young man could ever dream of having.
But enough with my feelings regarding both coaches, which have been well-documented throughout the years. This column is dedicated to deciphering how well Temple will do this season.
The Owls, who regularly play one of the toughest schedules in the country each year will again play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, but this season most of the tougher opponents will be coming to Philadelphia instead of the other way around. The Owls will host Duke, Alabama, Maryland, Miami (FL), South Carolina, and Army in the preseason NIT while traveling to Auburn, Princeton and Rutgers and will also take on Philadelphia Big 5 foes Penn and Villanova at The Palestra, which are always hazardous inner-city battles that can go either way.
Although the Owls are returning nine players from last season, they were picked to finish only third in the new-look 14-team one-division Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Conference. The Owls received eight first place votes in a poll conducted among the league’s coaches and a panel of media members. George Washington (#24 USA Today/ESPN), the 2005 A-10 Champion, was the top choice in the poll with 38 first place votes among the 65 panelists followed by A-10 newcomer Charlotte with 18 first place votes. Xavier was the fourth choice in the poll followed by Dayton, Saint Joseph’s, Massachusetts, Fordham, Rhode Island, La Salle, Richmond, Duquesne, Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure.
Polls aside, I think the Owls are going to surprise several teams this season - and as every knowledgeable basketball observer knows - the Owls will be a much better team late in the season than they appear to be early on.
The good thing for Chaney is that this season shouldn’t have nearly the huge learning curve as it did last season for several Owls players who will be counted on to deliver when it matters most.
First and foremost, Temple returns senior point guard, Mardy Collins who earned a gold medal at the 2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championships and was recently named as a preseason candidate for the James Naismith award which is annually awarded to the nation’s best player.
“I look to this team to be one of our better teams,” Chaney said before the season began. “This is a team that had great opportunities last year to bust through as a young team. Now, one year later and with the addition of young talented players that can help us immensely, I think this will be one of our better teams.”
Whether or not this actually turns out to be one of Chaney’s better teams remains to be seen, but it is certainly one of the deepest teams in his 24 years at Temple with four of the returnees – Collins, senior Antywane Robinson, junior Wayne Marshall and sophomore Mark Tyndale – having started 20 or more games and junior guard Dustin Salisbery having made 13 starts.
Collins, who led the Owls in scoring (17.5 ppg.), rebounding (5.9 rpg.), assists (109), steals (85), three-pointers (48) and minutes played (37.6 mpg.), was also selected as a preseason all-defensive team member and sophomore Mark Tyndale was named to the preseason all-conference second team while freshman guard Dionte Christmas represented the Cherry and White on the preseason all-rookie team.
“Having these returning players is going to be a great challenge in terms of finding the correct pecking order” said Chaney on managing the depth.
Chaney’s 22 consecutive postseason appearances, which is quite an impressive resume for any basketball program and one that few programs in the country can lay claim to, should remain intact following the 2005-06 regular season. Are the Owls a 20-win team this season? I believe so, but then again, that’s why they play the games.Are they going to contend for a national championship? No, but I certainly would not put anything past either Chaney or Ellerbee.
If Collins has to lead this team in nearly every statistical category of importance, then the Owls could be in trouble. I mean, it’s not a good thing when your point guard is your leading rebounder.
However, if Temple’s young guns can shoulder some of the load that Collins had to bear last season, then there could once again be bedlam on Broad Street.
Eric Williams is an award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Sunday Sun. He writes for several publications across the country. Eric can be heard on BetUS radio every Wednesday at 3:18 eastern.
Both coaches are not only basketball geniuses whose respective roundball IQ’s can’t be measured, but two of the finest role models and teachers of life lessons that any young man could ever dream of having.
But enough with my feelings regarding both coaches, which have been well-documented throughout the years. This column is dedicated to deciphering how well Temple will do this season.
The Owls, who regularly play one of the toughest schedules in the country each year will again play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, but this season most of the tougher opponents will be coming to Philadelphia instead of the other way around. The Owls will host Duke, Alabama, Maryland, Miami (FL), South Carolina, and Army in the preseason NIT while traveling to Auburn, Princeton and Rutgers and will also take on Philadelphia Big 5 foes Penn and Villanova at The Palestra, which are always hazardous inner-city battles that can go either way.
Although the Owls are returning nine players from last season, they were picked to finish only third in the new-look 14-team one-division Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Conference. The Owls received eight first place votes in a poll conducted among the league’s coaches and a panel of media members. George Washington (#24 USA Today/ESPN), the 2005 A-10 Champion, was the top choice in the poll with 38 first place votes among the 65 panelists followed by A-10 newcomer Charlotte with 18 first place votes. Xavier was the fourth choice in the poll followed by Dayton, Saint Joseph’s, Massachusetts, Fordham, Rhode Island, La Salle, Richmond, Duquesne, Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure.
Polls aside, I think the Owls are going to surprise several teams this season - and as every knowledgeable basketball observer knows - the Owls will be a much better team late in the season than they appear to be early on.
The good thing for Chaney is that this season shouldn’t have nearly the huge learning curve as it did last season for several Owls players who will be counted on to deliver when it matters most.
First and foremost, Temple returns senior point guard, Mardy Collins who earned a gold medal at the 2005 FIBA Under-21 World Championships and was recently named as a preseason candidate for the James Naismith award which is annually awarded to the nation’s best player.
“I look to this team to be one of our better teams,” Chaney said before the season began. “This is a team that had great opportunities last year to bust through as a young team. Now, one year later and with the addition of young talented players that can help us immensely, I think this will be one of our better teams.”
Whether or not this actually turns out to be one of Chaney’s better teams remains to be seen, but it is certainly one of the deepest teams in his 24 years at Temple with four of the returnees – Collins, senior Antywane Robinson, junior Wayne Marshall and sophomore Mark Tyndale – having started 20 or more games and junior guard Dustin Salisbery having made 13 starts.
Collins, who led the Owls in scoring (17.5 ppg.), rebounding (5.9 rpg.), assists (109), steals (85), three-pointers (48) and minutes played (37.6 mpg.), was also selected as a preseason all-defensive team member and sophomore Mark Tyndale was named to the preseason all-conference second team while freshman guard Dionte Christmas represented the Cherry and White on the preseason all-rookie team.
“Having these returning players is going to be a great challenge in terms of finding the correct pecking order” said Chaney on managing the depth.
Chaney’s 22 consecutive postseason appearances, which is quite an impressive resume for any basketball program and one that few programs in the country can lay claim to, should remain intact following the 2005-06 regular season. Are the Owls a 20-win team this season? I believe so, but then again, that’s why they play the games.Are they going to contend for a national championship? No, but I certainly would not put anything past either Chaney or Ellerbee.
If Collins has to lead this team in nearly every statistical category of importance, then the Owls could be in trouble. I mean, it’s not a good thing when your point guard is your leading rebounder.
However, if Temple’s young guns can shoulder some of the load that Collins had to bear last season, then there could once again be bedlam on Broad Street.
Eric Williams is an award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Sunday Sun. He writes for several publications across the country. Eric can be heard on BetUS radio every Wednesday at 3:18 eastern.
