Temple

DAYTON

Coach Brian Gregory

Temple Owls

Atlantic 10 (22-11, 11-5)

2009 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship
Boardwalk Hall - Atlantic City, N.J.

Wednesday, March 11
Game 1 - #8 La Salle vs. #9 Saint Louis - 12:00
Game 2 - #5 Saint Joseph's vs. #12 Charlotte - 2:30
Game 3 - #7 Duquesne vs. #10 Massachusetts - 6:30
Game 4 - #6 Richmond vs. #11 St. Bonaventure - 9:00

Kevin McNeill's weekly 5 Things column breaks down what's important in the world of college basketball.

Five things we learned this week...

1) That Bill Self is not very happy with his freshmen right now. 

Editor's Early Preview (12/15):

Temple pulled off one of the season's big upsets when they knocked off Top 10 Tennessee recently. The Jayhawks were on the wrong side of an upset, when they fell to UMASS in Kansas City. Temple is certainly capable of beating KU, who is simply too young at this point to be that dominant. This is a game with potential NCAA Tournament implications for both sides.

Full preview from the GameNight staff coming soon! Post your thoughts in the GameThread below:

The second week of December is normally a fairly slow week in the college basketball world. Colleges and universities around the country are ending their semesters and final exams are being taken by the student-athletes. After several weeks of tournaments and big-time match-ups, though, it was a nice change of pace for those who needed to catch their breath and/or get some holiday shopping done.

Finally, a weekend where college hoops won't have to share the spotlight with college football...outside of the Heisman ceremony Saturday night anyways. Football is still on everyone's minds, but in between your BCS bashing (I hear you Texas fans) this weekend, here's a few hoops games that deserve your attention.

Saturday, Dec. 13

12 p.m. ESPN #8 Tennessee at Temple

Tony Gaffney (Sr.), Massachusetts.  While others may have scored more points, no player helped his team any greater on both ends of the floor than did Gaffney.  For the week, Gaffney averaged a double-double (13 points, 13 rebounds per game), and also intimidated opponents by swatting away five shots per outing, including a nine block effort against Boston College.  A model of efficiency on the offensive end as well, the senior shot 67% in UMass’ two close defeats.

Another week another set of midweek games from the MAC, with the first featuring an undefeated Ball State team looking to work its way into the BCS. But with games remaining against Central Michigan and Western Michigan the Cardinals will have a hard enough time winning the MAC West let alone going undefeated. But tonight brings a trip to Oxford to take on the Redhawks of Miami (OH), who find themselves in the middle of a heated battle for the MAC East.