Temple Makes the Tournament

The Temple Owls are the Atlantic Ten Conference Champions and they have earned an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. They beat St. Joseph's 69-64. The Owls were down 7 at half-time, but opened the half with a 21-7 run to hold on to the lead for the rest of the game.

Dionte Christmas led the Owls with 22 points, as he shot 5-8 from behind the arc. Mark Tyndale did not shoot that great (1-8 from the field), but he scored 8 points and 9 rebounds and 7 assists. After scoring twelve points in the first half, the Temple defense held Ahmed Nivins to only six points in the second half and one field goal.

A Temple win obviously hurts Saint Joseph's, but it may also put a damper on Villanova's tournament dreams. It really depends on how the Tournament committee looks at things because Villanova beat Temple, but was blown out by St. Joes. Which has more value: the loss to the A-10 runner-up or the victory over the A-10 champion. ESPN analysts feel that Villanova will make it and there is a good chance that the Big 5 may go from have no teams to three teams. If somehow, two or three teams make it, it speaks volumes about Philadelphia college basketball.