Temple earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Owls will make their sixth consecutive NCAA appearance this season. Here are five things you may not have known about Temple:
1. They’re a Jekyll-and-Hyde team. The Owls own some terrific wins (Syracuse, Saint Louis, Villanova) and some puzzling losses (Canisius, St. Bonaventure). Temple has the talent to make a deep run in the tournament, but they’re going to have to start playing more like Jekyll in order to do so.
2. Khaliff Wyatt is a big-time scorer. He averages 19.8 points per game and has the ability to go off at any time, like when he hung 30 on VCU in the Owls’ win over the Rams in the regular season finale a week ago.
3. This is an experienced team. Wyatt, second-leading scorer Scootie Randall and big man Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson are all seniors, as is forward Jake O’Brien. Temple could rely on that experience, as well as four straight trips to the tournament, to
get it through to the second weekend.
4. Fran Dunphy has done a solid job replacing legendary head coach John Chaney. Chaney won 741 games in his career at Temple, and brought them to the brink of the Final Four an incredible four times, losing in the Elite Eight in 1988, ’91, ’99, and 2001. But Dunphy has answered the bell since taking over, as this will be his sixth NCAA appearance in seven years as coach.
5. Temple has campuses in Tokyo, Rome, Italy, London and Singapore. The Owls really do have international flavor.