It has been a long time since the Temple Owls have graced the NCAA tournament with their pressence. Now four years after there last NCAA berth the Temple Owls look to get passed last years events which darkened their reputation and get back to the glory days of going deep into the tournament. Last basketball season the Owls were seen all over Sportscenter and other sports shows not because of the team, but because of coach John Chaney’s acts during Temple’s game against their rival Saint Joseph University.
In the game Chaney put in foward Nehemiah Ingram not to play his position but to purposly foul other Saint Joseph players. Ingram fouled out in four minutes and broke Saint Joseph’s starting forward’s arm.
This event plaqued Chaney and the Owls for weeks and many sports reporters critized Chaney and claimed his anger problems and his age have effected his coaching. It seemed that many people wanted Chaney to retire and end his hall of fame career on this note.
Well dispite all the events which unfolded last season Chaney was not forced to retire by the university. He decided to stay on as the Owls head coach for the 2005-2006 season.
The Owls began this season with one thing on their minds, to stop playing in the meaningless NIT and get back to the NCAA tournament.
The Owls opened the season with an impressive win 69-37 over Army, but this really doesn’t say much since it is Army.
Their next game was againt #16 UCLA in what was going to be their first test. The Owls lost but only by a mere seven points so hope was still there.
The Owls would win an impressive game against the University of Miami and then lose to a reviving Rutgers after leading at halftime. The Owls shot on 28 percent from the field and once again fans and critics believed the Owls still haven’t changed.
The Owls rebounded from this lose by beating ivy league teams UPENN and Princeton. However their next test was #19/22 Alabama.
The Owls, with no big man presence down low in the post, sunk nine three point shots in the first half and stayed on to beat Alabama 68 to 58. Junior Guard Dustin Salisbery lead the team in scoring with 20 points and senior Antwyane Robinson’s 17 points and 11 rebounds helped secure Temple’s first win over a top 25 team in three years.
So what does that mean for Temple now? Can they get back to the glory days they once had? Well John Chaney is trying to join Penn State football coach Joe Paterno in shuting up those critics who have said he was to old to coach. If Chaney can get the Owls back to the days to when their record was 5-2 (like it is now) and going deep into the NCAA tournament than maybe he can regain the respect he lost last year.
The Temple Owls have a tough scedule coming up playing at Auburn, than home against South Carolina, and of course the big new years eve cross town rivalry game against #3 Villanova. The Owls pulled this win off last year, but we’ll see if they could do it again. If the Owls could pull off these three wins going into the their first A10 game against #15 George Washington than I believe that the Owls will be back in the NCAA tournament.
Surely coach Chaney would love to be another coach over the age of 70 to shut his critics up and prove he can still coach and win.
One reply on “Temple’s Coach Chaney gets Owls Back on Track”
I liked when he got on the microphone during the one game earlier during the season. Great coach, who made one bad mistake and will always be remembered for it… just like Bobby Knight.