Besides [b]Duke[/b], the Owls’ schedule features seven other teams that participated in the 2010 NCAA Tournament ([b]California[/b], [b]Georgetown[/b], [b]Maryland[/b], [b]Notre Dame[/b], [b]Texas A&M[/b], [b]Villanova[/b] and [b]Wisconsin[/b]). Two NIT teams ([b]Seton Hall[/b] and [b]Toledo[/b]) and one CBI participant ([b]Akron[/b]) are also among the Owls’ opponents this coming season.
“Our non-conference schedule was ranked #1 for the greater part of last season and this year’s is clearly more challenging,” Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said.
Nov 12 Seton Hall
Nov 14 Toledo
Nov 25-26, 28 in Old Spice Classic, Orlando (field includes BC, Cal, Georgia, Manhattan, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Wisconsin)
Dec 1 @ Central Michigan
Dec 5 vs Maryland in Verizon Center, Washington, DC
Dec 9 Georgetown
Dec 12 Akron
Dec 18 Northern Illinois
Dec 22 @ Ohio
Dec 29 @ Villanova
Jan 19 Penn
Feb 23 @ Duke
So they aren’t guaranteed to play Cal, Notre Dame, Texas A & M, and Wisconsin. Isn’t that a bit like hyping up our schedule last year by naming all the big dogs that participated in the preseason NIT?
Same format as Charleston Classic, with each team playing 3 games. Temple should be one of the favs in Orlando and has a chance to start out the season looking pretty good. And yes, it is hyping up the same way we hyped last year’s PNIT, the 2007-08 recruiting class ranked #13 by HoopScoop (aka “PoopScoop” for a reason!), Martin Iti’s ESPN-ranking, etc.
If Temple can manage to make a run in their tournament and play almost all those teams, they’d probably likely have a top 10 SOS. Their travel partners in the A10 will almost assuredly destroy that though.
Agreed, but it’s the RPI that really counts. Even with a pod last season of Bona, La Salle, and St. Joe’s, Owls finished at #11. Of course, none of those were even remotely close to Fordham, which finished at #305. Even next worse SJU came in at #184!