Diamond Owls Face A10 Challenge This Year

by Kent Manno

As the northeast braces for another snowstorm, the Temple Owls continue preparations for an upcoming road trip to Florida and the opening of the 2010 season with a three game series against Florida Gulf Coast on February 19-21. Due to obvious weather constraints at Skip Wilson Field, the team continues to practice in the warm confines of McGonigle Hall.

The early season will see the Diamond Owls travel to UNLV (February 26-28) and Duke (March 5-7). The home opener will be on March 10 vs. Delaware State, followed by a weekend with Hofstra, Northeastern, and Cornell.

Coach Valli tallied up the early season miles and the Owls will log 8,164 miles to play 11 games in warmer weather. Regardless of the miles, this is a good move to have the team get some games under their belt against non-conference teams. (Don’t rub it in by coming back with a tan!)

The A-10 schedule will undoubtedly be challenging for the Owls with top teams like Dayton, Charlotte, Xavier, and Rhode Island having fantastic 2009 seasons. Dayton won a program record 38 games last year and Charlotte won 33. On top of posting 38 wins last year, Dayton hit 77 home runs and led the A-10 Conference with a .332 batting average. The league’s head coaches have predicted Dayton to win the Atlantic 10 baseball title with Temple finishing 11th out of 14 teams. You know what they say about predictions, the games still have to be played and the chips may not fall the way of the pre-season predictions.

Perhaps the biggest shoes to fill will be those of Sean Barksdale. Barksdale hit .371 last year and led the team in HR’s with 15. In addition, the team will miss Lenny DelGrippo (.373 ), Jamie Abercrombie (.330 ), Mark Ortega (.318), and Kyle Obal (.313). Senior Matt Mongiardini and Sophomore Steve Nikorak have been selected as captains for this season. The captains will look for leadership from some key players: Tony Jusino (.363) , Foster Dunigan (.391) , Ryan Thomas (4-3), and Matt Blackburn (3-1).

We will get a better feel for the team as non-conference play begins.

As a side note, I will be covering many of the home games live and will be tweeting the updated scores as they are available…

The season will officially get underway this Friday with the First Pitch Reception at McFadden’s Citizens Bank Ballpark location. The event is open to the public and for $25 per adult the reception will feature a ballpark-fare buffet, a silent auction and a preview of the season by Coach Valli. For more info contact the Temple Owls Club at (215) 204-CLUB.

Best of luck to Coach Valli and the Diamond Owls for a successful 2010 season!

Upcoming Matchup: Temple vs. URI

[PREVIEW] Temple vs. Rhode Island
[Q&A] Getting to Know Rhode Island (Running With the Rams)
[POD] Audio broadcast preview of the game
[LIVE] Live blog of Temple - Rhode Island game
[POST GAME] Thread for post game reactions
[RECAP] Temple vs. Rhode Island

Stay updated with The Owl's Nest by following us on Twitter.

Around The Atlantic 10 (Feb. '10 - Week 1)

Here's a look at the current standings in the Atlantic 10 Conference:

Team	Overall Record
Charlotte	(18-5)(8-1)
Xavier	(16-7)(8-2)
Rhode Island	(19-3)(7-2)
#17 Temple	(19-5)(7-2)
Richmond	(18-6)(7-2)
Dayton	(16-6)(5-3)
Saint Louis	(14-8)(5-3)
Duquesne	(12-11)(3-6)
La Salle	(11-12)(3-6)
St. Bonaventure	(8-14)(2-6)
Saint Joseph's	(8-14)(2-6)
George Washington	(12-10)(2-7)
Massachusetts	(8-15)(2-7)
Fordham	(2-19)(0-9)

Stay tuned for more updates on the Atlantic 10 Conference as the season progresses.

A Long Upcoming Week for the Owls

Temple will have plenty of time between now and their next game to do a number of things.

This week off will be crucial to allow players to heal mentally and physically from what has been an overall impressive season.

Juan Fernandez will have the opportunity to rest up from the head injury he sustained against Fordham several games back. TJ DiLeo will have some time to shake off the dangerous fall he had against Richmond.

Ryan Brooks will have time to shake the slump he has recently been in, along with Craig Williams.

Most importantly, though, the team as a whole will have some time to evaluate themselves in what has been such an incredible season thus far. This team has been ranked in the Top 25 for over two months, are nearing a 20 win season, and have their eyes set on another NCAA bid and third consecutive Atlantic 10 Championship.

This week off is an important time for Temple to see what needs to be worked on in order to have a successful finish to the regular season. After this break, there are only 7 games remaining on the schedule.

We've taken some time to point out some of the factors in games that Temple needs to fix up in order to better themselves for what remains this season:

Controlling the Game's Pace: A majority of team's that the Owls play tend to favor the faster game pace, unlike Temple's half court sets. Temple sometimes has a tendency to fall into the opponent's game plan by playing the opposition's style of play. The team's advantages fall under slowing the pace of the game down and running an offense to set up opportunities. Granted there are times when you outman someone pushing the ball, the majority of the team's production comes from the half court sets and needs to be focused on.

Points to this topic:

- Slow down and run a motion offense
- Play your team's pace, not the opponent

Utilizing Your Weapons: Part of scouting out an opposing team is finding the mismatches and areas where your team has the upper hand. The Owls are fortunate to have weapons and abilities at every position, which is one characteristic that makes this team so unique. That doesn't mean though that a spread out and diverse offense is always going to win games. When there's a good look in the paint, feed the big men. When there's an overload, swing the ball. If the team is hot on the outside, get the ball to the hot hand. The point is to not force a scoring outlet when there is already success somewhere else on the floor.

Points to this topic:

- Take advantage of the mismatches
- Don't shy away from who ever is making the plays

Establishing Momentum Early: We've seen Temple struggle from the starting minutes of the game and dig themselves a hole to climb out of. There are players on this team that have the ability to change the outcomes of games, but sometimes a player gets in his groove too late. Jumping out early on your opponent dictates the overall scheme of the game, and determines the momentum at times. Many times, the first minutes of the game are the most crucial ones on determining the outcome, and normally the team that comes out aggressive is going to get the job done.

Points to this topic:

- Jump on the opponent early
- Establish the game plan from the get-go

Decision Making: This could classify basically any of the topics we've already discussed, but we'll be a little more specific in this category: turnovers and blown opportunities. Smart players make the logical decisions that can quickly shift or build a team's momentum. A simple bad pass that is taken back on a fast break could dictate the outcome of a game. Whether it is an ill-advised shot, giving up a dribble, or blown possession, players need to focus on the most important keys to victory. Understanding the situation at hand and making the smart choices will only help make the team more productive.

Points to this topic:

- Make the smart play
- Put the team before yourself

These are just several pieces of Temple's game that could potentially determine the outcome of this season. There are many positives that outweigh the negatives, but those negatives are what the opposing team attacks.

This will be a long one for both the team and the coaching staff. Now is the time that Temple needs to play its top-notch basketball.

Owls Get a Spider Bite in Richmond

by Kent Manno

With Juan Fernandez watching from the bench (sidelined with a head injury), the Owls struggled against Richmond as a game of catch-up would not yield accolades for the Owls as the Comeback Kids. Richmond defeated the Owls 71-54 in snowy Richmond.

Same story, different day. Temple starts off slow and attempts to find a groove. Usually after a short while in the first half they begin to click and baskets start dropping. Not the case today in snowy Richmond. Too many turnovers and a stingy Richmond match-up zone defense created too much of a hill to climb for the Owls.

Richmond's Kevin Anderson was stellar with 29 points, as Allen and Moore could only muster 17 points each for the Owls. Clearly, the team missed the play of Juan Fernandez.

The first half was all Spiders. Allen needed the ball more with 1 on 1's the key to breaking down Richmond's defense. It was just as tough to get a little daylight into the lanes for a good shot. Jefferson and DiLeo showed signs of promise, but let's remember they are young players.

Temple picked up the defensive hustle in the second half trying the full court press. Richmond seemed to be slowing a bit, but they did not hesitate at all. At 5:54 to go in the game, Temple had an offensive run and was only down by 9, and there was hope.

Unfortunately the hill was too much to climb.

Shooting percentage from the field was off for the majority of the game, and Richmond was hitting quite a few 3's.

It's going to be a long and quiet ride home.

The Owls have a week off to re-group and re-focus on the tail end of the season. A win today would have been nice as Xavier lost to Dayton 90-65.

Rhode Island next Saturday, see you all there. Live tweets from the Liacouras Center.

Temple Drops Second in Last Four Games

Temple went into Richmond without the services of guard Juan Fernandez, and it turned out to really hurt them.

The Owls found themselves trailing by 18 points at halftime against a team that was shooting the lights out. Take a look at these stats:

Temple Halftime Field Goal Per.: 27%
Richmond Halftime Field Goal Per.: 77%

Unfortunately, that's not a typo for Richmond's field goal shooting percentage. They flat out shot the lights out against a Temple team that was exposed for it's sluggishness at times on defense.

In a similar position as they were against Duquesne, Temple found itself trailing 7-0 from the start. The closest this game had ever been was 15-9 with 12:00 remaining in the first half.

The storyline of this game, however, was not the struggle of Temple. It was the unbelievable and unstoppable play by the Richmond Spiders which earned them the 71-54 upset.

Kevin Anderson was a one man wrecking ball, shooting 11/17 from the field. He finished the game with 29 points. Temple had no answer for his ability to knock down the pull up jumper, or his nasty runner. Anderson was as consistent as it gets, and was the key reason why the Spiders were able to jump on top of the Owls so early on.

David Gonzalvez was crucial to this game as well. Whenever the Owls were on the brink of making a comeback, "Gonzo" (as the students on campus refer to him) was always the answer. With about 5:00 remaining and a 9 point lead, Gonzalvez hit a three pointer that seemed to seal the deal.

Ryan Butler did not miss a shot in this game for Richmond, shooting 6/6 from the overall field, and 2/2 from the foul line. He was also essential to maintaining the RU lead when it seemed the Owls were finally getting things going.

Here are Temple's top performers from tonight's game. We'll go into more depth in our following post on Temple's performance:

Ramone Moore (17 points, 1 rebound)
Lavoy Allen (17 points, 19 rebounds, 3 steals)
Luis Guzman (7 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists)
Rahlir Jefferson (5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist)

Temple's record falls to (19-5)(7-2), and they will have a full week off to prepare for Rhode Island.

Richmond improves to (18-6)(7-2), and coincidentally they will play Rhode Island Wednesday.

Whatcha Think? Temple vs. Richmond