Don't know that I've ever seen this before by a Temple player. But I sure do hope that I'll see more. Lavoy Allen had a double-double in the FIRST half. 13 points and 14 (yes, you read correctly) rebounds. He went on to nab 18 rebounds for the game, setting a Liacouras Center record.
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The second largest crowd of the season. Not certain what was the draw. Surely, it was not Temple's opponent, St. Bonaventure, whose record has been just good enough to earn a spot in the bottom half of the Atlantic 10. By the way, there are probably others, but the Bonnies are the only school I 'm aware of (other than the obvious one) that features brown in its uniforms. So perhaps the crowd was attracted by the birthday celebration (for Hooter, the Temple Owl). His birthday brings out other mascots from throughout the region (including the Philly Phanatic in other years, but not this one). Like college nicknames, I thought I knew mascots, but the only ones I recognized were the Penn Quaker and the Camden Rivershark. I'm not counting the Trenton Thunder mascot because he(she?) had the word Thunder emblazoned across the front of the costume, and beyond that I couldn't make out what I was looking at. There was a lame stunt during one of the time outs in which a "gift from Phil Martelli" was brought out onto the floor - out of the box emerged - what else, the Hawk (and not the real hawk, since St. Joe's had a game at the Palestra at the same time). Of course, the Hawk was immediately confronted by the Owl , a scuffle ensued and the Owl lost his head. He wasn't seen again.
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While on the subject of heads, the Owls ran a promotion featuring a Dionte Christmas bobblehead. Perhaps that was the attraction that drew more than 7000 fans - we arrived shortly before tipoff and were shut out of our Christmas bobblehead. Al Shrier will have to stand alone on the bookshelf in my office. Maybe the bobblehead went to Dionte's head. He made only 4 out of 15 shots, in the process taking several ill-advised shots that were easily in NBA three-point range. Christmas scored 18 points to maintain his conference scoring lead (he's on track to become the first player to lead the Atlantic 10 in scoring for three seasons) but he'll have to regain his shooting stroke if the Owls are to play well into March. Christmas made one of his three-pointers with 16 minutes remaining in the game to put the Owls up by 17. It was the last Temple score for the next five minutes, during which St. Bonaventure cut the deficit down to 8, and at the same time put our departure plans on hold.
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The Owls were sloppy handling the ball. More turnovers than assists. Enough said.
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The bookmakers were on the mark, again. Temple was favored by 16 points. With four minutes left in the game, the Owls were ahead by 16.
Had their final shot of the game gone in, the winning margin would have been...16.
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Temple now has a 9-3 record in the A-10 and is tied for first in the conference with Xavier and Dayton. The Owls travel to Dayton next Saturday for a game that very likely could determine the top seed in the conference tournament. I'm told the game will be shown on Comcast Sports Network.
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Watching Juan Fernandez play invariably draws comparisons to Juan Ignacio Sánchez, better known to Philadelphians as Pepe. In the "where is he now" category, Pepe is 32 years old and playing with Real Madrid in the Spanish League. He's getting about 20 minutes per game, and as you might expect, not scoring very much but continues to be a playmaker (he averages more assists than points per game). Once again, Fernandez showed flashes of brilliance, bringing oohs and aahs from the crowd as well as heaping doses of optimism for the next four years.
Perhaps the Temple soccer coach could pick up some recruiting tips from Fran Dunphy. Temple's hoops roster includes four internationals (Olmos, Fernandez, Michael Eric (from Nigeria) and Craig Williams (from Virgin Islands).
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For the first time in years, I parked in the Liacouras Center garage. It was raw and raining at 2pm, for those of you wondering what madness had overcome me. We stayed to the final buzzer. We were out of the lot in about 15 minutes, although it sure seemed longer while we were stationary on the third level. It set back our post-game plans just a little bit. Wanting to try a new (to us) spot, we ventured to Liberties restaurant in Northern Liberties, where a large group of middle-aged men (who from their looks were either police officers or members of an Irish sporting club) had taken over the establishment. Up the street we went to Standard Tap, where we were told the kitchen wouldn't be serving for another 30 minutes. (These 2pm tipoffs leave those looking for a meal in a predicament). Wound up at North on Third, where, as in seasons past, the service, food, and ambience were first-rate. It's at the corner of 3rd and Brown Sts.
A commentary by season ticket-holder Tim Cousounis on the fan experience of Temple University hoops
Showing posts with label Northern Liberties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Northern Liberties. Show all posts
20101201
Chronicowls, MMX, Post7
I'll ask once again. Where are the Temple fans? Less than 6000 attended the game last night. Perhaps last night it was a good thing that there weren't 10.000 fans to witness Temple's shooting performance. But haven't we been told that the sign of a very good team is one that can win even when it's having an off night? That's the case, I'd submit, with the Owls. Last evening, Temple made fewer than one-third of their field goal attempts (and only 2 out of 15 three-point shots) , and just over 60% of their foul shots. Yet we won (and beat the point spread) over a team that had won 18 games this season, including recent wins over Xavier and Charlotte. Credit several factors. The Owls defense held Dayton to nearly 30 points under their season average, and the Owls offense turned the ball over but 8 times. That comes as small surprise for Owl fans, since Temple leads all Atlantic 10 schools in scoring defense and fewest turnovers. And while the 41 points Dayton scored may appear to be a ridiculously low number (one fan remarked that the score resembled that of an 8th-grade game), last night was the NINTH time that Temple has held its opponent to less than 50 points in a game this season. And back in December, one opponent didn't even score 40 points. Dayton went more than eight minutes in the first half without scoring. NOT A SINGLE POINT. --------------------------------
Dayton is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation. You wouldn't know from last night. Lavoy Allen had 10 rebounds at HALFTIME. He finished with 17 for the game. Allen remains on track to be the first Temple player in 40 years to average a double-double (points-rebounds) for the season. Juan Guzman may not score much, and so is underappreciated. Last night he had a career-high 7 assists, and NO turnovers. Once again, Ramone Moore was the high scorer. Seventh consecutive game in which Moore has scored more than 10 points. He's only a sophomore, and on the verge of stardom (IMHO).
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A 25-win regular season is within reach. That would be third-most in school history, and the most since the 87-88 team that for several weeks was ranked #1 in the nation. In fact, the 23 wins thus far is more than Temple has had over an ENTIRE season since the 2001 team won 24 games. So to say this has been an exceptional season is hardly overstating the case. I'll ask, one final time this season. So where are the fans? Only three crowds of more than 8000, and for an attractive home schedule. Games played in a new arena with scarcely a bad seat. I don't understand it. Frankly, I don't know anyone who does.
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Bought 50-50 raffle tickets. The women's fencing team was the beneficiary. That squad, by the way, is the school's must successful program. Has been for many years. Presently ranked #7 in the nation. And the coach, Nikke Franke, was recognized at halftime for earning her 600th career victory. And, oh yes, we went through another season without a winning raffle ticket.
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A chant has broken out in the student section near the end of all home games this season (with the exception of the loss to Kansas). No one in our section could make out the words of the chant - it wasn't something straightforward like You Suck, or that other popular and obscene chant of A--hole which comes out of the student section several times each game. Last night, I realized that the students, while jumping in place and clapping, are chanting "I believe that we have won". Not original, I've learned, but it's the first time I've heard it and I must say I LIKE IT.
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Positive reports ( two thumbs-up) on the food at the Pub Webb. The pulled pork sandwich is recommended. At least there's an alternative to the Draught Horse for a on-campus post-game spot to allow the parking garage to empty out. Some of us returned to Wino (in Northern Liberties, just 10 minutes from campus), where we enjoyed good meals and drinks, at reasonable prices. And I shouldn't forget that we joined in on a Quizzo game last night at Wino, and much to our surprise were in third place after the first two rounds. We figured we wouldn't much of a match for the twenty and thirty-somethings who were also playing, especially when a question in the first round had all four of us looking at each other in the hopes that one could identify just one movie in which actor Billy Zane had played. Our hopes were not realized. Not one of us had heard of Billy Zane. Turns out he played Kate Winslet's vile fiancé in Titanic, along with lesser roles in less successful movies.
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Temple is now 13th in the RPI. A #5 seed in the NCAA tournament is not out of reach. But that will require, I believe, winning all three remaining regular-season games, and reaching at least the semifinals of the A-10 tournament.
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I'll be out of town for the final home game, so likely this will be my final Chronicowls post of this season. It's been fun, and I appreciate your feedback, and words of encouragement (especially when I was sidelined with writer's block early in the season). Go Owls! I'm counting on each of you to join with the students at the end of the GW game - "I believe that we have won" are the lyrics.
Dayton is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation. You wouldn't know from last night. Lavoy Allen had 10 rebounds at HALFTIME. He finished with 17 for the game. Allen remains on track to be the first Temple player in 40 years to average a double-double (points-rebounds) for the season. Juan Guzman may not score much, and so is underappreciated. Last night he had a career-high 7 assists, and NO turnovers. Once again, Ramone Moore was the high scorer. Seventh consecutive game in which Moore has scored more than 10 points. He's only a sophomore, and on the verge of stardom (IMHO).
---------------------------------
A 25-win regular season is within reach. That would be third-most in school history, and the most since the 87-88 team that for several weeks was ranked #1 in the nation. In fact, the 23 wins thus far is more than Temple has had over an ENTIRE season since the 2001 team won 24 games. So to say this has been an exceptional season is hardly overstating the case. I'll ask, one final time this season. So where are the fans? Only three crowds of more than 8000, and for an attractive home schedule. Games played in a new arena with scarcely a bad seat. I don't understand it. Frankly, I don't know anyone who does.
----------------------------------
Bought 50-50 raffle tickets. The women's fencing team was the beneficiary. That squad, by the way, is the school's must successful program. Has been for many years. Presently ranked #7 in the nation. And the coach, Nikke Franke, was recognized at halftime for earning her 600th career victory. And, oh yes, we went through another season without a winning raffle ticket.
----------------------------------
A chant has broken out in the student section near the end of all home games this season (with the exception of the loss to Kansas). No one in our section could make out the words of the chant - it wasn't something straightforward like You Suck, or that other popular and obscene chant of A--hole which comes out of the student section several times each game. Last night, I realized that the students, while jumping in place and clapping, are chanting "I believe that we have won". Not original, I've learned, but it's the first time I've heard it and I must say I LIKE IT.
---------------------------------
Positive reports ( two thumbs-up) on the food at the Pub Webb. The pulled pork sandwich is recommended. At least there's an alternative to the Draught Horse for a on-campus post-game spot to allow the parking garage to empty out. Some of us returned to Wino (in Northern Liberties, just 10 minutes from campus), where we enjoyed good meals and drinks, at reasonable prices. And I shouldn't forget that we joined in on a Quizzo game last night at Wino, and much to our surprise were in third place after the first two rounds. We figured we wouldn't much of a match for the twenty and thirty-somethings who were also playing, especially when a question in the first round had all four of us looking at each other in the hopes that one could identify just one movie in which actor Billy Zane had played. Our hopes were not realized. Not one of us had heard of Billy Zane. Turns out he played Kate Winslet's vile fiancé in Titanic, along with lesser roles in less successful movies.
----------------------------------
Temple is now 13th in the RPI. A #5 seed in the NCAA tournament is not out of reach. But that will require, I believe, winning all three remaining regular-season games, and reaching at least the semifinals of the A-10 tournament.
---------------------------------
I'll be out of town for the final home game, so likely this will be my final Chronicowls post of this season. It's been fun, and I appreciate your feedback, and words of encouragement (especially when I was sidelined with writer's block early in the season). Go Owls! I'm counting on each of you to join with the students at the end of the GW game - "I believe that we have won" are the lyrics.
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