Last night's A Tale of Two Halves battle between Villanova and American was a great start to the local madness, and today's edition could prove to be just as good a game. Temple, an 11 seed, will face 6 Arizona State this afternoon in Miami, a matchup that could look a lot like the current TU team playing a former version of itself.
ASU runs a zone defense not entirely unlike the hallmark of the John Chaney era on North Broad. It's not exactly a matchup zone, but it's close. According to Fran Dunphy as quoted in this article by Jeff McLane and Joe Juliano, it's a combination zone with man-to-man switches, but there are indeed similarities. As long time Temple fans can tell you from experience, the best way to beat that zone is to shoot over it successfully. We saw it happen annually every March. So the big question today is whether Temple's guns, particularly Dionte Christmas, are on target.
The Owls can expect to see active hands and limited passing lanes disappear in a heartbeat, so they'll need to be extremely careful with the ball. The three seniors on the team should know that scheme well, and hopefully they can forge a productive mix of Dunphy ball while channeling the sound of their former coach raining a mix of abuse and unconditional love on them all game.
It'd be great if all we had to worry about was AZ State's defense. Sadly, they also have one of the nation's best ballers in James Harden. Who's James Harden? Oh, just a lottery pick, the Pac-10 player of the year, and a first team All-American. Meh. Yesterday, he was profiled in a piece that ran in the New York Times, which quotes Dunphy as likening Harden to Paul Pierce. But Dunph was quick to disagree with Christmas that ASU's offense was all Harden, as this quote from the Arizona Star shows:
[Christmas] called ASU's offense "80 percent" Harden."When Dionte speaks, I listen — but I don't always believe," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "Eighty percent, what's that all about? Harden is a helluva player. I wish he was the only guy on Arizona State that we had to worry about."
The 6'5" guard averages 21 points and 4 assists a game, but he's complemented well by forward Jeff "Teddy" Pendergraph (14.5 ppg, 8.4 reb).
In short, if they weren't playing my alma mater—the team I camped out to get second-row season tickets for—I'd probably love to watch them play today; if ASU were just some random 6 seed, they'd be the kind of team I might have made my sleeper in the pool. Fortunately, Temple is hot and primed for a first-day upset, having won their second straight conference title, picking off Xavier along the way. Christmas was the tourney's Most Outstanding Player again, and he absolutely has the power to take over the game today. You can bet Harden's talking about him right now too. Plus, they've been blessed by greatness.
Tipoff is somewhere between 2:35 and 2:45, depending on who you ask. Should be a great game.
LET'S GO TEMPLE!
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/03/te...
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December 30, 2007
