Found March 20, 2009 on 700 Level:

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!

Yardbarker aggregates the latest sports news, rumors and gossip from around the web. We use proprietary algorithms to automatically categorize stories and associate photos with articles. If you feel an article was miscategorized, please email tagging@yardbarker.com.
THE BACKYARD
AROUND THE WEB
RELATED ARTICLES

Celtics Make it 3-0 Out West

Paul Pierce scored all 24 of his points in the second half and 5 players scored in double figures as the Celtics win in Utah 104-98 to make it 3-0 on their West coast swing. The big test will come on Sunday as they face the Lakers.

BigMck

Paul Pierce was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week.  He averaged 25.3 points and 5.0 rebounds as the C’s won three games this week. Here’s a closer look at Pierce’s week (courtesy of NBA.com): Dec. 12 vs. Sacramento: Tallied 26 points, six rebounds, four assists, two...

Boston Celtics All-Star Representative

Paul Pierce has earned his fifth consecutive trip to the All-Star game. Pierce scored 19 points in just over twenty minutes in his first All-Star appearance. He is a great choice to represent the Boston Celtics because he is having the best year of his career shooting over forty percent and racking u...

Did You Know The Celtics Played Tonight Too

Paul Pierce was held scoreless in the first half by the Utah Jazz. They couldn’t stop him in the second half as he scored 24 points to lead the Boston Celtics to a 104-98 win in front of 19,911 at the Energy Solutions Arena. Pierce also added 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block [...] S...

Christmas In March

And so happy Christmas, I hope you have fun.  The near and the dear ones.  The old and the young.  -John Lennon  Public Service Announcement:  Ok, here we go!  I like this kid.  I like this kid a lot.  I like me some Dionte Christmas.  He’s gonna bring me some figgy pudding.  Oh, he’s gonna bring me some figgy pudding and a [...]

Sun Devils star must assert himself

On a day when he was bottled up and strangely passive, James Harden still managed a big basket and a smile, Jeff Goodman says.

Pistons Edge Celtics, 87-85

In a game that had the feel of an Eastern Conference Finals Game 7 the Detroit Pistons nipped the Boston Celtics, 87-85 when Chauncy Billups knocked down two free throws with 00.1 seconds left on the clock. Billups got to the line because Cetics captain Paul Pierce missed a fall away jumper with 1.7 ...

ASU’s James Harden looking forward to Big Dance

ASU sophomore James Harden, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, shunned the NBA after his freshman season, and opted to come back to Tempe for another year. One of the goals Harden set for himself this season was to reach the NCAA Tournament. And that’s where his Sun Devils are headed. On [...]

Marching On - ASU Takes Down Temple

James Harden scored one field goal in the entire game. What, me worry? The Sun Devils advanced to face Syracuse in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament with a 66-57 win over #11 Temple at American Airlines Arena in Miami. ASU has now won 7 consecutive opening games in the NCAA Tournament. What a day for the ASU [...]

Comments from the Other Side - Spurs

All these games with injuries to major players are not truly a test to see where we are at. Should these injured players return in the playoffs, it's a different team and NOT NECESSARILY a better team either with all the lack in playing time. When we beat someody with a healthy roster and is a title contender, then I'll be impressed. Celitcs are too banged up to be considered...

Former KU Jayhawk Paul Pierce named NBA Finals MVP.

Former Jayhawk Paul Pierce was named Finals MVP after a great series against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. GO PAUL!!!

Celtics 98 Hawks 88

BoxscoreGameflowThe Hawks played fairly well in a game they had little chance to win. What this viewer takes away is the difference in ability between Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson plus his most recent reminder of the absolute greatness of Kevin Garnett. He combines the talents of Atlanta's cornerstone...

No Bull; Celtics' streak at 17

Who needs the Big Three when you have the Dynamic Duo? While Pierce, Garnett, and Allen combined for 60 points (Allen had 27 of those), it was the Perk/Rondo show at the Garden Friday night, as the Celtics won their 17th straight game, 126-108 over the Bulls. Perk scored a career high 25, shooting 12-15 from the floor, and R-squared had 15 assists and 4 steals for the World Champions...

Celtics Defeat Wade-Less Heat In Over Time 112-108

Most likely if you asked any Boston Celtics player before the game was a win against the Miami Heat Wednesday night critical they would have responded with a firm no. However make no mistake about it, the good ship S.S. Celtics was taking on water after losing their last two contests. A Wednesday night win was necessary at least for the club’s mental well being.

This Just in The Heat Really Suck

The Heat losing by 30 to the Celtics on the surface makes sense. The Celtics have the best record the Heat have the 2nd worst. But when you find out Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett didn't play and Paul Pierce only had 7 points, seriously? ~Leon Powe has scored 94 total points this season. 94 and that...
THE NBA HOT 40
Today's Best Stuff
For Bloggers

Join the Yardbarker Network (YBN) for more promotion, traffic, and money.

Company Info
Help
What is Yardbarker?

Yardbarker is the largest network of sports blogs and pro athlete blogs on the web. This site is the hub of the Yardbarker Network, where our editors and algorithms curate the best sports content from our network and beyond.