|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Tenacious Temple Intense Owls build case for No. 1 NCAA seed
Posted: Saturday March 11, 2000 08:55 PM
By Ron Chimelis, Special to CNNSI.com PHILADELPHIA -- Mark Karcher was a McDonald's All-American and the Maryland state high school player of the year, a superstar forward who had no small list of college paradises to attend. Instead, he chose Temple University, the Sparta of major college basketball. Three years later, Karcher laughs at the suggestion that playing at Temple -- the land of the 6 a.m. practices, grinding offense and matchup zones and one of the few remaining outposts where individual flamboyance is treated as totally unacceptable behavior -- may be successful, but can't possibly be fun. "That's just Temple basketball," the 6-foot-5 junior said of a style that put Temple into position for a No. 1 seed in an NCAA tournament regional, assuming the Owls could win the Atlantic 10 tournament in Philadelphia. Even a loss to St. Bonaventure Saturday night probably wouldn't knock Temple lower than a No. 2 seed, though a No. 3 would be possible under those conditions. The door for a No. 1 seed opened this week when Cincinnati and Ohio State lost in their conference tournaments, and Cincy was dealt an even more devastating blow when center Kenyon Martin -- the likely national player of the year -- was lost with a broken leg. The only strike against Temple would seem to be the relatively low-scale national image of its conference, the Atlantic 10. But the Owls have dominated the league so thoroughly this season, and play such a strong non-conference schedule (including a win at Cincinnati when Martin was still playing) that this criticism is deemed invalid by analysts throughout college basketball. Wherever the Temple is seeded and sent, though, Karcher knows one advantage of playing for the Owls is that he'll never have to play against them. Whatever old-fashioned beliefs John Chaney is pitching, Karcher and his teammates -- young men less than one third the age of their 68-year-old coach -- have their hands out, waiting to catch them. "I had to make some adjustments to play here, but coach has been here for 18 years," Karcher said. "We listen to him. And we believe in him." Several schools around America are known for their basketball success, but only a scant few are known for their style. Loyola Marymount, for a time, redefined fast-break offense. Princeton is singularly known for the backdoor cut and some of the defensive presence that Temple also features. But Temple has lasted among the nation's consistently winning programs at a far higher and longer level than either, with an approach at both ends of the floor that many believe is successful only when Chaney is directing it. The best example may be Juan "Pepe" Sanchez, a senior point guard who came to Temple as a flashy player from Argentina, and will leave as one of the nation's consummate distributors, averaging 8.3 assists this season. "He wants me to be an old-fashioned point guard," said Sanchez, the Atlantic 10 player of the year despite averaging only 6.3 points per game and missing eight games with ankle problems. "On any team, you need a couple of players who are selfish and who shoot the ball, and one or two who sacrifice things like that for the team. I have to know what my limitations are, and put my brain to my advantage." To listen to all the Owls, their walk-up style and relentless matchup zone defense masks the weaknesses of a flawed team. But in truth, this year's Temple team is loaded with an uncommon blend of athleticism, experience and poise that has taken Chaney's system, and the program's dreams, to a new level. "It's not like we never won anything before," says Chaney, whose teams have reached four Elite Eights since 1988, not to mention four Atlantic 10 tournament titles. Even so, the Owls have not been to the Final Four since 1958 and entering Saturday's A-10 title game, had not even won their own conference tournament since 1990, despite the national perception is that Temple is usually a cut above its own league.
Ron Chimelis covers the Atlantic 10 for the Springfield (Mass.) Union-News.
| ||||||||||||||||
