Normally, the top seed in a major conference’s tournament comes into the tournament as the favorite and is almost a lock to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
But if this season has proved anything, this group of Temple Owls isn’t one for doing things normally.
Despite earning the top seed in this week’s American Athletic Conference Tournament with a 14-4 league record, the 20-10 Owls still sit squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble less than a week before Selection Sunday.
They know a strong showing at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida this week is necessary to avoid last season’s similarly disappointing fate when they were left out of the Big Dance despite finishing the year 23-10.
“We talked about it a little bit today that we were disappointed as we were sitting here [on Selection Sunday],” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said Tuesday on campus at McGonigle Hall, recalling the sinking feeling.
“But there’s nothing you can do about it. Last year was that."
Last year, the Owls sat at 22-9 knowing they needed a strong showing before heading to Hartford, Connecticut for the AAC Tournament.
But they squeaked by an average-at-best Memphis team in the quarterfinals before falling for the third time to nationally ranked SMU last season in the semifinals.
If Temple runs the table in the conference tournament, the Owls will earn the automatic bid with a 23-10 record. If the Owls don’t win the conference tournament, they’ll be left sweating again, but with a worse record than last season.
“Seeing as how we were left out last year, just by not winning one game here or there, winning every game matters,” said senior guard Quenton DeCosey, who was unanimously named to the All-AAC First Team on Tuesday (see story). “We’re taking every game seriously as we’re just getting ready for this tournament.”
The saving grace for this year’s Owls is the fact their résumé is much more solid than that of last season’s team.
According to realtimerpi.com, this edition of the Owls has an RPI of 59 along with 65th toughest schedule in the nation, as of Tuesday evening. The key is that Temple has a 4-7 record against the RPI top 50, with two of those defeats coming to No. 1 teams in the nation — North Carolina and Villanova.
Last year, Temple had an RPI of 39 and the 54th toughest schedule in the nation while playing in a more top-heavy AAC. But the Owls went 1-8 against the RPI top 50. A blowout of No. 10 Kansas In December 2014 wasn’t enough.
“That’s the mindset of me and my teammates — that we have to win the conference tournament to be in the national tournament,” senior forward Jaylen Bond said. “There are so many games crunched together like that and you have a short time to prepare for it. We just have to be the best team we can and play our hardest.”
But there was another message echoing out of the third floor of McGonigle Hall on Tuesday.
The Owls know they can only control what they can control. They can’t worry about conference favorites such as Monmouth and Valparaiso that fell in their respective conference tournaments and could steal a bid from the Owls if they fall this week in Orlando.
All that matters to the Owls right now is what happens on the Amway Center hardwood starting Friday against the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 8 East Carolina and No. 9 South Florida.
“We’re trying to focus our energies on Friday’s game and if we’re lucky enough to win that, we’ll focus on Cincinnati or Connecticut because we’ll know who we’ll play there," Dunphy said. ”We’ve got tough games in front of us, so that’s our focus.”
“Work is not done yet," said DeCosey, the Owls’ leading scorer with 15.7 points per game this season. “Every game is important and every game means a lot. We’re not taking any game lightly. Our first game is Friday and we’re gonna go in there with the same mindset.”
The Owls swept two somewhat close meetings with USF this season while they split with East Carolina, including a rough 64-61 loss on the road on Jan. 27.
A conference tournament victory for Temple won’t come easy, but that’s fitting for this team.