This week, Temple Blogger Owlified from the popular Temple web blog The Owl’s Nest stopped by to give us an outlook on the Owls, the Atlantic 10, and of course, a little bit on this Saturday night…

SSB: First off, what a game (against Georgetown) on Tuesday, you can bet we were all rooting for the Owls. Has your fan base being voicing that they wanted those two fast break points down the stretch?

Owlified: The poor shooting performance to start the game was absolutely killer. Going 1-10 against the #20 team in the country will do you no good. Also, Temple’s 3 point shooting percentage at the end of the game was absolutely atrocious to be honest. Imagine hitting just about a third of the missed shots, and that’s 20 points on the board early in the game.

Fans were more upset with what happened prior to that possession. Temple had opportunities, up by 3 points to hit crucial free throws, but couldn’t. That being said, Georgetown had every chance to keep this game in a position for them to win, and they took advantage of that.

SSB: What has gotten Temple to the NCAA tournament the past two seasons? With the departure of Sean Miller to Arizona, does that leave the A10 more wide open than it’s ever been this year?

Owl: Temple has gotten into the post season with late surges in our own Atlantic 10 tournament. It’s not easy getting an at-large bid, so as you know the safest way is to win your conference tournament. For the last two years, the Owls have run the table in the Atlantic 10 tournament to earn their invitation to the Dance. A three-peat? Eh, that won’t be so easy.

I think the loss of Sean Miller at Xavier will slightly open up opportunities for other teams in the conference. I do believe though even with several players lost on that roster, there’s still plenty of leftover and potential talent on that X roster. Dayton has run a successful program year in and year out (not to mention they just beat Georgia Tech last night), and will definitely be considered to take the conference.

SSB: From what I watched against Georgetown, Temple looked like an athletic team. How do you tend to matchup against teams that like to run and gun, score in transition, and pick your pocket–ie. teams like Siena?

Owl: Georgetown put Temple in an awful shooting slump, and I believe the reason for this is because they were able to slow us down and force us to run the offense. When you hold on to the ball too long, it becomes tougher to feed your guys in the paint, and more pressure can be exerted on your perimeter players. Also, your players sometimes tend to rush shots, regardless of time on the clock.

Defensively, you just have to play smart basketball. Temple’s defense seemed to show up for 40 minutes against Georgetown. Play smart, and execute– that’s all there is to it against any offensive unit.

SSB: Thanks for stopping by Owlified, looking forward to Saturday night and good luck with that football team of yours!