While I know it is early in the basketball season and none of the Big Five teams are nationally ranked, the mediocre turnout for the game was disappointing. According to Boardwalk Hall’s Val McGonigal, the attendance was 3,807. I know college hoops won't heat up until after the New Year, but it was an exciting game, and you have to experience the Temple fans live. Their “you, you you you … you suck” cheer during every Bearcat foul shot was priceless, not to mention the Temple band, cheerleaders, dance team and mascot Hooter the Owl in the house.
The Owls, now 3-3 under new coach, Mr. Calm, Fran Dunphy, (who keeps his tie on during the game by the way), got off to a sizzling lead in the contest. At one point in the first half the Owls couldn’t miss and had a 16-point lead, 28-12. Unfortunately, when the Owls finally stopped making their shots, their lack of size and the Bearcats mix of quick, tall athletics who all seemed excellent at driving to the hoop, doomed the Owls to a 25-point turnaround. The Owls still led by 10 during the second half, but a horrible 10-minute stretch, when they started bricking their shots like Temple teams of old and failed to score, completed the collapse, 80-71. The Bearcats (6–2) had their starting five in double figures, while Temple’s big guns, Dionte Christmas and Dustin Salisbery, had 20 and 18 points respectively. Dunphy is playing a three-guard offense that goes to four guards at times with only one big man, Sergio Olmos, a 7ft. sophomore from Spain who’s a bit show in the middle.

Now, about Iverson. It looks like my prediction from an earlier blog on Nov. 1, that the team will stink and A.I. will be gone at the All-Star break, has happen even sooner. As I noted a few weeks back:

[When] A.I. sees too many passes bang off the hands of Sam Dalembert, or shots clang off the rim by the rest of the team, he will feel the need to take 25-30 shots as usual, with C-Webb getting 18 himself. That doesn’t leave much for the other A.I. He can’t bloom as a superstar until the tattooed one is playing for a contender when he is traded during the All-Star break.

I’m glad the Iverson era is over. They team will continue to stink, unless Billy King actually gets something in value when the A.I. trade comes through. Chris Webber is saying all the right things in the press, but I think he is secretly delighted that for now, the offense is running through him in the post. I’ll still be watching, hoping for a miracle, a few good wins here and there. Pictured (at left, above) are Allen and Mo Cheeks before A.I. stabbed him in the back.
Later