ODJ: Owls In Trouble

Halfway through the 2007-08 campaign, it’s now official – the Temple women’s basketball team is in trouble. Following a 70-53 loss at Miami-Ohio on Wednesday night, the Owls are 7-8 and have a lot of ground to make up in order to earn their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.

As always, Coach Dawn Staley’s squad has played a very challenging schedule (ranked 10th in the nation prior to facing Miami). That’s supposed to help come NCAA Tournament selection time. But you need to beat some of those top teams.

Temple’s best non-conference win came against perennial NCAA Tournament contender Purdue. The only problem: Purdue is 5-7 this season, and its record may not improve a great deal in Big 10 play. Indeed, the Boilermakers are in bigger trouble than the Owls.

The loss to Miami was a bad one. Earlier, the Owls missed an opportunity when they lost at home to North Carolina State, which is also struggling a bit (like Purdue) this season. On Saturday, Temple will host Florida in its final non-conference game at The Liacouras Center. Make no mistake, this is a must-win game.

It’s a must-win not only because the Owls desperately need to get back to .500, but also because they need to play some good basketball heading into the Atlantic 10 schedule. Prior to its 17-point loss to Miami, Temple dropped a 70-34 decision to Rutgers.

Staley’s teams have never been known for their offense. But this year’s team has had an especially tough time scoring points against quality opponents. While senior point guard Ashley Morris (15.9 points per game) has been a revelation, the Owls haven’t gotten the kind of production that was expected from senior center Lady Comfort (8.4 points per game), who was hyped as the team’s next WNBA draft pick.

While they’ve gotten some help from several newcomers, the top-to-bottom offensive results haven’t been good enough – despite the fact that the Owls are still playing defense as tough as anyone in the country.

Next comes the A-10, a little better and a little deeper than recent years. It’s not just George Washington, Xavier, and maybe St. Joseph’s that pose a threat. If they don’t play their “A” game, the Owls could run into trouble against UMass or Charlotte or Richmond, or possibly in next week’s league opener at Dayton, which is riding a school-record 14-game win streak (mostly against weak opponents).

The math is getting tricky.

Thanks to their terrific schedule, the Owls were still rated 54th in the RPI prior to Wednesday night’s loss to Miami. If they beat Florida, and finish 10-4 in conference play, that would put them at 18-12 heading into the A-10 Tournament. With that record, the Owls would still likely have to win the whole thing. Last year, St. Joe’s lost in the A-10 finals and finished 19-13 – and missed the NCAA Tournament.

Beat Florida and finish 11-3 in A-10 play and the Owls would be in pretty good shape, assuming they win at least one in the A-10 Tournament. But there’s a long way to go between a 70-53 loss to Miami-Ohio and an 11-3 finish in the A-10.

The journey starts on Saturday.