Even when, in essence, it mostly is.

Temple is back in the NCAA Tournament, for the first time in 7 years. The Owls (21-12), who used to be in the field every year, might not have made it had they not beaten Saint Joseph's in Saturday's Atlantic 10 championship game in Atlantic City. What we do know is they started 6-8, coming off a 12-18 campaign in '06-07, the first time since 1983 that they weren't a part of any postseason tourney.

That was Dunphy's North Broad Street debut, after taking over for Hall of Famer John Chaney.

Now, a team that was picked to finish ninth in the A-10 owns a seven-game winning streak, the program's longest since the 2001 group won 10 straight to get Chaney to the last of his five Final Eights.

There's a bunch of reasons why this came about, sooner than many anticipated. Leaders began to lead. Role players accepted their roles - and made the most of them. Guys made better decisions. They showed more discipline, and character.

They became a team.

And it doesn't happen without Dunphy. How many coaches did a better job than him?

Just don't expect him to pat his own back.

"I appreciate [the compliments]," Dunphy said yesterday at the Palestra, his former homecourt, following the annual Coaches vs. Cancer breakfast. "It's nice to hear those things. But I hope I'm no different this year than last year, or the year before that.

"At some point, when you stop coaching, you step back and look at your body of work and hopefully you're satisfied . . . This has been an unbelievable run. I couldn't be more proud for my kids. It's a memory they're never going to forget. You're thrilled for them. It was awesome the other day, watching Mark Tyndale run around the court, with his whole family out there. And Dionte Christmas, and Chris Clark. That's what it's all about, no question. I don't know what else you would do this for."

The former La Salle standout made nine trips to the NCAA Tournament in 17 seasons at Penn. There were those, both outside Temple and within, who weren't convinced he could have the same impact in this situation. Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw, who had known Dunphy since their college days, was not among them. So 4 months after he hired Al Golden, who turned out to be the right fit, to head what had been a mess of a football program, he lured Dunphy over from West Philly. Nice exacta.

"I'm a lucky guy," said Dunphy, whose 12th-seeded Owls will play fifth-seeded Michigan State (25-8), the team that eliminated Temple in 2001, in the opening round of the South Regional on Thursday afternoon in Denver. "I had 17 of the greatest years I could ever have at the University of Pennsylvania. And I'm so grateful for that. When this opportunity presented itself, I was like, 'You know what, maybe I'll go there and see what I can do.' Succeeding a legend is not an easy thing to do. It was a challenge. In the end, the most important thing is to be the best father you can be to your players.

"One thing you learn at a very young age is don't take yourself real serious. It's about all the other people that are around you. Sometimes, it's going to work. And then, other times it doesn't. You have to be able to deal with that, too. You have to understand that life's like that.

"I'm just a small part of trying to make [Chaney's] old program proud."

Hardly. But the old man who still lives in the same rowhouse appreciates the effort. Because he's always been an admirer.

"All you have to do is look at how they play, and how far they've come, to see what a great teacher Franny is," Chaney said. "He's put his players in a position to succeed. And they've responded. He's overcome some great odds with this team. It's very much different than how I played, but it's working. No way on God's earth did I envision them winning the A-10. That's a reflection on him and his staff.

"He was always someone who was just a quiet angel. You watch his eyes. He's a cool cucumber. I remember when I came to Temple, we looked at Penn as being somebody that came from Fifth Avenue. But it's his time now. It's Irish time. Just like [his longtime assistant] Jimmy [Maloney]."

In Chaney's world, the praise doesn't get any higher.

Win or lose, it's been some ride. And maybe it's only the beginning. Not that it figures to make much difference in Dunphy's daily approach.

"If you're in it long enough, you're going to have highs and lows," he said. "You have to trust in what it is you're doing is the right thing. Last year was very successful for us, in many ways. It laid a foundation of what we wanted to do.

"There's no substitute for character and integrity. As long as you're honest with yourself, life will be pretty successful for you. You don't always have every answer out there. For some reason it clicked, and now we have a new season. What that's going to bring us, who knows? It's been great to watch the whole thing unfold, and share in that with the people at Temple."

Genius? Thanks, but please don't go there.

"Let's not make it more than what it is," Dunphy insisted. "We're just playing basketball. It's the kids who play. We're trying to help them along. They're absorbing what we want to get across. None of us know how to do it any differently.

"I would love to play more zone defense. But I don't know how to coach it. I throw it out there every once in a while and hope it works. But that's really not what I do."

Whatever he does, he's doing it as well as anyone.

Which is only a revelation for the folks who haven't been paying close enough attention. *