THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
NCAA South Regional First Round
Today, 2:45 p.m. (approximately)
American Airlines Arena, Miami
TV/Radio: Channel 3; WPHT (1210-AM)
Records: Arizona State is 24-9, Temple 22-11.
History: Temple is 1-4 all-time against Arizona State. The Sun Devils have beaten the Owls four consecutive times, most recently by 65-62 at the Liacouras Center in 2004.
How they got here: No. 6 Arizona State received an at-large bid out of the Pacific-10 Conference after losing to USC in the Pac-10 Tournament championship game, 68-56. No. 11 Temple won the Atlantic 10's automatic bid by storming through the conference tournament, defeating Saint Joseph's, Xavier and Duquesne.
Coaches: Herb Sendek is 307-202 in a 16-year career at Miami (Ohio), North Carolina State and Arizona State. This is his first trip to the tournament with the Sun Devils. Fran Dunphy is 365-205 in a 20-year career at Penn and Temple. This is his second trip to the tournament with the Owls (55-42 in three seasons at Temple).
Three things Arizona State must do:
1. Get James Harden going early. Harden, everybody's All-America, struggled in the Pac-10 finals against USC. The Sun Devils don't need to have him worrying or wondering in such a big spot.
2. Crowd Dionte Christmas. Nobody thinks the Owls can win unless Christmas has a big game. He has not had a great shooting season, but he has recognized the key moments.
3. Remember Jeff Pendergraph. The 6-9 forward leads the nation in shooting (66.5 percent). As the Owls scramble to guard Harden, there should be opportunities in other places.
Three things Temple must do:
1. Don't get bogged down in the zone. The Sun Devils play a matchup zone, which can be an enormous pain at this time of year (see Chaney, John). Temple's biggest challenge will be getting Christmas his shots despite the matchup.
2. Own its emotions. The Owls have been through a long run in the A-10 Tournament, a series of elimination games, so that should help. But this also is a team that just didn't play well in last year's tournament against Michigan State. It cannot allow nerves to be an issue.
3. Rebound. At this time of year especially, when defenses are tight and shooting can be erratic, rebounds often tell the story. The Owls are 20-2 this year when they outrebound their opponents. Almost as important as Christmas' scoring total will be the "R" column on the final stat sheet.
- Rich Hofmann
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