The Owls Are Ready to Dance

It’s finally time to just play.

Temple takes on Cornell at 12:30 p.m. Friday in the first-round of the NCAA tournament.

We’ve all heard about the “Coach vs. Student” matchup of Temple’s Fran Dunphy and Cornell’s Steve Donahue, and why the Owls should be notified of the upset alert being sent their way.

It’s no secret that Cornell can shoot the lights out from mid-range and long distance, leading the nation in three-point shooting.  They gave the Kansas Jayhawks a scare, pushing them to the brink before falling 71-66…in Kansas.

One uncomfortable truth is that Coach Dunphy hasn’t won a NCAA tournament game in his last 10 tries, and is 1-11 for his career in the national tournament.

So Cornell should be licking their "Big Red" chops in a tournament that has been littered with upsets thus far, right?

Wrong.

Temple is still 29-5 and plays some of the best defense in college hoops.  Winners of 10 in a row, the Owls are giving up an average of 56.1 PPG, third best in the nation. Temple also boasts the third-best 3-point defense in college basketball.

It’s the old saying: Offense may win you some games, but defense wins you championships.

They conquered Philly’s Big 5. They coasted through the Atlantic 10 tournament. The Owls are a hungry team peaking at the right time, and may very well be our best bet to bring a National Championship to Philadelphia.

Especially after how Villanova looked against Robert Morris.

“It's just the competition is unbelievable, how good these teams are. Even for us now, we have a tough game coming up here,” Dunphy told ESPN.com. “We're going to have to play our very best basketball, and I'm hoping that we can come out on top.”

Tipoff is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. from Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.