What college basketball junkies understand is that every game matters. Every game can be a fantastic win against an RPI top 50 team or a horrific loss to an RPI 100+ team. And not only do all 30+ regular season games matter, through the matrix of opponents, 100’s more games matter every week. Today I chose a team at random, the Temple Owls. Though Temple is off on Saturday, January 8th, let’s see what a crazy Temple fan will be cheering for:
Saturday, January 8th through the eyes of a Temple Owl’s fan
(Note: I am pretending to be a Temple fan here, hence the use of “we”.)
11am
West Virginia at Georgetown
Hey, a week or so ago Georgetown was #1 in the RPI. We had a win over the #1 RPI team in the land. Don’t fall apart Hoyas. Temple needs that quality win on its resume.
Noon
Syracuse at Seton Hall
North Carolina at Virginia
We beat Seton Hall too, but that’s not looking so great. Keep it together guys, we need the Hall to be an RPI top 100 win at the end of the year. (Sadly, there are not going to be a lot of those in the A10 this season.) As for the other game, rooting against North Carolina is not as much fun as rooting against Duke, but it is still fun.
1:30pm
Tennessee at Arkansas
Remember when Tennessee beat Villanova? That made me smile. Real Temple fans just have to cheer against the Wildcats and their "best-team-in-the-city" attitude. The thought of Villanova going to the Big East in football still makes me want to puke. We would be a Big East member in all sports if it wasn't for Nova keeping our basketball team out 10 years ago. Go Volunteers.
2:30pm
California at Arizona St.
I still can’t believe Temple lost to Cal in the Old Spice Classic, but that loss would look a little better if Cal won here.
3:30pm
Connecticut at Texas
Oddly the "game of the day" does not interest me.
4pm
Kentucky at Georgia
Texas A&M at Oklahoma
Georgia Tech at Boston College
George Washington at St. Joseph’s
Richmond at La Salle
East Carolina at Memphis
We beat Georgia and lost to Texas A&M down in Orlando, which makes us a fan of both teams I guess.
Too bad we didn’t get to play Boston College in Orlando. That would have been a nice chance for revenge against Steve Donahue whose Cornell team knocked us out of the NCAA tournament last year. But for some reason, I still find myself cheering for the guy. I guess I just respect former Ivy league coaches. Go Fran Dunphy, go Steve Donahue!
Isn’t it hilarious how St. Joseph’s has fallen apart the last few years? I love to hear their fans complaining on the Philadelphia sports radio stations.
Richmond is so over-rated. I can’t believe some people are picking them to win the A10. I’d love to see them go down.
And don’t get me started on Memphis. Who have they beaten exactly? Let’s look at the Pomeroy Rankings: Temple =29, Memphis = 73. If anyone from a non-BCS conference deserves to be ranked, I think it is pretty clear who that should be.
5pm
UCF at Houston
And don’t get me started on UCF. Are they ever going to play anyone who is good? I’d love to see them go down to a team like Houston. Temple would be right back in the driver’s seat for a top 25 ranking.
6pm
LSU at Auburn
Just know that when Kentucky wins the SEC and everyone says how great they are, I’m pretty sure our A10 schedule is tougher than this.
6:30pm
Stanford at Arizona
Do you think the Pac-10 might only get 2 bids again? That would be great. I’m pretty sure Stanford is bad again, so let’s cheer for them.
7pm
Toledo plays Central Michigan.
Temple beat Toledo, so go Toledo. Oh, who am I kidding? Half the MAC could transfer and Toledo still couldn’t crack .500, let alone an RPI top 100 ranking. Can you believe we play these guys in football? Come on Big Ten, expand and cause more chaos! We need back into a BCS league in football at least.
8pm
Providence at Rutgers
St. John’s at Notre Dame
Down goes Rutgers! I love to see those New Jersey recruits come to Philadelphia.
Well, we watched Notre Dame win the title down in Orlando and they were a pretty good team, so why not cheer for them here? They have to show up in our opponent’s opponent’s schedules a lot, right? Go third factor in the RPI rating!