Temple Faces Bucknell in NIT Opener

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Following the disappointment of being snubbed by the NCAA selection committee, the Owls will look to refocus and extend their season in NIT play against the Patriot League regular season champion Bucknell Bison. Tonight’s game will take place at the Liacouras Center, as all NIT games are on the higher seed’s home court until the final four. There are also a few rules different from the regular season, as they’ll be playing with both a 30-second shot clock and restricted areas around the basket expanded by a foot. It will be interesting to see if how, if at all, those rule tweaks instituted for this tournament affect game play.

The Owls will have their hands full on the perimeter, as Bucknell is top-30 in the country in 3-point percentage at 38.8%. A handful of guys are capable of getting hot from behind the arc, but the Bison are led by 6’5″ junior guard Chris Hass. Hass actually tied a season-high with 32 points earlier this season in a close 7-point loss to Villanova at the Pavilion. That result was actually the smallest margin of victory at the Pavilion for Nova all year, so don’t go thinking Bucknell is some pushover. Hass hit 3-6 threes in that game and has drained as many as 6 in a contest on a couple occasions this season.

One area Temple should have the advantage is on the glass, as like many mid-majors, the Bison don’t have the size in the frontcourt of some of the larger programs. For a Owls squad that ranks 28th in the country in rebounding, they should have their fair share of second-chance opportunities while limiting Bucknell to one-and-done possessions. Jaylen Bond looms as a guy who could play a central role in a Temple victory this evening.

Now, as for the NIT itself, I know many of you like to make jokes like it’s a tournament to determine the 69th best team in the country. I’ll admit, there are certainly the occasional name-brand schools that don’t come to play because they’re upset about not making the tournament (Kentucky looking disinterested against Robert Morris 2 years ago is a particularly disappointing example). Still, by and large, when is it ever a bad idea to have a situation where one team’s season ends with a loss?

I attended Penn State NIT games as both a student and an alumnus, sitting in the Bryce Jordan Center while the Nittany Lions topped a Quincy Douby-led Rutgers squad, and years later, heading to the Garden for their NIT championship win over Baylor. On both occasions, the atmosphere was electric and the teams were leaving everything they had on the court, making for some exciting basketball.

There are seniors like Will Cummings who have been mainstays in programs for years who could be suiting up in that school’s uniform for the last time. For all the talk about people wishing players stuck around school longer so you could get to know a team, shouldn’t a thing like that mean something? Many seniors won’t have a professional career in the D-league or overseas; do you think they don’t care about these games, the last time they’ll play organized basketball? Don’t you think they’ll kill themselves trying to play another day, and their brothers around them will do the same for them?

So sure, the best teams in the country aren’t involved and NIT championship banners don’t hold the same cachet hanging in the rafters. But maybe give these NIT games a shot, or at the very least, don’t say they don’t mean anything.