As the Temple Owls recover from being one of the general consensuses “snubs” for the NCAA Tournament, maybe they’ll find therapy in returning to the basketball court against the Bucknell Bison.
Temple lost to AAC regular season champion SMU in the conference tournament championship. Having the same record as Cincinnati (13-5) in the regular season standings and making the conference championship game, Temple thought they would hear their names called on Selection Sunday. But Will Cummings and company will end their season playing in the NIT, with a first round home court matchup against Bucknell.
Bucknell finished first in the Patriot league with a 19-14 overall record and 13-5 conference record but fell in the conference tournament to Lafayette. Bucknell played some major programs earlier in the season, including a seven-point loss to Villanova, a 24-point loss to Michigan and an eight-point loss to Penn State. Although the Patriot league is one of the weaker leagues, Bucknell can say they’ve played major programs this season and should be ready to compete with a Temple team that has to recalibrate their goals.
With these NIT games, there are always a few teams that on paper would beat a team eight out of 10 times. Temple’s motivation will be something to keep an eye on early in the game.
Temple fans can push their team through a sluggish start by showing up to the Liacouras Center on March 18th through Hipmunk.com. Hipmunk is a resource for Philadelphia flights and hotels for out of town Owls fans that want to watch the NIT action. Hipmunk has Philadelphia hotels from $89 that will have you minutes away from the game.
The Temple Owls are a No. 1 seed in the NIT along with Colorado State, Old Dominion and Richmond.
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