Can Temple Win the A-10?

Temple is now alone in third place in the A-10 standings with an 8-3 conference record (16-9 overall). With No. 16 Xavier shockingly losing at lowly Charlotte, the Owls now move a half a game behind the Musketeers for second place.

And with that, the door opens for Temple to, pardon the pun, swoop in and win the A-10 regular season crown.

Consider the remaining schedules:

Xavier (9-3): vs. G.W., at St. Joe’s, vs. Dayton, at Richmond
Dayton (9-2): at Saint Louis, at Rhode Island, vs. Temple, at Xavier, Duquesne
Temple (8-3): vs. St. Bonaventure, vs. La Salle, at Dayton, vs. St. Joe’s, at G.W.

Temple clearly has the easiest remaining schedule out of those teams, with the road date against the Flyers the only game that should be of concern. Dayton clearly has the toughest schedule, as they face-off with a Billikens team that’s won five of six and a Rams squads that’s won seven of eight. Xavier, while arguably the best team in conference, has three tough games after their planned disposal of an awful Colonials team this weekend in Cincinnati.

So…it’s shaping up to be a three-team race down the stretch. Should be interesting to see how things ultimately shake-out.

The Weekend Bubble

ESPN’s latest bubble watch lists the Owls for the first time, though, they aren’t too favorable and even got rid of the A-10’s own personal “bubble box” that the BCS conferences have, instead choosing to lump them in with the rest of the at-large contenders from mid-majors conferences.

Can’t say I blame them.

On to St. Bonaventure

Well, it is a home game, but the Owls will face off the Bonnies Sunday at 2 p.m. The Bonnies are better this season, not fully recovered from the Jan Van Brenda Kolff scandal and subsequent Anthony Solomon disaster, but at 4-8 in the A-10 and 13-12 overall, they are decent.

Still, Temple really shouldn’t have any problems getting the win.