March 17, 2010

Cornell Temple Prediction Tough Call

     Cornell Temple prediction is really a tough call. Known for it’s hockey Cornell has a legitimate shot of beating the Temple Owls. We tried to break it down for the everyday bracket player. Jeff Foote and Ryan Wittman are two excellent players who have received numerous awards. They have the 3 point threat and excellent guard play, though they really did’nt play anyone except for Syracuse and Kansas which they only lost by 5 at Kansas. Temple an atlantic 10 power house looks strong and physical. Cornell beat up the Ivy League but this is different, Fran Dunphy is familiar with the Cornell program having coached 17 seasons in the Ivy League. He owns a 30-4 all-time record against the Big Red. Being familiar against the Big Red will help Temple but can the Owls overcome a shooting handicap? The 29 wins by this Temple team are the third most in school history. The only Temple teams to win more than 29 games are the 1986-87 and 1987-88 teams that each won 32 games. The A-10 is a much stronger conference and it shows. Senior co-captain Ryan Brooks earned second team all-
Atlantic 10 Conference honors. He leads the Owls and ranks 13th in the Atlantic 10 Conference with a 14.3 scoring average.

     One of the top lockdown perimeter defenders in the conference, the 6-4 guard earned A-10 Player of the Week honors with a career-high 29 points (career-best 7 three-pointers) in the team’s win over UMass (1/16). In the process he became the 45th player in Temple history to reach the 1000-point plateau and now has 1,211 points. He earned Big 5 Player of the Week honors for his previous career-high, a 24-point effort in a win at Seton Hall (12/19). The Narberth, Pa. native, who leads the team with 25 double-figure scoring games, has the distinction of being head coach Fran Dunphy’s first recruit to the TU program. He has six 20-point games on the season and eight for his career. Besides the Seton Hall and UMass games, he scored 20 in the 75-65 win over then #3/3 Villanova (12/13), 23 points in the opener at Delaware (11/14), game-high 22 points vs.
Xavier (1/20) and 20 at Charlotte (1/27). Ryan’s mother, Darlene, is an associate professor for music therapy at Temple University. This looks like Temple will give Cornell a run and win this game with it’s speed and defense. If Cornell can’t shoot the ball early it will be over quickly. Temple will be to tough for the Big Red, a tough prediction but Temple should win.

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