Dunphy signs through 2013-14 season

He’s been coaching for 19 years. He can now add six more.

Temple announced that Fran Dunphy has extended his contract through the 2013-14 season, meaning he won’t be leaving the Owls any time soon. Director of Athletics Bill Bradshaw announced the news today.

“We knew when we hired Fran Dunphy two years ago that he was the right man to lead Temple basketball,” Bradshaw said.

Dunphy, who was hired two years ago to replace longtime coach John Chaney, led the men’s basketball team to the top of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Shortly after, he brought the Owls back to the national spotlight with an appearance in the NCAA Tournament this year. The No. 12-seeded Owls were eliminated in the first round.

“We could not have a better person, nor a better coach, at the helm,” Bradshaw said.

Dunphy has a career record of 343-194 and was recently named the 2008 Eastern College Coach of the Year.

Photo: The 2008 men’s basketball team, joined by President Ann Weaver Hart and coach Fran Dunphy, celebrates after winning the Atlantic 10 Conference in Atlantic City.

Strong bodies, strong minds: The mentality of success

Sometime in the fall, prior to the start of its five-month-long season, the fencing team sat down and discussed its goals for the upcoming campaign with Rolf Wagschal, M.A., a doctoral candidate in Temple’s kinesiology department.

With Wagschal, who has a sport psychology concentration, and their coaches’ help, the 19-member squad copiously outlined the specific objectives they wanted to complete this season: Rank among the top five collegiate teams in the nation, send as many Owls as possible to the NCAA Regionals and, from there, qualify a maximum-six fencers for the NCAA Championships.

“It gave us something specific to work towards,” sophomore Christie Griffith said. “It gave us motivation.”

Incorporating Wagschal into its pre-season, goal-setting session isn’t anything new for the Owls. It’s something that 35-year coach Nikki Franke has done for several seasons.
Except this time, nearly every goal was accomplished.

The Owls, who at 24-6, finished eighth in the United States Fencing Coaches Association Women’s Fencing Coaches Poll, sent a maximum 12 fencers – out of 16 qualifiers – to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals in February. Four Owls were selected to participate in last week’s NCAA Championships, where Temple finished ninth out of 23 teams at the two-day Columbus, Ohio competition.

At the championships, sophomore Melissa Parker, a second-team All-American, finished seventh in the foil, while her teammate, fellow sophomore Kristin Howell, an honorable mention All-American, also registered a top 10 finish, placing ninth in the epee. Griffith and freshman Grace Wu finished 23rd and 19th in the sabre and epee competitions, respectively.

The origin of the Owls’ collective and individual successes can be traced to that pre-season meeting with Wagschal, who also worked with the squad throughout the regular season.

“When you reach a very high level of competition the difference between people is very small,” said Wagschal, who is in his third season working with the team. “Being able to maintain a daily regimen along with mentally training yourself for certain situations so you know how to react allows you to perform at your best.”

Franke said “everyone finds it helpful since fencing is not only a team sport but also an individual sport.”

“Each fencer has something to work on,” she said. “For some, it’s being able to concentrate and keeping distractions out.”

The emphasis on mental preparation helped Howell reach the NCAA Championships this season after she just missed qualifying for the event in her freshman year.
“This season, I just really matured,” Howell said.

A part of Howell’s maturation was recognizing the advanced skill level of epeeists at the final competition.

“At the championships, you can’t expect anything,” Howell said. “You have to work hard for every single touch.”

In her second NCAA Championship appearance, Parker, the first Temple fencer to be named second-team All-American since 1994, knew exactly what to expect. She won 16 of her 23 matches, scoring 94 touches on her opponents, while taking only 70 in return.

“Melissa is a very focused, very hard-working young lady,” Franke said. “She really came into this tournament knowing what she needed to do to perform well.”

Griffith, another sophomore who qualified for the championships last year, is one of seven second-year fencers on the team. The squad’s freshman core is led by Wu, who said her reaction to her NCAA Championship bid was “awe.”

The Beaverton, Ore.-native represents just one of many states on the Owls roster, which includes fencers from Georgia, California, Texas and Washington.

“The fencing community is actually quite small,” Wu said. “When you go to competitions, you meet coaches from all over the country. I met Nikki and really bonded with her.”
Although Wu built a rapport with Franke, she directly works with assistant coach Bradley Baker, who instructs the team’s epees and sabres.

Baker, in his fourth year with the Owls, was previously the coach of the Massachusetts club fencing team where, during his tenure, he managed to double the size of the roster and win the 2002 Coach of the Year award from the Northeast Fencing Conference.

“He is really very approachable and willing to work with the girls,” Franke said. “He works very hard. He’s really fit into our program and our philosophy.”

The philosophy Franke has taught for more than three decades is one of supporting one another. Recruits from across the country recognize the team’s success, respect the program and buy into the team-oriented philosophy, she said.

It doesn’t seem to be a hard sell.

During Franke’s tenure, the team hasn’t had a losing season since 1976. The Owls have compiled a 519-113 record in the past three decades.

Franke, the first and only fencing coach in the program’s history and a four-time USFCA Women’s Fencing Coach of the Year recipient, has a 542-144-1 record overall.

“When I first started, we were able to bring students out of the classrooms and we had walk-ons,” Franke said. “The level of fencing has changed and has gotten so much stronger.”
But so has Franke’s teams.

A perennial Top 10-caliber squad, the Owls improved upon last year’s 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Although that wasn’t specifically one of the pre-season goals that the Owls outlined with Wagschal, it was still an accomplishment that Franke and the rest of the team could take pride in.
“Their success really comes down to them,” Wagschal said.  “I just try to be there to help prepare them. If what I do helps, outstanding. I view myself basically as a facilitator.”
Wagschal should have the opportunity to work with the majority of the squad again.

With only four seniors leaving (Brianna Ferrara, Samantha Myles, Marla Nacey and Kristine Jones), the Owls have lots of “potential” for the future, Franke said.
And her fencers agreed.

“I think we’re going to keep breaking records,” Griffith said. “I just want to keep breaking records and I think that the team will do that.”

Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.

Spartans end Owls season

DENVER – In his first NCAA Tournament game, Dionte Christmas hoisted up eight three-pointers. And all eight drew everything except for the net.

One of his shots bounced so high off the rim that the ball climbed over the top of the backboard and ping-ponged through the uprights on its journey back down to the floor.

The Owls’ leading scorer misfired early and often, scoring a season-low three points as the fifth-seeded Michigan State Spartans closed the lid on No. 12 Temple’s season with a 72-61 win at the Pepsi Center Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Spartans (26-8) snapped Temple’s seven-game winning streak and will move on to face No. 4 Pittsburgh in a second round South Regional match-up.

For the Atlantic Ten Conference champion Owls (21-13), the run is over.

“We came out here to do a job,” Christmas said. “Tonight, we didn’t get it done.”

Michigan State went ahead, 37-26, on senior Drew Naymick’s second-half opening dunk and never let the lead drop below 10 points after that.

Sophomore Raymar Morgan scored 15 points, missing only two of his nine shots – several of which, were uncontested dunks – to lead the Spartans.

“I just tried to stay aggressive throughout the whole game,” Morgan said.

With the Owls focused on three-point threat, senior Drew Neitzel, freshman Chris Allen and senior Drew Naymick both finished in double-figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

In his final game at Temple, senior Mark Tyndale scored a team-high 16 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists in a losing effort. Freshman Lavoy Allen secured his first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Ryan Brooks notched 14 points off the bench.

For the majority of the game, the Spartans defense sullied Christmas and his “one-two punch” partner, Tyndale. While Christmas shot just 1 of 12 from the field, Tyndale managed to finish 6 of 14 from the floor, although most of his baskets came when the Owls were trailing by double-digits in the second half.

“We couldn’t run a lot of our [offensive] sets,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “I think that’s a tribute to how [Michigan State] plays the game and how difficult they are to score against.”

Indeed, easy baskets were hard to come by, especially early on. Temple shot 29 percent from the field in the first half and only 37 percent for the game.

Even when the Owls got solid looks at the basket, shots didn’t fall.

Trailing 44-28 with 13 minutes, 53 seconds to go, Tyndale ferociously drove down the lane for a dunk only to have the ball go halfway down and then pop out.

Later in the game, Christmas stood wide-open underneath the basket, wildly waving his arms, jumping up and down and calling for the ball. But it never got to him.

The frustration was clear.

“That’s a great defensive team. That’s probably the toughest defensive team I’ve played against all year,” Christmas said before pausing and changing his answer to “all my career.”

The Owls suffered a five-minute, 45 second scoring draught to fall behind, 22-15, with 6:06 remaining in the first half.

Michigan State’s advantage ballooned to 13 points before Brooks caught fire. He scored the Owls next eight points on a pair of three-pointers and an 18-foot jumper to cut the lead down to 32-25 with 1:14 left before intermission.

But despite several opportunities, Christmas and the rest of the Owls couldn’t piece together a complete comeback effort in the second stanza.

“We knew that if we didn’t guard Christmas, we’d be going home,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Instead, it’s the Owls who are going home.

And, for seniors Tyndale and Chris Clark, it’s the end of the road.

Clark, who only played 13 minutes, sat on the bench next to his dejected teammates, for the final minutes of the contest.

“The guy I felt most sorry for was Chris Clark,” Dunphy said. “He’s meant so much to our program and he didn’t get a chance to play later in the game and I would’ve loved to have gotten him in the game.

“For me, that was the most difficult hug to make.”

After the final buzzer sounded and the teams shook hands, Tyndale untucked his jersey and slowly made his way off the court. By himself – well behind his teammates.

As he approached the tunnel, a fan shouted, “Best of luck, man.”

Tyndale looked up, put his hand to his forehead and saluted the tiny Temple fan section before he disappeared from view.

“Coach Dunphy did a great job of getting us back to this point where we deserved to be,” Tyndale said about the Owls first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2001.

“We weren’t surprised at all about the outcome of our season,” he said. “We would have liked to play a little bit longer, but unfortunately our season ends here.”

NOTES

With the loss, Temple coach Fran Dunphy drops to 1-10 in NCAA Tournament play. Temple is now 31-26 all-time in the Big Dance … In their last NCAA tournament appearance, Temple lost to Michigan State in the Elite Eight in 2001 … Freshman Lavoy Allen made the first three-pointer of his career at about the 18:30 mark in the first half. He sank a second three with 1:06 left in the game. Allen was previously 0-3 from behind the line before today’s game.

Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.

(Photo by Ron Davis)

Check out Temple-News.com and Broad & Cecil – The Temple News blog – later tonight and tomorrow for more coverage of Temple’s loss to Michigan State …

A third punch

DENVER – Seated between the vaunted “one-two punch” of Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas, senior reserve and team co-captain Chris Clark received most of the spotlight at Temple’s pre-NCAA Tournament press conference Wednesday.

In the last two weeks, Clark has proved just as valuable as Tyndale and Christmas with clutch performances in crucial games.

His teammates and coach Fran Dunphy credited him with leading the No. 12-seeded Owls into the NCAA Tournament where they will play No. 5 Michigan State in the Pepsi Center today at 12:30 p.m. in an opening round match-up.

“Without Chris Clark, I don’t think we’d be standing here right now,” Christmas said. “He’s been the backbone of this team. He’s hit a lot of big shots. He’s been the leader on-and-off the court.”

In the final four games of the season, Clark scored 14.2 points per game on 48 shooting, nearly doubling the 7.7 ppg he averaged for the season. He also shot 44 percent from the three-point line over the four-game period.

The 5-foot-8 guard played a career-high-tying 35 minutes in the Owls Atlantic Ten Conference Championship game win against Saint Joseph’s last Saturday. In that game, he only scored 10 points on 3 of 9 shooting, but he managed to make big plays for the Owls throughout the A-10 Tournament.

“If you said that there was a single catalyst that’s brought Temple along late in the season, I’d have to say that he’d be one and maybe, Mark Tyndale’s improved play 1-A,” Dunphy said.

Tyndale, a co-captain on the team, continued the praise for his fellow senior teammate.

“I think Chris is the captain of this team. I have the label also, but Chris is really the leader of this team and what he’s doing right now doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “He’s a great human being, he’s a great person and I think it just crosses over to the basketball court.”

Despite only starting three games in his career, Clark has carved out a niche for himself on the team as a reliable reserve, especially this season.

“I know my role,” Clark said. “My job is not to score. My job is to be a leader on-and-off the court … My job is a lot easier then what people think because you have great scorers and shooters around you. It’s easy to run an offense.”

Although he’s been on a hot streak as of late, Dunphy pointed to the Owls road win over Fordham on Jan. 31 as the start of Clark’s improved play.

Clark scored 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting against the Rams.

“He’s just kind of progressed from that point on,” Dunphy said.

And Clark has the respect of not only his teammates, but his coaches as well.

“The coaches value his opinion a lot,” he said. “Whatever Chris says, the coaches are going to listen to him.”

NOTES

Temple is 31-25 all-time in NCAA Tournament play. The Owls have made 25 appearances in the Big Dance, including 17 straight trips between 1984-2001 under coach John Chaney … Michigan State defeated Temple, 69-62, in the Elite Eight in 2001. That was the Owls last NCAA Tournament game.

Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.

(Photo by Ron Davis)

Also read: “Battle of wills”

Battle of wills

DENVER – Whereas the 13 players on the Temple men’s basketball team’s roster have never experienced the highest level of postseason college basketball, second-year coach Fran Dunphy has been there several times before.

He coached the University of Pennsylvania to nine NCAA Tournament appearances during his 17-year-tenure with the Quakers.

But when the No. 12-seeded Owls face No. 5 Michigan State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the Pepsi Center today at 12:30 p.m. EST, it will mark Dunphy’s first time in the tournament as a member of the Cherry-and-White.

“It’s a little bit different,” Dunphy said. “It’s no less thrilling, though, I will tell you that.”

The winner of the Temple-Michigan State game will face either No. 4 Pittsburgh or No. 13 Oral Roberts Saturday in the second round.

Riding a season-high seven-game winning streak, the Owls (21-12) earned an automatic bid into the Big Dance by running through La Salle, Charlotte and Saint Joseph’s to win the Atlantic Ten Conference Championship last Saturday.

The Michigan State Spartans (25-8), who was finished No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, didn’t win their conference tournament, losing to No. 8 Wisconsin in the semifinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament, but they have a history of recent NCAA Tournament success on their side.

Under coach Tom Izzo, the Spartans have made 11 consecutive NCAA Tournament trips, reaching four Final Fours and winning the national championship in 2000.

Along with sophomore forward Raymar Morgan, senior Drew Neitzel paces the Spartans, scoring about 14 points per game. Neitzel, an efficient three-point shooter, was a freshman on the Spartans squad that reached the Final Four in 2005.

“Hopefully [I] can lead this team along with some other guys and carry us to a deep run in this tournament,” Neitzel said.

The Spartans have eight players that have at least one NCAA Tournament game under their belts.

“It gives the advantage a little bit to the Michigan State guys,” Dunphy said about the Spartans experience. “We’re hoping to just play the best basketball we can. If we make good decisions on offense and we’re in the right spot on defense then we’ll feel pretty good about how we can approach the game.”

While the Owls kept their game strategy close to the vest, junior guard Travis Walton said the Spartans are aware that they need to slow down Temple’s scorers – leading scorer Dionte Christmas, Mark Tyndale, Chris Clark and Ryan Brooks.

“They play four guards, spread the floor and have great shooters,” Walton said. “There’s going to be tough match-ups at times. We’re going to have to shrink the floor and play team defense.”

The Spartans boast a much tougher defensive front than the Owls, allowing only 62 points per game while winning their games by a 9.3-point margin.
In the rough-and-tumble Big Ten, the Spartans often found themselves involved in physical, low-scoring battles.

But Michigan State can also put points on the board when needed.

The Spartans stomped then-No. 12 Indiana, 103-74, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich.

“I don’t know how the game’s going to go. I wish I knew,” Dunphy said. “We’re going to have to practice a fast-paced game. They are sometimes one of the best teams in the country at just blowing it up the court. One [or] two passes and they’re at the rim. It’s a great style of play. There are other times when they grind it out. We both can do that, I think.

“I don’t think it will be the coaches that determine [the pace]. I think it will be the players on the court. You know what? That’s fine by me.”

“I think we can match-up well with those guys,” Christmas said. “They’re very aggressive. They have a great leader in Drew Neitzel. Raymar Morgan is a great player. But I think with our two leaders, Mark Tyndale and Chris Clark, we can match-up well with those guys.”

DUNPHY AND IZZO

Fran Dunphy and Tom Izzo have only coached against each other once before.

But they know much more about each other from their experience as members of the USA Basketball Men’s Collegiate Committee. Other members include Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, Minnesota coach Tubby Smith and Kansas coach Bill Self.

“I’ve certainly followed coach Izzo’s teams over the years and he’s done a remarkable job,” Dunphy said. “His NCAA record is as good as anybody out there.”

Izzo is 24-9 in NCAA Tournament play.

In the only meeting between the two coaches, Izzo’s Spartans beat Dunphy’s Penn squad, 77-52, in the 2003 Coca-Cola Spartan Classic.

Tyson McCloud can be reached at Tyson@temple.edu.

(Photos by Ron Davis)

Also read: “A third punch”