By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA – When Temple meets No. 13 Rutgers (that number may change in a few hours) Monday night at the Liacouras Center two members of the Owls contingent will be at a different vantage point than in previous seasons when it comes to dealing with the Scarlet Knights.
Both new Temple head coach Tonya Cardoza and assistant Brittany Hunter were previously usually on the winning side at Connecticut in the Big East wars.
Hunter graduated after last season, having played for the Huskies three years after transferring from Duke.
Cardoza served 14 seasons as an assistant to Geno Auriemma. For that matter, a third Owl with Huskies DNA is grad assistant Stacey Nasser, who was a manager for four seasons.
But it will be up to the players to do most of the heavy lifting in an attempt to pull an upset that would get some quick national attention.
Until last weekend, Temple might have been in a good spot to catch its former Atlantic Ten rival asleep.
However, the youthful but extremely talented Scarlet Knights suffered a West Coast wipeout at California and Stanford that might have accelerated the learning curve legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer is needing to instill her newcomers.
Temple’s makeup will be a bit different than the Scarlet Knights faced previously when defensive-minded Dawn Staley was at the helm.
Cardoza has turned the team into an offensive force in the early going, most recently Saturday when Temple (3-1) romped over Hampton 79-50 in a nonconference home game.
Shanea Cotton posted a double double on the inside with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while LaKeisha Eaddy’s continuing transition to point guard stayed effective with 14 points and six assists. Shenita Landry had a game-high 16 points.
The other two wins occurred against Bowling Green and Illinois, two games considered tossups, at best, prior to the opener. The setback was a 95-76 romp at nationally-ranked Auburn when the Owls faded in the second half.
“I never doubted we would get it rolling,”:Cardoza said of the uneven start to Saturday’s game before Temple got a firm handle on the competition. “For the most part, we’ve been careless with the ball. But we’ve been shooting a great percentage with the ball.
“They didn’t have any real threats to guard us in the post.”
Cardoza got her first technical near the end of the first half when Temple was ahead by 11.
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that,” she said.
As for the team’s progress to date, the Virginia graduate said, “I’d say we’re off a pretty good start. Of course, I would have liked to play better in the Auburn game to have given us a chance.”
When Temple starts to get on a roll in games like they have recently, Cotton said it takes a while to get a sense of what’s happening.
“I don’t really feel it until my coaches are smiling and the players are applauding and saying I’m doing good. I like doing well.”
If Temple can get a wide open high-powered style against Rutgers, it’s possible the night might have some intrigue.
“It’s a big test, but so was Auburn,” Cardoza said. “We’re going into every game like we’re trying to win, so they’re just another opponent in the way of the great things we’re trying to do this year.
“Our style is we want to get out and run and score as many points as we can in transition. So that’s what we’re going to try to do,” Cardoza said. “We need to take care of the ball. They’re a pretty good defensive team but if we take care of the ball and do a good job on the backboards we should be fine.”
Here Comes the Military
Coincidental to the Army-Navy football game this weekend in town, both schools will invade West Philadelphia Saturday within a few blocks of each other at two different sites in what might have been a neat doubleheader.
Navy visits Penn at 3 p.m. at The Palestra before Army visits Drexel, which is coming off of a neat upset of host Colorado in the Buff’s tournament. Gabriela Marginean scored 26 of her 32 points in the second half to lead the Dragons to a third-place finish.
Army’s visit marks to return of Philadelphia native Dave Magarity, coach of the Knights.
Delaware and DelleDonne to Face Oregon
The 64-team NCAA volleyball field, heading by unbeaten and defending champion Penn State, was announced, and the question now is will Vice President-elect Joe Biden stop by in the neighborhood Friday to cheer fellow Wilmington resident Elena DelleDonne and her Blue Hens teammates when Delaware meets Oregon in the first round at American University in Washington.
The CAA champions drew Oregon. If Delaware wins, the Blue Hens stay in the nation’s capital for a Sunday game against either American or North Carolina.
While DelleDonne was learning her volleyball postseason fate Sunday night, her good friend and would-be roommate Carolyn Doty of Germantown Academy lit up Oklahoma for 18 points as the freshman shot 6-for-6 from three-point land in Connecticut’s romp over the Sooners..
DelleDonne was the nation’s top basketball recruit last season, but later gave up her scholarship from Connecticut to stay near home and play volleyball at Delaware.
With the Blue Hens women’s basketball team on a three-game losing streak after winning the first two, maybe DelleDonne will catch the spirit of the Washington scene and consider a bailout by joining Tina Martin’s group after the volleyball competition concludes.
Big Five Showdown Thursday
In one of the key contests in the City Series, Villanova travels to St. Joseph’s home away from home at 8 p.m. Thursday night at Philadelphia University’s Gallagher Center.
Both teams have had some early season struggles but the Wildcats, with a loss to La Salle, need a win to stay alive in the hunt. It will be the Hawks’ first local tangle.
--Mel
Philly.com discussions are intended to be civil, friendly conversations. Please treat other participants with respect and in a way that you would want to be treated. You are responsible for what you say. And please, stay on topic.
These boards are monitored by Philly.com staff. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us in our sole discretion and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. Personal attacks, especially on other board participants, are not permitted. We reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions.