Fisher keeps in mind Chaney after Temple tops FAU

• Myron Medcalf, ESPN Staff WriterMar 16, 2024, 09:46 PM ET

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  • Covers college basketball
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

FORT WORTH, Texas– With his group on the cusp of its very first trip to the NCAA tournament considering that 2019 after an unlikely win over Florida Atlantic in the AAC competition semifinals on Saturday, Temple coach Adam Fisher said he was thinking of John Chaney, the Owls training legend who passed away 3 years back, following the triumph.

” [Coach] Chaney is smiling down on us,” he informed ESPN after Temple’s thrilling 74-73 triumph over FAU, a Final Four squad a year ago.With a win

over UAB on Sunday, Fisher would finish among the greatest in-season turnarounds in current college basketball history, simply a month after his group lost 10 games in a row. According to ESPN Stats & Information research study, Temple (5-13 American) would connect Holy Cross (2016) as the only teams to make the NCAA tournament with 13 conference losses. Saturday’s win was also the second-largest upset over the past 30 seasons for Temple, which was a 14.5-point underdog.Saturday’s chaotic

game ended as FAU star Johnell Davis devoted a turnover on his errant pass and Temple’s Hysier Miller dove to the floor for the loose ball as time expired to seal the win.It was a fortuitous minute for a program that had actually not experienced that bliss for the majority of the season. Last month, Temple had an 8-17 record– 1-11 in the American– after a 10-game losing streak.And earlier

this month the school revealed that it had actually introduced an examination after a gaming guard dog business flagged a matchup in between UAB and Temple for suspicious gaming activity.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Fisher, a first-year head coach, stated his group stayed”locked in “amidst its challenges as it managed an 8-2 record in its last 10 games.”We use the term loose and locked in,”he stated after the game.” If you’re at our shootaround, we get after it, we’re detail-oriented, however we have a good time. We have actually got to delight in the minute. Our focus is always on getting better. We don’t really speak about winning and losing and this and that.”

Fisher has preached “Temple Difficult” all week. He’s likewise welcomed former players to speak to his team.He stated he has communicated the significance of the group’s history so his players comprehend those who came before them. He credits Chaney and the other legends of the program for the opportunity his group will have on Sunday to reach the NCAA tournament for the very first time in 5 years amid a challenging season. He said the team has a board in its arena that every former player indications whenever they visit.Temple will likewise be

the 3rd team since 1939 to play five conference competition games in five days, per ESPN Statistics & Details research study.”It is among the winningest programs in all

of college basketball,”Fisher said. “We have great centers, we get fantastic charter flights, all these remarkable things due to the fact that of all the great players that came before us.”So, we play for those guys that came before

us. We understand they have actually led Temple to places we wish to go to. I think there is no better method to get to where you wish to go than to speak with people that have actually done it and done it because cherry and white.”