Rivals/Yahoo comment on Temple/A10/Xavier

[Mr. Neutral]

Not this year …

From Dover, Del. : Does Temple have any chance to be a repeat Atlantic 10 champ? The Owls do play a weak non-conference schedule. What's your take?

Xavier remains the team to beat in the A-10, and I think every coach in the league would tell you the same. Even with the loss of three senior starters from a 30-win team, the Musketeers easily remain the league's most talented team and Sean Miller has to be considered one of the top young coaches in college basketball.

Temple probably is the third- or fourth-best team in the league, so the Owls certainly have a legitimate chance to win the A-10 Tournament again if they get hot at the right time. But the odds aren't good. Senior swingman Dionte Christmas may be the best player in the league, but losing guard Mark Tyndale, who led the team in rebounding and assists and was second in scoring, is huge.

I wouldn't call the non-conference schedule weak, either. The Owls play host to SEC favorite Tennessee and MAC favorite Kent State, and travel to defending national champ Kansas and Villanova. Tennessee, Kansas and Villanova will be in the preseason top 25.