Results tagged “templeowls”

Phillyist's quick-picks for your evening agenda.

Drexel (2-3, 0-1): Drexel hasn't really given us much to get excited about over the last couple weeks. After getting past Cal State-Northridge in the battle of mediocrity, the Dragons pushed George Mason to the brink, but ended up falling to the Patriots by a point. Maybe because of a hangover from the George Mason game, Drexel was pretty lackluster in a loss to Fairfield. Can the team pull it back together? They've got a tough test on Thursday, hosting a 6-2 Niagra team (tickets) before going on the road to play Bucknell. And when they're done with that, they've got to travel to #17 Memphis. Realistically, the Dragons will probably be 2-6 or 3-5 after this stretch, so we'll be paying more attention to how they look in these games, particularly the Niagra game.

Drexel (1-1, 0-0): The Dragons got off to as good of a start, realistically, as we could hope for. They pulled out a close victory against Penn, but it wasn't for lack of trying to cough it up at the end. Fortunately for Drexel, Penn's Zack Rosen missed a key free throw in the closing moments of the game that could have possibly sent the game to overtime. In their next game, however, Drexel couldn't get anything going offensively, and ended up on the wrong end of a blowout against Georgetown. Upcoming games: Home vs. Cal State Northridge, Mon., 12/1/08, 7:00 p.m. (tickets).

With college hoops season tipping off, we're going to pick up where we left off last year with the Home Game: College Hoops Edition series of posts, with some modifications. We're going to stick to the Big 5 schools plus Drexel this year, and we're going to keep it to men's basketball—not because we have anything against women's hoops, but because our brains can only handle so much at any one time. So with the season getting underway, what's the outlook for Philadelphia's teams? Here's what we think.

And the last Philadelphia school standing is... Villanova. The women (17-15, 5-11) won their WNIT opening round game against American on a buzzer-beating rebound-and-putback by Duke transfer Laura Kurz. The Wildcats then went on the road and beat Wisconsin in round two. They're now in the WNIT Sweet Sixteen, and face Colorado in Boulder tomorrow night. Meanwhile, the Villanova men (22-12, 9-9) are the last local team standing in the Big Dance after Temple went down to Michigan State and St. Joe's lost to Oklahoma in their respective first-round matchups. Villanova, on the other hand, upset Clemson in round one, and then whooped up on would-be Cinderellas Siena in the second round. Next up for the Wildcats, a Friday night meeting with top-seeded Kansas. Let's hope Villanova's illogical season continues and the Wildcats turn in a repeat performance of their last meeting with Kansas, in 2005, when they upset the then-#2 Jayhawks by shooting the lights out of the building from behind the arc. Game on.

So it's everyone's favorite time of the college basketball year: March Madness. That time of the year when everyone is a college hoops expert and every tournament pool you enter is guaranteed to be won by your buddy's girlfriend who picked her brackets based entirely on which school's color scheme she liked more in a head-to-head match-up. So in case you've been living under a rock for the last few days, here's what's up with the local teams in this crazy season.

The Drexel men (12-20, 5-14) are officially toast after being bounced from the CAA tournament in the first round by Delaware. Fortunately, the women (18-11, 13-5) are still alive. They ended their regular season with a win over Georgia State, and now the Dragons have a first-round bye in the upcoming CAA tournament. On Friday night, they'll play the winner of Thursday night's Towson-Hofstra game.

The Drexel women (15-11, 10-5) were looking like contenders after three straight wins, including a spanking of William & Mary. But then reality set in, in the form of #10 Old Dominion. The men (11-18, 4-12) didn't have to worry about being exposed as mediocre–everyone knew they stunk. But apparently they still felt compelled to show everyone, in the form of losses to William & Mary and Fairfield. Their regular season will sputter to a merciful end at home against James Madison tonight, and then at Hofstra on Saturday. The women host Towson tomorrow night, and George Mason comes to town Sunday afternoon. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

The Drexel Lady Dragons (14-10, 9-4) got a pair of solid home wins this week, topping Delaware and James Madison. Now they'll take the show on the road, heading to William & Mary tomorrow night before a big showdown with #10 Old Dominion on Sunday. Things weren't quite as peachy for the men (11-16, 4-11). They lost a tough double-overtime game to Old Dominion last Thursday. Fortunately, they edged out a win against Delaware over the weekend. Tonight, the Dragons have an away game at William & Mary. Then they'll return home to host Fairfield Saturday afternoon. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

Drexel had one of those ho-hum weeks. The women (12-10, 7-4) split their games this week. They beat up on Georgia State before falling short against VCU. The men (10-15, 3-10) couldn't keep up with George Mason, but bounced back with a solid win over Towson. Tomorrow night, the Lady Dragons will be promoting breast cancer awareness at their home game against Delaware. The players will be wearing pink headbands and wristbands, and fans who wear pink will get free admission to the game. Then they'll host James Madison on Sunday. The men have a pair of away games this week, at Old Dominion tomorrow night, then at Delaware on Saturday. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

The Drexel Lady Dragons (11-9, 6-3) split their games this week, losing at Northeastern before coming away with a solid road win at Hofstra. In both games, the Dragons got a big contribution from sophomore forward Gabriela Marginean, who was named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week for her efforts. The men (9-14, 2-9) went 0-2 (again) this week, dropping games to Georgia State and Northeastern. The two losses brings the Dragons' losing streak to five games. On deck for the men: home games against George Mason tomorrow night, and Towson on Saturday. The women host Georgia State tomorrow night, then go on the road to VCU Sunday. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

The Drexel hoopsters had a rough week. The men (9-12, 2-7) dropped an overtime game at home to William & Mary last Wednesday, then got whooped by VCU on the road. The women (10-8, 5-2) saw their nine-game winning streak come to an end with an overtime loss of their own, against Towson. Then they couldn't seal the deal against William & Mary, and ended up giving up a late lead to lose their second straight. The women will have a good chance to bounce back this week, though, going on the road to the CAA cellar-dwellers: Northeastern tomorrow night, then Hofstra Sunday afternoon. Maybe the men will get a couple win as well, as they're playing a couple teams as bad as they are: at Georgia State tonight, then hosting Northeastern late Saturday afternoon. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

Drexel's Lady Dragons (10-6, 5-0) ran their winning streak up to nine games with a win over UNC-Wilmington on Sunday. They'll visit conference co-leading Towson tomorrow night, then host William & Mary on Sunday. The men (9-10, 2-5) spit their past couple matchups. They beat last-place Georgia State but then dropped their home game to Hofstra. Hopefully, they'll have a better showing at home tonight against William & Mary. And then they get to go to conference leading VCU. Have fun with that. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL).

Drexel's Lady Dragons (8-6, 3-0), led by Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week Narissa Suber, extended their winning streak to seven games, beating Delaware and George Mason on the road. Now they'll look to keep up the winning ways at home, hosting Northeastern tomorrow night and UNC-Wilmington Sunday afternoon. The men (8-9, 1-4), on the other hand, look to stop their three-game skid as they face a couple of their fellow CAA cellar-dwellers at home: Tonight against Georgia State, and Saturday afternoon against Hofstra. (Tickets for all games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL).

Phillyist just came across an interesting tidbit while scouring philly.com blogs: The Temple Owls and coach Fran Dunphy will be taking the subway to their game versus the Duke Blue Devils at the Wachovia Center tonight. Coach says, "This is a tremendous opportunity for our team to travel as Philadelphians do on a daily basis to and from work," and so it is. Good for them. But just a heads up to all those commuters that the boys will be heading out at 4:45, getting on the Broad Street Line at Cecil B. Moore and off at Pattison, so if you’re heading south you may run into a wall of owls. Luckily they don’t bite—unless you’re a devil.

Just over nine and a half hours, five home-city teams, and three games made for one crazy Saturday of men’s college basketball in Philadelphia. It is not often that hoops diehards get an opportunity to attend a trio of games in one day, but December 2, 2006 brought just that. Unfortunately, I was only able to go to the nightcap due to a massive amount of work and no access to a car. But in a perfect world, here’s what my day would have looked like…