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Bracketology Winners: Ole Miss, Temple, and Gonzaga have huge weeks

By Tristan Freeman

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 18: Head coach Fran Dunphy of the Temple Owls looks on in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 18: Head coach Fran Dunphy of the Temple Owls looks on in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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VILLANOVA, PA – DECEMBER 05: Shizz Alston Jr. #10 and Quinton Rose #1 of the Temple Owls reacts after an offensive foul in the second half against the Villanova Wildcats at Finneran Pavilion on December 5, 2018 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The Villanova Wildcats defeated the Temple Owls 69-59. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
VILLANOVA, PA – DECEMBER 05: Shizz Alston Jr. #10 and Quinton Rose #1 of the Temple Owls reacts after an offensive foul in the second half against the Villanova Wildcats at Finneran Pavilion on December 5, 2018 in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The Villanova Wildcats defeated the Temple Owls 69-59. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

Temple Owls

With both Wichita State and Cincinnati taking a step back and programs such as UConn and Memphis still in rebuilding mode, the AAC isn’t filled with many opportunities for signature resume wins. The exception is Houston, who was one of three remaining unbeaten teams heading into last week.

But the Cougars fell on the road to the Temple Owls, who vaulted themselves into the bubble conversation with that win. In our latest Field of 68 predictions, Temple found themselves on the “First Four Out”. That’s much better than before when they weren’t even being discussed.

Unlike the last two seasons, the Owl’s non-conference resume doesn’t have the elite wins/awful losses. The problem is that there’s little there, with wins over Missouri (just lost to South Carolina), Davidson and Georgia being the best they have.

Temple is currently 3-1 in the AAC and has a return game at Houston to deal with. Future bouts with Cincinnati and UCF also will do wonders for their resume if they can beat either one.

Their resume won’t likely look sexy but if the Owls can get to 20+ wins (with 10+ in the AAC) while avoiding falling to Tulane and East Carolina, they’ll at the very least be on the bubble line when March arrives. But none of that would’ve been possible if they didn’t beat Houston, which will be a great win in their caps.

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