Title
Congratulating the Temple University men's basketball team for winning their 2,000th game.
Body
WHEREAS, The Temple University men's basketball team, the sixth winningest NCAA Division I men's collegiate basketball program of all time, is the flagship athletic program of the university. The Temple Owls have won thirty conference championships, thirty three NCAA Tournament appearances; seven Sweet Sixteen appearances; eight Elite Eight appearances; two Final Four appearances; and were the inaugural winners of the 1938 National Invitational Tournament (NIT); and
WHEREAS, A quarter of these victories, 516 to be exact, came under the leadership of Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach John Chaney, who led the Owls from 1982 to 2006. Chaney coached only one losing season during his over two decades as head coach, winning ten A-10 conference championships, making seventeen NCAA tournaments, and appearing in the Elite Eight five times; and
WHEREAS, John Chaney was the architect of a matchup zone defense that stymied opposing offenses for decades. He became known for life lessons, tough nonconference scheduling, and his infamous 5:30 a.m. practices. He was a blunt, unapologetic, tough coach who demanded excellence on and off the court; and
WHEREAS, The Temple Owls are a staple program of the Philadelphia Big 5 association of men's college basketball programs in Philadelphia, with twenty eight Big 5 titles to their name, second most in the Big 5 behind only Villanova; and
WHEREAS, Temple's first basketball victory came against the Purple Crescent Athletic Club in 1894, marking the start of the Owls campaign to becoming one of the greatest schools in men's college basketball history; and
WHEREAS, In 1938, Temple won the first-ever national championship, defeating Colorado 60-36 in the NIT, the forerunner of the NCAA tournament that started a year later. They were led by head coach James Usilton, who won 205 games while at Temple; and
WHEREAS, The program cli...
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