Amid Gambling Investigation, Temple Men’s Basketball Could Earn NCAA Tournament Bid

The Owls advanced to the American Athletic Conference tournament championship game against UAB, a team they lost to by 28 points earlier this month in a matchup that is being probed for unusual wagering activity.

Is there such a thing as a scandalous Cinderella? If so, the Temple Owls are auditioning for the part.

In the kind of bizarre development that seems almost routine in college sports these days, Temple is threatening to wreak chaos upon the NCAA men’s tournament. With a victory Sunday, the Owls would become one of the most controversial participants in the 85-year history of the beloved sporting event. It has been a wild 10 days for the Philadelphia school.

On March 7, Temple lost a home game to the UAB Blazers by 28 points. Earlier in the day, the gambling watchdog firm U.S. Integrity issued an alert about unusual wagering activity on the game, and some sportsbooks stopped taking bets on the contest. The line jumped from UAB being favored by 1.5 points to 8 that afternoon before settling at 7.

An investigation into the game is ongoing. A source from the sports wagering space tells Sports Illustrated that betting patterns on other Temple games were being analyzed as well.

After the UAB blowout, Temple was 11–19 and its season seemed dead in the water. Since then, the Owls are 5–0—all of them upsets—and on Sunday, they will play the same UAB team for the American Athletic Conference championship and an automatic bid to the Big Dance.

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Already, Temple has knocked at least one team out of the NCAA field. By shocking the NCAA-lock Florida Atlantic Owls on Saturday night in the semifinals as a 14.5-point underdog, Temple assured that the AAC title will be won by a team that wasn’t going to get an at-large spot. We will have a bid thief in Fort Worth on Sunday, either the Owls or the Blazers.

How will that team feel Sunday about being booted from the bracket by a program that is the focus of a gambling inquiry? Stay tuned.

Given what is known thus far, it’s impossible to say whether anyone involved with the Temple program was influencing the outcome of games. Nothing has come to light to point a finger at a player or group of players. The investigation might be inconclusive or it might exonerate the Owls. Nobody knows.

The athletic department issued a statement the night of March 8, saying, “We are aware of the social media posts regarding last night’s men’s basketball game. We will review the reports thoroughly in accordance with university and NCAA policies. While we can’t comment any further at this time, we take this matter very seriously.”

Whatever investigative activity has occurred since then is unknown. The NCAA doesn’t comment on current, potential or pending investigations. None of the key Temple players has missed any games since the UAB loss. Everything appears to simply be business as usual, despite the highly unusual context around the program.

Temple guard Hysier Miller and forward Sam Hofman celebrate against Florida Atlantic on Saturday :: Chris Jones/USA TODAY Sports

Coach Adam Fisher was asked about the situation after Temple’s first of four wins in the AAC tourney. He didn’t have much to say.

“I know our university has put out a statement,” Fisher said Wednesday. “My focus is on my players. I love my guys. We’ve been just trying to prepare for each game and just making sure we do exactly what we’ve done to prepare for each one.”

Against that backdrop, Temple has become a strangely hot lightning rod. Just two days after the UAB defeat, the Owls beat the UTSA Roadrunners by two points as a 4.5-point underdog. Then there was another matchup with UTSA on Wednesday to open the AAC tourney, which Temple won by three as a 2.5-point dog. That was followed by a 15-point win over an SMU Mustangs team that was favored by 11.5 points and a four-point win over the 5.5-point favorite Charlotte 49ers in the quarterfinals.

Rallying from a double-digit deficit to beat FAU, which made the Final Four last season, was Temple’s biggest and most improbable victory of this stretch. It was its fourth win in four days, and now the Owls will go for five in five.

That would put them in the Big Dance with a 17–19 record, one of the most improbable tourney teams of all-time—and that’s even without factoring in the wagering cloud hovering over Temple.

The college football season ended with a program facing two NCAA infractions investigations hoisting the College Football Playoff trophy. If Temple beats UAB and gets in the Big Dance, it isn’t going to win it all come April—but the Owls certainly will be a point of heated contention and discussion for as long as they are in the field.