This is the last time I'll bring it up

The day was December 13, 2009. Villanova was undefeated and ranked third in the country. Temple was 7-2 and unheralded. It was a typical rivalry game situation between two Big 5 teams, and in typical fashion, the highly-touted team went down at the hands of the team no one was talking about.

Juan Fernandez, possibly the Owls’ breakout star of the year, dropped 33 points and had four assists in Temple’s upset of Villanova, 75-65. Scottie Reynolds led the Wildcats with 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The problem with calling it an upset was that immediately following the game, Villanova coach Jay Wright asked reporters to refrain from calling it an upset. In his mind, Temple always was the better team.

This is a fact that people just won’t believe. After all, it was Villanova that started the season with high hopes a season after advancing to the Final Four. Despite two straight NCAA tournament appearances, Temple was still seeking its first win in the big dance since 2001.

Except that Villanova is a squad that has just three seniors, albeit one of them -Reynolds- is probably the best player in the Big East. They have three talented juniors, and the rest of the team is made up of underclassmen. The Wildcats couldn’t keep their success up all year, and Villanova did indeed hit their wall late in the season.

On the positive side, Villanova was third in the nation in points per game with 82.5, led by Reynolds with 18.5.

Temple is also young, but its most heralded player coming into the season was junior Lavoy Allen, and the Owls play a stingy defense. Allen averaged a double-double with 11.5 points and 10.9 rebounds for the season. This was the year Temple finally did what it should do every year by separating itself from the rest of the Atlantic 10. They also didn’t let up with a higher number of underclassmen on the roster.

Temple had no individual in the national top 10 in any category, nor was it team top 10.

Following its win over Villanova, Temple went undefeated in the city and won the unofficial Big 5 title. Villanova finished with just one loss.

To Temple.

Despite the loss, Villanova was given the higher seed in the national championship tournament.