Temple Owl$ Men's Basketball Games Have Been Monitored By Gambling Watchdog for "A While"

Well this came out of nowhere. I didn’t expect a respected and world-renowned basketball school like Temple to get caught up in the first college basketball betting scandal of the NIL era, but here we are. Thursday night, a gambling integrity company alerted casinos about strange betting behavior in the Owls game vs. UAB, via Pat Forde at Sports Illustrated:

The betting line moved significantly during the day Thursday leading up to the game. At one casino, the line moved from UAB as a 1.5-point favorite over Temple at the beginning of the day to UAB as an eight-point favorite by mid-afternoon, then settling at seven closer to tip-off. The Blazers routed the Owls, 100–72, in Temple’s home gym, the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.

That was the second straight loss for Temple and the second straight game in which the Owls did not come close to covering the spread. They were favored by 5.5 points Saturday at home against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and lost by five. Tulsa opened the game by jumping out to a 16–2 lead and stayed ahead the rest of the way.

A source in the gambling space says U.S. Integrity has been monitoring Temple games for a while. Temple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Now, I want to say this is a witch hunt. I want to say it’s a Villanova booster who tipped the authorities off, hoping people would talk about Temple instead of Nova’s $3 million roster missing the tournament for the second year in a row. Buttttttt it looks like someone got sloppy. Someone told one person who told another who told another that someone on Temple was allegedly in on the take. There’s no reason that line moves like that without a significant injury. Who on Temple is flunking TV?

But this is America. Last time I checked we have a Constitution. Let our justice system play out before we start pointing fingers. I’ve got my own evidence and my evidence is that Temple basketball absolutely stunk this year. They replaced five of their top six scorers after Aaron McKie left, they have first-time head coach, and they pieced together a team with transfers at the 11th hour. Those are stone cold facts you can’t deny. On the other hand, I’ll admit, there is some evidence that’s tough to defend:

There is one eye-popping stat from Thursday’s game in question. Temple was outrebounded 41-19 in the loss. The -22 rebounding margin is the worst for Temple in 150 games, dating back to a -26 margin vs. Cincinnati on January 27, 2019.

— Dave Connelly (@DaveConnellySG) March 8, 2024

Temple also went 2-11-1 against the spread over a two month stretch from December to February. Apparently Temple shaving points was the worst kept secret in the Twitter gambling community since Saturday when the Owls played Tulsa and the first half under was a little fishy:

Lotta whispers in the betting community since Saturday. The first half total (temple under) on Saturday against Tulsa was really fishy, with reportedly passes into the stands. Rumor is a one or two of the guards might be on the take. https://t.co/iocHi2co4p

— Tom (@mulltf) March 8, 2024

People in that same community are saying the Memphis game earlier this season had irregular betting patterns as well. Here’s a couple guys from VSIN talking about the weird line movement on the UAB game Thursday mentioning that, “It’s weird to see it a second time with Temple.”

“There’s nothing we can find here. Look, I’m not gonna say this is point-shaving…It’s weird to see it a second time with Temple.”

Jim Root on the Temple basketball team’s line dramatically shifting for the second time this year.pic.twitter.com/nBSlnAUYZ8

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 8, 2024

But again, remember, last time I checked this is America. Due process. Miranda Rights. All that shit. We gotta let this play out before we place blame because you have to be an idiot to try and fix games. You have to be an even bigger moron to try and fix a game played in a state that has regulated gambling like PA. Save that shit for Texas.

P.S. The irony in all of this, if it’s proven to be true, is that this might actually be good for Temple in the long-run. Hear me out. If the athletics department had the slightest clue that NIL rules college sports now and cared about getting the team good NIL deals they can live on. They would’ve probably been less likely to take a bribe.

P.P.S. If they fire Adam Fisher and he has no involvement just because they need a head on a spike to show face I will boycott the basketball program.