Did Any of This Year's First Four Out Teams Deserve to Make the NCAA Tournament?

Temple Owls

Temple is, by far, the most popular team among the first four out, and might have the best case for a bid yet.

Temple went 23-10 on the season, 13-5 in the American and lost to SMU -- the eventual conference champs -- in the conference semifinals. That sounds pretty impressive in and of itself, but there's more. The Owls also finished 66th in BPI and 65th in nERD on the back of their 13th-ranked defense.

On the other end of the floor, the Owls were a different story. They finished 200th in offensive efficiency and struggled to score on a consistent basis. The key factor for Temple was probably their 61st-ranked strength of schedule, but that's not terrible by any means. So, while the Owls are on the outside looking in, I don't see why. The Owls are a great defensive team, and we had them pegged as a 10 seed going into Selection Sunday.