Temple University Athletics
Men's Basketball Wins Top Awards At Herb Good Dinner
4.21.08 | Men's Basketball
April 21, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - Temple University garnered the lionshare of honors at the 63rd annual Herb Good Basketball Awards Dinner as head coach Fran Dunphy and seniors Mark Tyndale and Chris Clark were named Coach of the Year, Co-Player of the Year and Most Improved Player, respectively, on Monday evening at Colleen's by Les in the Holiday Inn. Junior guard Dionte Christmas won the Palumbo Award as the Big 5's top scorer for the second straight season and joined Tyndale as a First Team all-Big 5 selection.
Tyndale, who became the first Atlantic 10 Conference player to rank among the top 10 in scoring and rebounding and top five in assists and steals at the end of a season, shares the honor with senior guard Pat Calathes of Saint Joseph's. The two received the Robert V. Geasey Trophy.
Dunphy earns the Harry Litwack Eastern College Coach of the Year Award for leading the Owls, picked ninth in the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason poll, to the 2008 A-10 title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Dunphy guided Temple to a remarkable turnaround, posting a 21-13 mark after winning just 12 contests the previous season. The Owls also shared the Big 5 title with Villanova as each team posted 3-1 city-series records.
Clark, who led the Owls in three-point percentage (57-137, .416), increased his scoring average from 2.6 points per game as a junior to 7.5 points per game this season. It is the second straight season a Temple player has won the Big 5's Most Improved Player award as Christmas earned the honor in 2006-07.
Christmas, who led the Big 5 with 670 points (19.7 ppg.), received the Palumbo Award given to the Big 5's scoring leader for the second straight season. He also was the A-10 scoring leader for the second consecutive season, becoming just the third league player to accomplish the feat.
Joining Calathes, Tyndale and Christmas on the All-Big Five first team are La Salle's Darnell Harris and Villanova's Scottie Reynolds.
The second team includes La Salle's Rodney Green, Penn's Brian Grandieri, Villanova's Dante Cunningham and Ahmad Nivins and Rob Ferguson of Saint Joseph's.
