John Chaney has been around college basketball long enough to see many milestones come and go. For the 73-year old Hall of Fame coach, getting his 500th victory at Temple last night was just another night on the job.
''I'm just a blue-collar guy that goes to work,'' Chaney said. ''In any job I've ever had, I've never thought about a time when I would leave. I just go to work.''
Chaney directed the Owls to a 69-37 season-opening victory over Army in the first round of the Preseason NIT.
Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001, Chaney is 500-238 in 24 seasons with the Owls and 725-297 overall in 33 years at Division II Cheyney State and Temple. He has led Temple to 17 NCAA tournaments and five regional finals.
The win also led Chaney past Ray Meyer to 14th place on the NCAA Division I all-time win list for men's basketball coaches.
''I think this could mean a lot of things,'' Chaney said jokingly of the milestone victory. ''Maybe I've been here too long. But I think there are a lot of memories coming off that floor tonight.''
Mardy Collins led Temple with 18 points and Mark Tyndale had 13, as the Owls advanced to a second-round game tomorrow night against UCLA.
''They just weren't able to compete athletically with us,'' Collins said. ''This win just gets us some confidence to start the season.''
''Certainly their defense made it difficult for us,'' Army head coach Jim Crews said. ''And we got in trouble defensively, letting them get the ball too close to the basket.''
Army shot just 12-for-42 from the field on the game, and turned the ball over 21 times.
Temple, meanwhile, which led the nation with the fewest turnovers per game last season (9.2), gave up the ball just four times all night. The 37 points allowed by Temple was the Owls' lowest total since they held Duquesne to the same total in January 2000.
-- AP
