After missing out on an American Athletic Conference championship in 2014, the white board hanging in the team’s locker room read: “Nine points, don’t leave it up to the committee.”
Temple finished last season with nine points in the conference standings—tied for second with Southern Methodist—as Central Florida took home the title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“We knew our conference was only going to get one automatic bid, but we knew it was not very likely we were going to get an at-large bid,” junior outside hitter Tyler Davis said. “We don’t want it to be based on anyone else’s decision or some slim chance we make the tournament.