According to athletic communications, junior guard Rateska Brown and sophomore forward Jacquilyn Jackson have been suspended indefinitely due to violation of team rules.

Brown was Temple’s top returning scorer, recording 10.8 points per game in the 2012-13 season and was slated to be a part of the Owls’ guard rotation this year.

Jackson played in 23 games last season, contributing off of the bench.

Neither player suited up for the Owls’ 116-59 exhibition victory and the team is not commenting further on the players’ future availability.

The American Athletic Conference held its inaugural women’s basketball media day Monday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Ct.

With the day’s events came the release of the conference’s coaches’ preseason poll, which has Temple slated to finish ninth out of the conference’s 10 teams, ahead of only the University of Houston.

Defending national champion Connecticut will look to flex its status as a national powerhouse in a new conference, and was unanimously chosen by all voting coaches as the top-ranked team in the preseason poll. Louisville University, the national runner-up a season ago, came in at No. 2 in the ranking.

The American also announced the preseason All-Conference selections, Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year candidates, none of which included Temple.

Coach Tonya Cardoza and seniors Natasha Thames and Shi-Heria Shipp took part in the day’s events.

Temple will open the season against Big-5 rival La Salle University Nov. 8.

2013-14 Preseason Coaches’ Poll
                                                  Points
1.     Connecticut (9)                  81
2.     Louisville (1)                       73
3.     USF                                    59
4.     Rutgers                              57
5.     SMU                                   50
6.     Memphis                            32
7.     Cincinnati                           30
8.     UCF                                    28
9.     Temple                               25
10.   Houston                              15

The schedule for the upcoming women’s basketball season was released last week, and from the looks of it, the Owls will have their work cut out for them.

In the team’s first campaign in the American Athletic Conference, Temple will play 12 of 29 games against NCAA tournament teams from last season, including defending national champion Connecticut and runner-up Louisville.

“Obviously, this is our most challenging schedule in the history of the program and this is what you want—to play against the best and get this kind of exposure for Temple women’s basketball,” sixth-year head coach Tonya Cardoza said in a press release. “We are so excited to get started and to see what this season will bring. This schedule gives us the opportunity to bring in some terrific competition and to put people in the stands.

The conference portion of the schedule includes home-and-away matchups against Cincinnati, Central Florida, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, Southern Methodist and South Florida. The non-conference schedule includes six games against NCAA tournament teams.

The season is set to kick off on Nov. 8 against city rival La Salle.

Former Owls’ coach Dawn Staley, who was instrumental in rebuilding a program nearly left for dead at the turn of the century, has cemented herself among some of the greatest to play the game of basketball.

The winningest coach in program history will be a part of the 2013 Basketball Hall of Fame class.

While not nominated for her coaching prowess at Temple—where she went 172-80 in eight seasons and three-straight Atlantic 10 Conference Championships along with six NCAA Tournament appearances—and the University of South Carolina, she was nominated for her skills on the court preceding her coaching career.

Staley played high school ball at Dobbins Tech, in Philadelphia, before becoming a force at Virginia and eventually winning three Olympic gold medals with Team USA.

Staley responded to the announcement on Twitter, saying, “How incredible it is to be amongst greatness?!! I’m still I’m shock….and dreaming. Don’t wake me! 🙂 #2013HOF.”

According to philly.com, Staley told philahoopsw.com in February that she had two goals in basketball, “I wanted to be an Olympian and be a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.”

Now she has both.

Barring a miracle, the Owls season will end whenever they are knocked out of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

With a 12-17 record (5-9 in the A-10) Temple cannot earn a Women’s National Invitation Tournament berth. Teams are only offered a bid in the tournament if they have a record above .500.

Temple’s only hope of playing after the conference tournament is to sweep through it and win the championship. Their record alone keeps them out of the NCAA Tournament unless they earn an automatic berth by winning the conference.

The task in itself will be daunting. If Temple were to advance past their opening round match against seventh-seeded Xavier (13-15, 7-7 in the A-10) they will face Charlotte (22-7, 12-2 in the A-10). They knocked off the Owls in the season finale already, 58-44.

After that Temple would face the winner of the Fordham and Butler/Saint Louis game in the semifinals. Temple wouldn’t face regular season champion Dayton (27-1, 14-0 in the A-10) until the championship round, if they get that far.

Regardless, the Owls’ chance of making the NCAA Tournament is a long shot.

The Owls are losers of four straight but have somehow backpedaled their way to an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament berth.

As Virginia Commonwealth came up short of an upset over Charlotte tonight, Temple officially clinched a spot in the A10 tournament. With the Owls’ record standing at (12-16, 5-8 A-10) and only one game remaining in the regular season, VCU (10-18, 3-10 A-10) was the only team that could have overtaken their spot in the tournament, but that is no longer the case after the Rams lost 63-54 to the second-place 49ers (23-4, 12-1 A-10).

Temple currently holds the 10th seed in the conference standings, and unless the Owls can knock off third-place Fordham (21-7, 11-2 A-10) on Sunday, they’ll finish either 10th or 11th. If the standings remain as is, Temple’s first round opponent would be Richmond (16-13, 6-7 A-10), a team the Owls beat by 13 earlier in the season. However, it’s possible that either George Washington (12-15, 6-7 A-10) or Xavier (12-15, 6-7 A-10) could bump up to take Richmond’s place as the 7th seed. If Temple falls to the 11th spot, they will likely take on Buter (17-11, 8-5 A-10) in the first round. The Owls are coming off a 59-54 loss at the hands of the Bulldogs just last night.

This weekend’s match-ups will go a long way in determining the seeding. The A-10 tournament begins Friday, March 8 at St. Joe’s.

Tyler Sablich can be reached at tyler.sablich@temple.edu or on Twitter @TySablich.

With its back up against the wall, the women’s basketball team has traveled to Indianapolis for an important game against Butler tonight.

Temple (12-15, 5-7 A-10) is clinging to ninth place in the Atlantic 10 Conference with just two games remaining, and a conference tournament berth is in jeopardy if the Owls cannot salvage at least one more win. The Owls would clinch a berth if they were to win their last two match-ups, but consecutive wins against sixth-place Butler (16-11, 7-5 A-10) and third-place Fordham (20-7, 10-2 A-10) will be no easy feat.

However, Butler is coming off a blowout loss to a Richmond team that Temple beat handily on Jan. 31. The Bulldogs also lost 82-39 to first-place Dayton, against whom the Owls held their own against earlier this week. While Butler has locked up an A-10 tournament spot, the consistency hasn’t always been there this season.

Junior forward Daress McClung is in the midst of a very strong season, averaging 16.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game to lead the Bulldogs in both of those categories. Sophomore guard Taylor Schippers, 12.7 points per game, and sophomore center Liz Stratman, 11.6 points per game, also average in double-figures.

A clear advantage Butler holds over Temple is the fact that the Owls are just 4-11 on the road this season. However, the Owls have played their best basketball against formidable opponents and the Bulldogs have proved themselves beatable.

Temple will look to take a step toward an A-10 tournament berth at Butler at 7 p.m.