Martelli story in the Athletic

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John Chaney is the ultimate Big 5 character. Crass, brilliant, ridiculous, legendary. Also — not a damn to give.

On Feb 29, 2000, Temple was scheduled to play Saint Joseph’s at the Palestra — an entirely meaningless game. St. Joe’s was not good, at all. It entered the game on a five-game losing streak and was 11-14 overall. Martelli, in his fifth year at St. Joe’s, was 0-10 head-to-head against Chaney. Temple, meanwhile, was rocking and rolling at 22-4 overall, 13-1 in the Atlantic 10 and ranked No. 5 in the country.

Martelli had a strict pregame policy during his St. Joe’s tenure. He spoke to his team 40 minutes before tipoff and allowed no one else in the locker room other than players and staff. He took this deathly seriously.

Before this game, though, amid Martelli’s pregame talk, the door to Locker Room 4 at the Palestra swung open.

There was Chaney.

During his time at Temple, Chaney didn’t travel with his team for city games. Players and staff took a bus from campus. He drove by himself, usually from home, and would arrive … whenever, usually well after the team got there.

On this night, apparently, Chaney arrived at the Palestra 40 minutes before tip and assumed his team was in Locker Room 4. He walked in sipping a cup of coffee and eating a doughnut. The entire St. Joe’s team, plus an incensed Martelli, turned and looked at him.

A silence hung before Chaney spoke …

“Man,” he said, looking at Martelli, “these motherfuckers are really listening to you. Want to trade teams?”

No one knew what to say. Chaney turned and left the room.

“Like nothing happened,” Martelli says now. “It was incredible.”

Saint Joseph’s ended up pulling off the upset.