The unofficial online home for fans of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Posting here to start the conversation.

I hope some other fans will catch on that there is a TUMBB board over here, free from the hassles of other locations.


To start out with, I think you and I are probably equally ardent Temple fans.

Obviously, while I think highly of McKie and the rotation, I prefer to take a relatively skeptical stance, because I've been through all the ups and downs of many seasons, and have gotten accustomed to disappointments.

So it's good to acknowledge that the on-going dynamic in the conversation may be between a true believer in the team and someone who tries to both a fan and an objective observer. In other words, those are the different perspectives that we have, and it's ok to agree to disagree.

I'm still very interested in your contributions, thoughts, and also the information - like I didn't realize that Perry was injured last season - and that helps one to make sense of the drop-off in his performance after being the starter for the first 10-15 games.

Interestingly, there has been nary a "peep" on this message board since 2016, so we'll be bringing it back to life to some extent.

I note, however, that there have been 48 views of these early threads, so apparently someone has noticed.

(10-10-2019 10:41 PM)jedclampett Wrote:  Posting here to start the conversation.

I hope some other fans will catch on that there is a TUMBB board over here, free from the hassles of other locations.


To start out with, I think you and I are probably equally ardent Temple fans.

Obviously, while I think highly of McKie and the rotation, I prefer to take a relatively skeptical stance, because I've been through all the ups and downs of many seasons, and have gotten accustomed to disappointments.

So it's good to acknowledge that the on-going dynamic in the conversation may be between a true believer in the team and someone who tries to both a fan and an objective observer. In other words, those are the different perspectives that we have, and it's ok to agree to disagree.

I'm still very interested in your contributions, thoughts, and also the information - like I didn't realize that Perry was injured last season - and that helps one to make sense of the drop-off in his performance after being the starter for the first 10-15 games.

Thanks for welcoming to this site. It’s a breath of fresh air for us to both post here. Our exchanges, and those of others, will hopefully broaden
our knowledge of Temple bb.

While I’m an ardent fan, have been critical of Temple players shooting too much, and suggested that other players should shoot more. We do differ on the importance of certain stats such as rebounding.

I’ve been highly critical of Rose, but I’m cautiously optimistic that he’ll play well this season.

Both of us correctly predicted before last season started that Temple
would have a good season and correctly predicted their win-loss record. That was quite an achievement given that Temple had lost two starters, and added no new players.

I can see why some are more cautious this season as Temple has lost it’s leading scorer in Shizz Alston and top rebounder in Ern Aflakpui, but I’m guardedly optimistic because I’m familiarly with Temple’s new players, and know that Temple has many good returnees who took a back-seat to veterans last season.

Have confidence in New HC McKie but still need to see if he puts right combination of players on the court and see whether Temple’s best shooters take Temple’s most shots.

Go Owls!

Definitely looking forward to your impressions after the scrimmages. Like the fact that McKie scheduled tough competition for the two pre-season secret scrimmages. It showed confidence and also a determination not to play patty-cake early in the season.

Glad that you think/intuit that Rose may have a breakout season this year. I thought he grew up a lot last season and became more responsible with the ball. He seemed to bond strongly with Shizz and to realize that the two of them had to run the team together. This year, he may be carrying the heaviest responsibility, which could cause him to be a lot more careful with the ball.

Honestly, I'm very disappointed in Rose's failure to achieve his full potential, b/c I thought he was a potential NCAA superstar. But if he really had a stress fracture in conference play, that would explain why he reverted to shooting 3 pointers, rarely penetrating the defense.

If the foot is fully healed, maybe we'll see some of that spectacular penetration to the hoop, but resulting in more points and fewer turnovers or offensive fouls - - - if he has finally realized that crashing and burning doesn't do the team any good.

He does remind me of Julius Erving at times, but only when he is at his best. Dr. J almost never crashed and burned, and Rose should be able to emulate his success rate.


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Few things would make me happier than to see Damion have some more 20 point and 12 rebound performances, as he had his sophomore year. He actually started some games ahead of Ern as a freshman.

I thought Dunphy handled Damion poorly. It just seemed like the guy was always on a short leash or in the dog house. Getting pulled out of games for small mistakes might have undermined his confidence.

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I thought that Perry and Moorman (and some other players on the team) have shown a lack of toughness, a kind of casual approach too often.

It seems to me that they need to have a "grow up" year. Moorman is soft and slow and sometimes disappears from games. He failed to shoot the ball when by shooting, he could have won some games. Got to man up and take responsibility, help carry the team on his back.

As I see it, Perry needs to "grow up" by accepting and mastering his role on the team. The team can't afford to have him playing out of position or not knowing where he's supposed to be. He probably feels too short to be a true PF, but if that's where the team needs him to play, he simply has to accept that this will be his job.

Perry rarely did much from the wing position, with a few exceptions. Dunn looks more the part of a SG/wing player to me than Perry does, because Dunn is quicker and has a better "first step."

If I were McKie, I would shuttle Moorman and Perry in and out of the game at the "4" position, probably starting Moorman but resting him frequently, giving Perry ~15 minutes at the PF and also playing Perry in small lineup situations. Perry may also battle with Dunn for minutes at the wing position, but he's got to play the wing when he's inserted at the "3" position, and play as a PF he's inserted at the "4." Any confusion or drifting or seeming uncertain where to be could limit his minutes.

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Back court looking good, due to Scott's PG skills emerging. I think we need this year's "Big 3" to score around 50 ppg (17 pts apiece). Last year, the back court total, with Alani, was ~55 ppg. This season, the back court total could approach 60 ppg with about 10 ppg off the bench from Dunn, Alani, and JPL.

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Agree with you that Hamilton could become a scoring machine. Dunphy blew an opportunity by not playing him more as a freshman, or by allowing him to lose a year of eligibility the way he did.

I can understand a lithe, lean big man preferring to play the PF position.

Heck, for all I know, maybe McKie will play Moorman at the C and Hamilton at the PF at times. That might be a dynamic tag team, especially because Moorman's too slow to prevent penetration, while Hamilton might be athletic enough to get that job done. I don't know.

I try to break down the Center minutes, and it comes out something like this:

Damion starter, playing 20-25 minutes per game, depending on how much stress he can poot on his previously injured foot.

Hamilton probably coming off the bench. He could battle for the starting C position, or he could simply play 15-20 mpg as backup Center.

Moorman might play 5-10 mpg at Center, partly to show opponents another look on defense. He seemed to handle the position well enough last season. If he does that, maybe Hamilton would play up to 10 minutes at the "4" position.

But if Moorman does play some minutes at the "5," Hamilton should probably play at PF (not Perry, b/c Perry is only 6'6").

Then, we come to the matter of (6'8"?) Arashma Parks, coming off two shoulder surgeries, I believe. I think he was recruited as a PF prospect, but most people expect him to play as a C this and next season after Damion departs.

I see Parks being part of a probable 10 or 11 man rotation in average games, which might be tightened to a 9 man rotation for tough games:

Scott, Alani, JPL? (PG), NPL/Dunn (SG) Rose/Perry/Dunn (W), Moorman/Perry/Hamilton? (PF), Damion/Hamilton/Moorman/Parks ©.

It would be great for Parks to gradually play as his shoulders permit, but not much more than 5-6 mpg for most of this season, in my view. Just enough to be able to have a Center on the floor for 40 minutes and benefit from his defensive and rebounding abilities.

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Will JPL play much this season? It would probably be good to give him some minutes and a chance to prove himself in some. If he's enough like his brother Nate, he could be a major contributor, but otherwise, he might not play much against tougher competition.

Perhaps JPL could do the most for the team as a defensive specialist this season.

Sometimes, McKie might need to shut down an opposing offense, particularly to stop a run and avoid losing a game that way.

Defensive specialist team might be comprised of:

NPL, JPL, Perry, probably Damion Moore. Perhaps the 5th best defensive player would be Scott or Rose, or even Dunn for all I know.

Tell me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen Hamilton shown the grit, toughness or determination to shut down players near the basket. If he could be that man this season, it could make a huge difference.

Since I’ve texted about Rose elsewhere, i’ll try to provide some points that that I haven’t made. Rose is a very good driver when he goes slow so he can step around opposing players which he does effectively. Still needs to improve on finishing at the rim, but that’s an art in itself, and takes a lot of practice.

You’re correct that he still crashes and burns because he doesn’t glance inside to see where the Center is before he drives. He was effective going to the hoop last season. Believe he shot 62 percent at the rim which is very good.

I don’t view Moorman and Perry as soft players, as both like contact, sometimes too much so. Don’t think Perry play’s out of position. Do think both are going to have very good years.

Look upon Perry as a lock-down defender as he has the speed and body strength to keep a perimeter player from turning the corner. He won’t shoot as much, but after watching and talking to him think he’ll do well this season. He’s deadly in transition.

Moorman is slow, but has made more strides to move quicker.

Both Moorman and Perry are better rebounders than Rose, and Perry is a better defender than Moorman is.

Clear, that you’re right that Moorman doesn’t like contact inside when rebounding the ball, but he does like contact when an opponent has the ball, which is not good.

Hope Hamilton is a positive force.

Appreciate your insights.

Regarding Moorman, I thought he played as well as or better - statistically speaking (per 40 minutes) - than Obi did during mid-late conference play in his freshman year. I was very high on him and thought he had great potential. Last season, he got off to a very poor or sluggish start, and so Perry became the starter. It took him several weeks to win back the starting PF position, and from then on his play was good (B or B+) and only occasionally great, with a couple of "A-" performances. He was very inconsistent during conference play, and the big beef with him was not capitalizing on his FG3% and allowing too many opposing players to get between him and the basket on defense.

I still consider him an indispensable member of the team and most likely starter, and I really hope that he optimizes his play. Without insulting him, I think he's on the chubby side, and that part of his slowness may be all the extra weight he's carrying around. I'd love to see him drop 15 or 20 pounds, and also think that would be good for him from a physical health standpoint. "Leaner and more muscular" would be a good goal for him between games. That would make him quicker and more energetic/more stamina.

It seemed to me that Moorman was a much better player at the Center position than I would have expected. Playing near the basket, it was harder for players to run past him - more likely, they ran "into" him. Also, he seems to have a knack for throwing some guys off their game when trying to score in the low post. It's possible that Moorman might be a more capable Center than Hamilton is, despite being 3-4 inches shorter.

So maybe, when Moorman and Hamilton are in the game together, McKie might want to try out the idea of switching them from PF to C and vise-versa periodically. Similarly, he could try assigning them to play in the low post area on both sides of the basket (and switching sides of the basket intermittently) as combo PF/Centers. This could work in a variety of ways, such as showing a different look on defense and forcing their opponents to make adjustments.

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Regarding Perry, when he's playing near 100%, he is a nice backup to Moorman, with a complimentary (i.e., different) style of play. He gives the HC an opportunity to insert a tough defender to offset Moorman's slowness on defense, and his offensive game is quite different, giving the team a new look when he's in the game.

Not sure about Perry's effectiveness at the wing position on offense, but on defense, he nicely compliments Rose, who plays a very unorthodox and slightly non-aggressive or "finesse" style of defense. So, at both positions, one of Perry's greatest assets is his defensive play and his rebounding ability - although he did have a few weak rebounding performances last season, perhaps due to injuries.

You know - - it would be interesting for Coach M to try alternating Perry and Moorman at the PF position several times in a game to really throw off the opponents on both ends. That would be easier when Dunn returns, provided that Dunn can back up Rose as well as hoped.

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On a more cautious note, I have serious concerns about the team's play until Damian & Damion are available and playing near 100%:

Until Dunn returns (assuming he will be an impact player & 100%), and with the uncertainty about Damion Moore's health status, I am very concerned that the team may underperform during the OOC schedule.

The team may need significant improvements from the returning players in order to win 8 or 9 OOC games.

It is possible to see such things in Juniors and Seniors, but they can be hit or miss.

Alston made major improvements between Jr and Sr years. Hamilton certainly improved last year, compared to a very low Frosh baseline.

I thought that Moorman underperformed last season by about 5% to 10% in terms of productivity per 40 minutes played.

Others like Rose and Alani have more or less stayed the same, with minor improvements, and Damion's greatest productivity was observed late Freshman and early Sophomore seasons.

We'll miss Dunn a lot until he returns, methinks, largely because his availability to play creates the possibility of a very capable 7 player core (Scott, Rose, NPL, Dunn, Moorman, Hamilton, Damion Moore), with these 7 players being cycled in and out of each game and playing 80% (upwards of 160 mpg) of the minutes in each game. The remaining bench players (Alani, Perry, & Parks/JPL) would account for the remaining ~35 or 40 minutes.

In contrast without Dunn, the most talented core would be 5 or 6 players (5, not including D. Moore, if absent).

If Coach McKie has to go with 5 A/A- quality core players and has to play his diminished number of B/B+ quality bench players closer to 60 mpg to keep the starters rested, the dropoff in talent and shortage of options will make McKie's job as a game coach much more challenging than it already is for a new HC trying to run a high tempo offense.

Thus, I am preparing for some significant disappointments during the OOC schedule, and wouldn't necessarily expect much better than a 7-6 record heading into conference play unless Dunn and D. Moore can go close to 100% by December 12th/14th or so.

The reason for this is that there are going to be at least 5 or 6 quite challenging OOC games. With Dunn and D. Moore available the whole way, my fairly realistic estimate would have been that with our new HC, the Owls might have gone something like 9-4 or 10-3 in the OOC games, possibly 8-5. So a downgrade to 7-6 seems pretty realistic to me if the team is without Damian and Damion until late December.