(12-13-2020 06:03 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  

(12-13-2020 05:57 PM)The Grape King Wrote:  

(12-13-2020 05:29 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  

(12-13-2020 05:24 PM)The Grape King Wrote:  If you'd asked me a few weeks ago, I would've said I'd be shocked if Temple won more than 3 or 4 games in the conference. I like the talent coming in, but we're returning literally nothing besides a few very mediocre frontcourt players. But, after seeing the quality of some of these groups this year, and hearing from folks inside practice that this should be the best 3-point shooting Temple team in years, I wouldn't be surprised to finish outside the bottom 2 or 3. Having only one game under their belt before AAC play is gonna hurt though.

So many new faces this year, a second year of McKie's style with a backcourt of only his recruits, and I'm so excited to see this year's team despite the growing pains we're gonna push through the next two years at least.

If these transfer rules pass, pushing back the Big Five and having essentially the ability to reschedule because it's an hour round trip for the away team and still make a decent ooc from it will look like a genius move between the elgibility and injuries coming back. Temple intrigues me, it will be a completely different team this year, last year was very much still the previous staff's group.

Last year's team was incredibly talented, but the transfer to McKie taking over was not nearly as smooth as people anticipated it would be. No one transferred out, but obviously the way the program was run took a sharp enough turn to disgruntle some of the vets. Rumors from inside the locker room claimed that Josh Pierre-Louis was a huge trouble maker from day one, Nate PL obviously gave up on the team, Monty Scott apparently almost came to blows with someone on the coaching staff.

You can tell the difference in body language and intensity on the court from the Maryland game when we had them on the ropes in November to AAC play. I remember going back and watching highlights from November games later in the season and couldn't believe it was the same team. Word had it that getting blown out in Tulsa was the final straw to the locker room cohesion.

Amazing how quickly you can go from "hey this team looks like they can make serious noise" to "man I hope we can finish 9th". That's the nature of college hoops now though. If you're not a blue blood or a team with a super stable coaching staff, you gotta go into full rebuild mode once in a while. I mean, how soon people forget that John Chaney even left Temple hoops in the toilet on his way out.

Not to over simplify but McKie wants a different type of player than what Temple had, I don't mean in talent or skills, I mean in attitude and personality. I think McKie has a lot of Chaney in him. There will be more "junkyard dogs" in the program and those types don't mix well with everyone.

McKie may have a lot of Chaney in him, but what that means is recruiting players with a higher level of drive, dedication, and hunger to win. Chaney's players had to get up before 6 a.m. each morning for practice, making it clear that basketball was their top priority. They were often described with terms such as "disciplined," "serious," and "workman-like."

What gave Chaney's Temple teams a strong sense of identity was that many of them were "diamonds in the rough" who hadn't been pampered and had to work hard for anything they got. They were scrappy enough to win more than their share of upsets, but very few players had disciplinary issues, and in general, Temple basketball players during the Chaney era were often described in very positive terms, such as "gentlemen."