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I'm sure there will be a lot of specific thoughts to share about the Drexel game. I will try to do a couple of posts during the game, as well.

Despite having 7 returning Juniors & Seniors from last year's rotation plus an experienced RS Junior (Scott), there are a whole lot of unanswered questions.

Most have to do with the way Coach McKie functions as a game coach.

Here are some of my top questions/keys to the game:

1) Will the Big 3 function smoothly enough in terms of play-making, or will a true PG (A.M.) have to play a lot of minutes to distribute the ball?

2) Will Temple's defense be able to limit Drexel to below 33% FG3% and 50% FG2%?

3) Will Drexel win the rebounding battle, and by how much?

4) Will our PF & Centers be able to contribute 20 pts & 20 rebounds?

5) Will his starting lineup function well enough to play 150 minutes, or will he have to play his bench more than 50 minutes?

6) How well will Parks and JPL play, and will they be able to contribute at all to a Temple win?

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On the last point, Parks could really save the day for Temple if he could play 6-8 minutes, play solid defense, and grab a few rebounds. The loss of Aflakpui could hurt this team almost as much as the loss of Alston does.

Regarding JPL, I've been concerned about the reports about him during the preseason, but will he rally now that the season is beginning? Doubt we'll see much of him, but perhaps he'll be called upon to play a little bit of shut-down defense and drive to the hoop once or twice.

With his speed, I've got the image in my mind of him functioning a bit like Khalif Wyatt and Will Cummings did - - just attacking the basket and drawing fouls. If he could come into the game for 3 minutes as a defensive specialist and attack the basket, draw a foul, then his time on the court could be worthwhile.

If he could handle that sort of in-and-out role, come in for 2 minutes, disrupt the opponent's rhythm on both ends, and make a quick exit, it could be just what the doctor ordered until Dunn returns; maybe once or twice per game.

My concern is that, while Alani is capable, his ability to give the team a boost off the bench is limited, since he's only a threat from the perimeter and only when he doesn't have a defender in his face.

You had mentioned McKie working with a high pressure half court defensive unit. It seems to me that Perry and JPL will probably be in such a unit along with NPL and maybe Parks. JPL's driving ability could help the Owls take advantage of fast break opportunities off turnovers.

What I’m looking for is Temple having an offense that works. That requires Temple players to share the ball and find the open man. Don’t want to see any selfishness exhibited by veteran players.

Scott should start at PG because that would give Temple five offensive threats playing together, as Alani most likely won’t shoot much. Also fear with Alani starting, there will be more selfishness by veteran players, and if Scott started, less so.

It’s my view that if Scott started, the ball will be distributed better, as Scott gives Temple the ability to score at the rim or for him to dish it off inside, and that will result in more points scored by Temple. As you point out, Alani can’t do that.

Do think fans will really enjoy seeing Scott play. Giving the make-up of this team, PG is the position Scott should mostly play. It will bring out the best in him and the team. Do see Scott as being the glue that makes Temple go, just as Alston made Temple work last season.

Most likely, Alani will start, and Scott will sub-in at the 8 or 10 minute mark, which makes little sense to me. But, hopefully, it will be apparent to all, that Scott should start in future games.

Unless Rose is shooting better than anyone else, I do not want to see Rose taking Temple’s most shots.

Temple has a deep roster of players who can both drive to the hoop or shoot the three-ball. On any given night, Temple may shoot three’s well, and not get to the rim. Temple should stick with what’s working and not keep jacking up three’s it’s they’re not falling.

As goals, do want to see if Temple shoot over 45 percent of all FGA’s, and Temple to shoot 38 percent or above on three’s, and 54 percent on two’s. To reach those goals, hopefully the better three-point shooters shoot the most three’s. This didn’t happen last season, needs to this season.

I don’t particularly want to see Temple have a “Big Three” in Scott, Nate, and Rose, as Temple’s main scorers. It’s my view that hurt Temple from winning more games as last season’s “Big Three” often jacked up balls when they were not shooting well. I want to see the “Big Three” change from game to game.

Want to see Perry, Moorman, Hamilton, and D.Moore, all taking twice as many shots as they did last season, as they converted fga’s at a high rate.

Key stat for me is the turnover margin between Temple and Drexel. Want Temple to win that battle decisively. For a positive turnover margin, that Temple is both taking care of the ball, and playing an aggressive defense.

If Temple is going to be a top-fight defensive team, it needs to vastly improve it’s defense over last season. That’s why I don’t want to see Drexel, a decent offensive team shooting over 47 percent on two’s, and over 30 percent on three’s.Don’t want to see Temple’s offense being put in the position to having to dominate in each and every game. Do want to see Temple shut down teams on the perimeter and at the rim.

Last season, Drexel was a good two-points shooting team, and average three-point shooting team.

Doubt that even a few Temple opponents can keep Temple from scoring many points, only question is can any Temple opponents outscore Temple?

Want to see a good positive Temple scoring margin over it’s opponents many games played as possible. As large scoring margin results in more wins.

Rebounds are by and large a function of shooting percentages. Teams that shoot a higher field goal percentages, see opponents garner more defensive rebounds. Hope that happens this season. Do want to see a Temple team effort in rebounding, and the bigs garnering 7 rebounds each would be fine with me.

Looking forward to seeing Parks play. Not sure JPL is a good distributor as he’s somewhat tunneled vision, but he can get to the hoop. Don’t want to see bad passes. Would be nice to see him play good on defense without hum excessively fouling.

This Temple team has firepower throughout the roster. Every player were major scorers in high school. Never seen on one roster so many good three-point shooters, players who can get to the rim, and whom play in your face defense. Never know which player will go off. Playing time should be determined based on who’s hot. Go Owls!

It does seem that this team will be memorable in some respects, unless they end up with less than 20 wins or not making it into postseason play.

Any team with 3 back court players like Rose, NPL, and Scott who may average ~17 ppg apiece (50 ppg overall) has the potential to be memorable, though memories may tend to merge the Alston and Scott back courts together (two back to back "Big 3" seasons). There haven't been many Temple teams with higher scoring back courts than either of these Big 3s.

Those that spring to mind include:
McKie, Jones, & Brunson
Lynn Greer II, Quincy Wadley, Alex Wesby
Fernandez, Moore, & Wyatt
Macon, Evans & Vreezwyk

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The team may also be memorable as one of the highest scoring Temple teams in the past 40+ years, if not the highest.

The lineup of Scott, NPL, Rose, Moorman, & Hamilton may have more scoring potential than any other Temple lineup that I can remember.

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And, of course, it will be memorable as Aaron McKie's first season as Temple's Head Coach.

You may be surprised to see a lot of people attending home games that haven't been there for years. For example, there is an old connection between Temple and Gratz High School, where John Chaney once coached, and where McKie attended HS, playing under legendary coach Ellerbee. A lot of Gratz alumni and their families and many other basketball fans from the area were among the faithful supporters of the Owls back when Chaney was HC, as were many young players and others who came up during the Sonny Hill League years.

In fact, when the games were played at McGonigle Hall, the crowd included almost as many Chaney/Temple supporters in the surrounding community as there were Temple students, alumni, staff, etc.

Many of them may be gone now, but those who remain and still feel that connection with the Chaney/Temple years are likely to show up this season to support Aaron McKie, especially his first game or two and some regular season games if the team is exciting to watch.

In addition, a fair number of former season ticket holders who disappeared over the last 2-3 Dunphy seasons may return this season.

It these things happen, the crowd at the LC might be a positive surprise this season.

Temple's off to an 11 point lead. Drexel hasn't played well so far. Not sure if Temple's defense is responsible or not.

Shockingly, JPL is already playing in game 1. Right now, NPL and JPL are exchanging the ball, with Scott also in the game. But the back court play involving JPL has been sloppy. I can see why JPL wasn't projected to play much, but there he is out there, sloppy play and all.

Nate and QR have done most of the scoring since I ituned in.

Unfortunately, Temple's SIDEARM STATS site or link isn't working, nor is "OWLSTV," which would possibly have the live stream, an innovation for Owls fans.

Quality control is not there for either, yet. They've got to test these links, otherwise, why build them?

Wow, Drexel has been shooting horribly, down 25-16.

It's a low-scoring game thus far, surprisingly, given expectatons for a high scoring team.

The crowd has made more noise than I'm accustomed to hearing at the LC via the radio. That's a good sign.

Poor ball control, sloppy play now by Temple, lead down to 5. Alani Moore made a very bad pass.

Finally, sidearm stats is up on Temple's link.

Temple is playing poorly with Alani at the PG, and Temple's offense is not scoring well.

QR leads scorers with 9, Moorman has 4, Alani has 6.

Now Moorman passes to Scott for score & assist.

Centers rebounding pretty well so far: Dame 5, Hamilton 3.

Temple has been playing very poor defense with Alani on the floor, as well as poor offense.

Temple's lead has shrunk to 2.

I thought McKie made a series of lineup mistakes, first by putting JPL on the floor - the offense was sloppy, turnovers, rejections, then had had Alani in the game and the Owls didn't play well on either end, lost their 11 point lead.

So far, I haven't seen a single Temple lineup playing very well out there.

However, Rose and Moorman have played well.

The worst thing about this game is the fact that Alani has played so many minutes, and that the team has played poorly with him at PG.

Temple has a -5 rebounding deficit after one half of play.

No wonder the game is tied.

It seems that Temple has only one lineup that's playing reasonably well:

Rose, NPL, Scott, Moorman, Damion

Temple has 7 turnovers and only 6 assists.

Ast:TO ratio should be at least 2.0
Instead, it is 0.85 - - terrible!

Hamilton played 7 minutes and had 3 rebounds, no other stats.

Damion played 12 minutes: 4 points, 6 rebounds. Good job, Dame.

Damion's looking like the guy to start for Temple.

Nate: 2 pts, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 rebounds in only 11 minutes. Quiet 1st half, as per usual.

Alani has played 18 of the 20 minutes. Stats are ok, but the team as a whole hasn't played well with him as the floor general.

Temple beats Drexel 72-60. Ugly game.

Going into the game I thought Temple’s offense would dominate,and Temple’s defense would be questionable. Turns out just the opposite as Temple’s defense was very good.

First, let’s look at Temple’s defense. Going into the game I said I wanted to see Temple hold teams to 47 percent shooting on two’s, Drexel shot but 46 percent on two’s. That’s quite good given Drexel shot 51 percent on two's in conference play last season.

Only two Drexel players made more than half of their FGA’s.

I said I wanted to see Temple hold teams to shooting less that 31 percent on three’s. Drexel shot but 20 percent on three’s ( 6-30). Drexel only scored on 1 of 10 on three-point attempts in the second half.Drexel shot 33.8 percent on three’s in conference play last season.

The fact that Drexel decided to shoot 30 of their 65 fga’s as three’s
is an indication that Drexel feared our big men inside, and that Temple’s bigs dissuaded Drexel from shooting more two’s.

Temple scored 4 more points than Drexel did in the paint, and three more points off turnovers than Drexel did.

My sense during the game was that Drexel was just missing open three’s, not that Temple was defending well.

Since Drexel missed more shots than Temple, one would expect Temple to garner more defensive rebounds and then the one they did.

I said I hoped that Temple would make 8 steals, and they made 11. Temple is probably near the top in the nation in steals this early season. Temple turned the ball over 11 times, compared to Drexel 17.

Appeared that James Scott caused two more Drexel turnovers that the refs missed the proper call.

Temple’s turnover margin provided Temple with additional scoring opportunities than Drexel, and that’s more than offset Drexel’s offensive rebounding advantage as will be discussed next. Nate had 5 of Temple’s 11 steals, and given that he had 10 rebounds, he was Temple’s one-man wrecking crew on defense.

Alani Moore had 2 steals and three deflections that led to turnovers. He did a fine job contesting three-point shots as one can see from how poorly Drexel shot three’s.

Drexel had 8 more offensive rebounds than Temple (16-8) but since a few were on one possession, Drexel only scored three more points off second chance points which was no big thing. Both Hamilton and D. Moore rebounded well as Hamilton had five rebounds in 13 minutes of playing time, and D. Moore 6 rebounds in 14 minutes of playing time. NPL led Temple with 10 rebounds, and Moorman had five, and Scott and Perry has three each, and Rose only two rebounds.

The one area I’m most proud of is that Temple only committed 14 fouls for the game. That limited Drexel to only shooting 11 foul shots and scoring only eight points from the foul-line. And Drexel only took three foul shots and scored only 2-points from the foul-line in the second half.

It’s one of the reasons Drexel scored only 62 points in the game. Kudos have to be extend to Moorman who committed only one foul in 31 minutes of playing time, and to Dre Perry, who also committed but one foul in his 18”7 minutes of playing time. Both have come a long way from their freshmen year when they fouled excessively. Also, Rose and D.Moore committed but one foul.

National champ Virginia only committed 14 fouls per game. Such is lower than the 17 fouls Temple averaged in conference play last season. Hopefully, that portends good things going forward. Temple had 5 blocked shots by 5 different players. Temple only averaged a little more than 2 blocked shots last season.

Playing Drexel, Temple’s defense created an 8-point scoring margin., compared to Temple averaging an 3.2. scoring margin per game last season.

So. All in all Temple played in it’s first game very well defensively. That was a pleasant surprise as last season opponents averaged 72.7 points per game, 11 more points than Drexel scored. But Temple has played just one game.

Always easier to fix the offense than the defense.

Temple offense was a mess most of the game. In fact it was hard to discern any plays as it looked like Temple players were free-lancing.

The game started off as I feared with Alani starting, Rose playing selfishly as took bad shots. Thankfully, Alani hit two early three’s. It was good to hear that HC McKie called Rose out at halftime, as he played much better in the second. He missed a three-ball by a mile in the first half, but finished 2-4 on three’s for the game.Viewing the game, one got the feeling he can only hit three’s if he’s wide open and has plenty of time to shoot.

This game just confirmed to me that Rose is at best Temple’s fourth option unless he’s shooting well from the outset as he only shot 3-8 in the first half, and 5-12 for the game. He scored 14 points for the game.

And while Rose was scoring 14 points on 12 fga’s, NPL scored 16 points on only 10 field goal attempts, and that’s with him missing 3 foul shots.

Temple only shot 23-50 or 46 percent on two’s, slightly down from Temple’s 48.8 percent in conference games last season.

But Temple would have scored 74 points, not 70 points, if Rose and NPL just did lay-ups, rather than miss dunks on breakaways.

What’s amazing is that Temple’s two-point shooting percentage was as high as it was, since it appeared that Temple ran few plays.

By playing up-tempo, Temple took 7 more FGA’s than they averaged last season, yet they appear to have taken 5 less foul shots per game as they did last season.

This seems to show that Temple is not attacking the hoop as it should even though it has the players who can. Much better to shoot foul shots than FGA’s. Worse yet, NPL took 9 of Temple’s thirteen foul shots. But would add that refs seemed to miss shooting fouls committed against both D.Moore and James Scott.

Another takeaway from the stats is that it doesn’t appear Temple ran more than last season.

It’s disturbing that Drexel scored 17-points compared to Temple’s 7-points off fast breaks. Temple didn’t show me they even tried to run fast breaks as Temple bigs on defensive rebounds threw the ball to guards standing near them, and not closer to the half-court line where they should have been if Temple wanted to push the tempo.

Temple had five players who each made at least half their shots. Moorman was 4-5 field and scored 9 points, Hamilton was 3-6 from the field, D.Moore was 2-4 from the field, and Dre Perry was 3-6 from the field. All four should have shot more in this game.

If on, Moorman has to shoot way more in future games. Especially thred’s. He should be among Temple leaders in FGA’s.

Hamilton missed an easy dunk at the rim. His shooting form on other shots he missed was off as well.,He was told after the game what was wrong with his Expect him To perform better shooting against Morgan State this Saturday.!He needs to shoot more in games.

Temple shot 5-15 for the game, with Rose, Morman, Alani, all hitting three’s.

Folks sitting near me didn’t like Alani shooting 9 FGA’s and not distributing the ball more. But I think he has a good game scoring as Temple needed his 9 points with Alston’s departure and Temple’s other PG scoring 0 points in 5 minutes of playing time.

Alani did have a team leading 5 assists and 2 steals, playing 35 minutes. He also had only 2 turnovers, although one was terrible as he passed the ball to an opposing player nearby.

James Scott came off the bench, and was not subbed in to play PG, which was a big surprise to me. James Scott played 25 minutes and the good news is that he committed no turnovers. Post-game, HC said he’s going to shake-up the starting line-up. Hopefully that will include moving Scott into the starting line-up as PG.

James Scott had a bad game as he shot 3-11 from the field, 0-2 on three’s. Temple did play well in spite of his poor shooting as Temple was plus 7 when he played. Another reason he should be in the starting line-up as PG.

Scott’s shooting form was off, and post-game such was brought to his attention so corrections can be made.

So, hopefully Temple will play better offensively against Morgan State if the starting line-up is changed, and the better shooters like Moorman are integrated into the offense and shoot more, and Scott starts knocking down shots.

Post-game, JPL seemed very disappointed he played but 5 minutes. He did so some good things (2 assists) but didn’t score any points on 0-2 shooting. He also committed one turnover, but offset that with one steal. He also committed two dumb fouls.He did give the team some energy, and Temple played well when he was in the court.

I did speak to Damian Dunn who told me his boot is off, and he has no pain min his foot. Didn’t know when he’ll be cleared to practice, but did not indicate he would be practicing anytime soon.

I'm responding here to what you wrote about Scott, JPL, and Dunn in particular. I'll have a separate response about Alani's and others' play:

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Scott's play was a huge surprise to me, too.

The radio commentator mentioned that he had suffered a concussion (during practice, perhaps) a couple of weeks back, and also stated that he didn't have the ball in his hands often enough to score the way he is accustomed to doing.

I know something about concussions and the brain, and the effects can range from mild to severe. It's not unusual for the effects to linger for a few weeks - or longer - depending on the severity. On the positive side, there is often considerable - if not complete - recovery from severe concussions over an extended period, due to the "neuroplasticity" of the brain.

I haven't heard any more about it, though, and player injuries are often glossed over, but maybe this will be of interest to you.

I can't think of any other explanation for him to play so uncharacteristically, except, perhaps that he has been playing a lot of prior minutes as a CG/PG, and needs to make an adjustment to coming off the bench as a backup SG. Part of the adjustment is playing a different position with these specific teammates, and maybe more of the adjustment is coming off the bench when he's accustomed to being a starter.

Also - maybe the exchange of the ball with Alani isn't worked out yet, or maybe Alani isn't getting the ball to him in good scoring position for some reason. If they're competing for the starting PG position, there could also be some tension between them.


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I was very surprised that JPL played at all, particularly for as long as he did. On the plus side he had 2 assists and 1 steal in 5 minutes. However, the team didn't play well at all when he was in the game in the first half. There were a few botched sequences and turnovers during that stretch, which were very frustrating to observe, and in general, the play was chaotic and disruptive, it seemed to both teams. It was a bit like playground bball.

More serious than that, however, JPL's first half minutes began when Temple had an 11 point lead, which gradually diminished until halftime, when the score was tied at 31.

McKie took JPL out of the game after 2-3 minutes, but the damage was done. After that, the whole team played as if they were distracted or completely out of synch. Drexel went on a run that they couldn't stop, and they could hardly hit another shot or do anything effectively during that sequence. In that sense, I had the impression that JPL's play had a negative influence by taking Temple's out of its flow on both ends. It wasn't until the second half that the Owls started to function well again as a unit.

The whole team played much better in the second half, except Rose with his leg cramps, a problem he's had at times in prior seasons. JPL also played a little better, or at least less disruptively in the second half.

JPL may have been upset about only playing 5 minutes, but the team might have been better off if he hadn't played half that amount, even if he did make a couple of assists and a steal.

Basically, McKie made a mistake by inserting him when the team was playing well in the first half, and he probably realizes it. For his morale, he's got to play some minutes, but he might not be able to earn them.

He's apparently been frustrated and expecting opportunities to come to him without needing to give everything he's got to function 100% cooperatively with his teammates on the floor. As you said, he has a "tunnel vision" issue, which could mean that he's narrowly focused on doing the things he knows the he can do best, without full awareness of his teammates across the whole floor. In other words, playing as an individual without a full appreciation of the team concept. As they say, "there's no "I" in team."

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Regarding Dunn, interesting the timing with the boot coming off and all.

The timing seems similar to Rose's description of his recovery from the stress fracture he had last season.

I was trying to ponder what kind of a foot injury a player could recover from only 3 months after having whatever kind of medical procedure he had - especially if there was surgery. Perhaps a broken toe, but it sounded like a non-invasive injury to the foot itself. It couldn't have been a compound fracture. It might have been some kind of ligament damage or severe sprain, but I had the impression that it was a bone fracture of some kind. If so, the process of elimination suggests a possible hairline or stress fracture.

Also, the Coach emphasized that he wouldn't play McKie until the foot was "firmly" healed and strong enough not to risk reinjury. That's the issue with a stress fracture - - the integrity of the bone itself has been weakened and the bone has to be firm and strong enough that the fracture won't re-occur.

If it was a stress fracture, Dunn could be out of action until January, at least, and only allowed to play when CAT scan shows the fracture is completely healed, with no traces of pain in the foot remaining.

On the other hand, some hairline fractures can heal more quickly than true stress fractures. It's good that he's walking without a boot in no pain. I think Rose had to do that for two months before he could start running again. Hopefully, it's shorter than that for Dunn. It'll all be day-by-day with him.


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After game 1, some adjustments will have to be made in order to win more than 6 OOC games. Game 1 was bad enough that Temple might have struggled to win that game if it was played at Drexel.

The main thing the team needs is for Scott to play the way he was capable of playing in pre-season scrimmage games. If he remains as ineffective as in game 1, it's going to be very hard to Temple to beat the better OOC teams it will be facing.

In addition, Alani's play at PG was very problematic during certain stretches of the game when the team played very poorly while he was the floor general. He didn't begin to compare with Shizz Alston as a PG. With Shizz at the point, Temple could have won by 20 points or more.

You and I both agree that Scott should be handling the PG duties most of the way, in part, so that he can have the ball in his hands often enough to hit 7 or 8 shots per game.

There were only a few stretches when Temple's offense played like a smoothly functioning unit. Much of the time, it almost seemed like Temple didn't even have a PG on the floor when Alani was in the game.

Overall, the team's assist to turnover ratio wasn't much higher than 1.0. Ordinarily, Temple's A:T ratio was at least 2 assists per turnover.

Alani may have only made 2 turnovers, but Temple didn't get enough open shots and had too many turnovers as a team. This suggests to me that his teammates weren't getting crisp, clean, confident passes in potential scoring position.

Part of Alani's problem may be that he's too short to see through all of the traffic to find the open man. Some short guys can do it well, but I've never seen Alani operate as an outstanding playmaker. I don't think he distributes the ball well enough to play major PG minutes. He can handle the PG duties for limited stretches, perhaps more in a pinch, but it seems to me that Coach McKie is going to end up learning the hard way if he keeps playing Alani 30 mpg.

Many good observations, one I disagree with.

Agree Scott should handle the ball to get him and the team into the flow. Also, don’t want him standing on the wing with no one giving him the ball. Had no turnovers in 25 minutes. That’s huge for Temple. You saw him drive and pass the ball to an open Hamilton who blew the put-back because he was not in the triple threat position. He plays too straight-up, and gets no lift shooting the ball. Has been told that.

My main point is it takes a special talent to find Hamilton by the hoop in traffic. Scott has that. Makes him a natural PG.

As for Damian Dunn, I also believe he fractured his foot and surgery. Trust the doctors to when he should return.

As for Alani, I have a different take. He’s starting with both Rose and NPL, with the later two both lacking consistent outside shot..Alani does, but McKie runs no plays for Alani. No pick and rolls for Alani, nor pick and pops, to free him up for three’s.

I don’t think it was Alani’s fault in distributing the ball as Temple seemed to have no half-court offense. The ball stopped with Rose in the first half to Temple’s detriment, as I feared it would. Glad Alani shot so much as he’s Temple only consistent perimeter shooter in the staring line-up.

He made two three’s, and made another three by scoring at the hoop, being fouled, and scoring at the foul-line.

Drexel only shot 20 percent on three’s even with Alani playing.

Don’t underestimate his value as in 35 minutes of play, he had only only two turnovers, made two steals, and also had three deflections that resulted in 3 Drexel turnovers that don’t show up in his stats. He also garnered 5-rebounds. Don’t think viewers aware of that. He also committed only one foul. Alston didn’t have such good non-shooting stats.

That’s huge, as was alani’s five assists. His finding Scott downcourt on the breakaway was also terrific. I’ll take him his 9-points and Temple winning by eight-points, even though he doesn’t score like Alston.

He did have one terrible turnover that seemed to put a cloud on his play when it shouldn’t have. Short players (he’s 5’10”) get a bad rap more so than taller one’s when they make a bad play.That being said, do want to see Scott also play PG, as well as being on the wing.

The radio announcer was wrong that Scott who had the concussion, believe it was Josh.

Josh only played five-minutes. He was 0-2 shooting. He’s not a shooter. He committed two dumb fouls. Temple can’t afford 0-2 shooting from him in five minutes of playing time. Opponents will always leave him open. Can’t foul an opposing guard in transition as he did, by running into opponent’s left side of his body, when opponent was dribbling with his right hand.

He did bring energy to the team, and appeared to get others going on defense.

I always was told that he was a PG in Hs. But I was told by someone that he played shooting guard. Maybe that’s one reason he only averaged 3-assists in HS.

I have a take from the Drexel game that Temple should do to create more scoring going forward, that I’ll post on the Temple
2019-20 topic.

Josh's stat line from game 2 is encouraging, 5 pts, 2 assists, and a steal in 11 minutes.

I still wonder why McKie played him and Parks 19 minutes, especially Parks, who didn't get a single rebound or point in 8 minutes of play.

It makes me wonder if he doubts whether his core 8 man rotation can get the job done. Maybe he needs to get JPL and Parks going asap, especially if Scott continues to struggle.

I don't know what to think, other than that Temple has won two games with good defensive play, and that NPL looks like a potential all-american.

(11-10-2019 02:17 AM)jedclampett Wrote:  Josh's stat line from game 2 is encouraging, 5 pts, 2 assists, and a steal in 11 minutes.

I still wonder why McKie played him and Parks 19 minutes, especially Parks, who didn't get a single rebound or point in 8 minutes of play.

It makes me wonder if he doubts whether his core 8 man rotation can get the job done. Maybe he needs to get JPL and Parks going asap, especially if Scott continues to struggle.

I don't know what to think, other than that Temple has won two games with good defensive play, and that NPL looks like a potential all-american.

He played Parks because Temple was leading and wanted to get him seme experience.

Temple’s defense is getting it done, and expect them to continue to. Whole new era and brand of Temple bb. The defense concealed the offense. Temple has the players to pull it off.