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

Temple needs to up it’s recruiting for this up-coming season. Hasn’t done so as yet

I’ve been saying that Temple’s recruiting has been in a steady decline tge past few years. Here’s one example.

As PG Alani Moore’s freshman season (2016-2017) was far better than PG Hysier Miller’s freshman season (2021-2022):

2-point FG percentage

A. Moore 41.3 percent

H.Miller 35.3 percent

———————————

3-point percentage

A.Moore 41.4 percent

H. Miller. 34.7 percent

————————————

Foul Shooting percentage

A.Moore. 82.1 percent

H.Miller 78.6 percent

————————————

Total Shooting Percentage

A.Moore 59.3 percent

A. Miller 48.2 percent

———————————
Turnovers

A.Moore-one turnover per 25.8 minutes

H.Miller-one turnover per 8.45 minutes

————————

It’s difficult to gauge how well Northern Colorado transfer Kur Jongkuch will play on defense. As Northern Colorado played small ball with him as center. NC gave up 76 plus points per game, 10 more ppg than Temple did.

One indication he lacks being a good interior defender is that Jongkuch averaged committing a foul once every 7.45 minutes of playing time in Big Sky play. A decent foul rate would be once every 15-minutes. A high foul-rate is awful because players shoot a much higher shooting percentage at the foul line than they do shooting two’s and three’s.

All of Temple’s bigs have hight turnover rates. Okpomo had Temple’s worse turnover rate (one foul every 3.5 minutes), followed Kur Jongkuch (one foul per 7.45 minutes) Nick Jourdain (one foul every 7.6 minutes) and transfer Jamille Reynold (once every 10 minutes of play). Based on the above horrible foul rates,

Wouldn’t happen if Temple coaches would just teach players to not to touch prospective shooter when he has the ball, stay between would-be shooter and the hoop, give ground, and have the mind-set to make players take a bad shot.

Temple is facing crunch-time in improving it’s backcourt as two highly regarding guards, Kansas State G Maximus Edwards and HS guard RJ Luis, will soon announce whether they’ll be enrolling at Temple.

Temple has lost J.Williams, the only backcourt player who when he played helped Temple score more points than opponents did. And Temple is still saddled with both Dunn and Miller returning, two players who when they played resulted in Temple scoring less points than their opponents.

If Temple is to take a step forward and not backwards, it’s imperative that Temple upgrade the roster with three good guards, including a PG, who are better than the above-named players. If K.Battle, a proven scorer returns, that would be a big boast to Temple’s backcourt.

If Temple does dramatically improve it’s starting line-up, Dunn and Miller should still help coming off the bench. Hopefully, them playing with better players, will allow Temple not be underwater scoring-wise when they play.

If Battle does not return to Temple, and neither Edwards or Luis sign with Temple, Temple is then facing the likelihood of Temple having one of it’s worse losing seasons in quite some time.

Temple finished 9th in conference play shooting but 31.1 percent on three’s. Such should increase significantly if K.Battle returns.

Kansas State transfer SG Maximus Edwards accepts George Washington bb scholarship offer. Big loss for Temple.

Will learn Saturday if HS G Reggie Luis commits to Temple or UMass.

Temple’s Jake Forrester has transferred to St.Louis.

Temple has replaced Forrester and Tolbert with transfers Jongkuch and Reynolds. At best, that’s a draw. Four more open scholarships to fill.

HC Mckie would be wise to hire as an Asst. coach/recruiter a HS HC from one of the elite HS bb programs that recruit both nationally and internationally.

Temple hopes Battle returns.

Poster on UMass Men!s bb Message Board believes HS CG Reggie Luis will declare his intention on Saturday to attend UMass.

BB tip of the day:

I’m big on defenders stealing the ball.

A smart defender should always look to anticipate, step-in, and intercept pass to the man their guarding.

It helps to study opponents plays so one can anticipate when passes will likely be passed to the player he’s guarding.

Good to be a little sneaky as not to tip off the passer. Sometimes let player run same play and do nothing. Strike next time opponents run the same play.

Temple gets commit from transfer 6’7” F Taj Thweatt, 210 lbs., from West Virginia. Highly recruited out of Wildwood HS in New Jersey. Played with Temple’s J.White in HS. Mckie recruited him hard out of HS. Strong and aggressive player. Built similar to Sage Tolbert who entered transfer portal.

Thweatt recently decommitted from Coastal Carolina.

Spent two years at West Virginia playing a combined 33 minutes, and took 10 fga’s and shot 2-6 on two’s, and 1-4 on three’s. That’s his entire body of work shooting the ball over two’s at WV.

He’s strong driving to the hoop. That should result in points at the hoop and trips to the foul-line.
Don’t believe he has a lot of moves.

In limited playing time, he did have both a high turnover and foul rate. Don’t know how consistent his jump shot is now. In HS he shot 36 percent on three’s his senior year.

Will help Temple if he can provide some scoring. Will be interesting to see if he starts or comes off the bench. He’ll likely to play SF. If he can hit the three ball at even 33 percent he’ll be a huge upgrade over Jourdain.

He should help an already good defense get better. As he provides Temple with another long wing to defend the three-ball. He’s also a good rebounder inside.

Temple has 3 new transfers. All three are turnover and foul prone. Even if they shoot at a decent percentage, the negative part of their games will negate that.

Temple coaches will need to work on fixing the negative features of the three new transfers, but also of Dunn who commits too many turnovers and fouls, and Jourdain, J.White, and Okpomo, who all foul excessively.

Three more open bb scholarships tofill.

Temple still needs a starting PG and a good SG.

For it’s to much to expect that sophomore Hysier Miller can move into the starting PG position and reduce his high turnover rate. Plus he shoot’s two at 35 percent which is far to low for a starting PG, especially when Temple desperately needs more scoring.

If J. Battle returns that would be a big boost to Temple’s scoring.

AAC CSNBBS poster says transfer J. Reynolds will start as Temple’s Center. I believe transfer Jongkuch will.

Temple still needs to improve it’s backcourt.

Battle returning would be a huge upgrade as Temple desperately needs to add a good shooting SG. As it allows for Hysier Miller, Temple’s likely starting PG to confine himself to shooting just three’s that he shoots well. (34.7 percent). As Temple can’t afford for Miller to take almost half his fga’s As 2’s and to shoot them again at 35 percent.

But I’m still hoping Temple can find a new PG recruit who can shoot both 2 and 3.’s well, and replace Miller as Temple’s starting PG.

As of right now, I see the rotation as follows:

PG: Miller/ Transfer
SG: Dunn/ Transfer
SF: Threatt/Hicks
PF: Hicks/White
Center: Jongkuch/ Jourdain/ Reynolds

If Battle returns, hope he replaces Dunn in the starting line-up, and Dunn comes off the bench.

HC Mckie more likely to start Dunn and Battle together.

Temple still needs to find a PG to replace J.Williams and Strickland. Both Dunn and Battle would be disasters playing the PG position.

As expected, 6’6” HS SG Reggie Luis,Jr., committed a few minutes ago to UMass.

Wonder if Temple has any other backcourt players they’re recruiting?

Next season may well depend on K.Battle returning.

Threatt should be an upgrade over any of the five Temple players who transferred out.

Jongkush and Reynolds will be at best a wash for departed players Forrester and Tolbert.

Threatt will need a waiver from the NCAA to play this season. He should get it as he’s moving to Philly to be near his family in Southern New Jersey m. The NCAA routinely approves a waiver when a player can show there’s a family hardship that necessitates him residing close-by.

Temple needs Battle as he's only Temple player who can both shoot 2’s and 3’s well. Not having other players who can do so will result in very inconsistent shooting. That should keep Temple from consistently winning games.

Even though Temple had a winning conference record last season, Temple was still outscored by AAC opponents.

Temple was outscored in conference play by a large margin when Miller played, and was also outscored when SG Dunn played. Both are likely to start this season. Hopefully Battle's return will change the dynamic of the the team.

For Temple to average more than the 65 ppg as they did last season, at the very least, Miller would be smart to shoot fewer two’s, and both Jourdain and White would be wise to shoot fewer three’s.

Temple can’t afford this up-coming season to again finish number one in mod fouls committed in AAC play. .Temple’s coaches have to get players with high rates how not to foul. These players include White, Jourdain, Okpomo, Jongkush, Threatt, and Reynolds.

Have to teach players that goal is to make opponent take a bad shot, not block the opponent’s shot

That a bad shot is one taken off the dribble that is not by the rim.

Must tell players that when opponent has the ball don’t touch him with his hand or body.

And when opponent has the ball and hasn’t dribbled, the defender should be prepared to give ground and stay between opponent and the rim.

Tai Threatt is 6’7” wing who’s strong, athletic, and quick. He’s a well-rounded player. He was highly sought after by high majors coming out of HS. He definitely Temple’s most athletic player.

He has little statistical data playing 2 seasons at West Virginia.I’ve had to to rely on his HS stats and videos to evaluate his game.

Threatt shot 36 percent on three’s his senior year in HS. His jump shot form looked good. Whether he’s adapted to shooting 3’s from a yard further out in college ball remains to be seen.

I suspect he’s a catch and shoot jump shooter, but I don’t know how often, if any, he takes jumpers jumpers off his dribble.

Doubt that he operates in the low-post.

Driving to the hoop he relies on both power and his quickness. He takes direct routes and powers up to the rim. Haven’t seen him change speeds and directions on drives to the hoop. If there’s a big waiting inside it will be interesting to serif he can finish at the rim.

Will be interesting to see if he can get to the foul-line.

Don’t know if he has good handles and whether he makes good decisions plasding the ball and whether he’s a
good passer.

Looking forward to assessing his bb IQ.

Suspect, he’s very good in the open court.

Defensively, he’s strong and quick.

He’s a a strong rebounder.

Sense that he fouls at an excessive rate, but it remains to be seen if he’s improved in that area.

Difficult to predict if Temple will average more that 65 ppg in conference play since Temple still has three open bb scholarship openings to fill.

If K.Battle returns, he’ll bring an infusion to Temple’s offense, and he’ll
join Hicks as Temple’s second good shooter and scorer. Temple’s Threatt is an “X” factor that Temple needs to be it’s third good scorer, as Jourdain and White are not good shooters.

Threatt needs to play well enough to take some of Jourdain’s minutes as Temple can’t afford for Jourdain to take 6 three’s per game again and convert them at only 22 percent.

White’s excellent defense and rebounding will keep him on the court.

Although Dunn will likely score well as he takes a lot of shots and shoots sub-par, it’s his high turnover rate (one turnover every 10.8 minutes) will likely again result in Temple being outscored when he’s on the court.

Miller is also a poor 2-point shooter (35 percent).

As such, even if Battle returns, Dunn should come off the bench, but I doubt Mckie would make that change. Temple still needs another good shooting PG in the backcourt.Don’t want to see Temple take a step-back at PG going from a departed Williams to Miller.

Do expect Temple to limit opponents to scoring 66 ppg or less in conference play due a decline in the number of good AAC offensive players, and Temple players likely to be as good defensively as last season.