Midseason Thoughts

We are a little more than halfway through the college basketball season and have now seen enough Temple basketball to evaluate the team to some extent.  As of today (1/18) Temple is 8-10 overall and just 1-4 in conference play.  The high point of the year so far was probably the triple OT win against LaSalle, and the low point was probably the pathetic showing in Hawaii at the Diamond Head Classic.  I had originally picked the Owls to finish around .500 on the year, but with “easy” games in the books and only conference play remaining, .500 seems like an unattainable fantasy.

Expectations were always going to be very low in the first year for new head coach Adam Fisher, especially with a majority of the team leaving via the transfer portal, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be critical of the team and their performance thus far.  Before I start dumping on this team unmercifully, lets talk about some of the positives:

• Steve Settle III looks to be a gem from the transfer portal.  A 6’10” forward who can put the ball on the floor and shoot the 3 is always a nice addition to any team.  Settle also has another year of eligibility and will presumably be back next season.
• In-game coaching and strategy seems to have improved from past seasons.  It hasn’t really shown up in game results yet but I think that can be attributed to limited talent and poor shooting.  The triple OT win against Lasalle had some big moments that made me feel better about the coaching.
• Turnover rates have been drastically improved.  Over the past few seasons the Owls have ranked in the bottom half of division 1 in turnovers per game.  So far this season they are averaging 10.7 TPG which ranks 57^th among D1 schools.  I wouldn’t call it elite exactly, but for reference, UConn (who is ranked #1 in the nation) has a turnover rate of 10.6 TPG ranking 52^nd in D1. 
• Zion Stanford, the only true freshman on the roster, has shown a ton of potential and looks like he could be a foundational piece for this team over the next few seasons.  Hopefully he doesn’t transfer after this season.
• Temple finished 2^nd in the new Big 5 this season.  Obviously, a first place finish would be ideal, but second place in what is clearly a rebuilding year is promising.  At least they didn’t finish 6^th in the Big 5 like Villanova.

There are a lot more negatives with this team this season, but as I said earlier, most of these are understandable given the circumstances that the program is currently in.  Even so, these are the ones that bother me the most.

• The shooting is abysmal.  I feel like this has been the case for years but it just feels especially bad now.  Matteo Picarelli, Sam Hofman, and Shane Dezonie are the only ones shooting over 35% from 3 point range, but Hofman and Dezonie don’t attempt that many shots and Picarelli’s minutes have been severely reduced since Big 5 play.  As a team Temple shoots 29.59% from behind the arc which ranks 323^rd among the 351 teams in division 1.  They are behind teams like Delaware State and Chicago State.
• This team has very limited size and virtually no inside game.  Steve Settle is 6’10” but his playing style is more like that of a small forward.  Sam Hofman is a tank but at 6’5” there is only so much you can do against 7 footers.  Emmanuel Okpomo and Taj Thweatt have some size but can’t seem to get on the court.  The complete lack of inside scoring is also hurting the guards on the perimeter.  With no threats in the paint, teams can really key in on shooters around the arc which is probably a big part of why the outside shooting is so bad.
• Hysier Miller – I don’t know where to start.  In Temple’s lone conference win against Wichita State, Miller scored 17 points with 8 assists and shot 4-7 from long range.  In the three games that followed he scored 6,8, and 7 points respectively and was a combined 0-20 from 3-point range.  Miller is clearly a leader on this team but that is one hell of a slump.  On the year Miller is shooting just 33% from the field and 23% from long range.  At some point you have to consider reducing his minutes or at least his shot attempts.  Miller leads the team with 297 field goal attempts and that is more than twice as much as the next highest amount (Jordan Riley has 137 attempts and has played 3 less games and about 10 minutes less per game than Miller).  You just aren’t going to win many games by funneling the offense through a guy shooting those percentages.
• Reporting/Injuries –  Injuries suck but there isn’t a whole lot you can do about them.  It’s part of the game.  My issue is that we never know about them until a few minutes before tip-off.  It’s 2024 and sports gambling is a billion dollar industry.  Would it kill Temple to announce when key players or starters are going to miss time?  At WeGiveAHootTU  we do our best to stay plugged in and connected to what is going on with the team, but we also are not members of the press and have full time jobs and families.  It should be easier to find out about these things.  Last Saturday against North Texas I had to listen to some of the game on the radio while driving and heard Kevin Copp and Jason Ivey say that we haven’t seen Zion Stanford play in a few games and we have no idea why.  That’s the Temple radio broadcast team and even they aren’t getting information.  This has to be an all time low for interest in the program.
• NET ranking – In a year with no tournament aspirations or expectations, NET ranking really doesn’t mean anything.  It is however embarrassing to see the number 226 next to Temple in the NET rankings.  They are in the company of W. Illinois, Maine, and Stony Brook.  No disrespect to those schools, but this ranking is just a reminder of how far Temple basketball has fallen.
• Conference Play – Temple is 1-4 in the AAC which is not ideal especially considering that they haven’t played Memphis or FAU yet.  Their statistics overall are generally worse in conference play compared to non-conference.  This isn’t particularly surprising since the non-conference schedule was about as weak as I’d ever seen, but it’s pretty discouraging since this is also an incredibly weak AAC this season.  At the very least I’d like to see Temple take care of business against most of the new teams in the conference.  They already lost to North Texas but still have matchups remaining against Rice, Charlotte, FAU, UTSA, and UAB. 

It certainly has not been a good season so far, but we have to keep in mind that this is a poorly constructed team that is lacking significant talent.  That was always going to be the case in the current NCAA climate with a new head coach.  The real challenge for Adam Fisher is going to be quickly bringing in talent for next season and being able to compete in the conference.  He’s facing an uphill battle with Temple’s current NIL situation but that excuse is probably not going to fly if the Owls have another season like this one.  From everything I have seen, I generally like how Fisher has coached the team but recruiting is just as important as the Xs and Os.  If he is able to infuse more talent into the team in his first full offseason and fill the holes that this current team has, then I like his chances of turning this program around for the better.   At this point, there really is nowhere to go but up.