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New-look Temple WBB aiming for next step

11/08/2021, 9:30am EST
By Jeff Griffith

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2021-22 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)

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Temple women’s basketball faces a very “good problem” this offseason. But it’s not one you see every day.

The 2021-22 Owls have six new freshmen. They’ve got three transfers.

And four returning starters.

Mia Davis dribbles a basketball

Mia Davis (above), one of four returning starters, was named the AAC Preseason Player of the Year. (Photo courtesy Temple Athletics)

As Temple aims to improve on a solid in-league showing a year ago, the key to success will be simple — make all those pieces fit. 

“Now that we’re less than a month away, we’re starting to figure out our rotations a little more,” Temple head coach Tanya Cardoza said during AAC media day in October. “We have a lot of different ways that we can play. We have size, we have speed… we have players that can knock down shots now.”

Those returners aren’t just any returners, either; senior forward Mia Davis, freshman guard Jasha Clinton, redshirt senior guard Emani Mayo and junior forward Alexa Williamson accounted for 64 percent of Temple’s minutes and a staggering 81 percent of its points last year.

And Davis — whose team-high 17.7 ppg and 7.7 rpg placed among the league’s top five last year — also just so happens to be the AAC’s 2021-22 Preseason Player of the Year. 

“Mia has just been a great player on and off the court,” Cardoza said. “I think everyone — coaches, players — we want to try to reward her for her contributions and making sure that she goes out a winner.

“I think Mia is going to have an opportunity to really excel and show how good she really is,” she added, “because teams aren’t going to be able to double and triple her.”

On one hand, the added depth is paramount for a team that saw all four of its returning starters average over 30 minutes last year.

But, of course, there are adjustments that need to be made to account for both returning production and added talent. Not only will the Owls need to get used to the many new faces in the room, but those who were around a year ago will need to get used to playing in a wider variety of lineups, and, potentially, seeing a little more time for rest on the bench. 

In the interest of helping the Owls’ new-look roster gel and find quintets that work well, Davis — who led the Owls with 35.1 mpg last season — said she’s more than flexible when it comes to rotations and minutes.

“I'm willing to work with whatever coach thinks is good,” Davis said. “So if she feels as though she doesn’t need to play me (that many) minutes, and I can catch a break and get back in… I wouldn’t mind it. That helps the team.”

When asked about which new faces have impressed her in the offseason, Cardoza’s first response was to mention “the whole team.” 

“Honestly, that's how deep I think we are,” she added.

That said, a handful of transfers stick out as potential key contributors for 2021-22.

Two of Temple’s transfer portal additions — 5-10 guard Jalynn Holmes and 5-9 guard Jiselle Thomas — come in with a wealth of experience, each holding graduate transfer status. Holmes averaged double-digit points as a senior at Norfolk State, while also contributing just over two steals per game.

Tonya Cardoza talks to players

Tonya Cardoza (above) will have plenty of depth on her team this season. (Photo courtesy Temple Athletics)

As for Thomas, the Florida International transfer shot 36 percent from beyond the arc in 2020-21, while earning All-Conference USA honors behind 16.9 ppg. 

Caranda Perea, an Altoona, Pa., native who transfers to Temple from George Washington with three remaining years of eligibility, was also mentioned by Cardoza in the same breath with the two graduate transfers despite being just a sophomore. 

“They're very mature,” Cardoza said. “They all bring something different, but they all can score the basketball. And that's something that we definitely need.

“I think we got extremely lucky in getting Jiselle, Jalynn and Caranda, the three of them,” she added. “The addition that they've made to our program is going to be remarkable.”

One of the major differences Cardoza sees manifesting in her team’s new roster makeup comes on the defensive side of the ball. With added depth and an uptick in athleticism, the Owls’ hope is to be a more energetic and vexing defensive team.

“I think we're going to change how we play defensively as well, pick up a little bit more, because we're so deep,” Cardoza said. “So, we want to be able to get that talent on the floor. The last thing we want to do is just to have all this depth and not put them in the game, so we're going to have to change our style so that we can showcase those guys and help us perform.”

The made-over Owls enter the 2021-22 season ranked fifth in the American Athletic Conference preseason media poll for the second consecutive year. Last year, that preseason ranking was spot on, but only by a game; Temple finished 11-7 in league play, while the conference’s entire top four either finished with 12 or 13 wins. 

Those same four teams — South Florida, UCF, Houston and Tulane — currently represent the upper crust of AAC competition in the eyes of the conference media. 

And then there’s Temple, right there behind the leaders. 

It’s easy to understand why that’s the case, too. Over the last two years, the Owls have gotten back to respectable records after going a combined 23-38 in 2017-18 and 2018-19, but they haven’t quite broken into the top tier of the AAC just yet.

With a deepened and revamped roster, though, the Owls’ goal is simple — break that ceiling and return to the NCAA Tournament. 

“Our offense is going to be back like the years that we went to the NCAA Tournament, where you're not going to be able to key in on one guy,” Cardoza said. “Every single person that we put out on the floor is going to be a threat to do something whether it's pass, play defense.”


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