City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2023-24 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 6. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here.)

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Big 5 Preseason Primers
MBB: Drexel | La Salle | Penn | Saint Joseph’s | Temple | Villanova
WBB: Drexel | La Salle | Penn | Saint Joseph’s | Temple | Villanova

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2023-24 Temple Owls MBB Primer

Coach: Adam Fisher, 1st season (0-0, .---)
Last Year: 16-16 (10-8 American Athletic), lost in AAC quarterfinals (Cincinnati, 84-54)

It’s the beginning of a new era of Temple basketball — other than assistant coach Chris Clark and a few holders from last year’s roster, it’s almost an entirely refreshed program under Fisher, a local product but not someone with any prior connection to North Broad. It’s quite a shift for a school that followed John Chaney’s Hall of Fame career with an extremely familiar face in Fran Dunphy, then someone with connections to both legends in Aaron McKie, who wasn’t able to get his alma mater to where he wanted in his four years as head coach. Expectations are about as low as could be for Fisher’s first season, with an unknown roster situation full of transfers and unproven quantities. We’re likely a couple years out from knowing whether Fisher is the right fit to get the Owls back to the glory years, but it’ll be interesting to see what he can accomplish with this group.

Key Departures: SG Khalif Battle (17.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg), G Damian Dunn (15.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg), F/C Jamille Reynolds (10.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg), SF Zach Hicks (9.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg), F Nick Jourdain (6.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg)

The Owls’ top four scorers and 78.8% of their points from a year ago hit the transfer portal following McKie’s removal — Battle ended up at Arkansas, Dunn at Houston, Reynolds at Cincinnati, Hicks at Penn State and Jourdain at Memphis. It’s a group that played a ton of minutes in Cherry and White over the last few years (Reynolds excepted) and necessitated the roster makeover. There’s no doubt it’s an immense amount of talent and experience out the door, but that’s the reality of college hoops and the transfer portal rules these days: a new coaching staff is almost always going to end up with a total roster rebuild

New Faces: F Sam Hofman (Sr. | Houston Christian), SG Matteo Picarelli (Sr. | UMBC), F Steve Settle III (R-Jr. | Howard), SG Jordan Riley (Jr. | Georgetown),G Quante Berry (R-Fr. | Providence), SF Zion Stanford (Fr. | West Catholic, Pa.)

Fisher and his staff brought together a collection of transfers from around the country for their first recruiting class, with only one true freshman (Stanford) in the mix. It’s a group of transfers that bring a good bit of experience. The 6-foot-10 Settle had 65 starts at Howard, averaging 12.5 ppg and 5.5 career rpg for a team that made it to the NCAA Tournament last year. The 6-2 Picarelli played in 66 games at UMBC and averaged 10.1 ppg last season while hitting 39.4% of his 3s. Hofman has 82 games (55 starts) between Detroit Mercy and Houston Christian, the 6-5 forward averaging 6.6 ppg and 6.2 rpg last season at HCU. The 6-3 Riley started nine games for Georgetown last season (25 games) and averaged 4.6 ppg and 2.8 rpg. Berry, a 6-4 guard from Tennessee, redshirted last year but was a composite three-star recruit with numerous high-major offers. Stanford, a 6-4 wing guard, brings versatility, toughness and shot-making ability to the wing. All-in-all, it’s a well-rounded group that has a good positional mix, but there are few proven commodities at whatever level the American Athletic Conference is anymore.

Projected Lineup: PG Hysier Miller (8.6 ppg, 3.8 apg), SG Jordan Riley, G/F Shane Dezonie (1.4 ppg), G/F Jahlil White (5.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg), F/C Steve Settle III

This team starts with Miller, the Neumann-Goretti product who’s going into his third year with the program and second as a full-time starter. The 6-2 lead guard played big minutes a year ago (32.6 per game) but never needed to be a primary scoring option; that changes this year, as he’ll have the ball in his hands a lot and needs to be the tone-setter. White, a versatile 6-7 wing who can play the ‘1’ through ‘4’, is the other locked-in starter, and is likely to be their ‘3’ or ‘4’ (at least defensively) from the outset. Riley and Dezonie, who transferred in from Vanderbilt two years back but only played in 12 games a year ago due to injuries, would give them good size as they’re both 6-4, but it’s possible one starts and one comes off the bench. That depends on if Fisher wants to have Settle start as a stretch ‘4’ and bring another big on as his ‘5,’ or have Settle as a stretch ‘5’ with four guards and wings around him. 

Key Reserves: F Taj Thweatt, Zion Stanford, Matteo Picarelli, Sam Hofman, C Emmanuel Okpomo (1.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg)

The advantage of this Owls’ roster is they have a legit 11 players who could enter the rotation; the above doesn’t include Berry or 6-6 redshirt freshman Deuce Roberts, though it’s also not a given that they go 10 deep. Picarelli, whose sharpshooting is something this team will desperately need, as well as the 6-7 and muscular Thweatt, are sure to be valuable pieces, with Thweatt potentially sliding into the starting lineup, especially against more physical teams, though the West Virginia transfer has only played 33 minutes since 2020-21. The coaches have been happy with the way Stanford has adjusted to the college game. Hofman and the 6-10 Okpomo give them different frontcourt options, but their consistency in the rotation will be determined in the early part of the season.

Biggest Strength: The unknown factor

If Temple has any advantage, especially early in the season, it’s the element of surprise. Nobody’s going to have tape on the Owls, and nobody’s going to know what to expect, what their personnel will look like and what their plays will be. Fisher’s a first-year head coach with a brand-new roster and will likely have to adjust his plans to his players as he gets to know them over the course of the preseason and into the season. Expect them to be a constant work in progress. But that might work in their favor as they bring new wrinkles to the mix. 

Area for Improvement: Pick ‘em

It’s tough to say what exactly Temple needs to improve upon, because there’s no baseline to start with. It’s going to be generally undersized, without much physicality in the frontcourt, no proven Division-I scorers, chemistry to build, etc. There are almost certainly going to be some ugly stretches and games in the early going; the Owls’ coaching staff just has to find some positive runs, a couple good wins, something to build on. Think about it like a round of golf: even in a bad round, a couple good holes can leave you feeling optimistic about the next time out.