City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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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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The late John Chaney and Fran Dunphy were mainstays on North Broad Street.

Chaney established an era of excellence at Temple University that included 17 NCAA Tournament appearances, including three Elite Eight berths, over 24 seasons then Dunphy succeeded the legendary head coach and took the Owls on eight trips to March Madness of his own over 13 seasons.

That era has long faded, as Temple has only one 20-win season in the last six years and two NCAA Tournament appearances in the past 10. The program is in the midst of an unfamiliar period as Adam Fisher is the second head coach in the last five seasons, having succeeded former Owls star Aaron McKie. After McKie failed to make the NCAA Tournament during his tenure, Fisher has stepped in and is attempting to reignite optimism at Temple.

He's a first-time head coach with a brand-new staff overseeing a retooled roster, and that may coincidentally be the main driver of this optimistic outlook.

“The best thing is everybody is new,” Fisher said last week at the program’s media day. “I’m new and they’re all new to what we’re trying to do. That’s been one of the strengths of having a new coach is everyone is learning something for the first time, so whether or not you’ve been at Temple, you can still be a leader.”

This season is so much different than what McKie experienced in taking over for Dunphy as only two players who appeared in more than 12 games remain on the roster. When McKie stepped in, he had veterans like Quinton Rose, Nate Pierre-Louis and Alani Moore to rely on. Fisher has only Hysier Miller and Jahlil White back, and their roles will differ significantly from a season ago. 

Start with Miller, the 6-foot-1 junior from Neumann-Goretti who started all 32 games while averaging 8.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg and 3.8 apg in 32.6 minutes.

As the unquestioned leader of the Owls, Miller attests that “I probably have to score a little bit more than last year,” as Fisher said he wants him “to be more aggressive. He wants everybody to be a threat out there.” Still, Miller said has already seen the camaraderie between this group as the new faces have established a presence.

“A lot of new faces, but we’re coming together as a unit,” Miller said. “Everybody is playing a significant role and embracing that challenge of being a new group. We know in order to win we have to be connected.”

White has started 32 out of 58 games played over his two seasons with the Owls, and he is expecting his best season to date after posting averages of 5.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg and 2.0 apg. The rangy 6-7, 210-pound junior wing feels Fisher’s system will play to his strengths in ways McKie’s did not.

“The system is perfect for me,” White said. “He’s not really asking too much from us as it’s a very free-flowing, instill-confidence type of offense. That’s something we really needed.”

The Owls are welcoming several new faces from the transfer portal who have produced at a high level in their collegiate careers and have stepped in nicely as some of those new leaders Fisher referenced. 

Steve Settle III (Howard), Sam Hofman (Houston Christian) and Matteo Picarelli (UMBC) have all had varying experience at their previous stops and have been welcomed additions to the Temple roster. Settle, a 6-10, 180-pound redshirt junior wing and Hofman, a 6-5, 280-pound senior forward, are not prototypical forwards, but they will be called upon to play in unorthodox positions as Fisher prefers to have versatility across the floor to create mismatches at both ends.

Fisher complimented all three new guys on what they have done so far and where they fit into the mix.

“Matteo picks it up like that,” Fisher said. “He and Sam are older and have been at a couple of great universities. Steve has done a great job of picking it up right away. Those three have been good leaders for us and they’ve helped the other guys. They’ve talked to guys in huddles and said, ‘Hey, this is what coach was saying’ and that’s been really helpful.”

Settle is coming off a productive season that saw him average 11.1 ppg and 5.7 rpg in leading Howard to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament Title and the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 1992. He scored 13 points in the opening round loss to No. 1 seed Kansas, and after playing against a team with rugged and athletic bigs, Settle will guard them with much more regularity at Temple.

“I’m tall but I don’t guard centers or low post players,” said Settle, who was a guard in high school until a seven-inch growth spurt after his sophomore year. “I can and that’s been one of the things I’ve added to my game this summer, especially with some added strength. I can guard one through five, but we’re versatile and that’s what makes the way we play work so well.”

Hofman averaged 7.7 ppg and 5.6 rpg in two seasons at Houston Christian after starting his career at Detroit Mercy. He was tasked with defending taller forwards over two years, as he did against Texas’ Dylan Disu and Dillon Mitchell, and he will be playing both frontcourt spots, depending on the lineup on the floor. “I’ve always taken pride in guarding multiple positions, so guarding three through five is something I’ve always focused on. At previous schools, it hasn’t really been asked of me, but I’ve done it with the Belgian national team and in Europe,” Hofman described.

The player that should benefit the most from Fisher’s style will be Picarelli, who averaged a career-high 10.1 ppg and finished third in the America East Conference with 67 three-pointers made. The 6-2 senior guard drilled multiple three-pointers in 15 games, including a career-high six in a win over Morgan State. He played in all 32 games at UMBC and did his damage by providing instant offense off the bench.

Picarelli has gelled with Settle and Hofman, and that bond from having excelled at this level has trickled down to the rest of the roster.

“I think all three of us have that duty to help the younger guys and having been in college, the terminology is different from coach to coach, but the actions are similar,” Picarelli said. “I was lucky that the way Coach Fisher wants to play is similar to the way I played at UMBC.”

As an assistant coach at Penn State last season, Fisher was instrumental in helping the program reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011, and the key to the Nittany Lions’ success was three-point shooting and stifling defense. Penn State was second nationally in 3-point field goals made (385) and 13th in attempts per game (26.9). The Nittany Lions got plenty of shots up from deep with the likes of Seth Lundy (Roman Catholic) and Andrew Funk (Archbishop Wood) combining for 204 makes.

Miller is the only returning player from last year who hit at least 40 treys. Settle made 63 3-pointers over the last two years at Howard and could see those numbers duplicated this year alone. Meanwhile, Picarelli looks primed to step in and play the role of Funk in this system.

“That’s a strength of mine and something I work on every day,” Picarelli said. “I think I can bring that to the table. It’s a part of the game I like, and I think I can contribute to that.”

On the other side of the ball, Penn State had the best scoring defense in the Big Ten, allowing just 65.0 points per game, and it held the opposition to less than that number in 11 games (8-3). The Owls allowed 70.2 ppg a year ago, and the hope is that will change with this new philosophy Fisher is installing. It starts with Miller dictating things and being Fisher’s voice out on the floor. The good news is he won’t be the only voice echoing inside the Liacouras Center this season.

“Steve, Matteo and Quante [Berry] have all found voices to try to help lead and pick the group up when we fall,” Miller said. “That’s been good because if there’s just two guys trying to lead, it’s hard but we have other guys who are picking others up.”

Chaney is gone but his spirit, passion and tenacity live on, and Dunphy is in his second season back in the Big 5 at La Salle. While Fisher couldn’t exactly bring both of their styles onto his current staff, he brought on former pupils of each in Chief of Staff Lynn Greer and Director of Player Development Khalif Wyatt, who have seven NCAA Tournament appearances and over 3,500 points between them. With those two former stalwarts on staff, and Miller and White leading the way on the court, Fisher emphasized that “what’s great is the returners love this place” and “they can help with a lot of the university stuff and things of that nature.”

Still, Fisher did not sugarcoat the difficulty with first establishing a culture then installing a brand-new system, but he’s confident this group has grown and will be ready to start a new era in Temple basketball on November 6.

“It’s been a lot, especially as a first-time head coach,” Fisher said. “I spend a lot of time on the practice plan thinking, ‘Should we do this? Oh wait, let’s go back to that.’ We’ve had a lot of time and now we want to see it against another opponent under the bright lights.”