City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
—

It was a line Cam Wallace had heard before on the recruiting trail: 

“We love you, we love your game, we’re going to be recruiting you hard.”

Sometimes, the Westtown School wing said he’d heard that line, and then never heard from those schools again. Not so with Temple. 

Adam Fisher and his staff offered Wallace last summer shortly after taking the job, and have stayed on his case ever since. And it was that level of commitment that Wallace said was the ultimate difference-maker on why he committed to the Owls this week, picking the North Philly school over Cincinnati and Texas A&M.

“[I knew they were my school] since, I think it was the UA Finals session in Chicago,” the 6-foot-4 wing guard said. “Temple was at every single game — I had a game at 9 AM, they were there. They wanted to show me appreciation by going to my games, just showing support, and that’s what I like most, that’s what did it for me.”

Wallace is Temple’s first commitment in the Class of 2025. He’s continuing a trend of local talent that Fisher has brought to N. Broad Street in his year-plus as the Temple head coach as he seeks to bring the Owls back to their glory days. 

Another Westtown alum, Jameel Brown, transferred to Temple from Penn State this offseason; Lynn Greer III (Roman Catholic) arrived from St. Joe’s, and Zion Stanford (West Catholic) is going into his sophomore year. 

Staying local is a major reason Wallace spurned high-major offers, the appeal of playing in front of friends and family a significant draw. So, too, was the ability to play in his favorite gym, the too-be-renamed Wells Fargo Center, home of the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Not only will Wallace be playing on the same street as the WFC, just a straight-line subway shot down to the Sixers play, he’ll get a chance to play on that very court during the Big 5 Classic, going into its second year this winter. 

“It’ll probably be crazy,” he said. “Crazy. I’ll play anybody [there], don’t care, just want to play, win, have all the students behind me. The atmosphere’s going to be crazy, it’s going to be awesome.”

A native of Malvern, Pa., Wallace spent his first year of high school at Great Valley, where he was immediately one of the top freshmen in all of District 1. He transferred to Westtown as a sophomore, joining Seth Berger’s powerhouse Moose program, which has pumped out double-digit Division I players in the last decade-plus. 

Playing a national-level schedule against some of the best prep programs in the country, as well as in the ever-improving Friends’ School League, has been a significant help to Wallace’s continued progression on the court from a pure scorer into a more well-rounded wing guard.

“I just feel like it helped me get better and have more opportunities around me, like the [June] live periods, I feel like those live periods make me better,” he said. “And Coach Seth is a tremendous coach, he’s put me in all the right positions.”

Wallace said the Temple staff plans to use him at the ‘2’ and ‘3’ in its offensive plans, the Owls’ coaches adding a number of backcourt pieces this offseason who can all play multiple positions. In the era of the transfer portal, it’s never clear exactly what any team’s roster will look like a year out, but assuming at least a few of their current pieces will stick around, he should have a good bit of talent around him on the perimeter. 

“Cam is a multidimensional player who can do so many things well on the offensive end, and has matched his offensive production with his defensive intensity,” Berger told CoBL by text. “I think Temple is a great fit for lots of reasons, and Coach Fisher will help Cam continue to blossom as a player.”

Temple went 16-20 this past season, with a 5-13 mark in American Athletic Conference play. A season to forget found some redemption at the end: the Owls won four games in four days to advance to the AAC championship game, a loss to UAB in the championship the only thing that kept them from the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019. 

“It showed me they’re going in the right direction, they’re successful,” Wallace said. “And the coach talks about winning games, creating opportunities for their players, and to become more known, and that’s what I like. We’re starting off on the right foot, and I feel I can help uplift that.”

Wallace said he was aware of Temple’s bright history on the hardwood — the Owls’ being tied for sixth place in NCAA history with 1,993 wins, all the success under John Chaney — but that the current Temple staff didn’t talk much about the past. 

“They were focused on now,” he said. “We want championships, that’s our goal. Win championships.”