Philly Basketball 24 • 7 • 365

City of Basketball Love

Current Section

Home

Temple selected to finish sixth in AAC coaches’ poll

10/29/2014, 11:00am EDT

By Tom Reifsnyder

Tom Reifsnyder (@tom_reifsnyder)
–

The Temple Owls were selected sixth in the American Athletic Conference’s preseason coaches’ poll on Wednesday morning at the conference’s media day in New York.

Following six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, Temple finished 9-22 last season in its eighth led by head coach Fran Dunphy.

Although the Owls’ revamped 2014-2015 roster appears promising, the team’s preseason conference rank should be no surprise to those familiar with the program. Temple loses two starters from last season, Dalton Pepper (graduation) and Anthony Lee (transfer), but gains four potentially significant rotation players via three transfers and one freshman.

It’s somewhat of a homecoming for Temple’s transfers, as each of them grew up in the Philadelphia area.

All three practiced with the team last season, but were not able to dress for games. Senior Jesse Morgan (UMass) and junior Devin Coleman (Clemson) will provide quality minutes for Temple’s already formidable backcourt led by senior Will Cummings (16.8 ppg) and junior Quenton DeCosey (15.4 ppg). However, Coleman will not be eligible to play until the spring semester.

Sophomore Josh Brown, who saw decent time in his freshman year, will most likely be the first guard off the bench.

Junior forward Jaylen Bond (Texas) is slated to start in the frontcourt alongside a probable rotation of fifth-year forward Jimmy McDonnell, junior Devontae Watson and sophomore Mark Williams, while freshman Obi Enechionyia will presumably get thrown into the mix as well.

Temple will also benefit from the return of versatile sophomore forward Daniel Dingle, who redshirted last season after suffering a torn meniscus in his right knee early in the year.

It’s hard to believe Temple could be any worse than they were last season, given the circumstances. Following a 9-22 finish, any other team wouldn’t have cracked the top eight in the coaches’ poll, but Temple’s success over the past eight years under Dunphy is hard to dismiss. Middle of the pack seems about accurate for this year’s squad, but history suggests that you shouldn’t doubt the Owls.

In the rest of the conference, defending national champions Connecticut was picked to win the league, squeaking out an extra first-place vote over number two Southern Methodist. Memphis, Cincinnati and newcomer Tulsa round out the top five; Houston, South Florida, Central Florida, East Carolina and Tulane finish out the poll.

Tulsa, East Carolina and Tulane are all entering their first season in the conference, while Louisville (ACC) and Rutgers (Big Ten) departed.

Here’s the AAC coaches’ projections for their conference, as well as the conference’s preseason awards:

2014-15 American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll
1. Connecticut (96, 6 first place votes)
2. Southern Methodist (94, 5)
3. Memphis (82)
4. Cincinnati (71)
5. Tulsa (62)
6. Temple (59)
7. Houston (39)
8. South Florida (32)
9. Central Florida (26)
10. East Carolina (24)
11. Tulane (20)

2014-2015 AAC Preseason Player of the Year:
Ryan Boatright, UConn

2014-2015 AAC Preseason Rookie of the Year:
Daniel Hamilton, UConn

2014-2015 AAC Preseason All-AAC First Team (with a tie in the voting):
Ryan Boatright, UConn, G, Sr. *
Nic Moore, SMU, G, Jr. *
James Woodard, Tulsa, G, Jr.
Shaq Goodwin, Memphis, F, Jr.
Austin Nichols, Memphis, F, So.
Markus Kennedy, SMU, F, Jr. *

2014-2015 AAC Preseason All-AAC Second Team:
Will Cummings, Temple, G, Sr.
Quenton DeCosey, Temple, G, Jr.
Anthony Collins, USF, G, Jr.
Chris Perry, USF, F, So.
Amida Brimah, UConn, C, So.

* unanimous selection