Temple head coach Fran Dunphy is embarking upon his 28th season at the helm of a Division I program and his 11th season as the lead man on North Broad Street.
But this season may be like no other Dunphy has had at Temple. In fact, one could make a legitimate argument that this year’s team has already strayed course from a Dunphy Temple blueprint before the regular season has even begun.
Dunphy has always been known to have seasoned, veteran-laden teams at Temple. But last season’s senior stalwarts, namely guard Quenton DeCosey and power forward Jaylen Bond, have graduated and moved on. Add in the Achilles injury to senior point man Josh Brown, who sounds like he could be back sooner rather than later (see story), and sophomore Trey Lowe’s redshirt year as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a single-car crash last March, and this season’s Owls are a young team.
A very young team.
It’s not just that the Owls are a young team. It’s that the young talent will be quickly vaulted into important roles and will have to produce consistently if Temple is to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive year.
And Dunphy, whose Owls were picked sixth in the AAC preseason poll (just as they were last year when they won the regular-season conference title), isn’t afraid to admit such.
“It’s the fact how young we are at the guard spot,” Dunphy said last week at the Owls’ media day when asked about the biggest difference from last season to this season. “Without Josh and without Trey Lowe being what you would have projected them to be this year, that would have been great to have those two guys healthy.
“I think (sophomore) Shawn Alston is really going to have a great year for us and (Freshman) Alani Moore and (freshman) Quinton Rose. … We’re sort of an interesting team at this point. We’re not sure where we are or who we are. But that will be known soon.”
That triumvirate of young guards could hold Temple’s fate in its hands this season. Those three underclassmen will be tasked with replacing Brown’s 8.3 points, 4.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game until the senior is healthy enough to return. They’ll also have to pick up where Lowe, who dropped 21 points on No. 1 Villanova as his production continued to rise before the accident, left off.
And they’ll have ample opportunity to do just that as Dunphy projects that Alston, Moore, Rose and senior Dan Dingle will all rotate at the starting point guard spot until Brown is healthy.
Alston, whose name is now officially listed as Shizz (his nickname) on the media guide, has a year of experience under his belt and Dunphy feels it’s imperative for the sophomore to take his game to the next level this season.
“Shizz has to have a good year for us, no question. I think he knows that and I think he wants that,” Dunphy said of Alston, who averaged 2.1 points in 10.4 minutes per game last season and is the son of mid-90s Temple great Levan Alston. “We had a scrimmage [last week] and he had seven assists and no turnovers. That’s pretty good. We can’t expect no turnovers from him. But we can get four, five, six assists from him and he can score it while he’s at it. And he can play some really good defense and really sort of lead us as the most experienced guy with the ball that we’ll have other than when we go to Dan Dingle.”
Freshmen Moore and Rose are exciting prospects for the Owls and they’ll get their chance to prove their worth early and often.
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Moore is a three-star point guard recruit out of Washington, D.C. who likes to have the ball in his hands.
“I consider myself feisty. … A hard-nosed point guard that can shoot and play great defense,” said Moore, who averaged 20 points and 10 assists during his senior year of high school last season. “Expectations are always going to be high. I want to win and play the best basketball I can play and as a team, of course, play the best basketball we can play.”
At 6-foot-8, Rose, a three-star recruit out of Rochester, New York, is a tall guard who can control the ball and score it from all over the court.
“I’m an all-around player,” said Rose, who averaged 23 points and six boards per game during his senior year last season. “The expectations are the same, we still have to be successful. The injuries are no excuse. Coach always says, ‘No one is going to feel sorry for you.’ We just have to go out there and give it our all.
“We’ll get a lot of experience this year. Me and Alani, we do have to play a lot of minutes. But we’ve been doing well in practice, so I think we’re ready for it. Both of us.”
But there will be help on the inside for Temple’s young guards as power forward Obi Enechionyia is back for his junior season. The 6-foot-10 Enechionyia averaged 11 points a game last season and is Temple’s top returning scorer.
Enechionyia will be counted on to provide a scoring punch for the Owls this season, which is a change of pace from recent years. Guys like Khalif Wyatt, Will Cummings and DeCosey were all marked as Temple’s featured scorers in recent years. But, as point guards, those guys always had the ball in their hands and could create on their own.
“We’ve got to get him more shots,” Dunphy said of Enechionyia and his role. “We have to get him more shots than he’s ever gotten, but he also has to get himself shots, too. He cannot be stationary. He’s got to be moving like crazy all the time. He’s got to read defenses and get good separation. He’s got to be smart out there in everything he does.
“But when he gets his feet set, I think every ball is going in the basket. That’s how confident I am about him and his shot. He’s worked really hard at it. There’s never a time after practice when he’s not out here for 200 or 300 jumpers.”
With Enechionyia projected to lead the way, Temple’s season of change kicks off Friday at the Liacouras Center against Big 5 rival La Salle.
Temple at a glance
Head coach: Fran Dunphy (11th season at Temple, 28th overall)
Last year: 21-12, (AAC regular season champions, lost in first round of NCAA Tournament to Iowa)
Top returners: G Josh Brown, F Obi Enechionyia
Key losses: G Quenton DeCosey, G Devin Coleman, F Jaylen Bond
Impact newcomers: G Alani Moore, G Quinton Rose
Games to watch: Nov. 11 vs. La Salle, Nov. 24 vs. Florida State (in Brooklyn, New York), Dec. 13 at Villanova, Jan. 11 at Connecticut, Jan. 18 at Cincinnati
Best-case scenario: The young guards emerge as scoring threats to help lessen the burden on Enechionyia and Brown returns to his normal self sooner than later to lead the Owls to legitimate contention in a wide-open AAC.
Worst-case scenario: The freshmen guards go through growing pains in their extended minutes and Enechionyia regresses, specifically when it comes to his jumper, as the Owls float around .500 and fail to make an impact in the AAC.