Busting Brackets
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Temple Basketball: Sophomores key to Fran Dunphy’s final season

By Pan Karalis

PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 01: Nate Pierre-Louis #15 of the Temple Owls dunks on Darral Willis Jr. #21 of the Wichita State Shockers during the second half at the Liacouras Center on February 1, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Temple defeated 16th ranked Wichita 81-79 in overtime. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 01: Nate Pierre-Louis #15 of the Temple Owls dunks on Darral Willis Jr. #21 of the Wichita State Shockers during the second half at the Liacouras Center on February 1, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Temple defeated 16th ranked Wichita 81-79 in overtime. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 18: Head coach Fran Dunphy of the Temple Owls looks on in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 18: Head coach Fran Dunphy of the Temple Owls looks on in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first round of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 18, 2016 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

As Fran Dunphy gets set to hand over the Temple Basketball coaching reigns, his sophomores are key to his final season on North Broad.

Temple Basketball opens 2018-19 as big of a question mark as any major program in the country. The Owls entered last season with sky-high expectations, returning most of their production and welcoming a strong freshman class, but played pretty much exactly to their disappointing script from the season before; beat a few power conference opponents in an early season tournament, drop a few to basement dwelling A-10 and one-bid league schools, and ride out the conference schedule with mediocre, uninspired play.

Rinse, wash, repeat. At least they were invited to embarrass themselves in the NIT last season (although the few Temple fans left watching the Owls in March know the experimental NIT rules let Penn State slip by a Temple team that played with uncharacteristic heart through 3 quarters).

Temple administration made it clear that they have higher hopes for the future of Temple basketball when they awkwardly announced that Fran Dunphy would be stepping down after the 2018-19 season, to be replaced by Temple alumnus and current assistant coach Aaron McKie.

With the less than traditional coaching setup for this upcoming season, with the loss of key contributors, with the assortment of raw talent that hasn’t seemed to click for a Fran Dunphy squad since Khaliff Wyatt and the Owls gave a 1-seeded Indiana a scare in the second round of the NCAA tournament almost 7 years ago, no one seems to know what will be in store for Temple hoops this year.