Temple Basketball: The 2018-19 Owls should never be counted out
By Pan Karalis
After a few disappointing seasons during which their level of effort was called into question, this year’s Temple basketball squad just doesn’t quit.
One of the biggest complaints about Fran Dunphy from Temple basketball fans in recent years was the perceived amount of effort his teams had been playing with over the last few seasons. Despite talented groups that knocked off a handful of ranked and would-be-ranked opponents since their last tournament appearance in 2016, the Owls hovered right around .500 in each of the last two seasons, resulting in a single one-and-done postseason appearance last March in the NIT.
The effort was inconsistent from recent Temple teams, the defensive intensity almost non-existent at certain times, and many felt the team simply gave up on each other and their coach over a dismal couple of seasons. With the losses to less talented teams, the blowouts in must-win games, the body language from the players all pointed to a major structural flaw with the program; Temple basketball played with no heart.
A combination of factors eventually led to the university choosing to part ways with Fran Dunphy after the 2018-19 season, something the media has politely been referring to as a “retirement”. Like his predecessor John Chaney, who missed the tournament in his final five seasons as Temple’s head coach and was ultimately pushed out after an ugly incident involving one of his players intentionally injuring an opponent on Saint Joseph’s, Fran Dunphy was given a final season on the bench before being replaced by assistant Aaron McKie.
No one really knew what to expect from the 2018-19 Temple squad. Talent aside, a lame-duck season with a coach many thought had kicked his feet up in early-retirement years earlier didn’t seem like a formula for success to even some of the most optimistic Temple fans. The team already looked to struggle staying engaged and motivated, and how would playing under a coach who knew he would be coaching his last game in March affect a team whose effort has constantly been called into question?
Who knows whether this Temple basketball team is simply playing with a renewed sense of purpose for its outgoing coach or if it’s a strong senior voice from Shizz Alston, Jr., the last Philadelphia native on the roster looking to leave a legacy at the school his father played for in the mid-90’s. It could be a stronger effort from Dunphy himself, finding the old spark he used to when he coached the Owls to six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, an AP ranking as high as No. 12, and three consecutive A10 championships. Maybe it’s from Aaron McKie pushing the squad he’s inheriting to help his own cause to find another platform of success at his alma mater, or from a guy like sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis, who couldn’t shift down from fifth gear if he tried.
Likely, it’s a combination of those things that’s pushed this Temple team to fight and claw for so much of what it’s earned this season. The Owls have now overcome significant deficits to win almost half of their games. UMass had Temple down by as many as 13 in the second half, Wichita State by as many as 15, and rival St. Joseph’s by as many as 10. Temple won all three. VCU opened an early 17-point lead on Temple, and the Owls would take a second-half lead in Brooklyn before ultimately losing. They got as close as three points against UCF after going down 12 in the second half, almost overcoming an 8-point deficit with less than 20 seconds left. And the miracles they’ve performed along the way, from banking corner threes to timely steals to the unlikeliest of heroes hitting big shots, to Shizz Alston’s dominant late-game runs have been spectacular. Sometimes it’s hard to believe what they’ve accomplished and the things they’ve pulled off.
The bottom line? Temple is never out of a game – ever. And to say that less than 12 months after they rolled over in a must-win game at home against Houston a season ago, getting blown out at home to the tune of 21 points, after they watched Penn State breeze their way out of a lead they built late in the first round game of the NIT in March, after they didn’t have what it took to show up against schools like La Salle and George Washington and Tulane a season ago, it’s almost unfathomable to most who follow the program.
But the dramatics of this season won’t mean much to Temple fans if they don’t ultimately contribute to a tournament appearance, at the bare minimum. Fair or not, expectations are still sky-high on North Broad. And while eventually Fran’s legacy will be regarded positively by the Temple community, if he wants to leave the school on a pleasant note, he’ll probably need to pull off a few more miracles to do it.