Temple Basketball: Owls’ target Taj Thweatt trims list to ten

2020 Temple basketball target, 6’7 forward Taj Thweatt, has apparently trimmed his list of possible schools to ten. Where might the Owls stand?

During this past week, 6-foot-7 forward Taj Thweatt tweeted out a picture that shows his current list of 10 teams remaining in his recruitment. Thweatt, a Wildwood Catholic product and Temple basketball target, has quickly been establishing himself as one of the top players in New Jersey in his junior season. Coming from the South Jersey Shore, an area that doesn’t generally produce major competitors in the state’s basketball scene or many top-end division one talents, Thweatt has led his team to a #5 ranking in the state, only behind #2 Camden in South Jersey.

The Crusaders had a statement victory over New Jersey powerhouse St. Patrick School on Sunday with Thweatt providing 30 of Wildwood Catholic’s points. It was the first time a team from the Cape-Atlantic League defeated Patrick since 2002.

Thweatt appears to currently hold six official Division-I offers, including those from Seton Hall and La Salle. The Explorers offered Thweatt in April of 2017, after his freshman season. He only began playing organized basketball as an 8th grader. Other high-majors on Thweatt’s apparent list are Marquette and Rutgers, with Saint Joe’s also making the cut.

The explosive forward possesses incredible athleticism and plays a ferocious style of defense. Making a name for himself as a solid defender and rebounder, the points are now coming in bunches for the blooming Thweatt.

What are Temple’s chances?

Temple is the closest school currently on Thweatt’s list to his hometown of Wildwood, with 7 of the 10 in either New Jersey or Philadelphia. Staying close to home seems to be the way he’s leaning at this point in the recruiting process. Additionally, Temple was one of the earliest schools to offer Taj, making him a priority since this past summer. Temple has also offered Thweatt’s Wildwood Catholic teammate Jahlil White, and if the two want to play together at the collegiate level, Temple is probably their best option (Bowling Green and Monmouth have also offered both players).

Thweatt also fits the profile of the kind of frontcourt players Temple likes to build around. Thweatt’s athletic wing play is similar to current Temple forwards/swingmen Quinton Rose, Dre Perry, and J.P Moorman, all of whom would be seniors or would have graduated by Thweatt’s freshman season. Aggressive defense has become a hallmark for a Temple team that leads the American and is 16th in the country in steals; Thweatt would be a perfect addition to the high-flying transition offense the team has developed this season (I can’t imagine one Temple fan that wouldn’t love to see Taj run the court with a senior Nate Pierre-Louis).

Why might he go somewhere else?

I know it’s not the best thing to do to analyze the semantics of a teenage high school kid probably overwhelmed by the recruiting process, but in a July interview with ScarletNation.com, Thweatt does sound less than enthused about Temple. When the interviewer asked him directly about the recruiting process with Temple, Taj said: “they’ve just been coming to watch me a lot, but I kind of liked the program when I visited”. He goes on to say that he “has to go back to Temple” for a visit.

While that can all mean a number of things (like, perhaps nothing), and this was six months ago, Temple fans might not be very encouraged by the way he talked about the program. And yes, that same interview was conducted and edited by a Rutgers site, but he seems to talk about Rutgers more favorably, mentioning his good friend Paul Mulcahy, a 2019 three-star Rutgers commit.

Thweatt still has a long way to go in his recruitment, and if he continues to improve at the level he has just this season, don’t be surprised to see him pick up more offers down the line and expand this list. Temple certainly seems like one of the early frontrunners for Thweatt, and Owls fans should be excited about potentially adding both him and Jahlil White. The Jersey pipeline has been strong for Temple’s coaching staff, and Aaron McKie certainly hopes to keep it connected to North Broad in his first season at the helm.