Temple Basketball: Owls add Wisconsin transfer guard Tai Strickland

Wisconsin transfer Tai Strickland announced his decision to commit to Temple basketball on Sunday.

Temple basketball has landed transfer point guard Tai Strickland, the school announced on Monday. The six-foot-two point guard out of St. Petersburg, Florida played his freshman year at Wisconsin a season ago before entering the transfer portal this off-season. Strickland played a total of only fifty minutes with the Badgers in his only season in Madison, averaging about two points per game in sixteen games played.

Strickland becomes the second recruit in only a few weeks for new head coach Aaron McKie, who was also able to sign incoming-freshman guard Josh Pierre-Louis, brother of Temple sophomore Nate, since officially taking over the program. A versatile and athletic all-around player, Strickland will bring a true point guard presence to a roster thin in that role. He has enormous playmaking and ball handling ability, and should be projected to be Temple’s starting point guard when he becomes eligible. While it’s anticipated he’ll sit a year before being able to complete his final three years of eligibility, there’s some vague speculation that he may apply for a hardship waiver to become eligible for this upcoming season.

"“We are excited to announce that Tai Strickland will be joining the Temple Basketball Family, Tai is a very skilled young man who comes from a wonderful family.  He has a superb attitude and a high basketball IQ.  We look forward to him playing a key role in the future for our program.” – Aaron McKie"

Tai is the son of former NBA player Rod Strickland, who was in the league from 1988-2005. He and Aaron McKie were teammates on the Portland Trailblazers when McKie first broke into the NBA in the mid-90’s.

McKie and the Owls hope this isn’t the last transfer that’ll commit to the program this off-season; Indiana transfer and Harrisburgh, PA native Jake Forrester made his official visit to campus this past weekend. The former 4-star recruit was a Temple target out of high school, and fans hope McKie was able to make an effective pitch to the player whose other suitors include Duke, Virginia Tech, and VCU.

There’s quickly been a lot of buzz generated in McKie’s short few weeks in charge, and a once pessimistic fan base has started to show some confidence that Temple will start to attract more talented newcomers like Strickland.