Big 5 Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2019-20 season

2. Temple

Temple had its shot a season ago to clinch a share of the Big 5 championship for the first time since 2013; Penn had done the heavy lifting by knocking off Villanova, and Temple only had to take care of business at Liacouras Center against Penn, a court on which they were heavily favored over the struggling Quakers in January. The 14-3 Owls hadn’t lost at home and had only dropped games to that point to teams that would be joining them in the Tournament in March.

But, as Fran Dunphy’s teams did so often over the last decade-and-a-half, Temple floundered in a big game and gave Penn their third Big 5 win of the season. A year later, Villanova falling in Big 5 play seems as unlikely as it has been since the 2012-13 season, and Temple will probably have to knock off Jay Wright’s team itself in February for a shot at the title.

Shizz Alston is gone and Ernest Aflakpui’s departure is going to compound already huge problems on the boards, but Temple does return more scoring and minutes than anyone in the American besides South Florida. They have the pieces to return to the Tournament, especially if Quinton Rose can embrace a leadership role and flourish as a senior the way Alston did a year ago. They’ll be heavily backcourt focused, but McKie’s up-tempo system might unleash an ultra-athletic roster that could thrive in a heavier transition game. There are a lot of question marks for the first-year head coach, but they’ll have a shot to knock off the slow-moving Wildcats at home if they can keep the pace of play high and make Nova uncomfortable in transition.