Busting Brackets
Fansided

AAC Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2020-21 season

By Ben Andreatta

MEMPHIS, TN - FEBRUARY 22: Caleb Mills #2 of the Houston Cougars dribbles the ball against Alex Lomax #2 of the Memphis Tigers during a game at FedExForum on February 22, 2020 in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis defeated Houston 60-59. (Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images)
MEMPHIS, TN - FEBRUARY 22: Caleb Mills #2 of the Houston Cougars dribbles the ball against Alex Lomax #2 of the Memphis Tigers during a game at FedExForum on February 22, 2020 in Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis defeated Houston 60-59. (Photo by Joe Murphy/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 12
Next
PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 07: Head coach Aaron McKie of the Temple Owls (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 07: Head coach Aaron McKie of the Temple Owls (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

10. Temple Owls

Key Losses: Quinton Rose, Alani Moore, Monty Scott

Key Returners: Nate Pierre-Louis (?), Jake Forrester

Potential Impact Newcomer: Jhalil White

Breakout Candidate: Tai Strickland

Temple lose three of their top four scorers from last season and Nate Pierre-Louis has declared for the draft but is keeping his eligibility. Add in Justyn Hamilton and Josh Pierre-Louis to the transfer portal and this next season looks extremely bleak.

Temple will add four freshmen, Butler transfer Khalif Battle, as well as Semo transfer, Sage Tolbert. Battle, and Tolbert, are both likely to have to sit out for next season unless they get a waiver. Not a lot of product returning for the Owls next season.

For a team that loses this much and has a lot of question marks as to how they’re going to replace those guys, things don’t look great for next season. At 6-12 in conference play, last season Temple finished third from the bottom.

The Owls rebuild is going to take some time under new head coach Aaron McKie, the transfer additions of Battle and Tolbert are steps in the right direction, add in the return of Nate Pierre-Louis and maybe a few transfer waivers things might not look so bad.

But as of right now given what we know for sure about Temple, they look like they’ll be near the bottom for next season. I doubt McKie won’t have Temple near the bottom of the AAC for long, they should be a lot better in the coming years.