Busting Brackets
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AAC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

By Ben Andreatta

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 11: The AAC Championship trophy to be presented to the Cincinnati Bearcats after the final game of the 2018 AAC Basketball Championship against Houston Cougars at Amway Center on March 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 11: The AAC Championship trophy to be presented to the Cincinnati Bearcats after the final game of the 2018 AAC Basketball Championship against Houston Cougars at Amway Center on March 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 07: Jake Forrester #10 of the Temple Owls (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 07: Jake Forrester #10 of the Temple Owls (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

454. . . . Owls . 10. team

Temple was very disappointing last season and they lost four of their top five scorers. That really doesn’t bode well for this season. The Owls bring in four freshmen for next season and they’re likely to feature a lot given the holes that have been left by Quinton Rose and Nate Pierre-Louis.

Rose leaves Temple after an impressive career, the Owls leading scorer last season averaged 16.4 points per game. Rose was one of the best players to come through Temple in the last decade, he was named to the All-AAC Teams twice in his four-year career.

Nate Pierre-Louis was the only other double-digit scorer for the Owls, the junior was a big part of the Owls system, he signed with an agent this spring to pursue a pro ball career. It’s hard to blame him considering the negative outlook for the Owls and the uncertainty that college basketball faced due to Covid back in May.

Aaron McKie will look to rebuild the Owls program, a decent recruiting class should help but there’s going to be a lot of growing pains for what’s going to be another pretty young squad. Look for Jake Forrester and JP Moorman to be key players for next season, they’ll need to take a big step up offensively to keep the Owls competitive in conference play.