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Basketball notebook: Owls tip off first day of preseason practice

After an offseason limited to Zoom calls and virtual team meetings, Temple's basketball team is back to official team practices while working to prepare for a shortened season due to COVID-19 complications.

The American Athletic Conference decided on a 20-game, double round-robin for its conference schedule with each of its 11 member institutions that won’t start until early January.

That leaves room for Temple to pick up nonconference games on Nov. 25 at the earliest.

“We have some mock drafts of scheduling,” head coach Aaron McKie said during Wednesday’s media availability. “But I think the most important part for us right now is just waiting to get the American conference schedule, and then we’ll work around that.”

Temple has yet to pick up any concrete games for its nonconference schedule this season. But in the event they do, the goal would be to try to stay local, according to McKie.

Since getting back on campus, players and staff were being tested for COVID once per week. That number recently got bumped up to twice a week and could soon become daily, McKie said.

Between losing four players to graduation and three to the transfer portal while adding four freshmen and two incoming transfers, the second-year head coach will be dealing with a nearly entirely new rotation. The one consistent piece from a year ago will be the frontcourt led by returning seniors JP Moorman II and De’Vondre Perry, along with junior Jake Forrester and redshirt sophomore Arashma Parks.

Both redshirt sophomore Tai Strickland and redshirt freshman Damian Dunn, who each missed the entirety of last season, will also be welcomed additions to Temple’s backcourt if healthy.

Here are OwlScoop.com’s observations and notes from Wednesday’s media availability.

Injury and waiver updates

Strickland underwent successful shoulder surgery on his hurt right shoulder on Aug. 27, OwlScoop.com first reported.

McKie said he hopes to get Strickland going through some contact in the next month or so, but right now there’s no rush to get him back to 100%. McKie did say Strickland was on track with his recovery, but didn’t offer a clear timetable for his return.

If Strickland is not ready for the start of the season following Nov. 25, McKie didn’t offer a direct answer on who would fill in for him at point guard, but the Owls have options between freshmen Jeremiah Williams and Jahlil White, and even potentially Dunn.

Dunn received a medical redshirt after playing just 18 minutes during his freshman campaign. The Kinston, North Carolina native suffered a broken right foot during the preseason and reinjured that same foot playing at Tulsa on Jan 3. He missed the remainder of the 2019-20 season, but is now back healthy and is expected to play a significant role for the Owls going forward.

As for Parks, he’s dealing with the ramifications of a shoulder injury he suffered during his freshman season. Parks re-injured his shoulder vs. SMU on Feb. 2 and subsequently missed seven games.

“He’s one of those guys who can play in the mud for you,” McKie said. “I’m looking forward to getting him out and playing. He’s done a really good job of taking care of his body this summer….As soon as he takes the game really seriously, he’s got a chance to be a really good player.”

Parks may play considerable minutes for the Owls in the frontcourt if Sage Tolbert does not receive a hardship waiver. The Southwest Missouri State transfer has contemplated taking the 2020-21 season off, as an opportunity to sit out and acclimate to his new program.

Right now, McKie said the Owls plan on Tolbert sitting out the season.

When asked about Butler transfer Khalif Battle’s prospects about getting a waiver for the upcoming season, McKie seemed visibly agitated, saying Temple has heard “nothing as of yet.”

New guys

The Owls are essentially looking at eight new additions to their roster.

Temple’s incoming freshman class consists of Williams, from Chicago’s Simeon School; Quincy Ademokoya, from the Norcross School in Georgia; White, from Wildwood Catholic; and Nick Jourdain, from Covenant College Prep.

In McKie’s first offseason as head coach, he brought in Battle and Tolbert from the transfer portal to fill positional needs and barring any further health concerns, hopes to add Dunn and Strickland to the team’s inexperienced backcourt.

Dunn and Strickland are two guys who were a part of Temple’s 14-17 team just a year ago that should see significant minutes. Both redshirted last season, but have each received offseason praise from the coaching staff about their potential.

Moorman said it’s been hard to improve the team's chemistry early on considering they spent most of the summer communicating virtually and didn’t get a chance to meet in person until the first week of August.

“That’s unheard of in the sense that we have to play basketball games next month,” Moorman said.

The senior returning captain has been impressed thus far with what each of the new guys brings to the table.

Williams isn’t primed to be Temple’s starting point guard right away, but he does have the tools to play a viable role in his freshman season.

“Jeremiah is a dog,” Perry said. “He's not a poodle. He's more of a pit bull."

At 6-foot-5, 285-pounds, he’s a big two-way guard that could be a matchup problem both in transition or as a pick-and-roll ball-handler.

Joining Williams in the backcourt is White, who has a noteworthy blend of raw talent, size, and athleticism that could make him a viable option to guard any position.

The Wildwood, New Jersey native and 6-7 guard has a wide frame making him a downhill threat with the ball in his hands.

On the wing, Ademokoya, a 6-6, 185-pound playmaker, is likely the best candidate from the incoming freshman class to see significant court time in his first season. Former Temple guard Nate Pierre-Louis gave him high praise as a wing who can shoot the lights out and create his own scoring opportunities.

Battle is the other sharpshooter expected to complement Ademokoya along the perimeter. At Butler, he averaged 11 minutes per game with three points and one rebound in 24 games.

He transferred to Temple to be closer to his family in Edison, NJ.

Looking at Temple’s new additions to its frontcourt, the 6-8, 205-pound Jourdain has been an early surprise in practice.

“Nick is actually very interesting,” Perry said. “He’s not the strongest guy, but he moves around very well without the ball. He finishes well around the rim, he’s more athletic than we thought and has a lot more guard skills than we thought. He can shoot the ball, so he'll space the floor for us a lot. I like Nick a lot, Nick’s going to be a great player for us.”

Tolbert, the other frontcourt piece, is expected to sit out this season, but brings that “junkyard dog” mold that Temple has been searching for, to compete with physical teams like Memphis and Cincinnati in the conference.

McKie and his staff should get a better grasp of each of the new faces, now that the team is back to official practices.

“We had our summer taken away from us and that’s where the guys really get familiar with each other,” McKie said. “Just as late as maybe the last couple weeks we’ve been able to get in the gym and do some workouts with the guys. Now we’re officially starting.”

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