Countdown to Tip-Off: A new Temple roster takes the floor

For Aaron McKie and the Temple men’s basketball team, this offseason has been a whirlwind.

The Owls underwent a substantial roster overhaul, followed by a slow return to preseason workouts. All the while, the Owls dealt with COVID-19 restrictions that affected McKie’s second full offseason since taking over as head coach.

According to McKie, the team has dealt with multiple shutdowns due to four confirmed positive COVID tests since returning to campus. McKie added that in the weeks leading up to the season, the Owls practiced just six times during one three-week period. The absences from the hardwood made it hard for McKie to feel confident the team would be game ready by late November.

The entire Temple basketball program gets tested five days a week, excluding Sundays and Wednesdays, with a saliva COVID-19 test, McKie said. As a result of both positive and presumptive positives, the Owls have had to pivot and make adjustments to practice schedules to ensure the safety of players, coaches and team staff.

“It’s been hard really trying to get my arms around this entire situation,” McKie said recently, “but it’s our reality now and it’s what everybody throughout the country is dealing with.”

By mid-March of this year, just about the entirety of the sports world had been shut down due to growing concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Temple’s conference tournament was no exception. The American Athletic Conference tournament was originally scheduled to begin March 12 in Fort Worth, Texas but never saw the chance to get underway.

With the ensuing offseason thrust upon it, Temple’s coaching staff was limited to alternative forms of communication in lieu of the traditional recruiting landscape.

OwlScoop.com staff reporter Sam Cohn gives readers an overview of what to expect in head coach Aaron McKie's second season as head coach with a newly-constructed roster.

Entering uncharted territory and tasked with trying to manage this process virtually was a challenge for McKie’s staff, but players who had not already visited the school were able to have virtual tours of the campus. Furthermore, recruits could still hear from each of the Temple coaches about the goals and values of McKie’s program while in the comfort of their own homes.

Class of 2020 recruits Jahlil White and Quincy Ademokoya were the only two additions locked up in the pre-COVID era. Following the shutdown, McKie and his staff added five more players.

Last season’s leading scorer Quinton Rose, team captain Nate Pierre-Louis, starting point guard Alani Moore and 6-foot-11 center Damion Moore each left the program by way of graduation. Pierre-Louis graduated in three years with another year of eligibility in hand but ultimately ended up undrafted in the 2020 NBA Draft last week and has yet to catch on as an undrafted free agent in the league.

Justyn Hamilton, Monty Scott and Josh Pierre-Louis rounded out the rest of the team’s departures, with each entering the NCAA transfer portal and landing at Kent State, Portland State and UC-Santa Barbara, respectively. With that, McKie was given the chance to construct a roster that emphasized his coaching principles and established his vision for the future of the program.

Of the 13 scholarship players from last season’s team, six return for the 2020-21 season. Of those six, only four saw any significant court time, while Tai Strickland and Damian Dunn each took redshirt years. Strickland, who is returning from an offseason shoulder surgery, sat out the entire season after transferring from Wisconsin while Dunn played one game before being shut down with an injury.

So, essentially, Temple is adding nine “new” faces for the upcoming season. Only seniors JP Moorman, De’Vondre Perry, junior Jake Forrester and redshirt-sophomore Arashma Parks have seen significant minutes in a Temple uniform.

McKie and his staff have brought in four versatile, athletic players who can play multiple positions in the 2020 recruiting class: White, Ademokoya, Jeremiah Williams and Nick Jourdain. Beyond those high school additions, Temple is also expected to benefit from a trio of collegiate transfers in the form of Khalif Battle from Butler, Sage Tolbert from Southeast Missouri State and Brendan Barry from Dartmouth. The three transfers are expected to add depth to the rotation if cleared to play by the NCAA. In Barry’s case, the sharpshooter is expected to be eligible for the Owls once the fall semester ends.

“All of those kids were kids that I identified with, where they felt like they were overlooked and under-recruited and they wanted to prove themselves,” McKie said in an interview on The Scoop, the OwlScoop.com podcast, referring to the class Temple assembled prior to the recent addition of Barry last week. “That’s important because those are the kids that go on to be successful, that have an edge to them and want to prove themselves.”

So for those keeping count at home, McKie will welcome four incoming freshmen, three transfers and two players who sat out the majority of last season. All in all, that seemingly gives Temple’s rotation nine new faces, although McKie said recently that Tolbert is likely to sit out this season and play the following two seasons.

McKie’s revamped roster opens up the season this Saturday on Nov. 28 against Virginia Tech as part of a multi-team event at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Temple’s non-conference schedule continues with three Big 5 games against Villanova, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s, followed by a potential home game against NJIT at a to-be-determined date.

The American conference play will consist of a 20-game round-robin format with the 11 member institutions each playing the other conference team twice. For Temple, that conference slate will tip-off on Dec. 22 at Houston.

This is the first installment of OwlScoop.com's five-part Temple basketball season preview. Check back tomorrow for Part II, which will take a closer look at Year 2 of the Aaron McKie era.