Temple basketball summary: Games 1 through 4
The win @ USC provides solid evidence that Aaron McKie has done a remarkable job in his first year as a D1 Head Coach.
His coaching performance has been all the more impressive, given that he's only working with an 11 man roster, with only 9 active players for the USC game, following Damion Moore's recent back injury, as well as Damian Dunn's foot injury.
McKie has found a way to improve Temple's defense (and Temple's average margin of victory) by leaps and bounds, with the team scoring 71.3 ppg on average, while holding their opponents to ~61.3 ppg.
At the same time, he has also found a way to improve Temple's rebounding, with the team now averaging 41.25 rpg, with no rebounding deficit, after having an average rebounding deficit of -5 rpg last season. This, despite the fact that starting Center Moore missed Temple's last two games with a back injury.
Further, Temple's guards, and the team as a whole have done a terrific job at controlling the ball, with a current #5 ranking in the nation with respect to fewest team turnovers.
Players:
Nate Pierre-Louis has been by far the most productive player on the team, with 20.5 pts, 14 rb, 4.6 ast, 4.6 stl, & 1 blk per 40 min. of play (A+++). His player efficiency rating (PER) to date is an outstanding PER=30.2.*
NOTE: "the highest PER ever achieved over an entire single season in the NBA was 31.84 by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962/63."
*"No other player surpassed 30 until Michael Jordan in 1987/88 with a PER of 31.71. "
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The remainder of the team's productivity and PER stats are, as listed in order of PER ratings ("A league-average PER is always 15.00"):
Perry 17.9 pts, 6.2 rb, 0.5 ast, 1.5 stl, 1.5 blk per 40 min.(A-) PER=22.8
A Moore 13.2 pts,4.7 rb,3.4 ast,3.1 stl,0.7 blk per40min.(B+) PER=17.2
JPL 18.8 pts, 3.3 rb, 4.9 ast, 4.9 stl, 0 blk per 40 min.(A) PER=16.5
Rose 19.0 pts, 3.8 rb, 2.5 ast, 1.9 stl, 0.3 blk per 40 min.(A-) PER=16.3
D Moore 12.8 pts, 17.6 rb, 1.6 ast, 0 stl, 1.3 blk per 40 min.(A) PER=16.2
Parks 12.0 pts, 10.7 rb, 0 ast, 0 stl, 1.3 blk per 40 min.(B+) PER=13.3
Hamilton 13.6 pts, 10.2 rb, 0 ast, 2 stl, 1.4 blk per 40 min.(A-) PER=9.6
Moorman 5.8 pts, 8.2 rb, 4.1 ast, 0.3 stl, 0.7 blk per 40 min.(B-) PER=9.1
Scott 5.9 pts, 5.3 rb, 1.1 ast, 1.6 stl, 0.5 blk per 40 min.(C+) PER=3.6
PLAYER SUMMARY:
Current Starters (average PER: 16.48) (PG/SG/W: A/A-) (PF/C: B+/B)
NPL is clearly the most outstanding player on the team. If he continues to play at this level, he's likely to be first team all-conference.
Rose has played a key scoring role on the team, being the second leading scorer, with 15 ppg. However, while his FG3% is .400, his FG2% is an abysmal .323, which is a major negative, given that he leads the team with 12.8 FGA/game. His PER confirms that his play to date is definitely subpar for a preseason first team all-conference player.
Alani Moore has improved his game this season slightly, in terms of statistical productivity. However, his FG3% has been subpar to date at only .292, and this is a noteworthy concern because 3/4 of his FGA are 3 point attempts. In addition, he is averaging only 2.5 assists per game, which is very low for a PG (PG Shizz Alston averaged 5 apg).
J.P. Moorman's play, to date, has been the least productive in his collegiate career. His PER (9.1) is well below average, lagging behind the team's two freshmen, and 2nd lowest on the team. His only strong suit has been his 6 rebounds per game, second best on the team to date. His defensive play may have improved, compared to last season, but he has missed 2/3 of his FG attempts, and his FG3% has dropped from .400 to .300 this season.
Justyn Hamilton's play has been a mixed bag, and has been somewhat inconsistent from game to game. His PER (9.6) is below average for a starting D1 player. On the other hand, his rebounding - on a per minute basis - has improved markedly, compared to last season. In addition, his defensive play has improved. If Damion Moore returns to the team in full health (100%), he will most likely return to the starting lineup.
Current Bench (average PER: 14.05) (backcourt: B+/B) (PF/C: A/A-)
De'Vondre Perry has had an outstanding season, thus far, and in terms of PER, statistical productivity, and defensive play has been the second best player on the team, overall. He leads the team with a FG3% of .444 and his FG2% (.588) is second best on the team. Despite playing only 19.5 mpg, he is the 4th leading scorer on the team.
JPL has also gotten off to an astounding start, especially for a freshman. Like his brother NPL, he is one of the best defenders on the team, leading the team with 4.9 steals per 40 min. of play. He leads the team in assists per minute played (4.9 assists per 40 min.), and is the third leading scorer on the team, per minute of play (18.8 pts per 40 min.). Having played only 12.3 mpg to date, his play thus far suggests that he may become a significant impact player who could end up playing perhaps twice as many minutes by the end of the season. His playing time might be limited to some extent, however, because his assist to turnover ratio is only 1.20 (4.1 turnovers per 40 min.).
Damion Moore played well in his first two games on a per minute basis though only playing 12.3 minutes per game (12.8 pts & 17.6 rbs per 40 min.), prior to sustaining a back injury which has thence kept him out of action. His main limitation was leading the team with 4.8 turnovers per 40 minutes played). Nevertheless, the team's prospects this season will be boosted significantly if he can recover and play near 100% fairly soon.
Arashma Parks has played better than many might have expected, since he is coming off a redshirt year, following shoulder surgeries. With 12 pts and 10.7 rbs per 40 minutes of play, he has shown the potential to be an unexpectedly vital contributor in his role a backup Center who can play over 10 minutes per game when needed.
James "Monty" Scott has struggled tremendously to date from a productivity standpoint, bringing up the rear with a PER of only 3.6 to date. Nonetheless, he has played 18.8 mpg, suggesting that Coach McKie has found him to be a trusted reserve guard with the height necessary to play solid perimeter defense against opposing 3 point shooters. He continues to get significant playing time because he averaged 17 ppg prior to transferring to Temple, and may well have the ability to score in double figures once he acclimates to playing with his new teammates and in the McKie system.
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OVERALL SUMMARY:
In many respects, Coach McKie has coached the team to play in a way very reminiscent to the way Temple teams played when John Chaney was Temple's Head Coach:
1) He's found a way to get a supreme effort from some players and a strong effort from most of his players.
2) His team has held opponents to only 61.3 ppg thus far, a number highly similar to Coach Chaney's Temple teams, though not utilizing Chaney's zone defense at this point.
3) His team has scored a similar number of points when compared with Chaney's teams.
However, McKie has opted to play a 9 or 10 man rotation thus far, while Chaney preferred to go with a 7 or 8 man rotation.
In this respect, he has emulated Gregg Marshall's strategy of playing a deep rotation of players, which took WSU to the final four in a season when the Shockers bench was good enough to play a substantial number of minutes.
Playing the full bench has enabled Coach McKie to play a high tempo offense or high pressure defense, when needed, while resting his top 4 players, none of whom has averaged more than 31 mpg thus far.
Another benefit of playing the deepest possible rotation is that the bench players know that they are going to be relied upon to play every game, which tends to keep them highly motivated in practice and can also boost the team's overall motivational level.
(This post was last modified: 11-25-2019 09:18 PM by jedclampett.)
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