7. Temple
John Chaney has the talent to run his trusty three-guard lineup, which means hell to pay for somebody in the NCAAs
Posted: Wednesday November 18, 1998 02:02 PM
| |
Point guard Sanchez is Chaney's eyes and ears on the court. Mitchell Layton |
In
its opening game of the 1998 NCAA tournament, Temple
participated in the sort of savaging that has made the Owls
a first-round opponent that other teams are happy to avoid.
The losers were harassed into 33.3% shooting from the
field, including 6 of 36 from
three-point range, and their will was snapped like dry
kindling in an 82-52 runaway. Only this time, it wasn't the
Owls who inflicted the misery; it was an erratic West
Virginia squad that tattooed Temple. But take heed,
tournament teams of '99: With
increased depth and firepower, the Owls' days of one-and-done
are
done.
Last year scoring was a chore for Temple; witness the
decline of senior Rasheed Brokenborough, whose average
dropped from 16.0 points in 1996-97 to 11.8. A
6'4" guard, he was trying to make up for the loss of
center Marc Jackson, who had made an early exit for the
pros.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself,"
Brokenborough says, "but the biggest thing
I learned is that I have to be more
patient." Helping him
apply that lesson will be
6'5" sophomore Mark Karcher, who sat out last season as
a nonqualifier. The 1997 Maryland player of the year,
Karcher has a nose for the
basket: He scored more than 3,000 points at
St. Frances Academy in
Baltimore.
With that twosome and the versatile Pepe Sanchez, coach
John Chaney has the talent to make the most of his
three-guard lineup, a set that was so effective in the
early 1990s with Rick Brunson, Eddie Jones and Aaron McKie.
"We've been a little out of
sync offensively the last few years because we've gotten away
from the three-guard offense," says Chaney. "In
the past we've had some good post players but we've been
most successful when we've been able to control the
backcourt."
| |
| STARTING LINEUP |
| POS. | HT. | CLASS | KEY STAT |
| SF Mark Karcher | 6'5" | So. | 28.8 ppg** |
| PF Lamont Barnes* | 6'10" | Jr. | 8.0 rpg |
| C Kevin Lyde | 6'9" | Fr. | 18.0 ppg** |
| SG R. Brokenborough* | 6'4" | Sr. | 11.8 ppg |
| PG Pepe Sanchez* | 6'4" | Jr. | 4.9 apg |
'97-98 record: 21-9
Final rank (coaches' poll): unranked
*Returning starter
**ppg as high school senior ('96-97 for Karcher)
|
|
|
Temple's frontcourt will also get a makeover. Despite being
moved from power forward to replace Jackson last
season,
6'10", 230-pound
Lamont Barnes led the team in points (13.8 a game) and
rebounds (8.0). He will now shift back to his natural spot
with the arrival of freshman center Kevin Lyde, who
averaged 18.0 points, 8.0 boards and 3.5 blocks for Oak
Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson,
Va.
The Owls' hallmark under Chaney has been their relentless
matchup zone defense, which denies clean looks, forces
turnovers and controls tempo. Last year the Owls were 14-0
when holding an opponent to less than 60 points, and
Sanchez was second in the
nation with 3.4 steals a game, a figure that should rise with
the peskier three-guard set.
"We cannot function without giving Rasheed some
scoring help, and I don't know if we can shoot," says
Chaney. "But if we can control the defensive part of
the game, the offense will eventually catch up."
Expect the Owls to do just that. And when Temple
enters the NCAA tournament for the 10th straight year in
March, expect its
opponents to be suitably afraid.
—B.J.
Schecter
Top 25 | Rest of the Best
|
