Temple's Dunphy likes his hometown team

THIS TEMPLE season really could have spun out of control when first Micheal Eric was lost for the year and then Scootie Randall went down with a foot injury.

It did not, though. The wins kept coming. The team found another way.

Why?

Check out the makeup of the majority of the rotation. It is about the Philly guys, two from the Public League, three from PIAA AAAA powers and one from the wilds of South Jersey.

Ramone Moore (Southern) and Randall (Communications Tech) are in the great tradition of the Pub - big hearts, big shots, no fear.

Lavoy Allen (Pennsbury), Rahlir Jefferson (Chester) and Khalif Wyatt (Norristown) all played in huge games in high school, going for district and state titles. They are in the best tradition of the PIAA, which has produced so many state champions and serious players.

T.J. DiLeo (Cinnaminson) is from just across the Delaware, close enough that he gets city association.

The local ties are not by accident.

"The first thing you do is look at the local guys because it's the easiest thing to do," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "It's the guys you can study the most. I think that's what it comes down to is how much you can study these guys, how they interact with their teammates, their coaches, the opponents, the officials, how well they do in school.

"You can do a so much better job of evaluating the character piece to these guys if you can see them more often. If you're recruiting a kid a 2-hour flight away, you don't get a chance to see him quite as much. We certainly start locally, but that doesn't mean we limit ourselves to only local talent as you see on our roster."

They do not. Which is why the point guard (Juan Fernandez) is from Argentina.

Back in the day, La Salle controlled the Public League. The assistant coaches lived in the gyms. In successive years, La Salle got Lionel Simmons, Doug Overton and Randy Woods. And the Explorers won a lot of games. One of those assistant coaches was Joe Mihalich, now the head coach at Niagara. Another was Fran Dunphy.

Dunphy knew the city then, knows it now. And he knows people.

"I think there's been a tremendous resiliency with this group," Dunphy said. "They've found a way to win games and I'm really proud of them for that. We had a fabulous year last year to win 29 games. I made a statement after that season that we could be even a better basketball team this year and not win as many games and I think we approached that.