Fran Dunphy

Weekly Rankings Each week The Inquirer college basketball staff will rank the City Six teams No. 1 through 6 and compare those rankings to those of the fans. STAFF VOTERS Staff voters are Joe Juliano, Keith Pompey, Mike Jensen, John Quinn, Marc Narducci, Gary Miles, Gary Potosky, and Jim Swan. FANS' RANKINGS Vote how you think the city's six teams should be ranked at philly.com/city6. Give a ranking from 1 through 6 for each of the teams. Results will be tabulated from Wednesday through Tuesday each week.

Temple has been inconsistent, at best, this season. There were games where the Owls played like a team capable of going far in the NCAA tournament. On other occasions, they look like a team that's going to struggle mightily in Atlantic Ten Conference play. Temple the contender surfaced Saturday evening. The Owls defeated St. Louis, 64-54, in an early-season yet pivotal conference test at the Liacouras Center. Temple (11-4, 1-1 A-10), which snapped a two-game skid, hopes this victory is something to build on. "We have to treat every game like it's a game for our lives, basically," Owls center Anthony Lee said.

YOU CAN always tell when Fran Dunphy is not happy with something he sees on a basketball court. It could be the play of his team. It could be an official. The Temple coach claps his hands four or five times within a second. He grimaces. Sometimes, his face gets red. It was all there in the first half at the Liacouras Center on Monday night. And Dunphy did not appear to be displeased with the officiating. His team, with three senior starters who have won a lot of games together, has been winning this season.

SO HOW DO you get over your first loss, a 23-pointer to second-ranked Duke? Well, you start by beating whoever is next up on the schedule, which in Temple's case happened to be a four-win Towson team that had already won three more times than it did last season for new coach Pat Skerry. The Owls (7-1) did what they had to do Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center, 72-61. They will now get Alcorn State on Monday and then Canisius 2 nights later, both at home, before their next big test on Dec. 22 against still-unbeaten Syracuse in New York.

IT'S ONLY November. The conference tournaments are still 3 1/2 months away. Or about the length of a football season. So it's not always supposed to resemble a finished product yet. Or sometimes, maybe not even anything remotely close. But when you're 3-0 for the first time in 12 years, or since the last time you went to a Final Eight, well, that can never be a bad thing. Will Temple play better than it did in Sunday afternoon's 80-75 win over undermanned Delaware? No doubt. And it has to, with games against Duke, Syracuse and Kansas in the next 6 weeks.

Kyle Green grew up with a basketball in his hands. He has been a gym rat for most of his life. So the significance of the moment wasn't lost on the Camden Catholic senior when he signed a national letter of intent Wednesday to attend Temple on a basketball scholarship. "It was a big moment for me," Green said. "It let me know that all my hard work had paid off. " The 6-foot-5 Green, who led South Jersey in scoring with a 22.7-point average last season, first was offered a scholarship by Temple coach Fran Dunphy during Green's sophomore year.

KENT, Ohio - Scootie Randall is eager to make up for lost time. The senior scored a career-high 31 points to lead Temple to an 80-66 victory over Kent State on Tuesday in his first game in 20 months. Randall missed all last season with a left-knee injury when the Owls went 24-8 and to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive year under coach Fran Dunphy. "This is my last year and I want to lead these guys," Randall said. "My teammates just found me with the ball and I thank them.

Name: Scootie Randall School: Temple Class: Senior Position: Guard/Forward Height/weight: 6-6/230 Hometown: Philadelphia High school: Communications Tech Stats: 10.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 30.3 minutes in 2010-11. Career highlights: Was a medical redshirt last season due to a knee injury. Averaged 17.8 points in last eight games in 2010-11 before injuring his foot in February. As a junior, he was the Most Improved Player in both the Atlantic 10 and Big 5. Had a career-high 28 points that season against Xavier.

Coach: Fran Dunphy (134-65 in six years at school, 444-228 in 23 years overall) Last season: 24-8 (13-3 Atlantic 10) Postseason: Lost in first round of NCAA Tournament to South Florida, 58-44 Last league title: 2010 Last NCAA berth: 2012 PROJECTED STARTERS F Anthony Lee So. 5.0P 5.2R F Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson Sr. 9.3P 6.6R *G/F Scootie Randall Sr. 10.7P 4.7R G Khalif Wyatt Sr. 17.1P 3.3R G Will Cummings So....

TEMPLE BASKETBALL is caught in two worlds, one familiar and comforting, another challenging and potentially quite rewarding. As the basketball facility, three stories above McGonigle Hall and rising over North Broad Streets, gets some finishing touches in advance of Friday's dedication, the sparkling new "Donald and Nancy Resnick" practice court offers a panoramic western view of the city where Connie Mack Stadium once stood eight blocks or so to...