by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

The breakdown was brilliant.

“Can shoot from distance. Got a nice mid-range shot. Has a solid post game. Can defend, run, jump, get up and down the floor. About the only thing that you can’t really tell at this point is how he is as a playmaker.

“You can see he has a handle, but he’s not asked to do much with getting his teammates involved.”

Obi Enechionyia, meet your NBA prospect analysis … courtesy of my son, Sean, who displayed an insight beyond his 15 years on this planet and limited time watching the best athletes on that planet perform.

Sitting among a few too many fans dressed as empty seats Friday night at the Liacouras Center for the 2016 season-opening Temple University men’s basketball game against Big Five rival La Salle, a highly entertaining affair eventually won by the host Owls 97-92 in overtime, our most interesting topic of conversation turned to which players seemed to have the potential to play at the next level.

As many will come to discover rather easily, Enechionyia definitely has the “goods” to do so. Not only is the aforementioned profile spot on, but the Owls’ 6-foot-10 junior forward also possesses an NBA-ready frame, obviously beefed up and buffed up from a year ago, a healthy athletic swagger and some stamina. He played 40 of a possible 45 minutes against the Explorers.

What else? Well, he has a tendency to disappear at times on both ends of the floor, but the Owls in general really disappear offensively when he isn’t on the floor.

On a night when Fran Dunphy’s squad managed to get six players in double figures, don’t plan on that being the norm unless Enechionyia’s minutes remain a constant throughout.

Senior Daniel Dingle led Temple with 21 points vs. La Salle, but his tally was entirely predicated by the visiting team’s preoccupation with keeping Big O under wraps inside. Same thing with fellow starters Shizz Alston (14) and Ernest Aflakpui (12) and subs Quinton Rose (12) and Mark Williams (10). Funny thing is, Enechionyia’s multi-faceted gifts seem more suited for the outside, which is mainly how he averaged 11 points per game last season.
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Against North Philly neighbor La Salle, though, he was interior first/exterior second for certain, but still managed to show a vast repertoire, scoring 20 points with a couple dunks, shooting 2-for-3 from beyond the arc, 8-for-14 overall, a couple of sweet off-handed inside moves, and posting game highs in rebounds (14) and blocked shots (4). His follow-up of a missed Rose lay-up attempt with 3:03 to go put the Owls up, 86-84. He later denied Pookie Powell’s drive with 30 seconds remaining to keep Temple ahead 92-88.

Put it this way, the kid is good. Real good. NBA-prospect good. My kid-approved good.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better talent in the city … or even, gasp, out on the Main Line.

It’s a subjective game of projection at this point.

Who gets in? Who doesn’t?

​What about seeding?

Of course, most important, who can win it all?

That’s where Villanova comes in at this point, especially for sports fan in the Philly area, with the 24-3 Wildcats currently holding top billing in the nation as the 2015-16 college basketball regular season winds down and teams from conferences far and wide, and big and small, vie for spots in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. You have to wonder, can they?

Beyond that, will they?

The reality is, the “can” and “will” of this process are not forever intertwined. Yeah, you certainly have to have the former in order to have the latter. But it ain’t a given that having the former would result in the latter.

Point being, ’Nova certainly has the goods to get it done. Fueled by talent galore, including a starting five that all average in double figures, and battle-tested by playing in one of the country’s best basketball conference, the Big East, the Wildcats are poised to make a title run.

But, really, how many times has that not been the case for them during Jay Wright’s tenure?

After rescuing the program from the fair-to-middling status to which it had sunk under Steve Lappas, Wright began pumping life and blue-chip recruits into Villanova immediately, prepping it for a return to prime-time performance by 2004-05, his fourth season in charge on the Main Line.

Starting then and continuing through the time this tournament is announced, the ’Cats will have been dancing 10 of the last 11 years, and one of the NCAA’s featured performers in more than half of ’em.

The first five of those years, they rattled off two Sweet 16s, an Elite Eight and a Final Four. The next five? They missed the tournament once, and got bounced from it four other times on the first weekend despite having squads in 2009-10 and last year to contend for it all.

Frankly, the subjective take here is that these ’Cats are better, much better, than the Scottie Reynolds-led 2008-09 group that reached the national semis only to get embarrassed by North Carolina, and, conversely, not as good as any of the four groups, headlined at one point or another by Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, Allan Ray and Curtis Sumpter, previous to that one.

With the addition of ballyhooed freshman Jalen Brunson, who almost single-handedly shot down Big Five rival Temple last week, they might be better than last year’s 33-3 team, too.

Then again, anyone rooting for ’Nova or just some success for a Philly area team, would hope that, considering that record and a No. 1 seed in the tournament yielded nothing more than an early ouster against eighth-seeded North Carolina State.

The ’Cats have one of the best all-around players in the sport in Josh Hart, the toughest one in Ryan Arcidiacono, Brunson, depth and the ability to play big, small, fast or slow and anything in between.

Can they win it all? Heck yeah. They got everything needed to do so.
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But will they? History, their own recent history, says no.

​- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Hard to believe
Temple may or may not receive an NCAA bid, but the fact it’s even in the conversation is astounding. The Owls are just not that good as a team, even though they do have some individual talent and currently lead the American Athletic Conference. They started 8-7 but have rattled off nine wins in their last 11, including Sunday night’s miraculous comeback at Houston in which sophomore F Obi Enechionyia tallied a career-high 26 points. Whether coach Fran Dunphy wants to admit it or not, Easy-O is his best player, and freshman G Trey Lowe is No. 2. Both should be utilized in those roles if the Owls really want to make a run.

Reality check
Saint Joseph’s has been a revelation this season, checking in at 22-5 right now even after a disappointing loss at Davidson on Saturday. That pretty much offset the season highlight of beating then-No. 15 Dayton in the Hawks’ previous outing. They are sparked, clearly, by the F tandem of Isaiah Myles (17.8 ppg, 8.3 rpg) and DeAndre Bembry (16.8, 7.9 and 4.4 apg). Unfortunately, their second-place standing in the Atlantic 10 doesn’t exactly hold the same kind of sway as it would have back when Temple was still in the conference. Or Xavier. Or Butler. In short, perception is a problem with their NCAA hopes, at least the at-large ones.

Ummm, oops
It was just three years ago that we were about to get treated to La Salle’s unexpected Sweet 16 run, the Explorers capturing much of the region’s imagination along the way. But, wow, how times have changed – rather quickly. Sunday’s 40-point loss – yes, that’s right, FORTY POINTS – at George Washington was the apex of embarrassment, even for a team that now stands at 6-19. Makes those fun times celebrating Tyrone Garland’s “South Philly Floater” seem long ago.

These opportunities don’t come around here often.

Even in a city that likes to claim such a rich history in college basketball and actually has a bit of merit to make such a claim, a No. 1 ranking for one of its schools is a rarity.

Rarer still is when a local squad sitting atop the polls takes on another from Philly.

So, please forgive any serious hoopheads out there the next few days for interrupting the latest updates on Shady’s arrest warrant, Sam’s contract status, the Phillies’ upcoming spring training and the Flyers’ looming implosion with a bit of excitement and verbiage about Wednesday night’s Big Five encounter at the Liacouras Center.

It pits host Temple, making a serious late-season push for a spot in the NCAA tournament with five straight wins and eight in its last nine games, against the nation’s top team, Villanova.

It’s just one game, you say. What’s the big deal, you wonder?

Well, consider …

• Before the Wildcats’ current two-week run as No. 1, the city’s six Division I schools combined only managed a total of 11 weeks there the previous 66 years of polls.
• ​Prior to this latest showdown, only once before had two Philly schools squared off with one of them being No. 1.

By the time the two tip off this time, it will have been 28 years and 7 days since the top-ranked Owls hosted No. 20 Villanova at McGonigle Hall. Perhaps it is fitting that this go ’round pits the same two schools against one another, since, really, their rivalry has evolved into the most fair fight among all the Philly schools.

Both programs have remained regional powers, with ’Nova becoming even more of a consistent presence on the national scene.

Back then, the Owls were on the cusp of greatness that never truly materialized. The sixth edition of John Chaney outfits in Cherry & White, they were in the process of finishing an incredible five-year stretch of 140-23 for the legendary coach and about to be the first of five Elite Eight teams for him from 1988 through 2001.

Two future NBA lottery picks – Tim Perry and Mark Macon – started for Temple that night, but it was Howie Evans who stole the show, dishing out 20 assists, many of them arriving in the hands of Macon (31 points) and Mike Vreeswyk (19), and adding 15 points.

Thing is, the final score, a 98-86 win for the home team, wasn’t indicative of the evening. Indeed, in typical Big Five fashion, ’Nova made the favorite earn everything it got. The ’Cats, behind Doug West’s 27 points, actually led 65-61 with 10:42 to go and kept it close before running out of gas.

In short, the two teams put on a good show. A comparable effort this time would not surprise.

- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]
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LA SALLE 1952 & 1954
The Explorers started atop the polls to start the 1952-53 and 1954-55 seasons, and stayed there two weeks each time, thanks in large part to the incomparable Tom Gola, who still holds the NCAA record for career rebounds with 2,201. Ironically, it was between those two campaigns that the Explorers actually won their only NCAA championship as Gola earned national player of the year honors.

TEMPLE 1988
The Owls lost one game in the 1987-88 regular season … by a single point at Nevada-Las Vegas. Other than that they were spotless before ultimately falling to Duke in the NCAA East Regional final, which is why they grabbed hold of the No. 1 spot on February 9 and kept it the remaining six weeks of polling. Freshman Mark Macon led the charge, averaging 20.6 ppg. en route to second-team All-America honors.

SAINT JOSEPH’S 2004
The Hawks were perfect in the regular season, running the table at 27-0 to capture the No. 1 ranking for a week before the postseason. Xavier derailed any thoughts of an unblemished campaign in the Atlantic 10 tournament, but Saint Joe’s, behind national player of the year Jameer Nelson and fellow future NBA first-round draft pick Delonte West, still reached the NCAA East Regional final before bowing out.

VILLANOVA 2016
Talented and deep, the Wildcats have five players average double-figure scoring, led by junior Josh Hart’s 15.2 ppg. Ironically, their most ballyhooed player, freshman Jalen Brunson, is the son of former Temple standout Rick Brunson. After getting whipped by Oklahoma (78-55) and Virginia (86-75) before the Christmas, the Wildcats have won 14 of 15 in 2016, the lone loss coming in OT.

All the hype surrounded Temple back in 1987-88, from when the Owls squared off against Villanova as the No. 1 team in the country until they lost to Duke in the NCAA East Regional final as the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Funny thing is, few people remember that the Wildcats got just as far as the Owls did, reaching the Elite Eight before falling to Oklahoma.

Temple’s Mark Macon (1991) and Tim Perry (1988), two pivotal players for the Owls the last time a No. 1 team from Philly played against another team from Philly, ended up as NBA lottery picks, but neither had the pro career Villanova’s Doug West did. A second-round selection by Minnesota, he played 12 years in the NBA, averaging a career high 19.3 ppg. while shooting 51.7 percent from the floor.