17 Temple

If not for his oversized white practice jersey and his baby face, Lynn Greer could have been mistaken for one of coach John Chaney's assistants. On a pitch-black October morning in Philadelphia, when Temple's Liacouras Center was the only thing humming on North Broad Street at six o'clock., the senior point guard pulled aside one freshman after another to filter the screams of the 69-year-old, sandpaper-voiced Chaney into soft-spoken, clinical instructions.

"For us to do well, I've got to get these new guys on the same page as the rest of us," says the 6'1", 175-pound Greer, who will be joined in the backcourt by sophomore Brian Polk or freshman Nile Murry. "Coach has already told us that if we're playing in March the way we're playing now, we might as well forfeit and watch the games on TV."

Annually playing one of the nation's most treacherous early-season schedules, Temple finds that its record often suffers at the start. The Owls lost seven games in a row last December yet were playing so well by the end of the season that they nearly reached the Final Four for the first time in Chaney's 19 years at Temple. ( Michigan State beat them in the NCAA South Regional final.) This season, however, the team will be hard-pressed to go that far. Even with the dependable Greer (18.2 points, 5.5 assists per game) and senior center Kevin Lyde, the nation's leading offensive rebounder (4.5 per game), Temple's overall inexperience could be problematic.

In addition to Polk and Murry, 6'9" Glen Elliott, a freshman forward from Jacksonville, is another first-year player who will be heavily counted on. Though Elliott should add much needed speed and hustle to the frontcourt, Chaney doesn't expect his newcomers to have an immediate impact. "In order to improve, our older guys must get more touches, must shoot more," says Chaney.

Greer—a notorious perfectionist from his days at Engineering and Science High, where he became the second highest scorer in the Philadelphia Public League history (1,991 points, behind Wilt Chamberlain's 2,206)—is ready for the challenge. When his teammates dispersed after practice, Greer would sneak in an extra hour in the gym with dad Lynn Sr., who played for the Scranton Apollos in the old Eastern League from 1973 through '75. When Greer went 3 for 18 from three-point range in a three-game stretch last January, he broke the slump with an intensive week of film study and extra shooting after practice. In fact his shooting improved to 50% over his next five games, and he wound up first on the team in scoring, free throw percentage (.868) and steals (2.0) while leading the nation with 1,465 minutes played, an astonishing 39.6 per game. But Greer still winces when the conversation turns to how close Temple came to the Final Four.

"Every player wants to be the one to get Coach his first Final Four," says Greer. "But the seniors, we want to win for ourselves, too. It's our last chance."

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