Don’t know how many people are going to care for a post about Temple basketball, but by the looks of how the season is going this early, there won’t be many more, so deal with it. Because we’ve got drama involving the best player on the team and Aaron McKie and we’re only three games in after winning the biggest game in five years on Friday. You can’t make this shit up. Aaron McKie was asked after the Vanderbilt game about Khalif Battle’s lack of minutes to which he replied, “I just played the guys who wanted to be out there.” Khalif replied to the tweet (then deleted) with a crying emoji:

Battle hasn’t started a game all year. Reminder, he’s arguably the team’s best player. There were rumors the team was easing him back coming off a season-ending foot injury last year, and then there were rumors it was to send him a message after they were unhappy with him this summer. We have a definitive answer after now. At one point Battle just sat on the bench during a timeout with the rest of the team huddled on the floor. It all just seems like a shit show internally from a player who thinks his shit doesn’t stink and a coach who isn’t going to take any. And it sucks because the fans who have waited five years for a good basketball team suffer. Especially after getting a win against #16 Nova for the first time in 10 years and the team labeling this season “tournament or bust.”

It took three days. THREE DAYS! For Temple to go from season turning win to same ‘ol Temple. The schedule doesn’t get easier with Rutgers and St. John’s back to back before they go through the Big 5 gauntlet and conference play starts. Aaron McKie also only has two years left on his deal. He’s four years in and he just got his first signature win. If things go south does he even get to finish it out? There’s one thing that will always remain the same about Temple basketball. If being a fan was easy everyone would do it.

Please don’t let this story distract you from the fact that Villanova was down at half to Delaware State and only pulled away at the end on Monday. KenPom’s 361st ranked team out of 363.