Temple Basketball Should Reach Out To ASU Transfer Savon Goodman

Arizona State grad transfer Savon Goodman is looking for a new home and there is no place like the original one. Goodman, a 6-foot-6 forward who played his high school basketball in Philadelphia at Constitution High, would be a perfect addition for the Temple Owls, who have a couple of holes to fill after the graduation of two senior starters. One of those senior starters was a forward, Jaylen Bond, who came home after transferring from Texas and said that was the best decision of his career. If Goodman does the same, he will have to compete only with returning forward Daniel Dingle for a starting job.

Dingle averaged 4.8 points per game for the Owls coming off the bench in 2015-16, while Goodman, mostly a starter, averaged 9.6 points per game for the Sun Devils. Temple recruited him out of high school, but Goodman ended up at ASU after a short stint at UNLV. His graduation at ASU enables him to transfer elsewhere without sitting out a season.

While Temple head coach Fran Dunphy never promises starting jobs, there is good reason to believe Goodman can beat out Dingle if push came to shove for the small forward position. Dunphy found out this season he can never have enough players. In the NCAA first-round loss to Iowa, he had to insert Dingle in as a defensive substitute. The problem with that was Dingle had a broken wrist and Dunphy did not figure on him getting fouled inadvertently. Dingle missed a free-throw, shooting with his off hand, and Iowa won the game on a putback in overtime, 72-70.

If Temple reaches out to Goodman, he can join Bond and former Massachusetts’ player Jesse Morgan as players who found they can come home again and flourish in new roles.