Adam Fisher wants his players to not forget what Temple was. So he invited the Owls’ 1999 Elite Eight team

It’s been a tough go of it for Temple men’s basketball head coach Adam Fisher in his first season.

An entirely new starting five trying to adhere to a brand new system is still very much a wait-and-see. However, Fisher, a Bucks County native who noted that having the opportunity to coach Temple “is an honor and privilege,” is not trying to forget the former glory of a program that for many years under head coach John Chaney was a perennial postseason contender.

It’s why in the Owls’ most recent game against Charlotte, Fisher and the Owls welcomed back members of Temple’s 1999 NCAA Tournament team that made it to the Elite Eight. The majority of that team was in attendance, highlighted by Lynn Greer, Kevin Lyde, Ron Rollerson, Mamadou Barry, Damian Reid, and leading scorer Mark Karcher. The group watched courtside as Temple took on Charlotte, and even sat in on Fisher’s postgame press conference.

“It’s a great honor to have them here,” Fisher said. “People ask me all the time, what do you have to sell? We’re in last place and we’re in a NIL world. You know what I have to sell? The tradition and history. They remember the joy they had at Temple. They remember the bond they had. That is what my team needs to understand. You come here, there’s pride, there’s passion and history. Every time we go on the road, I say look up and those are not banners like these.”

The banner for that 1999 Owls run is particularly special because of what it took to get there.

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Led by legendary head coach John Chaney and a matchup zone that was one of the best in the NCAA at the time, Temple went 24-11 and 13-3 in the Atlantic 10. Its resume that season was also bolstered by wins against Georgetown, Ole Miss, Florida State, and a fifth-ranked Michigan State team. The Owls lost by three in the A-10 championship to Rhode Island, but still earning an at-large bid as a No. 6 seed into March Madness.

“It was amazing how much the zone worked,” Karcher recalled. “We were clicking, we had guys confused and it was easy for us on offense because we could push the ball in the open court and find everybody.”

In the NCAA tournament, the Owls knocked off Kent State, Cincinnati and Purdue to make it to the finals of the East Regional. Temple lost against a stacked Duke team that had many future NBA players including Shane Battier, Corey Magette, and current Sixers general manager, Elton Brand. Duke won by 21 and they would go to the championship game but they would lose to Connecticut.

“We fought together,” said Lyde. “We lost some tough games but we bonded together through all of the adversity we went through. That Elite Eight game] was a tough loss. I had a lot of friends over there [at Duke]. I’ve learned when you talk trash, you lose. When I talk to them now, they remind me of that game so that was a tough lesson to learn. Don’t lose to your friends.”

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