Daniel Dingle's a popular guy - on the court and in the eyes of Temple University's basketball program.
Photo by Jim Redman
Temple University recruit
Daniel Dingle admits he's not a very nice guy on the basketball court. But, he'll tell you that, "off the court, I'm the best guy you can be around."
The 6-foot-7, 225-pound senior forward from
St. Raymond Boys (Bronx, N.Y.) had lots of reasons to be nice after leading the Ravens to a 68-61 upset of previously unbeaten Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) Saturday at the Cancer Research Classic Saturday at Wheeling Jesuit University.
"This was a very good win," Dingle said. "They're a top team and to get this win it's huge for New York and huge for our school."
The small forward has committed to the Owls after being courted by the likes of Auburn, Massachusetts, Rutgers, Dayton and Seton Hall. While the Bronx resident has plenty to work on in the coming months, the Atlantic 10 is a good landing spot.
Dingle and St. Raymond have battledsome of the nation's best this season.
Photo by Jim Redman
If you don't think he's excited about playing at the Philadelphia-based school, listen to him refer to Temple as "We."
"We just beat Duke, we're very excited, the whole campus is excited, I know the coaches are excited," Dingle said. "I'm excited too."
Dingle's all-around performance in the CRC featured 21 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals for the Ravens.
His team's 5-4 record doesn't appear like much, but St. Raymond's losses were to Montverde Academy (Fla.), Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Salesian (Richmond, Calif.) in the City of Palms Classic and Garner Magnet School (N.C.) in the HighSchoolOT.com Invitational in Raleigh, N.C. Dingle didn't play in Raleigh due to a shoulder injury.
His first game back was in Wheeling, which ended a long break of not playing – St. Raymond was off from Dec. 30 through Jan. 6 – and very little practice. It wasn't easy for Dingle to get back into playing shape. He hardly left the floor, playing 25 of a possible 32 minutes. He made 6 of 15 shot attempts, and although he was only 8-for-13 from the foul line, he made one of his two 3-point attempts.
His points and rebounds were game-highs, his assists were a team-high and his steals tied for a team-high.
"I was kind of winded out there, but I pushed and we got the win," he said.
He wasn't without help.
Kayvon Williams had 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting off the bench. However, four other players in the game combined for just 9 of 30 shooting for a total of 33 points and just one more rebound than what Dingle had.
Not long after one of his team's best victories of the season, Dingle pointed out some of the things he needs to work on before stepping onto the Temple campus about 100 miles southwest of home.
"Overall, everything," he said. "I have to work on my pull-up jumper for the next level. In college basketball, you're not able to get to the basket that easily. That's what I'm going to work on."
Temple Coach Fran Dunphy also has informed Dingle where he will play for the Owls.
"I'm being told I'm going to play the 3," he said. "Coach runs a spread out offense. Sometimes I'll play the 4. Sometimes (sophomore) Aaron Brown plays the 4, and I'll play the 4, too.
"As long as we win, I don't care."
He even knows what to expect defensively, which, Dingle said, means he'll have to work on his skills against some quicker players.
"I'm a 2-3, so guarding the 2s and 3s is what I'm going to be doing at Temple," he said. "Those things make you a well-rounded player. The first thing I think is to come out, pass the ball, and get my teammates involved."
Then again, maybe he does it too much.
"Coach (Oliver Antigua) gets on me and tells me I'm not too aggressive," he said.
Rich Stevens
is the assistant sports editor of the Charleston Daily Mail. He may be reached at richstevens@dailymail.com.
