Calvin Temple feels at home at IUPUI
Calvin Temple could have committed to a power five school. Temple is good enough to play for a lot of power five schools. Temple could have prolonged his college decision to receive more offers.
But he didn’t.
Instead, Temple, who followed his heart, decided to commit to IUPUI in front of friends, family members, and his teammates, while in between his mother, Lisa Miller, his stepfather, Aundra Miller, and longtime trainer on Monday at Center Hill High School. He picked the Jaguars over Tulsa, Campbell, Arkansas Little-Rock, and Louisiana-Monroe.
At first, Temple picked up the Warhawks hat, before tossing it in the direction of his stepfather. Out of nowhere, the burgundy hat stamped with IUPUI in white letters quickly went onto his head. Temple’s quest to Division 1 basketball was complete.
Temple dressed well for the occasion, wearing a multi-colored dress shirt, which was set off by the red tie to go with his black creased pants and black dress shoes.
Temple had his mind made up a week ago, and not one second did he consider holding off his decision for another week or month to see what other schools can offer. Indianapolis, Indiana is where he wants to be.
“It’s a place where I want to get my degree. I can stay there four years of my life and be happy,” Temple said. “The coaches love and want me. I love it there as well. So it’s just a place I want to be at for four years.”
Before Temple’s big day came, Middle Tennessee State offered, and Ole Miss wanted to schedule an unofficial visit for the weekend of the Alabama-Ole Miss football game, which is this Saturday. But Temple wasn’t in the mood to hear about another offer or a visit to a school. The most important thing for Temple was to make a decision that he’s comfortable with.
Temple was ready to put his decision behind him, so he can focus on his final year of high school. If he wanted to go to Nashville, Tennessee and play for the Blue Raiders, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy his senior year of high school. The staff at MTSU wanted Temple to reclassify to be in the 2018 class so he could become an early enrollee, which is something other schools wanted the 6-foot-1 point guard to do.
People may think Temple’s skillset is the only thing that got him to where he’s at now, but his drive to get better outweighed his skillset. Temple is rated as a three-star prospect on multiple scout service websites and wasn’t talked about as much as other guards in the 2019 class.
In Temple’s heart and mind, he can go toe-to-toe with the best of them.
“It drives my every day,” Temple said. “I see somebody get an offer on Twitter saying “I’m blessed to receive an offer from here. I’m like ‘Dang! Why can I get this offer?’ But it got to a point I stop caring about other players getting offers and just kept working. Then my offers started coming in.”
Temple will be the starting point guard for the Mustangs this upcoming season and he and his teammates all share the same goal: winning a state championship.