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I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been following the the board for many years but am a first time poster to address how absurdly negative most people on here are. Should we have beaten Kent State (#109)? Yes. Should we have beaten Buffalo (#104)? Yes. Could we have beaten #15 Florida on the road? Sure. There are times when the criticism is deserved... but how about giving some credit when it’s due. It’s exhausting and disturbing to read some of your comments after going toe to toe with Florida in Gainesville and a dominant performance over St. Joe’s. Here are the facts: Towson is currently the #144 team in the country per Kenpom and #3 in CAA. I would sign up for that EVERY single year at Towson. If that were to hold serve, we would be championship contenders come March.

The team checked into the final regular season RPI release at #36, breaking the school record they had set 2 weeks ago. This, combined with their great win-loss record, combined with their wins over at least 2 tournament teams (this could grow to 3 or 4 come Selection Sunday), means that they should get a first-round match that is winnable. They probably won't be favored, but they can expect the equivalent of a seed somewhere in the 9-12 range if this were the basketball tournament. For those of you who are new to College Volleyball (Which is almost all of you. Welcome! It's a lot of fun, trust me): The NCAA committee formats the tournament by seeding only the top 16 teams in the country. Each of these 16 hosts an opening-weekend quartet of teams. Outside of the top 16, the rest of the field is divvied up by relative strength, and also vaguely by geographical region (This isn't a huge identifier or rule, but the NCAA won't be paying to fly Towson out to Hawaii for the first round. It is 90% likely that they are sent somewhere East of the Mississippi). As a result, each of the 16 sites has one seeded host team and three unseeded visiting teams. From the look of things, the most likely destinations are Pitt, Penn State, or Kentucky. Because of this format, they would be all-but guaranteed to have to play one of the top 16 teams in the country by the second round, so the ceiling for this team right now is probably the round of 32. Beyond that, they would have to pull off a huge upset. No matter what, this is a great moment for a program that had been falling just short for almost a decade.

Hang in there Chris. The negativity and name-calling gets old, I know. This was as tough of a weekend that I can remember. On the field and on the boards. Basketball-wise, some of those criticisms are valid. Talking about use of personnel and handling of late-game situations. Tunstall was not on the floor late yesterday. But Gray was. That’s what these November games are for. But you know the next loss will be the same old junk.

There are people here who have been very noticeable by their absence in this thread that have an agenda that the coaches must go. Doesn't matter how a loss happens, it's on the respective sport's coach. It's the same BS every game and frankly, it's getting to the point where I'm beginning to re-evaluate my amount of participation on here. It's tough to talk actual basketball when you have to tiptoe thru the minefield of 'fire coach x' and 'fire coach y'. Was the Buffalo loss a choke job? No doubt it was. Is that on the coaching staff? Not entirely. They can't control a senior trying to play too fast instead of taking care of the ball and instead, he turns it over (Tunstall in a 7-point game). They can't pass and move the ball against the press for the players. At some point, the actual players on the floor have to execute. But good on them for regrouping on Saturday and coming out and putting together a winning performance on Sunday nite. I was on the road during the game so I didn't see or hear any of it but it does mean a little something when you hold down a team that put 90+ on the board against UCONN. One other thing about the negativity -- I'm wondering if those same people stuck around to watch the Xavier-UCONN game that followed us on Friday night. If they had, they would have seen BOTH teams make the exact mistakes at the end of regulation and both overtimes that we did in yakking the late lead. Does that make Hurley and Steele awful coaches? The next few games will serve as another progress report as we get ready to head to conference play. Cornell just lost to Coppin but going to upstate NY is never easy. Morgan always gives us a rock fight, especially at their place and they took Evansville (remember they beat Kentucky two weeks ago?) to triple OT on Sunday. And then there's Vermont...that'll be a very tall test at their place. If we can build off Sunday nite's win, I don't see any reason why we can get 2 out of 3 minimum in this next stretch.

Yep, some of these posters are negative to the point that is ridiculous. No facts or logic to support their positions.

I get it. Just trying to post a deserting view 😎 Foe the record ive been there up close nearly evey home game and many road and tournament gsmes since Skerry’s first year. i understand many like Matt have been following tbe team for nearly 25 to 30 years. i Am just never amazed at how rhe negative posts following a loss will outnumber the positive after any win easily 2 to 1. Matt has asked me why i dont post on here more often. And Frankly not that it will matter to anyone. But its the rampant negative tone on here And before anyone says, “Welcome to the internet” I’m an active member on several forums and even the Director of one of the largest ones in its sport.

I doubt anybody is beating Vermont in Burlington.

I think I remember that Michigan matchup at the Towson Center. Think it was pretty hype...

Thank you!

This team really deserves a ton of credit! Going 18 for 18 in conference matchups is absolutely incredible, no matter what the sport or the level. The Tigers are one of only seven teams in the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball to be undefeated in conference play this year, and they are the only team in the entire nation to go undefeated in conference play and not get pushed to the fifth set in any match. Hopefully this year we can get a manageable first-round matchup and win our first NCAA Tournament match.

Coach Skerry has proven that you don't have to do your job to get a bonus

Don Metil may be one of the best coaches on campus, along with the lacrosses, track and field, and women's hoops. Now, if we can only put some much needed resources into the Field Hockey Program... things would really take off. "This is the Golden Age of Towson Athletics" Towson2006

There's NOTHING in Skerry's past that suggests he's going to lead this team to a conference championship this coming March. In fact, there's 8 years of statistics, data and history that virtually guarantees he won't lead this team to a conference championship this coming March. How many seasons does he need? I see a lot of "wait til next year" type posts from Skerry supporters on this forum......problem is, next year never seems to come with a Pat Skerry team.

I love the people who try to argue that since Towson basketball was a complete dumpster fire before Skerry arrived that his mediocre results should be celebrated. What good are 18-20 wins a season if you don't go to the NCAA Tourney? As a one bid conference, the only thing that matters is winning the conference tourney. Having 20 win regular seasons in the CAA means NOTHING.....except maybe a trip to the "prestigious" CIT. Also, this defeatist attitude of "who could we hire to do better than Skerry", is comical. Fear or uncertainty about who or what the next coach might be is NOT a reason to NOT make a change. You know what would be nice? A new guy comes in and actually improves the program, gets to the Big Dance a time or two. Maybe that coach gets plucked away from Towson...….but because he's elevated the Towson program, he will have made it a more desirable gig for another successful coach.