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Biggest stat is the record....9-4. If you took a straw poll after the non-conference I would be shocked if anyone had us at 9 wins. We've lost to 2 P5's (yes I know Pitt isnt good) and 2 teams that will probably be playing post-season basketball in March. I think the most exciting things for me are; 1) we have multiple guys that can beat you any night 2) we aren't playing down to bad teams, we are blowing them out 3) we can make shots and are scoring inside 4) we are unselfish. I feel like this team really likes eachother and is more worried about the whole than the parts. I am not sure if we've had that since the Bennimon era.

Moved up to 62nd in Net Rankings https://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-men/d1/ncaa-mens-basketball-net-rankings

I hope that the group already has some ideas of people they would be interested in bringing to campus. I generally expect a president and some of the people on those committees to be plugged into the point of having some ideas for what they want, and who might be good at this. Of course, once you decide not to do the search firm route and you are not at a big time school where the president can get who they want and ram it down everyone else's throat, you get into the bureaucracy and agendas from committees. It will be interesting to see what kind of candidates emerge from this process. I definitely agree with the sentiment of this being a commuter school and fans caring about a lot of other things, but ultimately it comes down to can you build a winning tradition with something fans can be proud of and excited to attend. I don't live in the state, but I knew a handful of Maryland fans who were closer to Towson geographically than College Park who started coming regularly to Towson football during the Terrance West era because we were good and we were a fun watch. If this basketball team stays on its current trajectory, makes it to the tournament or comes close (I know I am beginning to sound delusional) and can put together a good roster next year (who knows) more people will come. It will take 3-5 years of that type of team to get people excited and plan on coming somewhat regularly, but winning draws eyeball. However, you have to win big and win consistently. This is why despite the fact that at times I think people on here can be overly critical of Skerry and Ambrose (not that there have not been many times they haven't deserved it), I also agree with the sentiment that if you are not trying to win big what are you doing? This is may sound ridiculous, but if this basketball season is shaping up to be a special one I think that might help slightly with drawing better candidates.

Towson is averaging 13.5 assists per game. I don't remember the last time that happened. I think we've run a similar system the last few years, but you have to have willing passers and strong shooters. Fobbs was great but wasn't a willing passer. The 1990-92 ECC title teams averaged around 13 assists per game. The 1990 team with Kurk Lee as the top player averaged 15apg. They are also averaging 72.8 points and allowing 64.5 points per game. They are shooting 44% from the field and 37.1% from beyond the arc. Teams are shooting 40.5% from the field against TU and 31.9% from beyond the arc. Need to improve the FT shooting mark (70.3%). Outrebounding teams by 6.4 per game. Averaging 11.8 turnovers per game and forcing 13.1. Averaging 6.7 steals per game. Timberlake is averaging 14.5 points on 42.4% three-point shooting to lead the team on 43.6% shooting from the field. Shooting 77% from the line. Nick has gone from Sixth Man of the Year in 2019-20 to quality starter that could push for one of the three All-CAA teams if he continues this in league play. Last season, he averaged 12.1points and shot 81.5% from the line for a bad team, but shot just 31.6% from 3-point and 36% from the field. Holden, after a few poor offensive performances, is averaging 13.8 points and 9.5 rebounds with 21 steals on 48% shooting (42% 3pt). Averaging 2.9 assists per game, which seems very low. He's made some of the best passes on the team all year (33 turnovers). Weird that all of a sudden he's stopped shooting 3s. Shooting 70.6% from the line. He's still the straw that stirs the drink as evidenced today by his +23. When he sat in the second half after picking up his third foul, Navy began to decrease the lead to single figures. Nolan is averaging 12ppg on 35.9% shooting and 24.2% 3pt shooting (64.8% FT). The shooting numbers are well below his averages at Bradley and GW. He was a little over 34% from 3 his last two seasons. He's 15-of-62 this season. Maybe that's pressing from trying to get to the next level and becoming a first-time father. But as a playmaker, he's averaging just under 5.0 assists per game (4.8) and leads the team in steal with 22. Has 58 assists to 21 turnovers. That's key. Gibson is averaging 10.6 points on 44.6% shooting and 43.6% from beyond the arc. That's after a poor shooting day in Annapolis. Has 19 assists and 12 turnovers in 10 games. Rizzuto is averaging 8.7 points on 40% shooting and 43.2% from beyond the arc. So Towson has Holden, Timberlake, Rizzuto and Gibson all shooting over 40% from three and you can add Gray (6-15), though a small sample size. Gray is averaging 6.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 16.3mpg off the bench. Thompson adds 7.1 points an d4.8 rebounds with 20 blocks in 13 games. Shooting 54.5% from the field and 62.5% from the line. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/towson/1990.html https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/towson/1991.html https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/towson/1992.html

Coppin State/LIU/Albany are 8-29 combined. That explains the blah OOC record I really don't have time to eliminate all the non-D1 teams they played. Beating a decent Navy team, crushing a pretty talented New Mexico team without three key players, beating up on 8-4 UNCG, beating up on now 5-5 Kent State on the road without Nolan. That's impressive and something that few on this board thought we could do. Are we perfect? Hell no. We have holes as do all in the CAA. But I think our chances, as long as we have no major injury issues and COVID, are pretty damn good and a lot better than we all thought before the season began. To win a CAA title, you have to put three great games together in March. Relying on the three-point shot is foreign to us and some key guys are going to have off nights. Yes, getting back to tougher D, less fouling, getting to the cup and finishing, stronger post play could be the ultimate difference throughout conference play and when it matters in D.C. I also think that Nolan getting back to his career shooting numbers is crucial. He doesn't have to shoot 46% like Gibson, but over 30% from 3 and over 40% from 2pt along with his strong game-managing skills. BTW, Nolan is 33rd in the nation right now with a 2.76 assist-to-turnover ratio https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/individual/473

Our OOC opponents combined record is average, 69-78 Our OOC rpi sos is 163 of 358. Charleston NE Hofstra and Elon all had more difficult schedules than us. Our rpi is 83 and net 62. CAA rpi is 12th of 32 conferences CAA sos rpi is 14 of 32 conferences

John James was a shot blocker. One of the nicest guys on campus when I was there. I’m sold now on Rizzuto and his shooting skills. 19-44 from 3 now and looks really comfortable in this stretch. Him, Holden, NT and Gibson all shooting over 40% from 3. And with Thompson playing his best ball right now (his hands are so much better) we can really be balanced. Gray and Paar know their roles and are gonna really help us in conference play. Enjoying it all especially transfers getting to play right away etc. Listening to Mike Montgomery last night on the Hawaii game telecast I can sense there is gonna be a big push to change this rule back etc. Reshuffling the deck each season is kinda cool from a fan’s standpoint and for a program that wants a quick turnaround. Skerry and staff really struck gold with some of our newcomers. Holden just does so many things on the floor that don’t always show up in the stat sheet.

Hofstra got a nice win at Monmouth last night. It is always dangerous to project based off non-conference play, but it seems like Hofstra has the highest upside in this conference. I think we are right there with James Madison and Delaware in terms of the next group. I also think Charleston seems like they might have the best coach in the league, and even though they don't look great so far I always respect Northeastern because Bill Coen has consistently been the best coach in the conference. Drexel seems like they could be decent and UNC-W, William & Mary and Elon look pretty bad so far. One of my favorite parts about this game is we have now played fairly well in road games at Navy (I know, pretty easy trip time wise), Ohio State, Kent State, Albany (who doesn't look very good), along with playing solid in neutral-site games against New Mexico and San Francisco. We were alright against Pittsburgh, and the only real big lapse we have had that has cost us in a big way was the start of the Monmouth game at home. It is good to see us play consistently away from home. Someone talked about our shooting being lights out and that being unsustainable, and while I somewhat agree, one of my favorite things about this roster coming into the year is guys like Charles Thompson, Nick Timberlake and Jason Gibson have not pressure to perform. They can let the game come to them. If they have hot nights they will lead us to victory and when they have off nights they can kind of fade into the background. This is especially the case for Timberlake and Gibson, since we are somewhat thin in quality in our frontcourt. The depth and unselfishness of this team are something I don't think I have seen since my freshman year of college when we had quality in Stevie Thomas, John James, Ralph Blalock and Scooter Alexander, and then guys like Moody, Keyes and Deron Robinson who contribute here and there. We had other good players with Benimon, but that was not a really deep team and we relied quite a bit on him. Last thing is the Three Man Wave podcast I have reference before talk about us as mid-major team that is playing well in a podcast over the weekend. You can listen around the 26 minute mark of episode #241. https://www.three-man-weave.com/podcasts

Fans can wear masks have vaccines, not or whatever that’s not going to have an impact on the players. It’s if the caa players don’t interact with a lot of people during break (19-24 year olds, they will). There’s going to be lots of stops in January if they are testing vaccinated players frequently. Just the way it’s going to be

Found it. 8:05 left, Navy was on FT line. Shot clock sitting at 23 and never reset. Gibson hit a 3 to put the lead back in double digits. That’s a terrible miss by everyone involved.

And starting with the Ohio road trip, we have hit on 47.2 of our 3's over the last 5 games.

The 37.1% 3 point percentage is #1 in the CAA and top 50 in the country.

We allowed Lots of open shots early on. Might have been the strategy because they could not shoot. refs sucked. Was wondering about that Timberlake 3. Looked they had possession and shoulda been a shot clock reset Take out 6-8 non d1 games. They don’t count. Ruining the game

(13 teams) Geez my math was off.. sorry.. 77-77 Kent State 5-5 Albany 4-8 USF 12-1 Coppin State 1-14 Hampton 4-7 Ohio State 8-2 Pitt 5-7 Navy 7-4 Long Island 3-7 New Mexico 7-6 Monmouth 10-2 Penn 3-10 UNC Greensboro 8-4

It’s one thing to see it on TV but another to watch it up close - the defensive intensity was off the charts today. Lots of talk, lots of knowing where everyone needed to be. The only disappointing part was getting beat to the boards and giving up so many second-chance opportunities. But that’s probably expected when the opponent’s frontline is bulkier. Fortunately, they’re not all that talented. It was a junkyard dog type game and we hit the necessary shots at the right times, but we did leave a lot of points on the board. As for the officials - very subpar. They lost control of the game early and allowed so much bumping and holding in the post on both sides. The flagrant on Holden shouldn’t have needed a review. If you can’t judge that live, go back to HS officiating. They even screwed us out of 10 secs on the shot clock when we were up 9 right before Timberlake hit a corner 3.

https://kenpom.com/ Tigers now ahead of NC State and Georgetown in Kenpom. Pretty impressive

And we continue to beat the spread! Great for the gamblers!

Not sure that math is 100 percent. All teams besides Ohio state. Monmouth and San Fran have a combined 37 wins. 18 of those are navy uncg and pitt. Non conf schedule was decent for what we needed. Some cupcakes some decent teams that prepare you for caa. we did show well against the higher end teams. Only bad loss is pitt. Today was our best win statistically.