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One thing I like is the passion from our small but loud fanbase. I wish I could get more people on here as that's always been my goal. If you are on social media, please spread the word. Getting 13 people after a loss in the CAAT is not enough. I think even if people say we plateaued as a program, we also have as a fanbase. Need more young alums out there and middle-aged ones. The fact that we're getting close is a lot better than where we were 15 years ago when we couldn't win more than 12 games. Now that the league is down, this is the time to take advantage. We can't keep being one player away or one injury away. Need better depth and recruiting so when you lose an important piece or somebody gets in foul trouble, there's not a huge talent discrepancy.

The second half was maybe the most Towson way to lose. Have the lead and momentum, come out flat and choke it away, and then claw back to give us hope just to have our hearts completely broken at the end. Plenty of missed opportunities and head scratching "offense" throughout the second half especially. I never like to complain too much about refs, but they were bad last night. Calls were not consistent on both ends. I'm not going to pretend that's why we lost though. Despite some seeing it as blasphemous to say anything positive about this program or these players, I'll miss the Occasionally Big 3. They were inconsistent and frustrating at times, but when they were on it was a ton of fun to watch. I thought they had something special, and I suppose they did at times, but we just couldn't get over the hump. It's going to be hard to look back and feel anything besides disappointment about the last two years because of how these teams underperformed in March. I'm not going to blame things 100% on Pat (he doesn't miss the FTs, make guys chuck up insanely bad shots, forget how to rebound, etc.), but he's the common denominator here. I'm glad that we aren't a consistent bottom feeder anymore (not asking for a 20 win banner or parade, nor is anyone else - relax) and that we all have ever-growing expectations for this program. That said, it feels like we're stuck in the mud. Good enough to hover around 20 wins and be competitive during the regular season. And then, March. I agree with the sentiment that Dr. Steve has a chance here to make a statement about the future of the program. Is where we are good enough? Or do we want more? Here's hoping we hit the transfer portal lotto and don't have a lost season next year.

Agreed. We almost won the first game despite 19 turnovers and an 8-27 shooting performance in the first half. Of course we were on fire in the second half shooting 16-29. One interesting thing from that first game is they were awfully sloppy with a season-high 24 turnovers (their next most was 18). In the second game, they only turned it over 12 times, but only had nine assists on 25 field goals, which was by far their worst ratio of the year. Of course that was due in large part to the fact that they went to the line 35 times (which was legitimate because our defense was ineffective for most of the second half of the game). They outrebounded us by 7 in the first game and 4 in the second game. We leaned a little too heavy on Timberlake in the second game, but in the first game Can took 12 shots while Timberlake, Russell and Thompson all took 11. That seems like more where we want it. We really need two of Russell, Hicks, May, Sylla and Conway to be effective support options tonight. In the first game, May, Conway and Russell combined for 28 points (36 with Sylla and Hicks). In the second game, we got 21 points from Hicks, Conway and May (seven each, 29 overall if you add in what Biekeu, Sylla and Russell gave us). The other two brutal parts of that second game were 14-24 from the free throw line and 17 points from starters not named Timberlake. As we have said consistently, hit our free throws, limit our own fouls and defend well, distributed scoring and limiting turnovers are huge. This probably true almost all of the time, but much less margin for error. We talk about program-defining wins to move Towson to more well-recognized and advanced level. This is a great shot to do it. This is honestly probably the highest quality and most high-profile CAA team since the VCU and George Mason days. Let's got out and make our mark today!

Do you ever relent in the ceaseless pessimism? Now, you may wind up being right, but still. I mean I thought I was a gloomy Gus, but compared to you I’m little Mary sunshine ☀️ 😆 If it turns out you’re right, trust me there will be plenty of time for gloom and doom posts, probably including some from me. But damn, let’s at least wait for now

Victor was known more for his artwork if I remember correctly. Someone contact him and see if he will donate a piece we can sell and put in our hoops program coffers.

I guess I could have posted in the L to C of C thread, but I was so despondent after last night, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I had a sense of foreboding about last night’s game, which doesn’t make me clairvoyant, but rather just means I expect us, under Skerry, to come up short in the conference tournament. I mean, what is there to say about last night that hasn’t already been said. The guys played hard, had the lead at the half, engineered a great comeback in the 2nd half, and then, wait for it…squandered a chance to win. Truthfully I’d rather get blown out than continually losing in this gut wrenching “Charlie Brown-Lucy-football” manner. It’s abundantly obvious, in my humble opinion, that Skerry is never going to get us to the dance, much less to even the finals of the CAAT. His dismal record in the tournament, over a period of 10+ years, speaks for itself, and need not be belabored by me in this post. As has been stated before, we’re in this sort of netherworld where he wins enough games in the regular season not to be fired, but is incapable of winning the CAAT and getting us to the promised land. I share Bay Area’s concern (I think it was him) that it is entirely possible we will not go dancing in my lifetime. That’s not hyperbole, just a recognition of the fact it’s now been over 30 years since we last drank from that fountain. Barring a miracle, I’m reconciled to the fact that we have, at a minimum, another 3 years of Skerry. I say at a minimum because I’m personally not sure how many years he has left on his contract, but he could be approaching lame duck status, similar to Ambrose, in the not too distant future. I can only hope that when the time comes that Eigenbrot can see through the surface regular season success, to the futility we have endured in the postseason, and that he decides a change is needed. As to the short term, who knows what next season holds in store? I was frankly quite shocked to read Mat’s post wherein he mentioned that Skerry made a statement about Timberlake still having a year of eligibility if he wants to come back and make a run at the school scoring record. I’m guessing he wouldn’t have raised this if he didn’t think there was at least some possibility of NT returning. Honestly, I’m somewhat conflicted on the idea (notwithstanding that I can’t imagine it’s going to happen). Part of me likes the idea of a clean slate, with no expectations, next season. But, OTOH, how can you look askance at a 17ppg player returning? If both NT and CT return, and Skerry hits a few home runs (unlikely in my opinion, but keep hope alive, I guess) in the portal, and May, Conway and Williamson improve, and 1 or more of the promising freshman contribute, well…it’s a helluva lot of ifs, but we might not be as bad as some expect. But, to what end? Maybe we exceed expectations and win 18-20 games in a wildly best case scenario. Then we all know what’ll happen in the CAAT. Anyway, at the risk of being branded a complete gloom and doom merchant, I did see recently that out incoming freshman from Illinois, Lowery, had a big game in the State playoffs, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 boards, against a team with two Big 10 commits, so, while it’s a fool’s errand, I’ll try and keep some hope alive, no matter how faint that hope is.

I certainly do not feel like many of you do about Skerry. Ambrose was simply not competitive after the 2014 season. I'm including the Flacco teams. We got destroyed by a lame Duquesne Team that got blown out the next week and not worthy of being in the playoffs. That is Abrose's best post West season and that ain't saying much. Ambrose had almost 10 bad years. My god Skerry is no where near that. Ambrose was not competitive, Skerry is. Maybe Charleston is just a slightly better team. Slightly. But there is no doubt that Charleston is a really good team. They don't have 30 wins for no reason and yet anyone on here can easily find a way if we did this little small thing or that little small thing all three of these 2 possession games could have went in our favor. We were right there. That is good basketball. We beat Hofstra pretty good and we beat UNCW no matter how ugly that game was. They played ugly also. Foul shooting, turnovers and foul trouble have plagued us at times throughout the season. However I believe that Gibson was a big deal. I had no idea that such a young man had a back issue. When he went down in the fall it didn't look like much. He is a very good shooter that can get hot and an experienced player. I can only imagine how much more difficult it would have been to shut down Nick had we had a shooter like Gibson. Gibson is better than May and Conway at this point. We don't have the biggest budget and unlike football it only takes a one or two players to have a good division 1 basketball team. I'm not sure you are going to get any better with the budget we have with another coach. The portal has changed everything and a program like Towson can easily become a bottom dweller if you are not careful for what you wish for.

What's left to be said at this point? This is exactly how I knew this season would end all the way back in October. Under Pat Skerry this program has gone from abysmal to competitive to now stale and stuck-in-neutral. It's not unreasonable to think it could start going in reverse soon. Bit of a bell-curve model. Some people want to believe that we're just one key playmaker away from getting over the hump. Pat's had 10 years to find that true difference making player and it hasn't happened yet, why would we think Pat's going to get this guy for the 2023-24 season? And even if he does land a transformational player, I'm not convinced he would know what to do with him or how to use him. The player's change from year-to-year, occasionally there's a new assistant coach.....the one constant has been Pat Skerry. This program is in desperate need of a radical shift in mindset, a different leadership voice and a different way of doing things, cause the Pat Skerry way ain't working. Pat's definitely elevated the image and credibility of the program and I would think we could compete for some pretty impressive up & coming head coaches. Time to capitalize on our respectability and get a solid new coach before we start to go in reverse and find ourselves back where we started when Pat first arrived.

Will miss all of these guys. Everyone try not to hate so much. I'm disappointed. One of the best games entertainment wise you could ever watch.

I can see it now. Skerry is giving an impassioned pregame pep talk, shades of Herb Brooks in “Miracle.” “Nic, Charles, Cam. 2012 has written you off, so go out and prove him wrong!!!”

Everyone mispronounces our name anyway so why not change our name to Teasing Tigers. That will match what most of our athletic programs do to us fans. Another "Oh soclose" game by one of our teams.

I'm hoping to go Saturday if they advance over Delaware (ugh)/Hampton at 12pm on Friday. They play at 2pm on Saturday in the semis if they win. https://towsontigers.com/documents/2023/3/4/2023_CAA_Women_s_Basketball_Championship_Bracket.pdf

Also, thanks for following this season. On to the portal.

Who is going to be in attendance tonight (I imagine some who are may not see this until after the game)? I wanted to make it out from Minnesota like I did last year, but having two possible games on weekdays makes for difficult scheduling. I feel bad because I know Charleston is going to bring a good contingent and we need everyone we can possibly get to try to come close to matchup their support. It is probably better off that I am not there since I have been in attendance for three conference tournament semifinal losses (1995 when we lost to Malik Rose and Drexel, 2014 when we lost to William & Mary at the Baltimore Arena and last year against Delaware). Probably not a good thing, but for the 90s guys this sort of reminds of our matchup with Drexel in the semis 1995. They were the darling of the conference and it was our first year in what was then called the NAC. We beat Delaware in the quarters and had a pretty talented team to match up with Drexel. They called a million fouls in that game and Drexel was the better team and outlasted us in the foulfest. I think this year's team is more equipped to have a shot at winning, but Charleston is probably a taller task then beating that Drexel team (although Drexel ended up knocking off Memphis in the first round).

Started bad in the first game and ended bad the last game. The middle 30 minutes of each game we were the better team. The focus and energy last night early, from everyone, including the end of the bench was phenomenal. Putting that together in back to back games is a rarity around here. Pressures on the cougars. Probably for the first time since their Hofstra game. I think cbssn had some stat that there like 12-2 or something absurd when trailing at thr half

Pressure is all on Charleston. This is the last hurdle that they need to clear, in their minds, to make the tourney. Use that against them. Scott is a great defender and won’t get burnt like he did last game by Nick. Their bigs have length and that’s gonna disrupt Charles. The guys defending by Larson and more so smith, need to go at them. Can’t afford to pick up dumb fouled. Can’t afford to lose our cool. Cougars are going to make some big runs, we need to slow those. Last week once it got rolling down hill, it was over in a blink of an eye. They are that good going on runs and came at you in waves since they go 9 deep. Make the extra pass again, and grab every rebound. We did a great job of that last night. Nick hicks and russell hitting the defensive boards last night was huge The league, media, Hofstra all want Charleston, carry a chip on our shoulders tonight and try and make history

Loved what Sylla gave us off the bench today. He hasn't scored that many points since the season-opener. We need at least one bench or support (probably between Hicks, Conway, Sylla, May or Russell) player to be an x-factor like that tomorrow if not two. I also enjoyed seeing our big three go 20-28 collectively with 50 points. We only shot 5-17 from 3pt-FG tonight, but the way to overcome that is to make sure you are getting efficient two-point looks and we did that going 30-40 from inside the three-point line. The good part is no one took more than 11 shots tonight. We need that distribution tomorrow as well, because we saw that although Timberlake was unbelievable in our last meeting against Charleston we were too over-reliant on him. We were also 13-17 from the free-throw line (not that there were any high-pressure free throws) and had a 19-10 assist-to-turnover ration. Balanced offensive production, solid defense and rebounding, limiting turnovers and good free-throw shooting are what we know we need to do win tomorrow. Let's hope we can hit those checkboxes tomorrow. We need to come out exactly the same way tomorrow, only as TUTigers2012 said there can be no let up. We punched Delaware in the mouth and they decided they didn't want to fight back. We know that won't happen tomorrow. For the 1990s guys on this board, this feels like the second-round matchup we had with Drexel when we first got to the America East in the sense that they were the darlings of the conference. I do give us a better chance to win since we have pretty much gone punch-for-punch with Charleston for most of the course of two games. We just haven't made the plays when we have needed to in the prior two games. Whether that be Charles hitting the second free throw at home down the stretch, or some of the careless turnovers and bad shots we took down the stretch when the pressure got ratcheted up in Charleston. This was the third-biggest blowout by Towson in a conference tournament game since we have gone D-1. The two highest were 122-58 over Buffalo in the 1992 ECC Tournament and 82-54 against Northeastern in 2017. Let's hope we can keep things at this level tomorrow.

If we think we are as tough as we do, time to lunch the bully in the mouth the tomorrow. Have been out toughed And coached both times this year. Time to take it to the media darlings

Please Lord, let the potent transition game we've had glimpses of be on tonight. Also help these Tigers w their FTs. Also assist the Black & Gold w 3-pt accuracy, defense without fouling and keep us from having turnovers. Lastly, bolster the supporting cast in taking pressure off the Big Three. Pave the way for us to get into the Dance! I know - a lot to ask for; but we're a desperate program, from an athletics department that's begging for something to be excited about for a rare change.. Amen

Congrats. Hell of a first season

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=456449\ https://towsontigers.com/news/2023/3/1/mens-lacrosse-towson-mens-lacrosse-falls-in-overtime-heartbreaker-vs-no-7-loyola.aspx I'd rather lose 15-5 than fall in overtime to Loyola at home, but that's where we are as a program. We consistently turn the ball over (18 times) and we don't seem to come up with enough big saves and goals when it matters. However, when the game was 11-9 with around 5 minutes left, I thought the game was over. They showed heart by coming up with the tie. What I don't like is watching a certain player turn it over time and time again and take bad shots with no repercussions. When Berkeley and DeMaio have rough games (9 TOs, 3g, 19shots), it's going to be tough to win. On the bright side, we saw the future with Villagomez and Weisshaar. Big No. 26 is just scratching the surface. No. 1 is an exceptional passer though I thought was a bit tentative to let one rip. I don't envision him as a top midfielder. He's an X on attack. A quick lefty and a feeder.

And Lorenzo Charles is still basking in the glow of his game winning dunk vs Houston. How ironic that Phi Slamma Jamma lost on a dunk. Anyway, I digress, but these are just a few examples of David’s beating Goliaths. Will it happen in DC? You just never know

Fobbs was a JUCO and he turned out ok. Drexel’s got this guy Butler who’s a JUCO and he’s exploded since being inserted into the starting lineup, avg 26ppg in his last 3 games alone. This kid Tracey has offers from the likes of Drake, Tulsa and Rhode Island, so I’d have no problem adding a wing who shoots 43% from 3