mat1992

https://x.com/towson_mbb/status/1761096026860204075?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

More kudos https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/men-s-di-roundup-towson-makes-a-statement-trounces-st-joe-s-for-third-straight/62669

Offer to a 6-4 300 pound DT from Virginia https://x.com/shimyael_holt/status/1761171758332207562?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

Five points from Mikey and Webber. Webber is so important as a set up guy. His speed is crucial for that first unit. You see what happens when they got the second unit and they are bigger but more lumbering. Either way, it’s fun watching this team again but huge test on Tuesday against Loyola

This offense is legit. Thought they got a little too cocky after the big lead and most of the penalties are due to lack of poise, especially on defense. Clearing was a mess at times. Part of that is due to few new pieces on defense. Loyola will be much tougher. https://x.com/towson_mlax/status/1761173575736631649?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

Meidling has been a fantastic player thus far on the wings.

My guess is at least 4,000 is likely so get there early if you have tickets

https://towsontigers.com/news/2024/2/22/mens-basketball-tejada-scores-30-points-towson-mens-basketball-downs-monmouth-80-61.aspx Freshman Tyler Tejada scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Tigers to an 80-61 victory over Monmouth before 1,910 at TU Arena. In their first meeting, Monmouth beat Towson 51-43 and this time, Towson had 44 points at the half. Mekhi Lowery did an outstanding job on Hawks' star guard Xander Rice, who was held to 4-17 shooting, though managed 16 points and three assists. With the win, Towson improved to 10-5 in the CAA and moved to a third-place tie with Drexel, who lost to 10-5 Hofstra tonight. Charleston improved to 12-3 and dropped Delaware to 9-6 after their 90-71 win.

We put 82 on them last time and put up 80 last night. We’re not built to run all day but I don’t believe in the theory that we have to win every game in a rock fight. We’re not going to hold that team to under 65 points. They actually shoot better on the road than at home. They were pretty bad on Monday night against William & Mary and scored their lowest point total all conference play …and they were at home.

Not sure there is one. Burnham (6-7, 220) is more physical but that's probably the best matchup. Policelli is more finesse but he can hopefully stay with him, but my guess is he guards Burnham and may guard Kobe Rodgers, who is a stud. I assume SulaiJones will defend Policelli, who is 6-9, 225. Burnham had 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting against us. I assume May saw action on him as well. Rayne Smith is somebody he'd have to chase around the perimeter and through screens. That's a pretty big frontcourt at 6-10, 6-9, 6-7. We're at 6-8, 6-7, 6-5ish. When Jones and Tejada walked out of the press room last night, Tyler did not look two inches taller than Messiah. Seemed more like 3-4, which means Jones is more like 6-5 and Tejada may be closer to 6-9. Another reason I see him as a 4 in the future or maybe a bulked up Lowery plays there.

So getting back on topic, I'd like to add one other late-season idea. Tejada needs to touch the ball nearly every possession and they need to run the offense through him. He's a freshman, but he's the most talented offensive player we have. Nobody else can post up, shoot the three (35.4%), put the ball on the floor and make FTs (82.3%) as well as him on this team. He had 8 points total against W&M/Hampton and then 29 against Elon/Delaware at home. He has had just two back-to-back double-digit games since non-conference play in December. But he's also played just 18 minutes per game over his last eight games. Does he have turnover problems occasionally? Yes. He had three awful ones against Hampton. Does he struggle on defense against smaller, quicker guards? Of course. He's 6-8, 220. But he needs to play close to 25mpg down the stretch assuming he's not crushing the team on defense. As he said after the game last night he was, to paraphrase, in his own head. That he was maybe thinking too much and being tentative on offense. He's a scorer. Not saying never pass the ball, but if he takes advantage of smaller opponents with his size and length. He might draw more attention and allow others to thrive.

5-8 RB 4.38 40 Eddie Love Jr. https://x.com/eddielove22/status/1760869846495924389?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

I don't want to continue to jump on certain players, but yes, 24 has been disappointing. His defense was not bad early tonight against Rice, but you see the difference in the second half when he gave up a 3 and Lowery came in and did Lowery things. I said it last season about that team. Not a enough length aside from Charles especially on the perimeter. Lowery just makes a huge difference. A few more lengthy guys would have helped, but I digress. Who knows what Tejada will do Saturday? He's not going to score 30, but we could use a big performance again from him and something offensive from Tarke/May. In that first meeting, May had 20 on 5-of-7 from 3pt and Tarke had 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists (7-16 FG0, 2-5 3pt). Tejada had six points and Williamson had 13. We had 82 points but could have had a little more had we not gone 12 of 22 from the line (Dylan 1 of 6).

Ok, no good bad and ugly. Mostly good tonight *Towson stayed in the race for the top four by winning easily tonight. As bad as the previous loss was, this is a pretty resilient team. *Tyler Tejada was fantastic tonight, going 10-of-15 from the field, 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, grabbing 6 boards. As good a game as a freshman that I've ever seen at Towson.. *Messiah Jones and Sulaiman combined for 17 points and 11 rebounds at the 4 spot *Outstanding defense in Xavier Rice, especially from Lowery (4-for-17). *Transition offense was pretty ugly with Tejada and May trying to run the break, but at least we're running more. *Some strange shots down the stretch with May launching an ill-advised shot with about 17 seconds on the shot clock under 4:00 left up 20. *Lowery, Tejada and Williamson all showed some potential for the present and future. Dylan hit 2 threes and they were needed considering he's been slumping some. Lowery's defense was at another level tonight as he got in Rice's head a bit where he had to resort to fakes and quick shots against him.

A late offer to a LB https://x.com/joepoinelli/status/1760786745082228760?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=484862 Towson got behind by as many as 18 in the first half. They cut the lead to eight at halftime and then led by as many as five in the first half, but couldn't hold on to the lead as Hampton made several buckets at the end to win their first conference game 67-61 at home on Saturday. Charles Thompson led the Tigers with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Christian May added 12 points and two steals. Towson shot just 36.2% from the field for the game and 2-of-15 from beyond the arc (13.3%). https://towsontigers.com/news/2024/2/17/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-falls-at-hampton-67-61.aspx

https://x.com/towson_mbb/status/1760346257921646821?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

PaLanding Drammeh 6-2 285 DT https://x.com/recruithoover/status/1760448556178034929?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

Joseph Skipworth 6-5 TE https://x.com/joesephskipwor1/status/1760462604185583674?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

Jake Bauer 6-1 225 from West Chester https://x.com/jakebauer32/status/1760466942568120629?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

The date was Dec. 28, 1996. Lefty Driesell came to the Towson Center and the Baltimore area (if I recall) for the first since getting forced out at Maryland in October of 1986. I was on the radio at the time with Stan the Fan on the Sports Exchange, doing mostly local college basketball reports, producing, and about 1-2 nights a week. When I knew that Lefty was returning to this area for the first time in at least 10 years, I was hoping to get the Towson Center sold out or at least get 3,000+ (4,000 was about as full as it could get) by talking about the game and putting a bunch of guests on to promote it. We lost the game 83-75 and drew just 1,900. Marketing was not great back then or even good. Terry Truax was the head coach at the time and I lost it off the air while calling for his firing. Then Stan brought it up on the air and I agreed with im. The slight irony of that statement was that both Truax and Lefty were fired after that season. But I've never felt worse about a firing though I don't think my statement had anything to do with it. For me personally, having to see Coach T a few weeks after that statement walking to the Towson Center with my head down, I've never felt worse. He had his flaws (saved all his timeouts like Dean Smith until the end, rarely stood up during games, not a yeller or screamer, etc.), but having to cover the team since 1989 and on message boards since 2001, I'm not going to ever push for firing the head coach. If his contract is expiring, then that's different assuming the success has dried up or never really was there. I felt embarrassed because I had covered him since 1989 and he only found out due to some minion. But either way, I was apologetic since he did approach me and was fairly intimidating. That's one of the main reasons I don't call for the firing of coaches on here. https://jmusports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/1996-97/towson/boxscore/5136 After Terry was fired in 1997, he bounced around a lot and was never back in Division I which was sad. He was a pretty good basketball coach despite the average record. He had won 3 ECC Tournaments (2 NCAA's) and two Big Sout titles. I think the constant moving of conferences from ECC to the Big South to the North Atlantic/America East wasn't helpful for recruiting. He probably deserved another year or two to get things right, but recruiting in Baltimore was starting to dry up. We weren't getting the Devin Boyds, Kurk Lees or Scooter Alexanders anymore. The guys we were getting from B-More were fine, but not in that class and the step up in competition didn't help. I saw Terry Truax right before he passed away in 2015 when he was at the only Towson game he attended at SECU against Drexel. Unfortunately, it was right before he had suffered a stroke and passed away, not too soon after his mentor Dean Smith died. I was able to walk with him to his car where the "regular" people parked and he appeared to be in bad shape, but I didn't see him passing so soon at 70. He did lose his wife Pam a few years before that. She was a Flight Attendant who those who may remember, was at every game with their very young daughter Annie (his second wife) dressed at a cheerleader in every game. I was happy that I was able to get a chance to speak with Coach T. one final time. I didn't talk about the JMU game and I felt bad for him that he wound up not really in coaching at the end. The bottom line was that I realized that once I called for Terry's firing, there were going to be repercussions. I couldn't have a professional relationship with a coach and call for his firing so I've never really done that since. Guys, you can do what you want here, but I'm also getting older and impatient. Some things cross the line. Not talking about PS and y'all wanting him gone or Steve Eingenbrot or whomever. I've just had enough of the bullshit. Call me sensitive, call me a bootlicker, but the biggest reason I wanted to moderate this board was to bring Towson people together. I don't give a rat's ass if you have different opinions about the head coach or any head coach. If that person likes PS, he shouldn't be dragged through the mud and vice versa. If people are afraid to post here and I know some have left for various reasons, then there will be actions taken if that is continue. Now, I'd also like people to actually constructively criticize. Everybody thinks they are Red Auerbach or Erik Spoelstra or Pat Riley and some just take shots without giving info.. Kudos to Tiger93 for coming up with salient points and numbers. But here goes my middle age BS opinion about this team. I needed two days to get my emotions in check. 1)Push the effing tempo. We're not going to get much better than shooting 41.6% from the field and 32.8% from beyond the arc. This is who we are with 4 games left, but we don't have to be 359th in pace for the rest of the year. Push the ball off every rebound, steal, block, etc. We've been pressing full court lately, but more of a mild press. If Lowery is in the game, use him to trap. Nobody can really throw the ball over his 7-2 wingspan. 2)I've been watching Towson basketball for nearly 35 years so I've seen some of the shittiest offenses, but when they were home and I was there for basically every game in 16 straight losing seasons, I couldn't just walk out. The 10 or so minutes against W&M (not Hampton) nearly drove me away for the first time from Flo SPorts. The offense was so boring and predictable and we just did nothing to really alleviate it. Maybe our intensity needs to be ratcheted up because talent isn't going to overwhelm the other team and playing bully ball can get us so far. 3)Yes, defense can be a problem at times, but a lot of that is effort. Lowery, May, Tarke, Sulaiman and Charles are all capable defenders. We can't shoot the ball on the road lately, and defenders aren't going to just defend if they can't make shots. Our overall road numbers aren't terrible, but in the last four games, we are shooting 37.4% from the field and 26.7% from long range. Time to do something other than run the offense through CT. It's fine to go to him down low or go inside out. But mix it up. 4)What I noticed against Hampton was how unathletic we are. Yes, Lowery is and Williamson in transition, but nobody was getting to the basket against them. Not Tarke or Williamson, who are decent drivers. Tarke is stocky, but a bit heavy legged. He doesn't explode past guys and some quicker point guards get past him. BTW, Tarke has been brutal. I don't expect great shooting numbers, but 36% from the field and 31.5% from beyond the arc is brutal and worse than expected. Last season, he shot 42.6% from the field and 32.7% from beyond the arc. My biggest issue with Tarke was his FT shooting (54% LY) and he's done pretty well (72%), but isn't getting to the line a ton. You do have to wonder when your two top transfers Tarke and Jones are shooting much worse at Towson than last season with other teams. Even Messiah Jones was at 57.2% last season and is now shooting 47.8%. Something is wrong when your players are shooting worse and it's mianly twos. 5)With a bunch of guys that are graduating, but may have a year left, I have to wonder who many if any of those guys return. It's a business and we need better players. More skilled, length, better guard play, etc. Better free throw shooters. Charles has the most attempts at 116 and is shooting just 58.6%. May is second at 69 and is shooting just 62.3%. Maybe adding a bigger Gibson-type of player would have helped. Personally, I don't know about everyone else, but I want to see them respond well against Monmouth, who is a very dangerous team with Xavier Rice. I love this program and I know what it's capable of, though in this era of NIL, we have to be creative with D2s, NAIA, Euros, juco, etc.

OC Devin Ancrum 6-3 295 https://x.com/devinancrum/status/1759747612146569502?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

DT Jacari Gatling 6-3 290 https://x.com/d1carii_/status/1759751755032592547?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

Jonathan Harding DE/TE from Florida https://x.com/jjharding18/status/1759738273008648450?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw