mat1992

Nolan is sorely missed. The Nolan before the Drexel game that is and the respiratory problems. Hicks can help some against those quick guards in the CAA. Watching one right now in Cooks from Hofstra.

Hofstra is shooting 54% from the floor tonight but only up 2 due to 10 turnovers and 2 for 13 from 3pt. UNCW should win this game. They were down big early. Going to be very tough to win down there with big crowd and the way they play.

Hofstra 40-33 with 1:03 left in the first half. Not a lot of D. Hofstra getting outquicked all of a sudden. Cooks was cooking with 10 points. I think that's where we need a quick guard like Hicks to defend him and Phillips.

Other CAA scores Charleston 81- NE 63 still winless in the CAA W&M 65-Elon 61 Hofstra and UNCW starts at 7pm

Delaware doctors are miracle workers. They carried Ebby Asamoah off the court against us and he scored 30 points at JMU today in an easy Blue Hens 85-69 road win. They did need Painter and the 6-6 big man Davis had 22, seven and assists. Dukes don't have much up front.

Trying to think back. It's not in the notes.

Alright, so let's get to the game. Who know that Charles had it in him to go off like that with lefty and right hooks from 5-12 feet. It was unreal. He was a ridiculous 11-of-14 from the field. He shot most if not all over the 6-10 Williams. Couldn't come to a harder, smarter and nicer kid, who has come from this raw talent to a pretty good offensive player. Cam (11pts) and Gibby (1-6 FG) didn't have it offensively today, though Gibby did have four assists and one turnover (that was a rough one with Rizzuto open in the corner. I'm not incredibly worried about three-point shooting, but that shot comes in and goes. I'm worried more about the quality and that we're getting few good looks. I thought it was time to push the ball more on the rare times we were getting stops and rebounds in the first half and early in the second half. We're not the Showtime Lakers, but that three-pointer by Timberlake was made because it came off transition. We're also not Arkansas 40 minutes of Hell or VCU's Havoc D, but that pressure D in the second half was the key to coming back. We forced seven turnovers after forcing just two in the first half. When you are playing teams like JMU and UNCW, we probably need to slow it down most of the game, but against Drexel, it's time to run. As Pat said in the press conference, we still need to get Jason more shots but also better looks. He took one step back, one tough lefty shot that had no chance of getting in. You get my point. He's our best standstill jump shooter. Everyone in the league knows it. But we can still get him better job. Not having another point guard like Nolan is not helping, but ball movement would help. Extra pass. Did I think we would win in the first half the way we played or early in the second half when Wynter was cooking? Of course not. I'm a Towson fan who doesn't expect a 7-2 start. It's why I keep saying we need Nolan because we nee all hands on deck for a team loaded with good players, but no true stars. Maybe when Cam gets a new mask where he can actually see, he'll be our star on offense. That's the best thing about having a legitimate rest and some real practice this week. Cam will finally get some rest. I assume the kid is still not eating solid foods. Tough to have that energy where you can get 18 pts, 11 rebs, 2 steals and 3-4 dimes every night. I'm sure it doesn't help his FTs either. Hell of a win. Now time to rest and get back to our favorite place-the road.

PS opening comments "Hard-fought win. Drexel is good. They're well-coached. Our energy first half-second half. We got away from things in the first half offensively. We just weren't very good and that sometimes affects you on the other end of the floor. We talked about halftime that we have to play harder. We're getting outrebounded (ended up +5). We've had some teams that weren't very good offensive teams, but they played hard and rebounded. We obviously did that in the second half. I can't say enough about how good Charles Thompson was. Parfait expressed at halftime that we had to get the ball inside. Rizzuto was outstanding today. His defense against Wynter was really good. Nic and Cam are like emotional leaders. They connected in the second half. That was a good win." On halftime comments "I could not repeat it. I haven't done that a lot with this group. We just weren't playing Towson basketball. We have some stuff we have to look at. We'll use this week to get better at (finally some practice time with no game until Thursday). We didn't get up as many threes. Gibby played a really good QB game. We have to get him more shots. I didn't do a good enough job at that. Chase gave us a good 10 minutes. Great dunk. We're getting Radhir's feet wet. He has to get used to playing at game speed. We had a good crowd and energy in the building. I'm not taking for granted that we'll be playing meaningful basketball games in February and March and we're looking forward to that." On crowd "It's nice. It's what it's supposed to be like. It's getting back to that. Tomorrow we have our first true off day in awhile and then back to class on Monday. Then we have a road trip." On Delaware game "Not yet. I'm guessing right after the last regular season game. That Monday and Tuesday that's open. They have one or two extra Mondays left. Each of us has a bye week. It could be then. If it ends up earlier, great. We're probably going to need to finish." On Hicks "We just have to get him back. We haven't had a real practice. We've been working him out. It's not the same as getting in there at game speed. Guarding Cam Wynter. I thought he played well at Delaware. We're going to need to extend that because don't know the status of Terry, but we think we're getting close tog getting him back. Fingers crossed. It's been tricky." On Cam's mask "We're trying to get him into a different-type of mask. Everything matters when you are trying to compete for a championship. We have one from Ohio State that doesn't affect the eyes at all. I'm not in charge of that area. We have guys that can get that done)." On pressure defense the second half "Our guys just played harder. Nothing to do with with me. They got just after it the way they need to get after it."

CT on first half and second half "We've been known for some slow starts recently and coach gave us a really inspirational speech in the locker room. He said how many times did we have to say the same thing. We're old enough to know what we did wrong in the first half. In the second half, we came out with more energy and were locked in and focused." On hook shot "After about 2-3 years, it's slowing down for me. I can really get my hook shot off whenever I want. My coach says it's unblockable shot. What I'm doing at practice is carrying over to the games." On defensive key "Locking in on Wynter. He got some easy basket. He was getting some close shots in the lane and we keyed on him and let the others get shots." On Timberlake's 3 that put them up 10 "Nic was into it. He was talking about moving the ball around more. That's how he got that three. I felt like that was a turning point in the game." On keys to this team "Play like we did in the second half. We shouldn't have a bad half. We should have a great first half and a great second half." On previous game suspended "That was weird. Still wondering if we'll still have the same stats. Didn't lose or win, Felt like something was missing."

Gotta love her

If he brings in another guy and I hear he is, it won't be until the summer so TJ3 will have leg up on whoever comes in during the summer. And sure, he could leave but where is he going to go in late August or early September? He'll be here in the spring and if he stinks it up, RA could have an open competition in the summer or move on again. I assume that won't happen because that this point, this is the guy they are riding with. And some guys just can't pick up and leave after the first semester. They may need to graduate at their current school and then move on to the next.

No slipping tonight

Bucknell as well. Replacing ND State.

We all know the failures and we know Flacco and Enders. This kid can play, but whether he can stay healthy behind a mostly new OL is another story. I do like the way he plays. Not the prettiest release or strongest arm, but it gets there and he has the gunslinger mentality, which is fun, but can get you into trouble.

He's firey and a gunslinger

I'll just take any kind of excitement for the fans this season on offense. We have pretty good receivers and get Matthew Akuchie, the FIU transfer who was hurt last season. We're another veteran running back away, though would like to see what Sabias Folley can do as the lead back and the transfer from Maine Curtis Murray has (he was injured last season) in the spring. Of course, the offensive line is a major question mark with so many new bodies coming in and most should be experienced. That's where they need the spring to work these guys out. That's something we didn't have last season-a spring. You just can't bring in an entire new defense in the summer and hope it works out. There was no option with no spring ball. Now at least you can work in Johnston with the offense and some new OL guys. I'm not going into this season with unrealistic expectations. We don't have the defense, the personnel, the xs and os. Too many questions about the Oline with three new starters (probably). Even if our D had the talent, the results are usually the same. Not enough pass rush. Soft coverage. Open guys in the middle. Etc. I do like Johnston (TJ3?). They weren't talking NFL Draft about Chris Ferguson in 2018 or 19. I need some more videos.

Ferguson played all but about 4 mop up games in the CAA. Johnston threw six picks against two SEC defenses. I'll admit that the so-called "winner" tag was on Ferguson for that one year he directed Maine to the FF. Johnston certainly played better competition and shined in big games in the C-USA title games and two bowl games. There's really no comparison when you see the video other than they are similar size (Ferguson was about 2 inches taller and 10 pounds heavier). Johnston didn't run a lot at UAB, but he certainly has the ability. At this point, you aren't getting another Tom Flacco, but I think if we get him and another FBS QB, we'll be a hell of a lot better on offense next season. And we'll need to be considering our D is what it is.

Who cares what his age is? Flacco was 24.

Was a 3* coming out of HS. Good size at 6-2, 220, 4.64 40. https://draftscout.com/dsprofile.php?PlayerId=1028470&DraftYear=2022 https://247sports.com/player/tyler-johnston-46741/ A bit of a scouting report from last season when he struggled against Georgia Tyler Johnston III was listed among several UAB Trailblazers on the 2021 Senior Bowl Watchlist. Every year, there’s usually one Group of Five passers that becomes a favorite amongst the draft media. Johnston III has a couple of fans around the community, however, he remained a relative unknown to most. With a strong season, he had the potential to gain some recognition and improve his draft stock. However, Johnston struggled with deep ball placement and threw three turnovers in the process. While he’s not a player with a ton of draft stock already, Johnston’s struggles versus Georgia did not help.