mat1992

Maybe that’s Australia time. There is no time on the website. I would think Ambrose would love an 8am start since he’s an early riser going back to his farm days. The players may not feel the same way.

I don't believe I ever received that. I get stuff from Towson Alumni all the time. I have to check my spam.

First time seeing a practice in about a year-and-a-half. Didn't want to wait until the fall considering half the team is new (7/7). It was honestly great for me personally just to see something live involving sports. I've had a tough spring physically and I'm still not 100%, but good enough to see a practice with no masks at SECU. I put practice #1 up top because I'd like to see them again. It's tough to judge a team when they can't really go 5-on-5 and we only had 10 players with two walk-ons. I did my best to evaluate. As for the injury issues, Cam Holden was in a boot and is out two weeks due to a foot issue. Chris Biekeu was also in a boot. Nothing major. Nick Timberlake is coming off ankle surgery and wasn't there. Jason Gibson had off-season back surgery and he's not going to participate. You also had Juwan Gray coming off an Achilles' injury in December. He looks close to being ready (around 230 pounds compared to being listed at 215), but there's no way he's practicing yet coming off that serious injury. Hopefully, he'll be ready in the fall. So that's a lot missing, but hopefully the first two will be back as I'm going to try and check them out one more time in mid-July. The three veterans I mentioned were expected to be out. Biekeu looks incredible physically and is around 235ish at 6-7. Charles Thompson is 6-7, 246 or so. He looks great. Chase Paar is humongous at 6-9, 255. He was hampered by a quad injury, so he looked a step slow. As for the team, again, take some of this with a grain of salt. This was their fourth practice (a bit more casual in the summer), but there were some good and some bad as expected. I think Nolan (11.2ppg, 34.3% 3pt,81% FT 3.3apg) and Rizzuto (12.5ppg 36.2% 3pt LY) will be fine. Neither of them are stars, but they make you better. They both do a lot of things well on both ends of the floor. Both can defend and make shots and are both around 200 pounds, so they won't get pushed around. Rizzuto was a little off target, but not worried about his shooting. Nolan is very vocal and appears to be a born leader. He made the pass of the day, driving the lane and instead of taking an awkward shot, he flung the ball while in the air, to Rahdir Hicks in the corner. Hicks sunk the shot and even in a situational drill, you saw what Nolan is capable of adding to the team. Hicks is ahead of the other three freshmen. He's a strong on-ball defender and can make shots. He's not very big (6-0, 160), though looks a tad bigger than his listed weight. I will be focusing on him because I think he will end up playing a lot this season. Tyler Gill has an odd-looking shot and he's even smaller than Hicks. Tyler Coleman (6-7, 230) wasn't there due to illness. IMO the key is Curtis Holland (12.7ppg, 39.1% 3pt at High Point in 2019-20). At 6-2, 220, he's a tank with great leaping ability. Apparently, he had the best vertical leap on the team and we have Timberlake, Nolan, Darrick Jones Jr. and Rizzuto, who can all get up. He is the best pure shooter on the team. He can post up smaller players. But he has a bit of a confidence issue. It's hard to explain and I don't want to speculate on personal issues, but the body language experts on this board would have a field day. Hopefully, if I see them again, he'll be a little more upbeat. Just seemed to be down on himself and he shot well. I wasn't overwhelmed with anybody else. Then again, there were only eight scholarship players on the floor. Really liked Hicks, Nolan, Rizzuto and Holland's shooting. CT is fine. He still has that one-handed jumper, but he's a center. He's going to start most likely, unless Paar pushes him. He just needs to score in the paint when he gets the chance, rebound and defend. We have three guys capable of playing center. We don't need to play two post players this season. Last season, we didn't have much choice when Gray went down with the Achilles' injury. You had Solomon and Mims playing the 4 spot. Now, you'll have Cam Holland and Gray. Holland can do so many things well. I just can't wait to see him on the floor with some pretty good shooters. Jones Jr. was ok. He had a rough season and PS will explain some of it below. He's still basically developing, but we don't have years to wait. He has to make some big strides this year. I didn't see a whole lot today. He basically needs to be a 3 and D guy. Can he defend the 3 spot? I don't know. He certainly has the ability and he looks stronger. Can he make the open 3? He has to become more consistent. We won't play all 14 this year. He is technically a freshman because all freshmen get an extra season. He's one of those guys I need to see more of and I'm sure they feel the same. Overall, it was tough to judge in mostly drills with just 10 players, but I can see the potential. We just need Holden (14.9ppg, 8.3rpg, 2.0apg) on the floor and then in the fall, for those transfers to play with Gray, Timberlake and Gibson. I think rotation-wise, if we go nine, I see the bottom with somebody being left out or getting very little time. With Nolan, you can play him off the ball or at the 3 since he's 6-4, 190 or Rizzuto who is 6-3, 200 with Hicks at the 1. It's a shame that Gibson is coming off surgery, because you'd like to see him play both guard spots with these older players. And let's face it. We're substituting skilled and experienced players, who have legitimate numbers (double digits except for Paar) and add Curtis Holland's last season at High Point. That's four players who averaged around 12-14ppg for Cam Allen, Victor, Solly, Dottin and Mims. Zane had talent, but was terrible his last two seasons for whatever reason and very inefficient. Maybe Timberlake goes back to the bench and becomes the league's top sixth-man again. Even if he averaged 12.1ppg last season, he shot 36% from the field. You have to get better efficiency and shooting at the wing. That's where Rizzuto and Holland come in. You want to talk about consistency? Rizzuto shot 36% from 3-point range in all three seasons at Albany and we have him for two more years. He can also defend as well as anybody so you know what you're getting from him. PG Nolan, Hicks SG Rizzuto, Gibson SF/WG Holland, Timberlake PF/F Cam Holden, Gray C Thompson, Paar Pat Skerry Q&A On first four practices It's early. We have to get some guys back healthy. I like the group a lot. High intelligence. Good work ethic. The skill level is going to allow us...we ran a pretty good offense two years ago...we have a chance to have a pretty good offensive group with spacing, passing and shooting. They have a really good intent. They want to be good and do the right thing as they are figuring things out. We have a long ways to go. What to accomplish in these summer practices Improve our bodies through nutrition and strength and conditioning. Amit Vohra (strength coach) has been awesome. Really excited about him. We used it like spring football. There are concepts we're trying to look at. I don't think you can have a mulligan when the season starts. Over eight weeks, 2-3 workouts per week, you find out who's good with middle ball screens, side ball screens, stagger screens. Half the guys back and half the guys are new. Before the pandemic, we spent an entire summer running our offense that we changed. I thought it really helped us figure out what we had. We are looking at five or six new wrinkles. Hopefully, we come out of it saying 'we liked that' or we 'didn't like that.' On last season My AD asked after last season, what had I learned. I learned that if you don't build habits through routines, it's hard to have success. That's what we're trying to do. We want to build good habits. We think we have good players with good intent. If we can build good habits, our talent can shine through. On transfers Pretty seamless in terms of chemistry. We've had them over the house, we went bowling. We had movie night. That piece was refreshing. The transfers were good. They've had a lot of game experience. They understand what to do in-game situations. There are five freshmen because Darrick (Jones) and Chris (Bieku) get their year back. Darrick had a really good spring. You can see his body looks a lot better. He's a tremendous athlete. We're working hard on his shot and he's getting better. Focus on not turning the ball over, defense and making open shots. You don't talk a lot about it in the media, but Darrick didn't have any practices last year in the summer or fall. His first workout was in the Mohegan Sun because he wasn't cleared after COVID. That's a hard year. Then we had all the positives. He didn't have a lot of court time in the spring. I'm encouraged and optimistic about what he can bring to us. It's early and he's trending the right way. On schedule Almost done. It's been a little bit wacky. I plugged in a game last year in George Mason. We just needed a chance to play. Excited about playing in Las Vegas. On national TV against high-level programs. We'll have a tough trip to Ohio State and Kent State. We'll end up with six home non-conference games, the most we've had in awhile. I think people will be excited to be back at home. Will be a hard schedule and it should help us. You want to get as many home games and good opponents as you can. You want to get as many good teams to play at home, which is not easy to do. And you don't want too many games on the road. On home games Charleston had 20% capacity and it was the only time last season we played in front of some fans. Playing at home was like playing a scrimmage with music. It was bizarre. It was tough for a lot of people in all aspects. We had a really good spring. We're going to try and have a really good summer. We have a long way to go. I really like the intent of the group. Cam (Holden) tweaked his foot. Will be in a booth for a couple of weeks. Chris B. should be back. A little bit of tweak and he looked pretty good before. Had a pretty good first week-and-a-half. Just a little overuse. Ball movement We have a little more skill. Nolan and Rizzuto bring talent and experience. Gamesmanship. Holden will do this too especially as we bring back Timberlake and Gibson, guys who have had success at this level. They can help us. Hicks has played well. He has good feel and gets the ball out of his hands quickly.

Brady Policelli, Age 26 Catcher in AA Erie .115, 4 RBI. Career: .235, 18 HR,l 90 RBI, 956 AB Richie Palacios, Age 24 Infielder at Akron AA, .295, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 4 SB in 139 AB. Former third-round pick https://www.baseball-almanac.com/college/towson_university_baseball_players.shtml

Thanks. Had something similar to Jason, but I didn't get surgery. Just the shot and some rehab, but the first six weeks were awful. Herniated disc. His was different. He got it taken care of so hopefully he'll be able to play from now until whenever he stops.

One other thing to add and that's comparing last year's team with this year's squad. I don't know if having a full summer of practice would have helped the likes of Mims, Victor, Solly, Jones, Biekeu, etc. But it wouldn't have hurt. That's why you need a summer of practice for young players to try to develop them and for the more experienced players to mesh with a new system and players. Fortunately, we don't have a lot of developmental players but you do want to see Jones, Hicks, Biekeu, Gill and Coleman make strides before preseason starts. You couldn't have that opportunity last season with the pandemic stopping everything.

So, for those who did not read the details. Akuchie is 6-3, 205 and has three years left. Has a 38-inch vertical and 4.54 speed. Did not play at FAU. https://247sports.com/player/matthew-akuchie-46058564/

From FAU https://www.hudl.com/profile/7251789/Matthew-Akuchie/about

https://towsontigers.com/news/2021/6/16/mens-basketball-skerry-selected-as-court-coach-for-2021-usa-mens-u19-world-cup-team.aspx

No doubt, redshirting Scooter Alexander that year of 2014-15 turned out to be a mistake. He wasn’t a point guard, but was automatic for 15ppg and decent defense. I don’t remember us not being eligible for the NCAA Tournament because we played in the Big South Tournament. But either way, that was an underachieving team. The biggest criticisms of those teams was that they couldn’t win tournament games outside the Towson Center or Towson Center South (the RAC).

A better explanation about that game from 2018.

Yes, it would be nice to add a Maryland or a Villanova or Virginia, but that ain't happening. It takes two to tango and why would those teams want to play at a mid-major arena that would be packed for the first time since it opened? As mentioned in the past, PS won't do a 2-for-1. That's one home game for two future road games for those not familiar with the term. As for the Louisville game, that once came fortuitously because Louisville needed an opponent at the last second. Literally two months before the game. They took the road game (foolishly) for two future home games. It also happened to be Denny Crum's youngest team and that was a time when freshmen and sophomores rarely left early. Did the fact that we went to the NCAA Tournament in 1991 probably help get that game? Sure, that and having an opening on the schedule. That was the weirdest Towson team of all time. They were a pretty bad team overall, but they beat West Virginia and Louisville. Go figure. Looking back, we also played Tennessee on the road as the last regular-season game (77-60 loss). Scheduling was a lot different back then. But again, that same team that beat West Virginia and Louisville went 12-15 and 6-10 in the Big South. We ended with an 85-55 loss to Charleston Southern in our first game in the Big South Tournament. How in the hell did a team with Ralph Blalock (should be in HOF), Ralph Biggs (HOFer), a bruiser who could shoot in Stevie Thomas and a solid 6-9 center in Jason Crump not do better than 12-15? It was kind of the beginning of the end for Truax and it goes back to a problem we still have today...we lacked a strong point guard. As for Michigan, I forget the exact details. Truax was not the coach that year in November of 1997, it was Mike Jaskulski. But I believe Coach T worked that one out before with Steve Fisher, who was fired or former Loyola coach Brian Ellerbe, who took over for Fisher on an interim basis after he was fired. That was probably the most fun you could have in a loss in OT. Biggest crowd I believe ever. Raul DePablo did a Kevin Huerter and went nuts for six of seven three's for 18 points (pretty much all he could), but didn't take the last 3 to tie it in overtime. That went to Marlon Wise, who was not a very good shooter.

Go to FloSports.com. I wouldn’t purchase anything yet. There might be a special closer to the season.

Huh? The SD State game is on Stadium online.I doubt anyone local has the Mountain West Network

Delaware and JMU both made semifinals in the spring. There is no real gimme in this league, but everybody is beatable outside of JMU. They've won 14 straight CAA games.

This is a very talented and deep team and yes, it could come down to Ferguson. Is he the 2018 version or the 2019 version? He won't need to be a star here. As for the rust factor, there could be some on offense, though Ferguson did play some for Liberty last season. Howard hasn't played running back in a few seasons. But guys on the D-line played either in the fall or spring as did Lumor. Most of these teams that played in the spring will have some carry-over effect from the wear-and-tear. It's just not natural to play that many games in March and April and then get ready in August. For example, Delaware played eight and could have played 10 had two games not been canceled. We have a cynical bunch. I get it. If that 2019 team had a healthy Shane Simpson, Ricky DeBerry and Brandon Shuman, we would have won at least two more games and would have been in the playoffs. But they weren't. This team is better at almost every position. Probably not at running back or quarterback. Shuman is back. We also added about five more guys that are similar to Shuman in the secondary or possibly better. That 2019 team overachieved in some aspects due to the injuries and still finished 7-5. Ferguson doesn't have to be Flacco, but in some ways, maybe he'll be better in terms of a quarterback who won't run around in circles, looking for the big play, instead of just taking what the defense is giving you. Having a strong running game will take that pressure off of Ferguson and the addition of Howard and possibly Folley, will give us two beasts in the power running game that might be able to play in the same backfield. Exciting possibilities.

I do know we have a strong transfer tight end