mat1992

https://towsontigers.com/news/2019/3/9/mens-lacrosse-woodall-goodrich-and-sunday-selected-in-mll-draft.aspx

So you think he doesn't emphasize passing the ball? Finding players that can do more than shoot and have better skills would help. What does Howard do well? Shoot the three I guess. McNeill? Defend. Fobbs? Shoot it and drive some. Dottin? Drive and shoot righty. Betrand, not sure what his strength is on offense. In other words, it's time to find guys that are more skilled. When your best passer today is Sanders, you are in trouble. There is no good passer on this team but assists can also be overrated when you lack good shooters. Of course, your assists are down when you shoot 33% from the three and 42% of whatever it is from the field. I assume last year, our assists were up because we shot it better, even though Martin was a chucker and he did get to the line a ton. I think some of these guys come into games and panic when they see pressure. Or see something different defensively. I know Skerry talked about how they would change defenses in pre-game, yet it appeared we were unprepared for the 1-3-1. Is that talent and lack of skill? Are they not being coached right? Next year, changes need to be made, not just in terms of getting more skilled players, but also they need to do more than just play man-to-man defense. If you have long athletes like Gray and Tunstall, along with Solly, Betrand and Timberlake, why would you not apply some kind of pressure next season? Force some turnovers. There's no freakin' reason to be ranked near the bottom of the country in pace of play. It's just boring basketball and if you are playing that style, you are giving to the fact that you don't have enough skilled players on offense. You are saying that you don't trust your point guards because an up-tempo game would mean a lot more turnovers (as in the Bahamas). So here we go again. So who will return? Fobbs. Solomon. Timberlake. Howard? Sanders? Betrand? Dottin? Drayton? Tunstall? Are we just replacing the two players who are graduating? Will there be one more to exit? Personally, I would like Howard to come back as a sixth-man type but more as a combo guard off the bench. They have to figure out if Juwan Gray starts right away at the 4? Or at the 3 if they move Fobbs to the 2. Does Tunstall move to the 5, assuming he returns and becomes a grad student? Can he add another 5-10 pounds? Or does Sanders start at the 5 and continue to have issue with fouls. Does Dottin improve his game enough to start at the 1 and hold off a freshman/juco point guard? Does Betrand move the the 3 with Timberlake starting at the 2 or backup 2? A lot of questions and I think more options than last season but the next 2-3 scholarships are gigantic.

On the bright side, they'll have an extra day to recruit and there are a lot of HS tournaments going on this weekend. Now it's all about recruiting. You can't strike out anymore or hit singles. They need to hit home runs like they did with Fobbs. I know they struck out in the class with Prophete, Ingram, and Drayton. That's why they keep going after transfers. That's a big problem and it's leading to where we are today. Sure, losing Martin and Gorham was devastating but with them we were 8-10 in the CAA. Without them, we were 6-12. Dottin, Timberlake, Solomon and Betrand still to be determined. Without a doubt, better than the previous class. I don't know if Dottin is more than a backup. He can D up some but his passing instinct isn't there and he's a terrible shooter. Solomon shows flashes. Needs to get stronger but put him in a more up-tempo system and let him run some. Showed that today. Betrand is tantalizing at times but then makes the killing turnover. He has to slow it down. Looking to rush every time he touches the ball. Too small a sample size for Timberlake. Needs more muscle and moxie but does have the passing gene. Starts with the backcourt. Can't continue hitting singles or striking out. Need some blue chippers.

Wilson is not a dominant big but he dominated foul-prone Sanders and a gimpy Thomas. Knight is pretty damn good. I don't know who is coming next season. I didn't say let's get three big men with our three ships. I think he's getting a point guard, a combo guard and a 4/3 that can shoot a little. Maybe Charles Thompson can defend the post. Defending the post is not a bad thing. Sanders isn't very good at it, Tunstall is thin and Thomas is gone. Maybe Solly grows into that with a little more muscle. I don't want five guards. You need to defend the post and the paint a little. That's still important in today's game because a guy like Wilson had a field day.

The other issue we had all game was foul trouble. Sanders had to be tentative with three fouls and then picked up his fourth, so we had to double Wilson or go zone. Big Al was just not effective at all this game and Tunstall/Solly are not big enough to defend the 260-pound Wilson. On the defensive end, Fobbs was getting abused by Lewis because he had picked up 3 fouls (a tick-tack call). He gave him a foot on that last 3-pointer, maybe by instinct because he didn't want to foul him. But foul trouble cost us on the defensive end in the second half, horrific turnovers hurt us in the first (10).

I can't argue reasonable points without going off the deep end. I'm not quite that pessimistic and I watched every second of the dreck other than the Bahamas this season. This game as predictable as it was, but it was fairly entertaining. Not great defense, good passing and decent shooting. Could't stop a 260-pound big man, who was fairly average all year. But in the end, as you say, we "yakked" it away, some bad fouls, two missed FTs, terrible execution against their 1-3-1 in the final seconds. Dottin was MIT in the last 15 minutes and for good reason. Howard just better until the end. But with Howard on the floor, you sacrifice some defense. So if you want great shooters, you often sacrifice defense. Watching Wilson dominate the paint made me wonder if need a solid big man defender to complete our 3-ship class (maybe more).

Not making excuses but it was an incredibly sloppy game in terms of field conditions and stickhandling. https://towsontigers.com/news/2019/3/8/no-1-mens-lacrosse-battles-past-jacksonville-in-the-rain.aspx

https://www.laxsportsnetwork.com/videos/1552096993240-ncaa-men-1-towson-vs-jacksonville

Not sure why you make a tournament on a grass field in early March unless it's in Florida or on the West Coast. No, I don't blame Nads for scheduling this and getting rid of UMBC but I guess the hope was that the weather would be nicer.

I hope they fix it by Sunday. If not, Spiro and Hunter do a fine job. Or John and Hunter if the basketball team wins. I listened and was hoping that they team would run away with it in the fourth quarter after getting the six goal lead. Sounded like Canto really struggled in the second half.

https://towsontigers.com/news/2019/3/7/mens-lacrosse-kings-of-baltimore-invade-queen-city-this-weekend.aspx

Just as I had selected. DT well-deserved on All-Defensive team

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/redemption-how-towson-went-from-unacceptable-year-to-best-in-the-nation/53922

http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20190306094511958537204