Tiger93

It will make more sense in two weeks if and when it happens, but I know we all root for teams in different ways and I always try not to disrespect the passion we all have for this program since I wish there were more like all of us. The one thing I can say about guys like Timberlake and Thompson is no matter what they do they will fight to the end, so I will try to be respectful and appreciative of their efforts and not write them off until the final buzzer of the last game sounds Finally, the comments about only being happy with 17 wins being loser's mentality crack me up. First off, very few actually believe that. Second, already assuming we will lose in the conference tournament by week three of the season is just as much, if not more, of a loser's mentality than those that are happy with the fact that we have a competitive team that is among the top four of the conference a decent amount of the time recently. I get the unhappiness of the coach because all of us have things to some degree that drive us crazy about the way this team performs. However, once the season starts I'd like to think there is possibility it can be figured out. Even if by season's end sometimes I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football.

There were a boatload of things to hate about this team from last night's game. William & Mary clearly made some adjustments from the first game that I am not completely sure we were ready for. They had way too many good looks from three-point land, and it showed in the final 10-19 numbers the Tribe put up. Our road form and play in tight games has been shaky all year, and that is equal parts coaching and execution from experienced veterans down the stretch. It has been an incredibly disappointing season this year pretty much since Gibson went down and we've be unable to regain form. I don't think we a lot of it on his injury, but this team just hasn't quite figured out to get to the level we all thought they would reach. That is a mix of a lot of things. The latest stretch has been tough losing three games by 13 total points, and really melting down in the stretch of all three games. We have played well enough in each to win, but we just aren't very good at making plays down the stretch this year. I am not sure we were awesome at it last year, but we were in such a grove we won a lot of games going away and toughed out some bad efforts for wins. I like others don't feel great about what is coming up down the stretch. That being said, we have a minimum of five games left, and I do think some of this can be righted with a win against Delaware who we owe some serious payback to after the last two meetings. This won't make up for anything in the past and it won't make me feel better about last year or even the stretch we are on now, but we have still have four regular-season games, this team has not stopped playing hard, and we have beaten everyone once but Delaware, Charleston and UNC-W (we will get chances to do that in the next two weeks). I just think it is a little misguided to whine like the season is already over and put down this team like they have already been knocked out of the tournament. Can we live in the present just a little, and save some of our disappointment for when it is actually completely warranted? I get last night was a sucky game, that this season is a disappointment, and that we probably won't reach our goals we had, but as long as this group is still fighting to win (which I believe is the one thing I can't fault them on right now) I will try to muster up some belief and give some respect to the guys who still believe they can accomplish those goals.

Other than a turnaround buzzer-beater that full-court inbound worked about as good as expected. The William & Mary defender almost fouled Timberlake and it acted like an NBA timeout. The halfcourt inbound base was pretty good too, and the fact that that Timberlake tipped it and it hit the rim was as about as good as we could have hoped. There are a lot of things to not like, but that part was fine. Not a lot of great plays for down 2 from full court with 1.4 seconds left.

I just glanced at what is left for the top five teams in the CAA. The Drexel loss blew up any faint possibility of challenging for the regular-season title so now it is all about seeding and making sure we don't end up playing on Saturday in the CAA Tournament, which will happen to either Drexel, UNCW or us. Here is breakdown of the teams in the top five, their home/road record splits and remaining schedule. I think it is really important to take care of business these next three games to try to lock in a top 4 (hopefully top 3) seed. We are the only team right now that has played more home games than road games, but that will even up after tonight. UNC-W did stumble against William & Mary so we need to be careful tonight. That final road trip is going to be tough, but would love to be able to play knowing our seeding is pretty much settled. Of course, it would also be nice to take at least one of those games to feel good about how we are playing heading into tournament play (which I know a lot won't no matter what we do). With games against Hofstra and UNC-W, Drexel could fall off the pace quickly, although the UNC-W game is at home. I actually think we might be better than UNC-W (and I do think we are better than Drexel despite Saturday's loss), but clearly Charleston and Hofstra have to be considered the favorites. College of Charleston (5-1 home, 7-1 road), Hofstra (5-1 home, 7-1 road), UNC-W (5-2 home, 5-2 road), Towson (6-1 home, 3-3 road), Drexel (7-0 home, 2-5 road) Feb. 13 - Northeastern at Charleston; Drexel at Hofstra; Towson at William & Mary, UNC-Wilmington does not play Feb. 16 - Charleston at Elon; Hampton at Hofstra; UNC-W at Drexel; Delaware at Towson Feb. 18 - Hofstra at Stony Brook; UNC-W at Delaware; NC A&T at Towson; Drexel at Hampton; Charleston does not play Feb. 23 - Towson at Charleston; Stony Brook at UNC-W; Northeastern at Drexel; Hofstra does not play Feb. 25 - Stony Brook at Charleston; Northeastern at Hofstra; Towson at UNC-W; Drexel does not play

I think we get the Aggies at home on Feb. 24. NC A&T has been a pretty decent add on both the men's and women's side this year.

Good job getting back on track against what looks like a bad UNC-Wilmington team. https://towsontigers.com/news/2023/2/12/stout-defense-propels-towson-womens-basketball-over-uncw.aspx. Get shots at three of the four top teams over the final five games. William & Mary on the road, and NC A&T and Stony Brook at home. That Hofstra game was definitely a killer as was losing to a subpar Charleston team earlier in the conference season. Still, good job to go 8-2 and after starting conference play 0-2. Looks like some tough games left for everyone at the top even though Drexel seems to be in the driver's seat. It will be nice to have the conference tournament at SECU. As has been said on her a number of times, solid season for a first-year head coach who had a ton of players transfer. Eigonbrot's hire looks good to this point, which is good to see. Hopefully football can be similarly encouraging.

To me a small piece of good news was the way Cam Holden played. I know he wasn't very efficient, but I liked his aggressiveness and if our supporting cast plays a little better I think it is enough to get the win. Scoring 25 pts, grabbing 7 boards, dishing four assists and only having one turnover is what this team is going to need out of him. Would have preferred he not have to shoot 21 shots do it, but I do think Amari Williams had a lot to do with that shooting percentage since Cam was attacking the basket a lot. I do think Williams is probably the most defensively disruptive big man in the league. I also imagine he was playing with a chip on his shoulder from the first game. I don't always love Holden's choices, but yesterday's game did reaffirm to me that he is one of the top 3-4 talents in this league. We do have to give a little tip of the cap to Drexel who is the only team not to lose in conference play at home this year. I think Hofstra and Charleston are probably better than us, but it is ridiculous that Hofstra doesn't play Charleston or UNC-Wilmington twice and doesn't have to play Drexel at home. What a ridiculous schedule distribution! As for the tournament, if chalk holds up it is tough to believe this team wins 3 in 3 days, and if we don't get a top 4 seed we can forget about it. However, there have been some weird results in this league this year so you never know. I believe we can beat anyone in this league on any day, it is just hard to imagine running a gauntlet of 5th or 6th seed, Hofstra and Charleston (in whichever order it comes). For now, forget about winning three game to three days I just want to see these guys win the first two to get us somewhere we have not been since 1992. Not saying I would find it acceptable, but I just want to see this team get past the semifinals for once.

Sounds about right to me. I feel like a win today would lock us in pretty good for a top 4 tournament seed barring disaster. I believe Drexel is the last team left in the conference to be undefeated at home in conference play. It will be a slog today and I have bad flashbacks to last year's trip to Drexel. Can't afford a slow start because I feel like there will be limited possessions and it will be tough to work our way back into the game. Went from -2 last night to -3.5 today.

It is really a bad year this year (mostly being dragged down by Elon and the new teams), but to be fair the conference was ranked 14th in the NET rankings last year and 16th the year before. https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2021/net-conference I think Monmouth will be solid in a year or so (and is actually playing well now to close things out), Stony Brook has been good in the past and has a decent shot to be solid in the next year or so, and NC A&T from the looks of it might have a better atmosphere than almost any team in the conference. I don't think it is great by any means, and certainly not as good as it was in its heyday, but I do think somewhere in that 19-20 range is probably more of a normal range where it will settle.

I also don't like that quarters, semis and finals of our conference tournament for basketball runs on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. It just seems like it isn't really going on during a good timeframe for fans to travel to it. I know it is controlled by TV and there might not be fans no matters what, but it would be nice to have a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, or at worst Saturday, Sunday and Monday dates. Maybe it is just me, but I am planning on traveling for a second year in a row in hopes that we might catch lighting in a bottle, and I hate planning for this travel with this format.

They really make it hard to be a fan of these schools don't they. I really enjoyed when we were on NBC Sports Network, however I do appreciate that this is a way to have access for each game. I just wish they would cut deals for the paywall to be cheaper than it is. It may not be overly expensive on its own, but when you think of the fact that they are competing with other streaming options that provide multiple viewing options for people when all they have is the school your root for (since lets face it very few in the CAA care about the other games that are going in unless there are late-season conference standing implications). I realize I am not the audience, but the CBS basketball games are on so early in the central time zone it drives me crazy (I can only imagine how it first into Bay Area's schedule). I do realize it is mostly convenient for those in the Eastern timezone. I hate this deal in so many ways, but I am sure they get more money from it than they do the obvious options that we would all prefer.

Yeah, I looked back and we were closer than I had remembered in those two years. For some reason, I never thought we were going to win in 2009 or 2014. I believe you were up close in-person in 2009 and trust your thoughts on it. I know I was at the 2014 game and we played horrible for most of that game until a late scramble to get back into it. I don't know why, but I really thought we were going to win and get to the finals in 2017. I don't think we had that much of a chance against UNC-Wilmington in the championship game despite playing them tough (at least once) that year.

You might be right, but nothing is predetermined. When you write it this way it almost sounds like you are rooting for us to do bad, which I know you aren't. I know we all want the same thing, and I hope you are surprised in March. If not, we can resume our annual conversation all over again.

We'll find out. There is always time to learn new things. Hard to tell last year because we were both tight and banged up for an injury standpoint. Our two efforts as a front-running team have not been great, and of course his overall body of work isn't good either. I do think the 2017 tournament where we crushed Northeastern and were tied at Charleston with five minutes to go in the semis might have been the closest we have been to making a conference championship game since I have been a fan (since 1993), but ultimately we came up short. All I am saying is there is always a possibility for people to grow and learn from their mistakes. I also can't dispute a long body of evidence of failures, but the future is unknown and that is why sports is fun. This is not a great team and obviously expectations have made us disappointed, but they are a good team with some solid and experienced players, and like I said the Drexel win last night made me feel like there isn't as much difference in the top five as maybe I have been thinking all year. It is probably the way teams felt last year when Northeastern beat us (although that was a really bad loss compared to the ones I am referencing).

I agree, but I do think this is adjustable from year-to-year. Coaches learn how to relate and motivate their players in different ways and they have different groups that respond to different things.

Early foul trouble definitely derailed Thompson offensively. It is weird, but I felt like by eye test that Hofstra was making things harder for us inside defensively last night and they probably were. However, when you compare games we shot 20-34 2pt FG (which isn't necessarily in the point, but most likely it) last night and 21-40 2pt FG in the first game. We also had 15 offensive rebounds and outrebounded them 40-30 as opposed to 14 and 44-34 in the first game. The big difference like you said is the made their open shots last night. To me I think of going zone or not running a switching defense on a possession or two like a reliever who doesn't have a good curve ball or change-up but throws it once or twice just to keep people off-balance. I am less critical of Skerry than others, but the two things I really think he can work on to make us more prepared to succeed in the tournament is try to figure out how to be less uptight (which I think comes from his approach sometimes) going into postseason play, and to be flexible to try some different things (even it is sporadically) if things aren't going the way he drew it up in those games. Those are growth opportunities, and I know he mentioned ways he was looking to figure things like that out last year. I am not overly optimistic about this group in the CAA Tournament, but I also don't feel like it is crazy that this team could get a couple of breaks or play well enough to have a shot to win it. I watched the end of the Drexel-Charleston game, and it feels like that opened up a whole different set of outcomes in the tournament. Charleston is good, but I think they may have peaked a little early like we did last year. They are still probably the best team in the conference, but I don't know that there is a large separation between 1-5 in this conference at this point.

Good game last night. Timberlake was great, but one of the other positives was Biekeu's play in the first half which was a big reason we built up our lead. I definitely agree with the comments that if we just get a decent offensive games from CT and Holden we probably win. Give credit to Hofstra. In the postgame interview with Estrada, it was clear they were pointing to this as a revenge game for earlier this year, and the two games last year. In some ways, it makes me feel pretty good that Hofstra had to shoot 17-28 in the second half just to pull out a really tight victory over us. In general, I actually still like the way we match up with them. Unfortunately, the end of this game felt a lot like the Clemson game where the opposition completely figured out our defense got high quality shots any time they wanted. I know we beat Hofstra by 21 at home, but if you look at the game they also got a lot of high quality shots. They just missed everything that game. This is where I know Skerry and others know a lot more about this than me, but when I watched last night and the game against Clemson my question is can we switch up the defense on a few possession just to try to confuse and slow down the opposition. It feels like the philosophy we have is the reason they are scoring is we aren't executing our defense, but sometimes no matter how good you are if you keep throwing fastballs to hitters they have it timed and will succeed. Feels like out of timeout, or even when there is a deadball maybe a zone or even just straight man-to-man without switches on a possession or two could at least make them have to slow down and figure some things out. Again, I fully admit I don't have the level of knowledge of coaches or others on this, but it just felt like Clemson earlier this year and Hofstra could do whatever they wanted. I know part of that is a team just gets hot and they are had to stop, but I feel like an active effort needs to be made to slow them down and not do the same thing on every possession. Just an observation, but not one I claim to know a ton about. I will say after watching this game, it actually made feel just as good about our chance in the tournament as our winning streak did. We went on the road against what will probably the first place team in the conference and they had to shoot over 60% in the second half just to pull out a tight game. I don't view this as being about our past in the CAA Tournament as how we do this year, however I do feel like we have to find ways to start better in games, we have to look at the film and be ready to adjust when teams figure out what we are doing, and obviously hope that we can get good stretches in three games (hopefully we get a top 4 seed) from Cam, Thompson and Timberlake in games. Some matchups in this conference are better than others, and after yesterday I still like the way we match up against Hofstra. I just think we need a Plan B. I know that may sound pie in the sky and I certainly don't think we are favorites or anything, but there are probably 4 or 5 realistic teams that can win the conference and while we are not that top choice, we do have to be one of them.

I have to be honest, I know it might be alarming if there is a big dropoff from six wins to something markedly worse. However, what I really want to see in year one is how coaches up and tries to develop players. Maybe I am wrong, but I feel like Rob did a pretty good job of getting high level talent into our program. However, in recent times the QB spot was a mess, and there were even times where we more shorthanded than I hoped (based on preseason expectations) at running back and receiver. When things went well for Rob the offensive line was a huge reason for our success, and he never really recaptured that magic in the same way after the title run. I also feel like we always had a lot of defensive talent, and while we could generate big turnovers we never had a really strong overall defensive unit. Three big things I would like to see is 1) more of a cohesive defensive unit 2) Clean games where we limited turnovers and penalties, which are usually hallmarks of good coaching despite talent level 3) Player development, which I think Rob did well in the early stages but the last 3-4 years I feel like our roster completely flipped over year-to-year. That is probably more of a trend everywhere with NIL and transfer portal stuff, but we need to manage it effectively. I think the recruiting will come, but it takes every coach a year or so to get the system working at full steam. Hopefully, we can get in enough talent for the fall to make sure we don't step all the way back into rebuilding year. The one thing new coaches do is actually make watching spring football relevant. I am interested to hear what the vibe will be like and how Coach Shinnick runs things.

The first point spread I saw last night was Hofstra -4 and it is down to -2.5 where I am looking. It is the fifth time we have been underdogs (UMass, Clemson, Bryant and Charleston are the others) Going back to last year's meeting in Long Island Hofstra jumped out to a 21-12 lead before we ripped off a 16-2 run to take control of the game. Timberlake probably had the best game of his career with 27 points and eight boards on 8-11 FG. He had a pretty solid game this year with 17 and five rebounds in the earlier matchup this year. In that game they were up 11-1, before we went on a 19-2 run to grab complete control of the game. Estrada was 5-17 and 0-10 3ptFG, which is not likely to be repeated. Although, we beat them twice last year with fairly strong performances by Estrada. If we can win this game, I know there are still a lot of tough matchups but it would solidify status as of now as one of the top two teams in the conference, and as someone else mentions the loser is probably done for the battle for the regular-season title since Charleston can't have many more than two losses left in them this year.

We all know the numbers on Skerry in the tournament. History is not on his side, but it not out of the realm of possibility that a team that is better than probably all but two teams can make a run. I disagree on the reasons for the team being tight and the pace. I just think the intensity this team plays with throughout the year is a plus and often gets them to succeed is harder to dial up in the postseason. Their style doesn't really change and teams know what they are getting, and is hard to dial it up any higher. I completely understand that this theory is completely anecdotal, but I am going off Delaware last year and William & Mary back in 2014 where those teams took their play up another level and we just didn't meet them there (last year was partially because of injuries). As far as the possessions I agree about it being a positive throughout the year, but I think it puts more pressure on you in the postseason. Even when things are going well this can be an error-prone team that can miss free throws. All of those thinks get magnified in knockout games is all I am saying. Of course, like I said with Virginia you can make the stats tell any story you want so I am really just saying what I see. Doesn't mean it is absolutely right or wrong. Two trends I would love to keep up is averaging 9.3 turnovers per game and 10.7 offensive boards in our last nine games. When we take care of the ball and get extra chances it takes some of the pressure off of needing to have good shooting nights.

I guess all good streaks have to end at some point. We will have our chance to avenge the loss on March 2nd. Also good that the one matchup against the top team NC A&T comes at home on Feb. 24. Hopefully, the can get back on track this week.

I guess in a perfect world I would like to see us be whatever the game calls for. The trends seem to point to the fact that we get in knock-down-drag it out slugfest with Delaware (not as much), Drexel and Northeastern the last couple of years, while finding it easier to score against Hofstra and William & Mary. Hofstra and Charleston feel like teams that will beat us if we don't bring a decent offensive level to the table, however against Hofstra this year they shot poorly and we had one of our best defensive intensity stretches of the year. We have generally found it easier to score against lower quality teams. Against certain teams it is going to be a slog to score, and we need to be ready to try to be efficient those games. I think Skerry is capable of getting us to an NCAA Tournament, but two things that really scare me when it comes to one of tournament teams is we are 342nd in KenPom in adjust tempo and these bad starts. My common criticism is Skerry has these team wound so tight sometimes it affects the mentality when they are in elimination games. Being 342nd in possession per 40 minutes is not a good recipe to overcome slow starts. We have done it well in regular-season games where the pressure is not as high, but it is a tough formula to overcome when conference tournament actions start. I do trust the last couple of years Skerry has turned over every rock possible trying to fix our tournament struggles, but stylistically we do not set up well for those scenarios. Although, I will say that Viriginia was 351 in both 2017-18 and 2018-19 an they lost to UMBC in round one in 2018 and won it all in 2019. I know we are not at that level, but it really speaks to showing up loose and ready to play, and getting some luck along with that. I still would prefer more possessions if possible.

I tend to agree on Cam in the starting lineup. I get liking the spark of the bench and that it has been working, but having the best all-around player on your team come off the bench as a general thought process doesn't make much sense. I do see what Skerry is trying to do in terms of having a way to raise the level of player with the first subs, but I am not sure they trade-off works against really good teams. My hunch is if it works against Hofstra on Thursday, it may be here to stay. Out of all of the teams we have played three times or more since last year, William & Mary is the one we have shredded the most: William & Mary 86 ppg (3 games), Charleston 76 ppg (3 games), Hofstra 74.7 ppg (3 games), Northeastern 65.8 ppg (4 games), Drexel 63.7 ppg (3 games) and Delaware 63.3. ppgs (4 games). Anecdotally it feels like some of our best offensive games of the Skerry area have come against William and Mary (of course our biggest tournament clunker came against them too). Hofstra's win at Charleston really opens things up in the conference. We beat Hofstra by an average of 11 ppg last year and obviously won by 21 at home earlier this year. Hopefully, the trend keeps up. We handled them in Long Island last year, but it took probably the best game of Timberlake's career. This team definitely deserves credit for taking care of business over the last six games. Hofstra lost to NC A&T at home and UNC-Wilmington lost to this William & Mary team so it is harder than it seems. As I look at the standings, our loss to Delaware is in the same category as UNC-Wilmington's loss to William & Mary even thought it doesn't feel that way because Delaware is a tough match up for us. In the top four, Hofstra is now 2-1 (win at Charleston, win vs. UNC-W, loss at Towson), Charleston is 2-1 (win at Towson, win at UNC-W, loss vs. Charleston), Towson 1-1 (loss vs. Charleston, win vs. Hofstra), UNC-W 0-2 (loss vs. Charleston, loss at Hofstra). Charleston doesn't go to Hofstra this year, Hofstra doesn't get to host Charleston or travel to UNC-W again, we only play UNC-W once on the road, and UNC-W doesn't play at home against Hofstra or on the road against us. It also looks like the bottom feeders are starting to get more competitive with Elon beating Drexel and Monmouth taking down NC A&T yesterday. Like I said earlier this week, it feels like 5-3 gets us in the top four. It really feels like if we want to grab the top seed 7-1 is what we have to do and 6-2 would maybe give us an outside shot if there are some upsets. That being said as good as we have played there are a lot of tough games left on the slate and there are a lot of different outcomes out there. Right now, it is just nice to see how this team has responded to the Delaware loss. Hopefully, we can keep it up.

It was a sloppy performance for the first 25 minutes, but I thought it was mature showing by the team (as Holden referenced) to grab control of the game during a 5-6 minute stretch in the second half. I know Cam can make some bad decisions, but I do like the last two games that he has been looking for his shot more. This sounds weird, but the more he looks for his shot the more the passing lanes open up for him and I actually think his biggest strength is using his skills to set up others up. Even when he was playing poorly earlier in the year the one thing he kept going is the pretty solid two-man game that him and Charles have. I would say 80% of Charles dunks come when he is playing the two-man game off of what Cam does. The poor starts are somewhat concerning and better teams will make us pay. That being said, that game started out like some of our Northeastern games of the past have, and they did a good job of making plays when they needed to make sure it didn't come down to the end. Even though they aren't very good I don't mind not playing in Boston this year. We need to keep the streak going against William & Mary on Saturday because after that they stretch run will be difficult and when we find out truly what this team can do. At Drexel, at Hofstra, vs. Delaware, at Charleston and at UNC-W are all potential losses in our last eight games. I think we have to win Saturday and go a minimum of 5-3 in that stretch (which also includes Hampton, at William & Mary and a solid offense in NC A&T) to have a chance at being a top 4 seed.

I think Nick and Ryan can't get open looks for themselves. Both of them, and our whole team, is just more dangerous when passing is flowing and we are sharing the ball. This was done at a much higher level last year, but there have been small glimpses of it this year (mostly against Hofstra and a little against Penn, I didn't see UMass so maybe it happened there too).