Tiger93

Agreed. I might have read the previous post from someone else wrong, but my post was a response saying we hadn't (and I am paraphrasing) come out played with desperation all year. We came out ready to play in all of the games I listed. In December, we came to play for a good part of the Clemson game, and parts of first halfs of the Northern Iowa and Navy games. Outside of that December was awful. The second half of the College of Charleston game was more like the personality of the team. By no means did they play great, but there was some fight in the team. I hope they can carry that mentality into the Drexel game. I think that was what everyone meant, but it was stated as if we had not played well all year. More often than not we have not played well, but we do have eight wins and this team has had a few moments this season. I am holding onto the fact that if May can develop during the season and we can see more effort and consistency overall this team we can be a solid to good CAA team. By no means, does that meet the lofty expectations we all had, but to me we have to take small steps to dig our way out of the crappy hole we have put ourselves throughout December.

I didn't see the UMass game, but they must have at least played decent in that game. They came out and played pretty well for 30 minutes of the Penn game, probably a good 25 minutes of the Clemson game and for a good part of the second half of the College of Charleston game. They haven't play a full good game that I can think of (I didn't see the UMass game), but give them some credit they have played well at times this year. Of course, the UMass and Penn games were with Gibson.

I completely agree with this criticism, but you can't put it all on Skerry. Outside of beating St. John's when I was a freshman in 1993, Louisville and West Virginia in 1994 and I guess Temple and Oregon State in other years, this program hasn't produced very many big wins with Truax (not fair to include him since he actually won three of those), Jaskulski, Hunt, Kennedy or Skerry. We haven't made a conference tournament final, period, since 1992. That list doesn't really produce a high bar and I completely understand the point that we should demand better, but Skerry has consistently been the best we have had to this point, at least since Truax. I trust Eigenbrot will evaluate what happens this year into what he demands from Skerry and the program as a whole, and I do believe Skerry has tried to hold himself to a high standard. We all agree it is not good enough until we get there, and I think Skerry and Eigenbrot would be right there with us in that sentiment. What we need to do to get there is where the discussions can go a lot of different ways, but we will have plenty of time to talk about that later. For now, I am just hoping some of the passion and balanced play we had in the second half on Saturday is the norm and not an aberration.

I am not a big fan of moral victories. We continued our crappy play of the second half against Navy, Northern Iowa (second half mostly) and Bryant right into the majority of the first half against College of Charleston. Some good things I saw in the second half against CofC is this team finally started winning some 50-50 battles for loose balls, Charles Thompson hit the offensive glass (although he gave up his share too), Timberlake started hitting some shots and although Holden's decision-making was downright awful at times he also gave us some good by making some spark plays to bring us back into the game. By no means is this the dominant CAA team we thought we were getting this year and this is obviously disappointing, but if they can actually put together an effort and intensity level similar to the second half against College of Charleston I do think this can be a top 3-4 team in the conference. That is not good enough based on expectations, but I do think this can still be a good team. Being in-person at Northern Iowa and Bryant this team looked tired, annoyed with each other and sloppy. At least in the second half against CofC, sloppy would probably be the only one of those adjectives I would apply. Let's remember that last year, despite our record, we won some really ugly games in the CAA. I think if we can come with that collective team mentality there is still more good than bad left in this season. I have no idea what that translates into in the CAA Tournament given our bad history, but we have to build a good foundation to have any chance at all. I actually disagree a little bit with what was said about the lineup to end the game. Conway has not hit a pressure shot all year and he is too small to get off his shot unless he is wide open until proven otherwise. At least Russell is capable of getting this own shot (even though they aren't always great). I think the biggest issue with both Gibson and Paar being hurt (yes, I think he is small key too) is that we have less bodies and since we have no stars the more depth we can have the fresher our players can be down the stretch. I feel like that is what Skerry wants to do, and without a good player (Gibson) and a serviceable big man (Paar) it creates more of a load for the others to carry. I also disagree with those that say we need more from Timberlake and Holden. Guess what, we are not getting it if the other players don't step up. We had five players in double figures against CofC. May had a very efficient 10 pts on 4FG attempts. The other four (Russell, Holden, Timberlake and Thompson) had 11, 12, 11 and 11 field goal attempts. Distributed scoring is the only way we are going to win unless we catch Timberlake on one of his 3-4 hot shooting nights that he has every year. Holden is really the only true first-team all-conference player with his versatility (when he is right and making good decisions). The rest of these guys are very good role players. When everyone plays their role and there is cohesion this can still be a very good team, but until I see it more that feels more like an aberration than the norm like it was last year. Mat, your assessment on Nolan Jr. and Gibson are spot-on. It is not that they are superstars, but they let Timberlake and Thompson especially paly within their roles. We saw in 2020 that when they those two (and even Gibson) try to do more they can't carry the team, and I think they have proven that again this year. I still really like Timberlake and Thompson because they have stayed all four years and seem to really like the program. I love rooting for them, but they have their limits. I said this last week and I think we all mostly agree on here. May's growth has the most potential from now to the end of the season. I also think we can find more ways to get Conway open, which is the main skill he brings to the team for now (maybe he will gain more confidence as the year progresses). When he gets open he is dangerous and his two threes sparked this team against CofC. Even Hicks hitting two jumpers made CofC at least have to think about him defensively. We saw none of this in the previous 3-4 games. With Gibson likely out, we need the coaches to lock in on what they really want/expect from each player realistically. There aren't many who are going outperform their roles, but when they play hard collectively and this team does still have potential to be pretty good.

Any news on Chase Paar? Biekeu has been alright at times, but we need to have as many bodies as we can inside to keep Thompson fresh and hopefully out of foul trouble in conference play. I am hoping Thompson can have an effort similar to last year when he blocked six shots against College of Charleston, but they are obviously a much better team this year. I was hoping it might take them two years to get going, but it looks like the transfer portal helped get them on the fast path. Although, the point, I think it was TowsonTigers2012 made, about them leaving the state of South Carolina once (and that was North Carolina) is a good one. I am worried after being in-person at the last two games and not seeing very good overall energy, but I think despite the negativity Towson can still turn things around for the better with the players we have. They just need to start figuring out to play better as a collective team. It feels like this year's team is still searching for an identity, which hopefully conference play will give them a chance to embrace and/or figure out.

I am kind of in between the feeling of excitement for conference play and negativity for the way the last couple of weeks have unfolded. I am excited for conference play and this team is still good enough to do well in the CAA and get a solid seed in the conference tournament. However, since the last 8-10 minutes of the Navy game this team has been on a really negative spiral. A lot of mistakes, frustration, negative body language and very sloppy play in these last three games. I attended both the Northern Iowa and Bryant games in-person and what stuck out to me just a complete lack of cohesion right now. These guys are all trying to some degree, but they are frustrated and right now they just look like a bunch of individuals who are trying to get through their own stuff rather than a cohesive team. This is disheartening (I am sure especially them) with all of the experience that was coming back, but every season has its own journey. I think the biggest challenge for everyone involved is to get back to the positive mindset they brought into the season, start executing and cut down on all of the dumb plays that are coming when they are pressing too hard. From a player standpoint, we all talk about the lack of point guard play in this program. While Terry Nolan Jr. was not always a true point guard, it felt like the ball moved around and we made a lot of extra passes when things were going well last year. Right now, it feels like we are stuck in the quick decision-making process of not making the extra pass on one possession and then making one-too many passes on the next possession and this is creating a lot of mistakes. Cam was particularly guilty of this against Bryant. He had a bad game overall, but was actually solid during some parts of the game. He just seemed to make the wrong decision when it came to passing and shooting on 6-7 different occasions. He had six steals in that game, but also missed six free throws (2-8). If he makes 3-4 different decisions we probably have a chance to beat Bryant, who frankly didn't play any better than we did. I think the most frustrating part of all of this is in the last three games none of our opponents have played at a very high level and we have just let them rip the game away from us in key stretches. That was not the personality of this team last year, and it has been disturbing trend against what has not been a very high quality of opponents. There were three very small positives from the Bryant game. Charles Thompson who punished Bryant, who wasn't physical enough to play with him. His offensive game is still limited, but the dude fights on every possession and gives everything he has despite a fairly limited offensive game. I also thought Nygal Russell was fairly solid in that game. On the freshman conversation, this may be misguided but it feels like Christian May could be given a little more rope. He isn't a high-level difference maker but he does feel like a player who could make a a decent jump in this season if he is allowed to make some mistakes. The other thing we can all keep hoping for is the return of Jason Gibson and Chase Paar (we could have used him against some of the bodies Northern Iowa was throwing at us when they were +14 in the paint). Both are role players, but they do make this team deeper. As has been said, we don't really have a stud difference maker on this team. However, I do feel like it can be a deep roster of productive players when healthy. After watching this team play Navy, Northern Iowa and Bryant, the most frustrating thing is it seemed on the surface that nothing really changed in how they played or what they did in the three losses. Conference play is a new season, and hopefully they break out of this negative spiral.

Well, coming from a guy who started two programs and is looking at the fact that Towson hasn't been the worse team in the conference, it is pretty understandable that he doesn't think this will be a rebuild. I would agree. It is not like this program has been a joke the last 5-7 years. It just has done a very poor job of taking the next step of being a consistent playoff team. Especially considering it had a lot to build off in the early 2010s. To me Shinnick's charge is making this program a consistent FCS Playoff team and then building it to the point where we can make final 8, final four or even national champions. He certainly provided capable of that at West Florida, and that feels like the No. 1 reason Eigonbrot hired him. This is not a rebuild, but it actually might be harder because if we are 4-7 next year we are all going to be pretty hard on him because we have lived with decent/mediocre football for a while. We need it to get better quickly. I don't expect a real answer out of anyone regarding FCS or whatever future plans, because all we can do is be forward-thinking and plan two or three steps ahead so when the next dominos fall we are ready. FCS will not be much worse until Power 5 takes its ball and leaves the Group of Five. To me, at that point a lot or programs will have to figure out what resources they want to put into football. I also think there are programs in D2 that may jump in and make the FCS better long-term as the shuffle continues. NDSU was D2 about 18 years ago (and didn't finish the transition until 2008) and so was South Dakota State. However, there is a reckoning coming in regards to how much money people want to invest in football. I am interested to see if the new FBS playoff format is used to further alienate the Group of Five or if college football actually wants to incorporate them in a small way to provide a March Madness underdog element (which clearly doesn't work quite as well in football). I am going on record that I am pretty sure this hire won't be a shitshow. Shinnick seems pretty grounded in his principles, and it feels like Eigonbrot has some good reasoning for bringing him here. What it could easily be is mediocrity and not being able to get over the hump or get momentum, which would be much of the same and very disappointing. That would not completely surprise me. However, I do feel like Shinnick has the background to at least get this going in the right direction. As much as people bitch about Same Old Towson and where this program has been recently, I think we can say that each of the last three coaches have significantly moved the ball to make this program better during their tenure. Now having given Gordy and Rob credit for their roles in doing that, both of them also reached a point where it was absolutely time to go to move the program forward. It will be interesting to see if Shinnick can continue that path of moving the level of the program up while he is here.

I think the conversation about recruiting and staff assembly is ultimately more interesting than looking back at the past accomplishments, but one thing I do find interesting when you look at Shinnick's time at UNC-Pembroke is he started the program back up had .676 winning percentage (50-24) and they made two NCAA D2 Tournament appearances. Since he left, they have made one tournament appearance and had a .435 winning percentage (37-48). I think one thing that I am always interesting in coaching hires is has the coach won at a place where others have trouble winning and/or taken jobs where they have had to create success rather than walking into it. My guess is West Florida put some good resources into being good in D2 and being in Florida doesn't hurt. However, I just looked at the history of D2 National Championships and it appears West Florida's national title in 2019 and its appearance in the championship game in 2017 are the only ones every in D2 history by a college/university from the state of Florida. Of course, there are so many D1 Florida schools and they generally aim higher than trying to be good at the D2 level, but it is still an impressive accomplishment as far as I can tell. Like I said it is hard to have complete context to judge the hire, but I do like that in general the two places Shinnick has been a head coach he has been a program builder. It will be different at this level, but I am glad we hired someone with experience doing this because we do need someone who understands this. Rob took as to the highest level of the FCS, and I think at minimum I would like to see Shinnick make us a consistent playoff team that makes some runs. What that looks like in the modern landscape of college football over the next 3-5 years I have no idea.

It felt like we weren't playing with much urgency the last 7-8 minutes of the game and in OT. There were several occasions where we were one stop and score from pushing this to a double-digit game, but we just couldn't executive consistently today. Navy kept executing their stuff and was pretty consistent (not great, but consistent) down the stretch and we weren't. What was most disheartening about this game is it felt like we took our foot off the petal and assumed we had the game won. Navy really made us pay for that mentality. I agree that we don't really have a good go-to scorer, but we do have enough options on this team to score at a decent level. I may be crazy, but as much as I love him any time Thompson gets the ball and it isn't either in a two-man game with Holden or an offensive rebound the offense seems to get bogged down. Timberlake is in a funk and he will get better at some point. My main worry as someone mentioned is we just don't have the scorer on the team to let Timberlake the be the complementary scorer/shooter he should be. I said this last year, and I will say it again. Timberlake and Thompson should not be primary offensive options. They are very good role players. With Sylla, Russell and Conway (and even May and Biekeu, who played great today in limited minutes) we have a deeper team with more solid role players. We just don't have anyone as others have said that can take the ball in a big spot and score on their own. While I think some are being overcritical on here, I do worry about where we are at this point in the season in that we are not getting better and the same patterns keep coming up. Hopefully in the next two games before conference play we can get some of that straightened out. I said last year when had a healthy Nolan Jr. and a fully healthy roster we were a team that was ready to win the CAA Conference and Tournament. Without Nolan Jr at full capacity (and Thompson eventually banged up), we were a team hoping to win the conference. With what we have seen from Hofstra, Charleston and UNC-Wilmington early on we look like a team hoping to be good enough to be in the mix. That is difficult to see right now with the expectations we all have for this team. We are only 11 games into the season, and there is still time for guys like May, Biekeu and Conway to evolve, Sylla and Russell to get more comfortable, Gibson and/or Hicks to get healthy, and Timberlake to catch fire. However, we are long way from where need to be to reach our goals.

I think it is pretty hard to call this a good or bad hire without knowing all of the options that are available and what the ultimate plans for this program might be. The point that someone else brought up that Shinnick has built two programs from scratch fairly quickly and effectively is a good one. I know we are not building from scratch, but at some point in the 3-5 years we will have to shift one way or another in levels and/or conferences. It feels like we had a solid AD and a football coach who has planned and guided teams from scratch to high levels of success. That seems like the right blend of experiences for the journey that awaits. I also have a high level of respect for anyone who guides a program to national championship at any level. Especially if they aren't just given the keys to the best and most funded program (full admission, I have no idea where West Florida fits in this equation). West Florida was third in the nation scoring this year and made the national semifinals this year. In 2017, they made the national title game and 2019 as was mentioned before the won it all (there was a stat mentioned somewhere that it matched the quickest that a program has won a national title after being started). Also, NDSU was pretty much D2 until their full transition ended in 2008, and they have been terrorizing FCS (and for that matter FBS) shortly after that timing. If Shinnick can coach, I don't really really think it matters what his age, recruiting background and or level he is coming from that this point. I am looking forward to hearing from and getting to know about Coach Shinnick

I know this is dumb to talk about this early, but the CAA has 4 teams (Charleston 3, Hofstra 9, UNC-W 44 and Towson 66) in the top 70 of the RPI right now. Only the ACC (8), SEC (7), Big 12 (6), WCC (5), Big Ten (5) and Mountain West (4) have more or the same at this point. This will obviously change, especially with the awful bottom of our conference, but just worth noting early on in the season. I could probably do a similarly pessimistic stat about the bottom of the conference, but I will keep it positive for now. Feels like we are rough a little more than halfway or halfway through the non-conference schedules, and so far it is good to see that the top teams in our conference have scheduled well and done a solid job of taking care of business. Still, a lot more to go and has been pointed out Towson has some really tough games coming up and is still trying to round into form.

I am not talking about a lot of wins, I am talking about quality wins. I agree ultimately the tournament is the main goal, but to me the three days in March thing is a limited conversation. If we have a good team and we show we can beat teams like Bryant, Northern Iowa, UMass, Navy and Clemson (I know we won't beat all of them and we have to play a lot better to beat the ones we haven't played yet). The conference holds you back in some ways, but there are a lot of things we can do out of conference to be ranked higher (which can lead to being seeded better if you make it) and that is just as much part of the conversation of holding this program to higher standard as the just win three games in March is I believe. I will stop beating a dead horse, because I know even though in a lot of ways we are saying he same things we will never agree on the principle that if a team wins the right games out of conference and takes care of business in a dominant way in this conference it puts you in better position to be a team that can have NCAA Tournament success. Of course, I realize just getting there is the goal first, but it would be a lot more fun with the type of resume we had last year if we could actually have a shot to win the first game. It also would help us built up our overall reputation in a way that just making it once as a 15 or 16 seed will not do. I want to hold our program to that standard, and will continue to do so. First thing is first on all of our minds, and that is can this team get back to the high level that we were playing at last year. The way May and Conway played yesterday offered some encouragement, but I just haven't seen the high level we reached last year when Nolan Jr. and Cam were playing at a high level. It just made things so much easier for Charles Thompson and Nick Timberlake. As I said last year, this team is a lot better when we don't need those guys to put up big numbers, but they can do so as complements to other options. Cam did his part this past weekend, but we need others to step up to make this a more well-rounded team. I think we can get there, but we aren't really close at this point. We are still good though, and it will be fun to see where this team goes this year. I am already planning trips to ChiTown for the Northern Iowa game and possibly Rhode Island for the Bryant game. It is fun to actually want to go see this team play. It hasn't always been easy to have that pride, despite all our deep commitment to rooting for this program.

I can't disagree more. I know an at-large big is a pretty remote shot, but the purpose of the first part of the season when you have a good team no matter what is to stack up the resume to try to at least give yourself a shot. I don't think we have a shot, but if you look at Charleston's resume and their current rating they are in that spot and that is really what we should all aspire to do as well if we can. I agree that our conference is so mediocre that putting together a resume like Charleston's requires that you only lose two or less conference games to hope for an at-large. They also need to hope teams like Richmond, Colorado State, Virginia Tech and Davidson do some heavy-lifting for them and play well in their respective conferences. Heck, Kent State was very close to beating Houston a few days after they lost to Charleston. That would have been a huge help to their NET/RPI. My point being is this stuff is not irrelevant to our conference, but until somewhat does it again like the VCU/George Mason days it seems like a reach. It really takes the perfect storm of all the positive factors coming together and very little margin of error. Hofstra and Charleston have put themselves in good position so far to take a crack it. Our loss to Fairfield pretty much made it impossible (if it ever was possible, which it probably wasn't) for us to do it, but it is still worth building up a good resume. The other part of it is whoever makes the NCAA Tournament from the automatic bid is not condemned to a 15 or 16 seed because they come from the CAA. Our resume last year would have gotten us a 13 or a 12. These games are all very relevant to the entire puzzle of our season. I do agree that the bottom of this conference is such crap this year, that it makes it really hard to keep an RPI/Net ranking high, and it allows for zero slip up. However, the top of this conference is getting better and I do predict Monmouth and Stony Brook will put their weight and be good additions in 2-3 years.

First, I want to acknowledge that this is stupid exercise and it is way too early to do this. However, in the same breath I like to constantly monitor the RPI and NET to see what the trends are saying, and since I don't see the NET out yet here is what we have in the RPI area so far. https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/rpi/ Obviously these will fluctuate wildly, but I think it is important to keep our eye on, and we clearly have two and probably four more good out of conference RPI opportunities left (I have to believe Clemson and UNI will shoot up later if for no other reason their conference quality). Towson sits at a very respectable 67 as of November 28. Our out of conference opponents RPI so far are: 30 - Bryant, 51 - Navy, 59 - UMass (win), 73 - Coppin State (win), 139 - South Alabama (win), 142 - Penn (win), 187 - UNC-G (win), 203 - Clemson, 244 - Fairfield (loss), 275 - Mercer (win), 301 - Northern Iowa, 319 - Albany (win), 350 - Long Island Here is the rest of our conference, and I think some on here are not respecting the top enough. However, the bottom is pretty bad so far. I expect Delaware and Drexel to move up somewhat, and maybe Northeastern, but the rest might be a lost cause. Rank Team 2 Charleston 9 Hofstra 43 UNC-Wilmington 222 Delaware 226 William & Mary 240 Drexel 298 Monmouth 304 Northeastern 320 Hampton 339 NC A&T 351 Elon 363 Stony Brook

I agree it is definitely fun, but my main point is that it was about as difficult a draw as could have gotten if we wanted to try to pull a second-round upset. My original point is that always sending us to a program like Penn State that is one of the best in the history of the sport was a regional quirk and it would possible produce a better opportunity. However, Texas is probably the most difficult second round draw possible. Of course, Georgia is an extremely challenging first round draw that can be overlooked. Still, I think this team showed what is capable of against Pittsburgh earlier this year and I look forward to seeing what they do in the Texas Regional.

I was going to say that I actually thought the new system would benefit Towson's seeding because the committee wouldn't default and just send the Tigers to Penn State. However, your analysis proved correct with the match up we ended up having against Texas. Still, pretty cool that Towson was a top 32 national seed. Great accomplishment by the program. Hopefully they can take out Georgia and get the matchup against the Longhorns.

I watched the entire Coppin State-Georgetown game, and if they had hit their shots towards the end of the second half they probably would have won. Although, Georgetown may have the worst perimeter defense in the nation. It also jumps out to me that they beat Navy who appears to be solid.

I am overlysimplifying things, but it really felt like the inability to build off our national championship game appearance boiled down to two main things. Rob was never able to replicate the dominate offensive line we had for that run, which I think almost if not as much as Terrance West was responsible for that run. Also, we had way too many misses on transfer/recruited QBs. Enders and Athens both did a nice job of being high level game mangers for very good rushing offenses, and Flacco was a human highlight reel. Other than that, there were just way too many misses on that position. It always felt like we had talent on our defense, but could never build a dominant unit with some of the schemes we employed. Our special teams was hit or miss at best throughout Rob's tenure. If we had better talent around Flacco, we probably could have made a better run. However, what Rob did with not only West, but that offensive line should not be discounted. I was in Baton Rouge when our offensive line pushed around No 3 LSU for most of the first half and it is still one of the most impressive things this program has done.

I don't think there is any right or wrong recipe when it comes to hiring a stepping stone type coach or someone who would stay and be loyal. There are always a variety of choices that lead down each of those paths, along with a variety of paths of commitment we might take. In my opinion, as we have talked about the Power 5 conference stuff has changed the dynamic of what our level of FCS will be. If things continue to play out the way they have, the non-power 5 could be a strong version of FCS football, the good FCS can be jumping into that or being on the outskirts of it, and the current FCS that we reside in might become more of a D-2 level of football. Power 5 is obviously way above our scope, but I am interested if we hire a coach and show enough commitment in resources to aspire to where the JMUs have gone and the Delaware's are going. It will take a pretty big swing here to do that. It is truly incredible that we have had three coaches (I think I am right on this) in our football program since 1972. I give all of them props for moving the program to the next level in their own way, and no matter that criticism about West being a big part of getting us to the title game Rob led the charge and in showing Towson football where it can go. He just didn't do a great job of keeping us there. If the next coach can continue that incremental build and make us a consistent winner and playoff team at a high level (whatever that shakes out to be in this modern NIL, conference shift every three years) world of football I will be happy. It would also give me a lot of confidence in Eigenbrot if he can get someone at the top of his list (which I hope he already has in his head) quickly (like 2-3 weeks at the most). I know it may be unrealistic, but I do think good ADs plan for this stuff all the time no matter how good or bad the coach is doing.

I was at the Penn game last Sunday and I was wondering about that play. An overzealous Penn player dove for the ball while the Quakers were making a run and clipped Gibson's legs. He looked noticeably affected by it, and I know he has had back issues in the past. Hopefully, it ends up being a minor issue because we need all of our parts to be an effective team with our thin depth at this point.

Good call. A lot of room to spare on the under.

Under 129?

Agreed. We played the opener yesterday, and have two more games this week. Let's at least get that sample set under our belts before going overboard with pronouncements. On the other hand this is a message board, so I do think some of what we are talking through i.e. rotation depth, athleticism, size, consistency and effort are all worthwhile topics, despite being knee-jerk reactions on very little data.

Quite a pronouncement after one exhibition game and a season opener. No doubt, there were a lot of concerns and while I always happy to win there is a ton to work on moving forward. I think once the season starts preseason predictions go out the window. Based on the opening night, seems like Hofstra was pretty solid in its win against Princeton, Charleston's win against Chattanooga was solid, and UNC-Wilmington seemed like the stuck with No. 1 UNC for a decent part of the game. This all means very little as to actual conference play, but I do think all three of those teams are formidable opposition even if we play better. Should make for an interesting season. I think your first description of ugly game is the best one to describe this opener. They have a lot of ways to get better in the two games this week. Hopefully, we will see some of those put into play.

Only the first game, but I was wondering about playing only seven players as well. I saw in the quotes that Mat posted that Skerry referenced the Benimon teams having a pretty small bench. I just don't think this team is built that way, and we are going to need 9-10 guys playing productive minutes. There is no star, but a bunch of quality players who really clicked at times last year. Again, only one game but one of my concerns going into this year was having a player like Nolan Jr. who helped us move the ball around, apply pressure effectively and was another player who could catch fire from three-point land. he was so inconsistent last year, but when our team was clicking it was when he was playing well. There are hopefully still candidates to do this, but it worries me that none of them played even a minute last night. As several others have mentioned I worry about getting beat up physically by other teams and not being super athletic. There are guys who didn't play last night that I think can help with that. I also think it would allow our top guys to stay fresher. On to the good, we have to be pretty happy with Sylla and Russell's debut. I always worry about transfers and how they will translate to the team. Last year, we hit the jackpot with Nolan Jr. and Holden. Hopefully Sylla and Russell can be consistently good this year, and Thompson, Gibson and Timberlake can play in roles where they can do what they do well and not have to be overly featured in the offense. Thompson, Gibson and Timberlake all can be really good offensive players within the flow of the game, but things don't go well when any of them goes outside of the flow to force their shots. I think we will be fine, but definitely questions about our depth. What is the status of Chase Paar? I know he wasn't great last year, but he was a body who could at least make the other team work. It also feels like Chris Biekeu needs to get some time, and I was surprised he didn't play one minute. Obviously, we have talked quite a bit about Conway heading into the season and it sounds like he has to work on some defensive stuff to get decent minutes. However, he seemed like another player that should at least get 5-10 minutes in an opener. I trust Skerry has a plan with these guys and understands we can't go with an iron seven all year. In the meantime, as many alluded to, UMass will be a very difficult game. I will be at the Palestra on Sunday and am looking forward to seeing the team play so I can wash out the bad taste of my last in-person viewing of the team in the semifinals of last year's conference tournament.