Tiger93

Towson is 139 on Kenpom, which isn't that far away. It is funny that our logo is included on the tease. We aren't one of the best 101 teams now, and probably will have trouble doing so this year, but on top of the main goal of making the NCAA Tournament being a top 80-90 team annually would be something I would like to accomplish from a stability standpoint. I do realize it would be extremely difficult. Just for a reference point, Charleston was 52 on this list and 97th on KenPom. Drexel is 107 and Hofstra is 113 in KenPom. That all means nothing, but I always find it interesting to look at before games get started. https://kenpom.com/. Colorado is 31st on it and 29th on KenPom. Not an easy way to get things started this season.

You would think it would leak out from LaSalle's ending. Didn't (or don't) we play James Madison in one as well?

The website story says we clinched a top 2 spot. A loss and Monmouth win ties the two teams on points. We tied with them, would be equal on wins, and I have no idea what the goal difference is between the two teams (or if that is even the next tiebreaker). However, I am guessing they are locked into the the No. 2 spot if they stated it so definitively in the story. https://towsontigers.com/news/2023/10/19/womens-soccer-womens-soccer-clinches-top-two-seed-in-caa-championships-with-3-0-win-at-william-mary.aspx

The standings seem pretty packed 1 through 6. Not as good as last year, but still sitting at 84 in the RPI is impressive playing in this conference. Towson 8-2 15-5 Delaware 7-3 14-4 Northeastern 7-3 9-7 Campbell 7-3 10-10 Hofstra 6-4 16-5 William & Mary 6-4 11-9

Tough loss, but it still looks like we mostly control our own destiny to win the regular-season (or at least tie for first). Here are the standings and remaining schedule Hofstra - 8-1-1 - 25 pts (tied Charleston, lost to William & Mary) - remaining schedule - at Monmouth, at Towson Towson - 7-1-2 - 23 pts (tied Delaware and Monmouth, lost to Northeastern) - remaining schedule - at William & Mary, vs. Hofstra Monmouth - 7-1-2 - 23 pts (tied Towson and William & Mary, lost to Northeastern) - remaining schedule - vs. Hofstra, vs. Campbell Northeastern - 6-1-3 - 21 pts (tied Drexel, tied Delaware, tied Campbell, lost to Hofstra) - vs. Stony Brook, at William & Mary Other contenders for seeds 4-6 William & Mary - 5-2-3 - 18 pts Stony Brook - 4-4-3 - 15 pts UNCW - 4-4-2 - 14 pts Six teams make the conference tournament, first and second place teams host first round and semis, and highest remaining host the championship. https://caasports.com/tournaments/?id=207

Draw between the last two unbeatens in league play against Monmouth yesterday. That season finale at home against Hofstra, who is second in the conference, on October 22 seems to be matchup that is looming on the horizon. Need to take care of business with the next three games against vs. UNC-W, at Northeastern and at William and Mary first. https://towsontigers.com/news/2023/10/5/womens-soccer-womens-soccer-battles-monmouth-to-scoreless-draw-on-thursday-night.aspx Standings are packed pretty tight among the top five teams right now. Towson - 6-0-2 (20 pts) Hofstra - 6-1-1 (19 pts) Monmouth - 5-0-2 (17 pts) Northeastern - 4-1-3 (15 pts) William & Mary - 4-1-2 (14 pts)

Fair enough. I mainly took issue with laying that at the AD's feet right now. The guy has been here for a year-and-a-half and seems like he is trying hard to get us up and running on some of the areas where we are behind the times. We will find out in a couple of years how the football coach hire works, and I do think he is laying the groundwork for future scenarios. However, I certainly can't argue against the fact that schools like Charleston and Delaware have more appeal than us in general for what they would bring to a conference. I do think being the second-largest public university in Maryland and our geographic location can marginally help us in the future shuffle of mid-major conferences, but not anywhere higher where we all would like to be. We are hurt by the lack of recent evidence of high-level success in hoops and football, but I think there is potential for us to be good at the right time in the next 2-4 years. That is the optimist in me, because we have been pretty solid in hoops lately and there is small evidence that we are capable of big things at our level of football. Even if that evidence is over a decade old and growing mold on it

I am not saying he has done anything earth-shattering, but what specifically has Eigonbrot done since March 2022 that gives you insight that he isn't qualified to try to tackle some of these issues, other than the tired retort of "Same Old Towson"? I am not specifically accusing you of this, but I just think we need to see what the next move is before we put forward the same assumptions from the past. I had enough data on Tim Leonard to not trust his vision or decision-making. I just don't have enough information to blindly cast the same judgements Eigonbrot's way yet.

Maybe not, but it would be better for the product if they just played each other and had high level games for week-to-week. It would also be a way to truly control the whole pie on their own terms. My point is they don't really need any of these other FBS team, which makes them irrelevant. Those teams are at the mercy of the big boys, and while you are right that they will probably remain on their schedule they can change that any time they want. That is the type of thing that would have a chain reaction all the way down every level of football.

I suppose that is true, I just think right now that the lower FBS tier teams survive financially by being in the orbit of the big conferences. It is very possible in the future that those conference take their ball and go honor. For instance, it really makes no sense for those schools to pay others the fee you talked about when they could just scheduled the 50-60 big boys every week. I know most coaches would never accept that, but it is a question that needs to be asked. If they don't get the payouts or the trickle-down publicity from those big schools, their product becomes watered down. This will trickle down to all levels if and when it happens. I am not saying it will, but whatever the big conferences decided to change in the next 5-7 years (or possibly 3-5 years), and some big change is coming, it will spill over to everyone else. College football is often sighted as one of the few sports that keeps growing in TV popularity, but the assumption is that it is all those 50-60 schools. That assumption is probably right, but we will find out if they can create a better system or mess things up. We will also find out how the spill over of those decisions affect everyone else.

I still think all the schools that move up are just going to be FBS JV once the dust settles in 4-5 years and the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 are finished with all of their chess moves. It is only a matter of time until the big boys lock the door on possible national title aspirations for anyone outside of their money club (they have already done it, but just not officially). That will make all of the conferences that are fighting to be FBS, basically FCS+. I imagine that will leave us with a hodge-podge of good FCS schools that don't want to spend the money to go up and ambitious D-2 schools who are ready to do more. Doesn't seem like a very financially feasible place to be, but outside of South Dakota State and North Dakota State (maybe Montana when things are going well) what others schools don't mind being at this level because their fanbase is so good the conference or level doesn't matter unless they get a lottery ticket into the big conferences. College football is the one American sport that would really be even better with a promotion-relegation European soccer model, but obviously there is too much money for that to ever happen. As far as where that leaves us. I really think unless we do anything bold it is pretty much where we are with the group of teams we are with now. Delaware really feels like the the last school in the CAA that could move up, and frankly I am wondering what took so long. The big question isn't what is Towson's future, it is what is the future of all the teams that like having football, could never afford to really be current FBS-level type schools, want to give out scholarships, but have no shot to be part of the high-level NIL nonsense in the FBS. I have no idea, but we probably fit somewhere similar to where we are now.

The Washington State Tournament with Washington State, UC Irvine and especially BYU should be an interesting one. I expected to beat South Carolina once, and was hoping we could sweep them. Theoretically based on what we have done the last couple of years, and what they are projected to do we are a better team. This team has built up expectations to crazy levels at this point. We can do that from the outside, but from the inside to have a dominant run like they have had I am sure they are very process-oriented about getting better. There are so many parts to volleyball for a team to be synched up that it seems tough to play well the first week or two, event when you have a ton of experience. The Washington State Tournament is interesting, because I believe we will have seven matches of player under our belt, and will be facing solid competition. We had seven matches under our belt entering the Pittsburgh Tournament last year when played that amazing match, and also grabbed a solid NET win over Bowling Green.

If there is a year where Skerry has to give-in to youthful mistakes and play freshmen more to help the team have a chance of winning later in the season we seem more equipped talent wise than usual to do it.

Today's game is at 3 p.m. on ESPN+. The play USC-Upstate tomorrow along with Southern Illinois and then play USC-Upstate again on Sunday. Here is the preseason poll, which we are predictably picked 10 of 11. Stony Brook adds a CWS participant to the league. Of course, that was a while ago. https://caasports.com/news/2023/2/7/charleston-chosen-as-overwhelming-favorite-in-2023-caa-baseball-race.aspx

Agreed on Paar. He is solid inside depth that I think can be serviceable for us off the bench. In this day and age of kids transferring left and right, it is great that despite his injuries he has stuck with it and will have a chance to be part of this program on the floor again this year. This seems like it could be a very physical and athletic team. To beat a dead horse my main worry is where the shooting comes from. If we can answer that question, my expectations will go up quickly for this team.

Yeah, that is about where I stand right now. I refuse to give into year over year negativity now that we have actually developed some standard of quality the last two years (I hope it can carry over now that the transfer portal lets you do that more easily). However, there will always be questions about how this coaching staff does against high-mid and top level teams until they beat one and of course the elephant in the room that is tournament performance. Also, Kelsey's Charleston program officially arrived last year and they will be hard to knock off the perch for anyone. Even with the same coach, every year has some new players for our roster, different players on the other teams and a number of questions marks that remain to be answered. This roster looks to have some pretty good upside, but several glaring questions three-point/outside shooting and how all of these different parts will mesh together. Skerry seems to be getting better at this, but I will say the stretch at the end of non-conference last year was absolutely brutal. Hopefully, this team won't go through that. I also think we all need a chance to take our breath with all of the crazy transfer portal movement, and take stock of what the other teams have done in our conference. Just by quick recollection, it seems like Charleston of course did really well in the transfer portal and that Delaware and UNC-W seemed to have solid transfer portal returns. I do have to say Jones feels like one of the top 5 transfers in the conference, and Watson could be top 10 (Tarke could be on outskirts of that list too). I am even somewhat intrigued with what Sulaiman could be. I think it is good transfer haul, although I don't like that we had to steal three of the four away from their initial commitments (but I guess that is current landscape). Unfortunately, it probably lacks some shooting (and possibly playmaking that Holden gave us). This will be a talented and athletic team, but it will probably need to evolve as the season goes along in many ways, and as many have pointed out some of the freshmen contributions will likely be key to just how good this team is this year. Hopefully that is where the Canada trip helps give us a headstart, although a lot of teams seemed like they were more to the level of the D-3 team we play this year then some of our other opponents.

Looks like he has a decent shooting stroke, but similar to Conway I see no evidence that he can hit threes at high percentage unless he is wide open. Honestly that is true for a lot of players. Conway's percentages are much higher and he is clearly the better shooter of the two, but if Tarke can get open looks I think he can raise some of his three-point percentages this year. He should have more talent around him to get better shots. Although, we haven't exactly seen great shot selection from players in Skerry's offense at times. One of the things that is exciting watching film of both Jones and Tarke is they both seem like they can finish around the basket. It drove me crazy how bad we were at this last year. Film doesn't tell everything, but it would be nice to have a higher percentage of paint touches finished. Of course, what I am saying is anecdotal and I don't have the stats to back it up, but I feel like we all talked about it quite a bit last year. I actually wanted Tarke earlier in the process as the options dwindled, so I think we did a good job to get him. By the way, Marko Maletic, who I kept mentioning, ended up at Toledo so that was obviously a little out of our realm. It is always hard to figure out who is in our ballpark and not, and it changes every day. I really think the NCAA could organize the NIL/Transfer Portal process in a fan friendly that would actually allow it to benefit college basketball. They are just so far behind in managing the process now. Also, I mean to ask. I assume Tarke wanted to come back because he had talked to us earlier and getting our new assistant who he played for probably clinched it. Do we get him without the new assistant we just hired?

I absolutely agree. Tarke was one of the transfers I wanted back when we were waiting out the laundry list of players. Conway was obviously a higher-rated recruit, but the shooting seemed like his one good skill. He does do that better than Tarke, but Tarke was First-Team All-MEAC in 2021-22 and Second-Team last year. On paper he also looks like a solid scorer and plus defensive player. He also has solid size at 6'4 and pulled down nearly six rebounds a game last year. Seems like he could be a better all-around player than Conway. Unfortunately, we still really needed a knock-down shooter, which Conway was when you left him wide open. This should be a very athletic and good defensive team next year. The offense might be a little dicey.

Glad to see this announcement. I know this was the case a few years back and COVID broke things up, but I hope the conference and schools can be creative with benefits for its fanbases to get the tournament. I know the area around the arena isn't great, but it is obviously a destination city where people should want to come for 2-4 days. The next step for me would be getting it to run from Wednesday-Sunday so people can more easily plan their schedules around it, but I know our TV deal will make that pretty difficult. I was all set to go last year and it fell apart, because the days of the tournament for the top teams mostly interfere with work schedules if you are traveling from out of state or even from Towson where you have to leave work somewhat early with all of the traffic craziness. The more schools can do pre-game gatherings around the Navy Yard, packaged closely with hotel locations and give people transportation to the arena the better. Although, it is pretty easy to get to with the Metro as well. I think there is some potential there, but for anyone to care about this tournament from a general standpoint Charleston will have to continue to raise the level/profile of their program and a couple of schools need to come with him (it would be nice if one of them could be Towson). That is the only way to raise the profile of this league. I know the fanbases aren't that well-supported (or close to this location) around the league, but this arena is about the right size to at least have solid atmosphere if we could get a semifinals and finals full of teams that are having really good seasons.

We played a lot worse at the Baltimore Arena, and I did actually see a decent amount of fans from different schools hanging out the Navy Yard area when I was down there in 2022. Not sure any of the schools in the conference have the right fanbases to pack a tournament venue. That could probably only happen in North Carolina in the right place.

Are they working on a multi-year deal for this, or are they just going to go year-to-year? I liked in years past when I could know in the offseason where it was going to be the following year. Of course, I am guessing I might be in the minority of the general public who care about that.

I knew it was announced as a three-year deal before the 2019-2020 season, but it seemed like last year they waited to confirm it was there for a while. Was that because they were figuring out the skipped year for the contract. Even though it was a three-year deal it has felt up in the air (like I suppose everything thing else) since COVID.

I remember that they used to do it, but we are going on the fifth season in a row of year-to-year decisions on the tournament. If they aren't going to give an area multiple year commitments and try to build it they may as well just do campus sites like a lot of the other mid-tier mid-major conferences do. I wouldn't like that, but it would make more sense than what they are current doing. Also, you are absolutely correct that if they just want to draw they should just move it back to Charleston.

Where the tournament will be played is a good question. I wish they would plan this out in chunks of years instead of doing it year to year.

We did split a regular-season title in 2021-22.