Tiger93

3 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said:

281 in first NET rankings.  5 other caa teams below us with 4 sub 315.  Hofstra, no shock, highest at 67

You beat me to it.

On the good end of things, the CAA is one of only six non-Power Conference leagues to have two or more teams ranked in the top 100 (Sun Belt 2, SoCon 2, Missouri Valley 7, Ivy 3, Conference USA 2, CAA 2). UNC-Wilmington and Drexel should only be helped by their wins this weekend against Kentucky and Villanova respectively. 

On the bad end, the CAA joins seven conferences with seven or more teams sitting at 250 or worse (SWAC 9, Patriot 8, NEC 8, CAA 7, OVC 7, Southland 7, Sun Belt 7). As was stated above, we are one of those teams and that is unacceptable. 

Our losses have come against some pretty solid teams (Colorado 54, Wake 133, Houston 1, North Texas 104, South Dakota State 164). 

Our wins have been against some very lowly ranked teams (Robert Morris 302, Coppin State 358, Morgan State 356)

Our remaining non-conference looks like this: UMass 94, UMBC 309, Bryant 156 (even after beating FAU), Nicholls 199)

Overall, our conference has rankings of Hofstra 67, Delaware 98, UNC-W 120, Drexel 123, College of Charleston 132, Monmouth 145, Northeastern 177, Elon 255, Towson 281, William & Mary 297, Campbell 315, Stony Brook 320, Hampton 334, NC A&T 355. 

At some point in January, I will do average conference ranking for my own amusement. 

Getting ready to make the 3.5 hour drive from Minneapolis in about an hour. I hope it goes better than my trips to Chicago for the Northern Iowa and to Rhode Island for Bryant games last year. If it could match my experience in Philadelphia during the Penn win last year that would be great. 

Looks like we are heading to Chapel Hill. Just did a quick dive into their info. They just lost their first game of the year in the first round of the ACC Tournament at home to Pittsburgh. They are 10-1-8 (yes eight draws in 19 games).

They are averaging over two goals at game at 2.05 (39 overall) and giving up 0.74 goals per game (14 overall). After getting knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2021, they were runners-up last year. Of course, they are women's soccer royalty and have producer several of the greatest players in US Women's Soccer history, including what most would consider the greatest Mia Hamm. Although, they haven't won a national title since 2012. I don't think I realized Anson Dorance is still there, and is coaching his 45th year as head coach of the women's soccer team.

It is possible he has been coaching at UNC longer than some of the parents of our players have been alive. Seems like a fun opportunity. Hopefully, Towson can have a good showing. Wasn't UNC where baseball played in the NCAA Tournament in their only appearance?

Sling TV (Dish) has it as part of their sports package, but I am working tonight and will have to watch it when I get home. 

Also, very cool to see over 1,000 fans in attendance. They all certainly got their moneys worth. The positive vibes that volleyball and women's soccer have provided are very cool to see. Hopefully, this is the start of building something that can continue. What a season!

20 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Covid was a few years ago. The seniors now would be the last class effected. Didn’t happen last month, they shoulda hired more people to be prepared for these. Alas it’s the ncaa

I know, but my main point is COVID is still affecting transfers and eligibility requests. With NIL in play, there are still a lot of people trying to figure out ways to get paid or extend their careers. Makes for a lot of paperwork, and obviously the NCAA hasn't invested in the resources because it doesn't produce revenue and they don't really care about student-athletes. No surprise at all. 

18 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said:

The ncaa really has no authority anymore. Just play him. What are they doing to do? Vacate 10 or so wins?  Do they even know or care who Towson is?  I kid. Sort of. 
But you are 100% correct decisions shouldn’t take this long. 

Yeah, I heard somewhere that the NCAA is overburdened from all of the transfer paperwork and requests from the COVID timeframe. I am probably speaking from ignorance, but to your point either uniformly let all of the two-time transfers do it or don't. This one-by-one case examination seems inefficient and likely unfair to the lower profile kids who are trying to do it. 

4 minutes ago, AtlantaTiger said:

Talk about a total tease....I saw this graphic (see bottom right of graphic) and headline on CBSsports.com and for a minute thought they had lost their minds.  Spoiler alert; Towson is not one of the top 101 teams.

 

CBS Sports - News, Live Scores, Schedules, Fantasy Games, Video and more. - CBSSports.com

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. 

6 hours ago, Blounge said:

Lasalle whooped us in a preseason scrimmage in the past so maybe they are keeping things hush hush for that reason again 

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

14 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Another win. Tigers sit in second at 26 points behind Hofstra at 28. They play each other to close out the season Sunday.  
Tigers win and they are regular season champs and the 1 seed. 
A tie means we finish 2nd. 
A loss and Monmouth win, we could fall to 3rd depending on tiebreakers 

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. 

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)

 

15 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said:

I’m not saying that he won’t try. But there’s a bigger issue than that… what are we?? We have zero appeal to other conferences, especially compared to most of our conference brethren. We are probably 7/8th (being generous) in the pecking order 
We may have to hope one conference commissioner has some beer goggles on when looking at us 😆 

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 

On 9/10/2023 at 5:40 PM, TuTigers2012 said:

Lol. Don’t give him that much credit. We will be in the caa with stony Brook Albany Drexel Monmouth Morgan state Hampton Nc A&T umbc and Campbell.
 

We are busy dicking around playing little league football and will be left behind by all our peers 

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. 

22 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said:

And that has happened with the fcs now too. 
I don’t see the big schools saying they won’t play MAC or Sunbelt schools anymore. With an expanded playoff I would Think we see more buy games. With a conference loss and maybe champ game loss not hurting you and still may get into the playoff, why risk playing good OOC opponents?  

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. 

On 9/8/2023 at 3:54 PM, TuTigers2012 said:

I don’t think they care (outside of Jmu). They know they can’t make the playoff or national championship (besides Jmu who has a trophy case ready to be filled!). 
The difference between fbs jv and fcs (which let’s face it is like freshman in this comparison) is money.  Umass can get 1.2 and 1.8 million to go get crushed by a power 5 team.  We can get 250-500k. That’s a big difference and will continue to get larger with the playoff expanded. 
It will be power 3/4 or whatever there will be, the next level below the new fcs and max and mac etc then there will be the old fcs which would likely have to drop down to d2 or not offer as many scholarships.  

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. 

30 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

So there's some very bad news and good news about this trip.

The first was that about three minutes into the opening game, Marcus Watson went up for a dunk and landed wrong, thus tearing his ACL. Devastating news of course. Not entirely shocking since his name wasn't mentioned and who knows how good or what type of player he could have been here. I thought he was a better shooter than his numbers showed, but shot selection was iffy and turnovers were a concern. He still has another year left but who knows what he'll do after this. The rest of the team somehow got it together and took care of business in the opening game. They went 5-0 on the trip and in the past, had more struggles. His loss also meant they had to use Mekhi Lowery at lot more in the backcourt since Ryan Conway (legal) and Jaiden Cole (injury) were out.

The good news is that Nendah Tarke will hopefully be on board in September when he gets cleared by the NCAA to play since Nicholls State is trying to claim that he attended class there (he didn't set foot on campus). The Sun story was posted on the General Board. He'll help as a playmaker, defender and is not a bad three-point shooter (33%). He's not Watson when it comes to athleticism, but can do some other things better. If Tarke doesn't play, well then it's a complete rebuild. With him, I think they can be a pretty good team. But not sure who the finisher will be on this squad. At this point, it's either May or Tarke. 

*There was a 24-second clock in Canada so even though they prepared for it, the offense wasn't quite as strong as the defense was. Ball movement was good, but it's tough getting used to the clock and it showed. Competition ranged from low D1 to D2. Last game, the team was tired and dug deep for the win, playing 5 games in 6 days. Had a 5-hour bus trip to Montreal.

The bottom line when talking to PS about this trip was that Lowery and Tejada really stepped up and played well. He said they wouldn't just play, but play "a lot". Lowery averaged 6ppg on 42% shooting, 64% FT, 7 rebs. 12 assists, 5 turnovers, 9 blocks and 9 steals in 26mpg. 

Tejada averaged 12ppg on 45% shooting, 34% 3pt, 50% FT, 5 rebs, 4 assists, 8 turnovers. 

*Sounds like May had a pretty good trip, but didn't shoot as well as he's capable of. Williamson shot well from 3pt, not great inside the arc. Defense still could be an issue, but he can play with Tarke, and play more off the ball. Without Watson, May is going to have to be "the guy" from the perimeter. 

*Hicks struggled as well from the field and took a lot of shots. His offense is certainly a concern. Could they start Tarke and Lowery? Doubt it but you could see that at some point and that's a hell of defensive backcourt.

*Sulaiman did just about everything well, but his outside shooting is still a question. He will play mostly power forward.

*Both Paars played well. Cole could actually see some time.

Some quotes from Pat Skerry:

"Defensively, this is a group that could create offense off our defense." Feels that this could be one of the best defensive teams he's had.

"Wanted us to take more three-pointers." Did say they took fewer mid-range two-pointers and more in the red zone (around the basket). Wanted to finish better, especially Messiah Jones, who had one great game on the trip (23pts). 

I'll say this. My last season at Towson was the 1991-92 season. In the first game that year, Devin Boyd broke his arm in the first half against Colorado after scoring 20 points. He was the ECC Player of the Year in the previous season. Everyone thought the season was over because he was out for the year. But a freshman named Terrence "Scooter" Alexander stepped up and they still ended up winning the ECC Tournament but had no automatic bid. Not saying Jaiden Cole is Scooter, but they were around the same size (6-3, 170) with incredible length and Cole is a better athlete (much better shooter). It's tough to rely on three freshmen off the bench, but this has a chance to be a very good class. 

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. 

49 minutes ago, Bay Area Tiger said:

So nice to see Paar on the floor.  He can really help us this season off the bench. 
Um Lowery looks a lot bigger than 6’6” to me. He’s gonna cause some trouble for teams in the open floor..  let that kid run and be athletic.  
If we stay healthy and this teams molds we could really surprise some teams in conference. 
So glad May is with us…  no way I see him going through a Sophomore slump.. he’s my pick to really take his game to the next level. 
 

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. 

2 hours ago, TSU88 said:

We’ve got some pieces. Many unanswered questions, like 3-point shooting proficiency, bench play, what, if any, meaningful contributions will we get from our freshman, the injury X factor….So let’s not hoist any banners just yet, but also let’s not throw in the towel and write the season off just yet either 

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. 

16 hours ago, mat1992 said:

So more about Nendah Tarke. I wasn't a huge fan at first, but when I found out we could get him about a week ago, I felt that he could fit in pretty well. His FT shooting is the biggest concern. His shooting numbers (42.7% FG, 32.9% 3pt) were actually better than in 2021-22 when he averaged over 13ppg. He's known more for his defense so I don't expect much more than 12ppg in probably around 25-30mpg. He did average 35mpg, but I think he'll get some better looks in this offense with the big guys Thompson and Jones screening for him and he'll be very good in the PNR. I also think he can play some point if needed.

https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Nendah-Tarke/Summary/169183

 

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?

2 hours ago, TSU88 said:

I’m not trying to kick sand on Conway, but I think there’s an argument to make that Tarke is the better all around player (defense/steals/rebounding and perhaps better at creating his own shot). Time will tell 

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. 

22 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

 

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.