AtlantaTiger

I see the problem with Towson hoops as being one of two issues... 1. Pat Skerry is recruiting *exactly* the kind of players that he wants to run his system. Assuming he has been successfully recruiting his hand-picked players, then the only conclusion is that his style of play/scheme is ineffective. He runs a subpar style of offense. 2. He's NOT landing the recruits he wants/needs. In this case, the issue is he's not a good recruiter (salesman). Neither scenario is good. Some coaches are just meant to be career assistants. Not every HC is meant to be a HC. How many years of rebuilding, recruiting and starting over does Pat need before he gets it right? We got slaughtered by North Dakota State. I refuse to believe that at this point in his tenure that Pat can't find a way to WILL his players to a win over NDST. Meanwhile, Furman beats Villanova a few nights ago. Stunning. Let's ask Furman's coach what his secret is.

Could things get better for this team as the season goes along? Sure. But I have a creeping feeling it's going to be another case of "just wait til next year!". Next year, next year, next year, etc...…."next year" never seems to come for Pat Skerry's teams. There always seems to be an excuse as to why Towson basketball never achieves anything of substance. 18+ wins a season is great if you play in a conference that gets At-large bids. We don't. Prove me wrong, Coach Skerry, please prove me wrong!!!

Don’t have expectations?? Are you for real? What kind of defeatist mindset is that? How are you supposed to measure success and progress? If Paddy were a first-time, first-year head coach starting five freshmen, I MIGHT say, “don’t have any expectations”. But he’s not and he isn’t.....so guess what, I have some expectations and having games where we shoot 44% from the line or have 25 turnovers aren’t part of my expectations for a coach in his 7th (8th?) year, starting guys who have plenty of post high school experience. Don’t have expectations.....what a joke. Let’s set the bar as low as we can, huh?

That's a shame.

Meanwhile, Furman finds a way to beat #8 Villanova. You can say that Villanova is overrated this season, but still.....is Furman so far ahead of Towson as a program that they can find a way to beat an ELITE hoops team and we struggle with the likes of Pepperdine and FAU? Very early on in the 2018-19 season but Skerry's seat has got to be getting warmer. We are in a perpetual state of rebuilding and growing and learning and yada, yada, yada.....

JMU looked and played bigger, faster and stronger than us. A very disappointing performance today.

Since the entire season boils down to the CAA tourney and non-conference games are essentially meaningless, I’ve stopped getting overly frustrated with these types of losses. Having said that, it would be nice to occasionally be surprised with a win we’re not expected to get. A win that would give us reason to be optimistic. IUPUI beat Boston College a few nights ago. I don’t know how good BC is supposed to be but they’re a name brand program and I think that’s a quality win for a school like IUPUI. We so very rarely get upset wins. Twenty-five turnovers.....disgusting.

Sorry, Muncie IN, not OH.

Certainly embarrassing.....but Ball St. was a 3-7 team and my guess is it was probably about 37 degrees in Muncie, OH. Not a recipe for a full house.

As we’re all painfully aware, non-conference W/L record means absolutely nothing at this level of college hoop....no at-large buds to CAA. Even our regular conference record takes a back seat to the CAA Tourney. Just. Win. The. Tournament. Wake me up in mid February.

Well, Towson kept their game against Virginia closer than what Kentucky did against Duke, so there's that. 😉

Does Skerry not care the least about free throws? Do they practice free throws? Why are free throws such a mystery to Towson teams every year? Embarrassing.

Our AD doesn’t have the “stones” to can Ambrose after this season. Both of them probably need to go.

I wonder what kind of budget this guy will have to work with. The money is important. There's only so much grassroots marketing you can do and I think we all agree that the marketing has been lacking.

My guess is we drop from #10 to #17 or #18 in the polls. We don’t seem to be a very well liked or respected team among the pollsters/coaches. We’re going to get dinged hard for this loss.

Slim pickins! How are we so short on famous people? 🤣

Maybe they could get Amy Schumer as their celebrity guest picker.

Absolutely can't look past Delaware..............Buuuuut, assuming we take care of business the next few weeks, any chance ESPN College GameDay comes to town for the JMU game? We know how much ESPN loves JMU, as they've done GameDay from their campus multiple times now. If that game has big conference/playoff implications, perhaps they can be lured to Baltimore? Now THAT would get Towson students excited and involved.......I think (hope?). Taking a look at the FBS matchups for that weekend (11/17) there isn't one "heavyweight" game on the schedule right now that ESPN should think is a "no-brainer" for GameDay. In fact, there are a lot of snoozers that weekend. Get that bump-on-a-log AD of ours on the phone with Bristol, right now!!

Something special brewing with this Towson squad. The defense is a potential liability particularly if (when) we make it to the playoffs but right now we’re hitting on all cylinders. How were we on penalties today? The one thing I was absolutely blown away by when we played NDST in the championship game was how disciplined a team the Bison were. They played such a clean, focused game. We need to aspire to that level of discipline all the time.

Oooooh, so you're telling me that they were grossly overrated to begin with, for no good reason. Still doesn't explain it. Oh well.

I guess I just want to know why KSU is ranked ahead of Towson. If someone can explain or rationalize how Kennesaw State is worthy of such praise, I’d love to hear it. I’ve seen them in person this season. They would have big problems against most CAA teams, let alone North Dakota State, whom the coaches evidently believe are the only team better than them.

So Delaire was waived today by the Niners? Dude just can’t stick anywhere. What a shame.

Mat, do you have any knowledge or insights into what Coach Ambrose's reputation is among other FCS coaches both in the CAA and across the country? Just wondering if any coaches have an axe to grind with Rob. I feel like there's a bit of disrespect or hesitancy on the part of other coaches to acknowledge what Towson is doing right now. I haven't seen every other ranked FCS team play this season but living in Atlanta, I'm up to speed on Kennesaw State's program. While they're putting up crazy offensive numbers, they're not doing it against CAA-caliber teams. I'm not sure why they're ranked so high. I'm not saying Towson should be #2 in the country, but c'mon.....I think something's a little screwy with these polls.

I think the hard reality is this, most TU students grew up cheering for other schools, whether is was the Terps, Penn State, ND, PITT, etc. and many of them would probably rather go to a bar/sit at home to watch those games on Saturday than watch the TU Tigers. Winning is definitely the "magic elixir". Not just a winning season here or there, Towson will need to string together 3 or 4 playoff qualifying seasons to really get the students to pay attention. It may take another trip (and win) to the National Championship. People like to be associated with winners and greatness......bandwagon fans are a real thing. It would probably also help if we could get one or two of our guys in the NFL who could really succeed at high-profile positions. T West had his chances, it's a shame it didn't pan out for him, although we could go into another great debate about that. Does Shane Leatherbury have what it takes to make it to the next level and stick? If we develop a reputation as a school that puts guys in The League consistently, that will help with fan interest and appeal.

If the question is how do we get more people to show up at games, the answer is NOT Citadel or St. Francis or Holy Cross. Even some CAA squads aren't that appealing (SEE: Stony Brook). The reason why a lot of smaller schools draw great at home games is because they're literally the only show in town. People go bonkers for the Bison because what else is there to do in Fargo. Same can be said for many other schools. There are far too many options for people's entertainment (sports) dollar in the Baltimore/DC market to compete with Towson football. Now, if we reel off three or four seasons of 8+ wins with a few deep playoff runs and maybe send a couple of guys to the NFL who stick and make names for themselves at high-profile positions, then, maybe people will latch on to Towson football. I don't think this is a question of "chicken or the egg".....we need to win over several consecutive seasons to build up the fan/student interest. GO TIGERS!