TSU88

How many times do I have to say this? It’s not a question of needing to win in a dominant fashion & then “hope” we get in. Let me try this one more time...Win Saturday (regardless of the score) and I Joe Willie Namath GUARANTEE we’re in. And we haven’t had “playoff history”???? What the ham sandwich was the 2013 National Championship game??? ENOUGH SAID ON THIS NON-ISSUE

To steal a quote from the past, we are a lock at 8-4, “read my lips.” We’d be coming in on a 4-game winning streak. We are ranked sufficiently high enough as well. I’m not asking anyone to do the research, but my guess is there is little to no precedent for an 8-win CAA team not making the playoffs. This ain’t 2012.

JMU & Nova are locks. After that, it’s murky. Albany is 7-4, but finishes on the road vs Stony Brook. If they lose, are they in at 7-5? Maine has to beat UNH to get to 7-5. If they do, are they in? Even if UNH wins, they’re only 6-5, with wins against some weaklings, albeit Nova. Then there is us, at either 8-4 (a lock) or 7-5. If Albany loses, we lose, & Maine wins, all 3 would be 7-5. I can’t imagine in that scenario only 2 CAA teams (JMU & Nova) getting in the playoffs. Bottom line-lets just win next Saturday.

3 straight W’s in elimination games, including 2 on the road. Very workmanlike today. Efficient passing & Theedee showed he can be more than just a goal line back. Props to the D for shutting down a good running team. D has definitely stepped up since the Albany debacle. I was at the game today. For those who gripe about our student attendance, W&M’s student attendance was next to non-existent. In fact, I don’t think there were more than 2-3K in the whole stadium today, even though the announced attendance was around 6,700. Of course, it was very cold 🥶 here & the game was meaningless to W&M, other than being senior day It’s simple-win next Saturday & we’re in the playoffs. Ain’t no way we’re not getting in at 8-4

I never thought I’d say this, but I’d like to know why Dottin didn’t play more than 17 minutes last night? 4-6 from the floor, including 2-3 from 3, 2 boards and 4 assists.

Unless there’s a booster out there with very deep pockets, Skerry ain’t getting bought out & in fact will be here for many years to come, by virtue of that screwy contract extension 2 years ago. It is maddening that we never seem to score a basket at the end of a half, after a timeout. Also maddening that we get achingly close to that signature W (MD a few years ago; Florida tonight) but can’t buy a basket in the last minute of these games

The real season starts on December 28th, but playing (and nearly beating) the likes of Kent State & Florida should really bolster our confidence when that real season starts.

Helluva of an effort & very proud of the guys. Dottin was great in the 1st half & Betrand was great in the 2nd half. You’ve got to hope Fobbs will shoot his way out of his 3-point doldrums. Maybe once that 1st one goes in. The bugaboo in the Skerry era has been the struggle to pull out W’s in close games at the end. Based off the performance in the last 2 games, I would like to think we have the potential to beat any team in the CAA. Any idea if Solomon is going to play anytime soon? It would be nice for depth purposes to have him & Timberlake for the tournament next week

I really thought this team would go 11-deep before the season. Amazing how quickly that changed.

What was the deal with Solomon tonight? If we ever get everyone back, seems like we have more than an 8-man rotation (Gibson, Dottin, Fobbs, Betrand, Timberlake, Gray, Tunstall, Sanders, Thompson & Solomon)

I take that back. Fobbs & Betrand shot a combined 10-36, including an atrocious 1-15 from 3

2 chances to win in regulation time. I was trying to think of when we’ve won a game at the buzzer during the Skerry era, other than N. Ireland. Hard to win when Fobbs & Betrand shoot 10-26, & Gray & Sanders contribute very little. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think Gibson is already our 2nd best player. I don’t quite understand why he didn’t touch the ball on either of the last 2 possessions in regulation. Disappointing game from Sanders. I hope it was attributable to being rusty. Tunstall is a pretty decent outside shooter. Too bad he missed the foul shot that would have put us up by 3 near the end of regulation. I’m curious to see what kind of team we have once Timberlake & Solomon U (who sat out tonight) are back. I’m not sure we’re going to face a lot of teams in the CAA that are better than Kent State.

The writer floats the possibility of a 5 loss team getting in from the CAA. I wouldn’t want to pin our hopes on getting in at 7-5 though. We do have a very good road W vs Citadel (who is 6-4, including a win vs Georgia Tech) & decent road wins vs Maine & Stony Brook. Also don’t know how the Florida game, where we held our own in the 1st half, factors in. If Albany makes the playoffs then the L to them at home doesn’t look quite so bad, I suppose. Still, all in all, the thing to do is win these last 2 games, which guarantees us a playoff birth

5-3 in conference gets us to 8-4 overall, which = playoffs It would be great to have the regular season finale, at home vs Elon, be a de facto play-in game. But 1st, got to handle our business vs W&M on the road

JMU crushed UNH today, 54-16, giving UNH 4 L’s. UNH plays 4 loss Albany next week, so the loser is coming out of that game with 5 L’s. Meanwhile, hopefully JMU will beat Richmond next week, which would give Richmond 6 L’s. If we win in Williamsburg (which is not a given) only Nova, JMU & possibly UNH would have fewer losses than us.