TSU88

A solid W vs a team that went toe-to-toe with MD the other night. Interesting lineup adjustments, with Jones and Tejada to the bench, in favor of Tarke and Sulaiman. I think this W was largely attributable to the D, as we shot under 40% for the game, including a dismal 7-28 from 3. Chucking up 28 3’s just isn’t our game. Speaking of shooting, the foul shooting was dreadful. Most of the misses weren’t even close. They’ve got to clean this up somehow. Pro’s: I really like Tarke’s game. If he could shoot FT’s he’d have scored 16-17 points tonight; May: Averaging 20ppg over his last 4 games; Lowery: I love his game. Not much scoring tonight, but 6 boards, 4 assists and 3 blocks; Chase Paar: Really nice game, including 4 assists Cons: Dreadful foul shooting & 3-point shooting; Jones: Still not sure what they saw in him; CT: At the risk of being a broken record, he just can’t finish at the rim. Remember that stretch 2 seasons ago, when he was averaging like 15 points or so a game? Pepperidge Farm remembers. Anyway, on to that epic clash vs Concordia, before the start of conference play.

Thanks

The case of the missing “I”. I understand 😆

Could you kindly point out where I blamed him for leaving? I must have missed that part of my post. To the contrary, I applaud him for staying here for as long as he did, and for morphing his game to the point where the KU’s of the world coveted him. Sorry, but it’s a real pet peeve of mine when someone attributes a comment to me that I never made

My guess is he got six figures to go to Kansas. Hard to turn that down, but will be interesting to see what, if any, effect a bad season (assuming he has one) has on where he lands overseas and how much he gets paid

I guess the “answer/rationalization” you might get from Skerry is that it’s a lot easier to prioritize scoring when you’re recruiting at Connecticut, but I agree with the premise-if 13 years of prioritizing defense and rebounding has yielded a total of ZERO trips to the conference championship game, perhaps there’s something to be said for coming at it from a different angle and going after kids who can, you know, put the ball in the basket, and coach em up to play better defense

Hindsight is 20/20, but he might have been better off not going to a pressure cooker like Kansas-someplace maybe a rung down on the talent level. Long way to go in the season, but hopefully this doesn’t adversely impact his efforts to land an overseas contract

Can you elaborate? He got an 8-year extension, which was announced in December of 2017, on the heels of winning the tournament in Ireland (I remember Morsell hitting a shot at the buzzer to win the tournament) and the tournament in Florida (beat Georgia Southern to win it). Of course, the season went down the drain from there. I’m guessing he had a couple years remaining on his contract at the time of the extension, and that the extension really just replaced that contract and in reality added like 5 years to however many years he had left at the time. Then, he got a year added due to COVID. It’s all kind of shrouded in mystery, but it would be nice to know what the calculation is. If, OTOH, it was really 8 years tacked on, beginning with the 18-19 season, that would go through 25-26, plus add a year for the Covid extension, and that would take it through 2026-27.

I wish we had a way back machine, but absent Mr. Peabody and Sherman showing up with one, we have to face reality-we’re not buying out Skerry’s contract. If you know anyone with 1.5 million dollars burning a hole in their pocket, and who wants a coaching change, let us know 😆

I’m not sure anyone on here has stated he’s above criticism. I think if you took the temperature of the room, we would find almost unanimously that everyone who’s left in the room (excluding those who’ve been beaten down by 13 years of “wait until next year” that they’ve given up) agrees a change is needed, but unfortunately is years away.

Blame Schatzel and/or Tim Leonard for the extension

After sleeping on it, I thought I’d be less aggravated this morning. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Not guarding the inbounds pass? Are you kidding me? Playing Coleman? In fairness, it’s not all Skerry’s fault (just most of it). The FT shooting was dreadful, but Bryant’s was too. Look, concededly this game makes no difference in terms of any postseason aspirations. But it’s emblematic of 13 years of futility when it comes to trying to win games like this

You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if opposing coaches, when they’re trailing us late, tell their players during timeouts that everything is going to be fine, those guys in the other huddle can’t finish close games

Many unanswered questions. What I wonder is whether, even if it’s on a subconscious level, it seeps into the collective psyche of the players that they can’t win close games? I’m not a psychologist, but I just wonder if that’s something that is passed down from one Skerry team to the next

It’s to the point where I ask myself “how are we going to choke,” not “ are we going to choke.” Having said that, today was a new low in terms of embarrassment, dejection and depression

Not trying to be mean spirited, but he’s the coach equivalent of Schleprock. The foul at the end of regulation defines the Skerry era. It truly epitomizes his time here-a signature loss

I realize this was only an OOC game that W or L wasn’t going to make or break the season, but I’ve never felt more demoralized after a loss. I thought I had seen most of the ways a Skerry team could choke away a W, but today was a new low. This isn’t complicated. The players change and the gut punch losses continue. Skerry’s teams are simply wholly incapable of winning close games vs OOC teams of equal or greater caliber. Say what you want, but he’s the common denominator in all these embarrassing losses. Granted I’m heated right now, but he really ought to be fired at the end of the season. And yes, I know that won’t be happening. After today I just need to step back. I’m not sure I can continue my investment of time, money and emotions in this product anymore. Maybe I’ll change my mind, but at the moment I’m not sure. There just comes a point where you become ambivalent/disinterested and realize life’s too short and look for other forms of entertainment

Classy move by SDSU to kick a FG, up 56-0

Tell you the truth, NDSU should be embarrassed

I know there’s a school of thought that a player shouldn’t lose his starting position due to an injury, but I say phooey to that. Williamson should remain the starting PG even if Hicks does return from his injury. He has a dimension to his game, driving to the basket, that Hicks simply doesn’t. And notwithstanding his 1-8 from 3 yesterday, I think he’s just as good, if not better, an outside shooter as Hicks. 8 assists yesterday. I wonder when the last time one of our PG’s had 8 or more assists in a game? I’m not counting Holden, who wasn’t a traditional PG, but instead was a point forward

Yeah, I don’t get grousing about beating Morgan, Coppin and UMBC. It makes perfect sense to play those schools. I mean, with Coppin and UMBC this year, it’s 2 no cost “road games.” Frankly, we ought to play Loyola too, unless they’re afraid to get their Patriot League asses whipped. So why bitch about beating up on these teams? Not every game can be vs Houston, CU, NTSU, WF or SDSU. You can’t win with some folks. If we beat the locals, it’s “well, they stink.” If we were to lose to the locals it would be “the sky is falling.”

I was surprised to hear he’s already suffered 3 concussions at TU, according to 1 of the UMBC announcers. I can see a football player (although that’s even a lot for football). Not so sure he’ll be playing anytime soon (although I think Spiro said on the UMass broadcast that he might be a week or two away).

At what point is Sulaiman inserted into the starting lineup in place of Jones? All the sudden, May is good at basketball. Amazing what confidence can do for you. Looking forward to seeing how we do going forward, with the addition of Tarke, starting next Saturday vs Bryant

Maletic has not played so far this season, per the stats link on Toledo’s website

Would have been 3 of these type games, if Watson hadn’t gotten injured (NCAT is on the schedule later this season)