TSU88

Odom is in an interesting position. He may never be such a hot commodity again as he is now. If he stays at UMBC, he might not catch lightning in a bottle again. Sort of reminds me of where we were with Ambrose a few years ago. If Odom stays, he should be able to land some better recruits, assuming they have any openings left to fill

I was right when I said 1st team to 45 wins. Kudos to UMBC. So ends the Odom era. Maybe one day we’ll go dancing

I realize this is sour grapes 🍇, but I’m thoroughly unimpressed with K-State. I do concede that UMBC is playing tough man-to-man

Is this good D or just 2 lousy offenses? 1st team to 45 probably wins

K-State looks like Coppin State (its 5-0 UMBC as I type this). 1st media timeout & K-State hasn’t had a shot that’s even come close. I think UMBC is going to the sweet 16

I’m curious to see what everyone thinks about where UMBC’s W ranks historically in the annals of college basketball. Clearly, it’s historical in that it’s the 1st #16 beating a #1. Off the top of my head, I’ve thought of a few games that might be as, if not more, historically significant: Texas Western beating Kentucky for the title in the 60’s; NC State beating Houston for the title; Villanova beating G’town for the title. Some other historic candidates: Houston (Elvin Hayes) beating UCLA (Lew Alcindor); & arguably the biggest upset of all, Chaminade over Ralph Sampson’s UVA (poor wahoos!!) though that game was a meaningless regular season game.

Tip of the hat to UMBC. No fluke, they blew UVA out in the 2nd half. Lyles is the real deal. If he doesn’t play in the NBA, he’ll certainly have a lucrative career overseas. I wonder how Odom’s predecessor feels tonight? He’s the one who recruited Lyles to UMBC. Now, Odom will likely make a quantum leap to a high mid-major or P5 job. Now back to TU chat for a minute. So if we’re still going after this Timberlake kid, something doesn’t add up. He’s a combo guard, not a PG. Plus, we’ve already got McNeill, ZM, Drayton & Fobbs. I know for a fact we’re looking at several PG’s, so if Timberlake comes in, someone else has got to be leaving. Otherwise, the math doesn’t add up.

Thanks

Thanks for posting. I don’t know how to post video clips. Anyway, he looks impressive. Time will tell, but i hope he’s the 3rd consecutive productive player for us out of the Philly Catholic League

Btw, you posted earlier about Betrand’s big game in the playoffs tonight. Did you happen to see the video clips of him throwing down a slam over a 7 footer & his put back slam? Looked pretty impressive.

I think the odd man out in terms of playing time next season is going to be Thomas. At least I hope he’s relegated to 10 minutes a game or so. His D & rebounding are ok at times, but he’s a liability on offense

I think Tunstall is very underrated. If he could ratchet up his offensive game just a little, he can be a nice contributor, given his rebounding, shot blocking, & length on the press. I’m excited to see him, Sanders, Solomon & Gorham up front next season.

Are McNeill & Tunstall expected to be physically ready to go for next season? Aren’t they both having surgery?

Do you have to list McNeill as starter?😳 And you inadvertently listed Starr, not ZM, as the starting SG. Hope that’s not some kind of Freudian slip

The 2 biggest needs for next season, IMHO, were someone who can knockdown 3’s & a PG. I would like to think Fobbs will be able to address, to some degree, the 1st of those 2 needs. If he can shoot, he can shoot. At the risk of oversimplification, hitting an open 3 in JUCO is pretty much the same as hitting an open 3 at TU. I’ve been clamoring for some time for someone who can flat out shoot, in the mode of guys at W&M, for example.

I don’t expect him to come in & drop 25 a game. 8-10 ppg next season would be nice. We lose what, about 38 ppg or so from this past season’s squad. Got to make that up from different sources

So, this new kid has some interesting stats. In his senior year of HS he only averaged 10ppg (thus likely explaining why he went the JUCO route). In his 1st year of JUCO he averaged about 17ppg & shot less than 50%. This year, he exploded, averaging 26ppg. In his 29 games this past season, he shot 50% or better 24 times. 14 times he shot 50% or better from 3 & he shot 87% from the foul line. So, I did a little online research. JUCO is divided into D1, D2, & D3. This kid played at a D2 school. Apparently, 1 of the differences between D1 & D2 JUCO is the former can actually offer full scholarships while the latter can only offer tuition, fees & books (but no room & board). Does this mean D2 is a lesser caliber of competition than D1? Now we need a point guard.

I second that motion!!!

Interesting. His only other D1 offers appear to be Robert Morris & St. Peter’s. Love the shooting %’s; 57% overall & 44% from beyond the arc. Especially impressive since he’s a volume shooter. I wonder what the competition level is that he plays against? When I see a 6’4 player averaging over 12 boards a game it raises the question in my mind of who’s he playing against

Selections for the NIT are not based on merit. NIT is looking primarily for P5 schools for purposes of attendance and tv 📺 ratings. Also, NIT is locked into taking any regular season conference champion that didn’t win its conference tournament

Sort of like “the good, the bad & the ugly.”’ The track record overall is pretty good on transfers, though using your rating system out of a total of the 4 middling to bad gets, 2 were PG’s. I know that Skerry knows this, but we really need 1 of these remaining ships to be a good PG

It’s ok, I didn’t post anything terribly noteworthy, but then again when do I?😊

Mat, have you heard anything you can share on the recruiting front, and/or who some of our OOC opponents will be next season?

Skerry might have been that 2 years & gone guy, if we had been CAA tournament eligible in his 2nd year, but we’ll never know.