TSU88

There is no new voice and leadership on the horizon. Just hope & pray he doesn’t get another extension, which as absurd as that sounds, I don’t rule it out

Not a terribly surprising result, which is the problem. Tarke 0-10. You would think he would have made 1 by accident. Any chance Nicholls State wants him back? Look, we desperately need a PG & some guys who can score next season. Needing these things and getting them are 2 completely different stories though. CT with a headbutt? Is this the WWF? He’s got his name all over the TU record books, in no small part due to the volume of games he played, but it’s time to close the book on the CT era. Honestly, is anyone excited/optimistic about our chances in the tournament? Maybe we win 1 game, though I certainly wouldn’t be shocked if we’re 1 & done

Wow, a Charles McGraw reference!! My favorite movie of his is “Narrow Margin,” but now I’m digressing. My beef with Patsos is he tended to be repetitive. Like if I heard one more time that Joe Lombardi coached Sulaiman at IUP, or how Patsos ran into the Paar brothers at a train station in the offseason, I was going to scream. OTOH, I give him major kudos for referencing one of my favorite movies of all time, “The Warriors,” in the Monmouth telecast

For a change, one of our games was actually entertaining, with some good ball movement and uptempo play. I’m not kidding myself, I know it was NCAT, but it’s not our fault they’re bad. We handled our business and now have a punchers chance at finishing in the top four

It’s not our fault NCAT is a bad team. Imagine the feeling if they beat us. Tonight we did what you’re supposed to do against a bad team. Does it cure all ills, of course not. Does it give us a chance at a top 4 finish, yes it does. I’m not terribly optimistic we’ll capitalize on this chance, but that’s why they play the games on the court and not in our minds

No ostracism here. You’re right, given what he has to work with, Skerry has done a good job getting this offensively challenged team to the cusp of a top 4 finish. But there in lies part of the problem…while he can’t be blamed for Conway and Watson, he is responsible for the two portal swing and misses, in the form of Jones and Sulaiman (I mean, the latter is a decent role player, but nothing more). You’re also right that his postseason record has been brought up 8 million times. But that’s because it’s so glaringly awful. It’s the elephant 🐘 in the room. You’re also right that for the most part, he can’t land that stud player. Really, in 13 years, it’s Benimon only. Timberlake’s 1st 3 years, he never averaged more than 12ppg. It wasn’t until years 4-5 that he finally got into the 15-17ppg range, solely on his outside shooting. Let’s be honest, he wasn’t a complete offensive threat when he was here. I won’t even bring up his failure to bring in a PG, other than Holden. His offensive “philosophy,” if you can call it that, is antiquated and has proven not to be ultimately successful. I mean, it is what it is. I hope we crack the top 4, but to be honest, I’m pretty much at the point of looking towards next season already

Other than the coach’s friends and family, it might be a minority of 1. I only hope the AD & the new prez aren’t in this select group

Now admittedly, I haven’t watched the Tiger Report, but if he’s touting this 18 wins stuff, I think it’s safe to assume it’s a thinly veiled attempt to lobby for yet another extension. I know there are people here who would say that between his postseason record, a new AD & a new President, that he won’t get one, but I’m not so sure

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! No ifs, ands or buts. 4-11 record in conference tournament; never has won more than 1 game in 11 years of tournament play; never has even made it to the tournament championship game NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! No ifs, ands or buts. No credible, unbiased observer could conclude otherwise. Anyone who does, lacks credibility in my estimation. It’s stunning to me how anyone, with a straight face, could say an 18-12 regular season, over 13 years, with the postseason futility cited above, is acceptable. It’s NOT GOOD ENOUGH, end of story, full stop

You could say we control our own destiny, but if it’s destiny, how can it be controlled?🤔 While everyone ponders the above question, I’ll state the obvious, which is we can’t win 2 in a row without winning tomorrow vs NCAT, which has one of the worst records in the league. What could possibly go wrong?🤔 Actually, I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll win. I just hope we don’t come out ice cold on offense, or that we don’t jump out early, only to fritter away the lead at the end. Come to think of it, what other options are there for us on the road?🤔 Anyway, no matter how, let’s get the W tomorrow and go from there

C-USA would be cost prohibitive for us, given the geographic alignment of the conference. It’s highly unlikely the A-10 would be interested in us. C of C would seem to be a logical fit there. I have it on good authority that the Sunbelt is not interested in taking on anymore FCS schools. I don’t see a CAA exit strategy for us, though the way schools now hopscotch from 1 conference to another, that could change tomorrow

As my late grandmother might have said, “you should live so long.”

Sadly though, he’s too young to run for President

By the time our job comes open, Mr. White will be on social security. If he has a son, maybe he’ll be a candidate

With 2 games left in the season, May is our leading scorer, averaging 11.4 ppg, which puts him on pace to have the lowest gaverage points per game of a leading scorer on a Skerry team, breaking the record of Four McGlynn, who was the leading scorer on the 2014-15 team (which went 12-20), averaging 12ppg. Last time I checked, this is 2024, not 1964. You’re simply not going to be truly successful (I’m not talking about 17-12, 5th/6th place in the conference) when you’re leading scorer is averaging 11.4 ppg

Sitting in SECU on a Saturday afternoon, going to a TU vs C of C debate. Laugh about it, shout about it, when you have to choose, anyway you look at it you lose

Is part of the problem the assistant coaches? I have no idea which of them would be considered a good big’s coach. Are any of them good at helping improve shooting efficiency? I understand that assistant’s are often there for recruiting purposes. I was curious about the guy they hired from Coppin. Maybe he’s a super assistant, but I can’t help but wonder if there weren’t better options out there

Being honest is not being dreary. In the abstract, anything’s possible, but it’s difficult to foresee a realistic path to the dance, after 13 years of futility. I mean I suppose every other team in the CAA could wind up on probation, but other than that….

(1) After 13 years, I think it’s highly unlikely Skerry is changing his philosophy anytime soon; (2) I can’t explain how we occasionally pull off a W vs C of C or UNCW, but what I am confident in saying is that our players are far less athletic and skilled than these squads and Hofstra & Delaware, for that matter. An outlier W here and there isn’t going to suffice to get us where we want to be; (3) I don’t know about the players needing a good shrink, but after 13 years of this, I think maybe I do

See, that’s the thing. I don’t blame the players, I blame the coach. The players seem to be nice kids and it’s certainly not their fault for accepting a scholarship. In fact, some of these kids have heart wrenching stories (I think both Jones and Paar have lost their mother). But it’s hard to watch Paar trying to hedge on defense, and it’s hard to watch guys like Jones and Sulaiman, who simply don’t have the athleticism to sustain success against quicker, more athletic forwards. I can’t answer your question about Jones. If anyone can, I’d certainly like to hear from them

But aside from this, he’s a standout 😆 You know, I was thinking after todays game how I might have underestimated the loss of Conway, who’s roster spot was basically traded for Tarke. While Conway wasn’t going to carry this team on his back, he almost certainly would have added a much needed offensive spark and might have been the best 3-point shooter

Let me put this to everyone…who would you want back next year, of those who played this season? (Thus not counting Watson). As for me, it’s a very short list…DWill, Lowery and Tejada. As for May, while I won’t be rooting for him to leave, if he does, I won’t lose a wink of sleep

Isn’t it sad that most of us, if we’re being honest with ourselves, are already thinking about next season already

With Rogers and Scott, C of C’s future looks bright. And given their deep NIL pockets, they’ll add more quality players. We really didn’t belong on the same court with them today. Best thing that could happen for us would be if they left the CAA, though I have no clue if that’s in the offing. As was mentioned above, we seemingly had no strategy on offense, but to run the shot clock down and chuck up a desperation shot. Or, if we actually had a different strategy, our players just weren’t good enough to execute it. It’s inconceivable how a guy who dropped 30 just the other night, takes only one shot in the first half today. I can only speak for myself, but it’s depressing to see the talent on some of the other teams in our conference, and then have to watch guys like Paar, Jones, Sulaiman and sadly, Tarke & May.

Not much that can be added. We were thoroughly outclassed on both sides of the floor. I’ve been preaching that we need scorers, and today was Exhibit A in that argument. Either our coach is unwilling, or unable, to adapt his strategy. You can only go so far with the “play hard D and crash the boards” strategy. (Frankly, I’m not sure how good the D has even been this year, but when you play as painfully slow as we do, the opponent’s ppg naturally will be low, simply because they don’t get that many possessions). This antiquated system is good enough to beat up on the Campbell’s and Stony Brook’s of the world, but that’s about it. We’ve got Williamson and Tarke going forward, as far as guys who’ve shown flashes on the offensive end. I’m not sure you can really count May, although in fairness I will say it took until Timberlake’s 3rd year until he avg’d in double digits. I’m of the mind that Skerry almost has to blow most of the roster up and bring in new players, except I have almost no confidence the new guys will be any different than the guys who depart-a bunch of guys who look imposing walking through the airport, but can’t throw a beach ball in the ocean. 4th place is slipping away, if it already hasn’t done so. Best case scenario on the upcoming road trip is a split, though I wouldn’t be surprised if we went 0-2. I’m resigned to a relatively quick exit from the tournament and then the Groundhog Day exercise of hoping we’ll finally have enough skilled offensive players to get to the promised land. I keep waiting, and waiting and waiting.