TSU88

When I wrote he’s not going anywhere, I certainly didn’t mean it in the context of another school poaching him, but rather that we don’t have the financial wherewithal to sack him, which I firmly believe is what needs to happen. And I don’t disagree-when you’re making near, or maybe more than, 500K a year, the buck stops with you. Other schools are able to bring in scorers, why can’t he?

Numbers don’t lie, not at this stage of the season at least. We are one of the worst teams in the country in 3-pt FG%; pace of play and FT %. And we’re nothing special in 3-point shooting %. In 7 conference road games, we have only scored more than 67 points 1X. We just lost to objectively 1 of the worst D1 teams in the country. Our ponderous pace combined with a dearth of good shooters is a recipe for what will likely be yet another desultory exit from the conference tournament. Skerry’s style of play is the textbook definition of insanity-doing the same thing over and over, and expecting (really, in our case, hoping) for a different result. And with our limited NIL, it’s hard to imagine any proficient scorers coming aboard next season. Skerry isn’t going anywhere, and that’s the problem. Players come and go, but the results are largely the same. We scratch and claw out a 16-20 W regular season, only to get summarily eliminated in the conference tournament.

Too thin skinned. As long as a post doesn’t cross certain boundaries of decency, it should be permitted. Put a better product on the court instead of engaging in petty censorship

I hear what you’re saying, and of course I don’t advocate just throwing in the towel on the rest of the season, but at some point any changes/tweaks are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The talent just isn’t there

Infuriating. Arguably one of the worst losses in the Skerry era

Unacceptable. Rather than bother with a postmortem, I’ll leave it at we don’t have enough talent and we don’t have a coach capable of getting us to where we want to go. Other than that, everything is peachy. Rinse, wash, repeat. Let’s see where we are in the 2027-28 season.

I know this is a TU board, but I hope the moderator & my fellow Tigers will indulge me to acknowledge the passing at age 92 of the legendary Charles “Lefty” Driesell, my favorite college basketball coach (of course Skerry is a close second 😆). I can still see in my minds eye Lefty stomping on the sidelines, waving the “V” for victory sign with his hands, while the band blared “Amen.” He never did make MD the “UCLA of the East,” but he did win the NIT, and if the NCAA hadn’t had that ridiculous rule that only 1 team from a conference could go to the dance, his 74 team, which lost arguably the greatest college basketball game ever, 103-100, to David “Skywalker” Thompson’s NC State squad in the ACC championship game, he just might have gotten that national championship. (He also might have gotten one if the Utah Stars of the ABA hadn’t lured Moses Malone away from College Park). How’s this for an all-Lefty MD team: Tom McMillan, Buck Williams, Len Bias, Adrian Branch and John Lucas. And fill out the roster with Len Elmore, Albert King, Steve Shepard, Brad Davis, Ernest Graham, Keith Gatlin, Larry Gibson and Lawrence Boston. Not too shabby. I’ve no doubt Dean Smith and Norm Sloan are waiting for Lefty at the pearly gates, to renew their rivalries

He was the scapegoat for the Len Bias tragedy. I can still remember some press conference he gave where he proclaimed, in that southern drawl of his “ah can coach.” Also remember some Wake Forest kids holding up a picture of Lefty’s bald head, on which they superimposed a gas gauge, with the needle on E, for empty 😆. I still miss those ACC doubleheaders on Saturday afternoons, sponsored by Holly Farms chicken and Jefferson Pilot (sail with the Pilot), and announced by Thacker and Packer, and the great Bones McKinney

It really defies logic how such a poor shooting team is 9-4 & in 3rd place in conference play. I mean, we can call the offense erratic or inconsistent, but the end result is the same. Why he insists on playing at a glacial pace, when we have guys who can get out an run, is a question only Skerry can answer. I’m not saying we should try and emulate Paul Westhead’s LMU teams, but I’m sick and tired of walking the ball up and chucking up a prayer at the end of the shot clock

The following observation is not exactly a revelation, but I’m convinced his substitution pattern at the beginning of games is preordained, in the same way a football coach might script out the 1st 15-20 plays on offense. Thus, no matter how well the starting 5 might be playing, he’s going to sub guys in & out. Heaven forbid he should stray from this pattern, in the event the starting 5 is, you know, playing well. Say like jumping out to a 12-0 lead

Surely, this can’t be what Dr. Naismith had in mind, can it?🤔🤷‍♂️

Unfortunately, I’m of the mind that C of C & UNCW were outliers. But, not to be accused of being a gloomy Gus, if we beat Hampton Saturday we’ll return to the friendly confines of TU arena 10-4 in conference, with 2 huge final home games vs Monmouth & C of C

I didn’t realize Skerry had any critics. Would any Skerry critics please stand up Well, a W is a W is a W. No style points, but it beats losing. For whatever the reason, we simply can’t score in conference road games. Only 1 game over 67 points, which was ironically vs C of C. Given the conspicuous limitations this team has in terms of talent, it’s actually quite remarkable we’re currently in 3rd place. On to Hampton Saturday, to play the 0-13 Pirates. Talk about your potential trap games.

Must W tomorrow, in terms of our aspirations for a top 4 conference finish. Must win, no ifs ands or buts. Can’t afford a comatose start where we fall way behind & embolden them and their crowd. Must win. Did I mention it’s a must win?

In the game he scored 13, his team only scored 51, so he scored 25% of their total points. It also appears he had an earlier game vs MSJ where he scored 26 points

I’m assuming Ebeya would have had more offers, had he not chosen to commit to us before his senior year, which I believe is going quite well for him

You forgot aliens 👽 landed on Osler Drive, and blocked all access to the arena

Agreed. For a rainy weeknight, with a Central Standard Time tipoff, it wasn’t bad. And the more students present does amp up the atmosphere. Only 2 home games left. I assume the finale, on a Saturday afternoon vs C of C, will be a big crowd. I hope we can get a good crowd on Thursday 2/22, vs Monmouth

I don’t want to look too far ahead, but if we can retain our key guys, we could have a nice squad next season, if the 2 incoming freshman are as advertised + Watson presumably coming back. But you’re right; what we don’t have yet is a PG or an experienced big to compliment the highly touted incoming freshman. I just worry our beer budget NIL will not be able to afford our champagne taste, as far as adding these missing pieces.

I forgot to throw a bouquet to Lowery, for scoring 6 points, grabbing 5 boards and dishing out 5 assists. He would have scored at or around 10 points, if he could only shoot free throws. He’s currently such a liability in that area that he can’t be on the court if a game is close at the end, which is a shame because he’s so good on D. He really needs to work on his foul shooting in the offseason

A necessary win. I thought CT dominated inside against a team with little or no inside presence. Sulaiman had a good game as well, as did Tejada, who provided much needed scoring. The good Tarke showed up last night, so maybe benching him sent a message that got through. The same can’t be said for the benching of May, who responded with mere 8 points, on 2-8 shooting I believe. Third straight slow start at home, which is alarming. We had what, 12-14 points at the halfway point of the first half. You can get away with that against the Elon’s of the world, but not against good teams (see Delaware game). Can’t complain about 8-4 in the conference, but we’ve got to sweep this upcoming 2 game road swing (W&M & Hampton) to stay in contention for a top 4 finish

It’s like shift changes in a hockey game

I don’t like when he brings in Paar & Lowery at the same time. Just puts too many guys on the court who are essentially non-factors on offense on the court at the same time. I hate to agree, but even though we beat them up there, DE appears to just be a more talented team than we are. Unfortunately, they’re not the only team in the conference who can make that claim. We’re very limited in terms of athleticism and shooting ability. We all know the formula for this team to win is defense & rebounding. As far as that goes, it appeared to me that DE had little difficulty beating our hedge defense, with good passing, last night. It is infuriating to me that we steadfastly refuse to go uptempo, and play to the strengths of DWill and Tarke. The marching order for them should be to push the ball, penetrate the lane and either take it to the rim or kick it out to someone like May or Tejada, for an open 3. May: might score 20 one night, and 2 the next DWill: see May. Our laborious half court offense often results in him doing too much dribbling CT: super high motor/try hard guy, who might occasionally score in the teens, but is going to miss his fair share of close shots Tejada: Erratic on offense; might get you in the low teens; might get you 2 points Jones: forget it Suliman: ceiling is probably around 7-8 ppg Lowery: great on D; a major liability in our ponderous half court offense Paar: might occasionally get you 6 points. More like 2-4 ppg Tarke: dreadful 3 point shooter. In 2 games vs DE he shot 7-32 from the field. Needs to abandon the 3 point shot and stick exclusively with driving to the basket When you add all this up, it’s simply not encouraging. We can still salvage a top four finish if we run off 3-4 straight W’s, but beyond that, it’s exceedingly difficult to imagine any sustained success in the conference tournament

There are only so many changes that can be made. Other than DWill, who is there on the bench that moves the needle in any meaningful way? You can start Lowery, but he’s a major liability in a half court offense, which is basically all we do. Like you said, there’s no Timberlake or Benimon, or even to a lesser extent Zane Martin, Morsell or Moto. Our leading scorer will probably finish the season averaging 11-12 points a game, which is pitiful. As you also point out, there is precious little margin for error for this team.

Just incredibly disappointing, especially with the great crowd. DE was by far the better team tonight, beating us in every facet of the game. They rained 3’s on us, and just looked much more athletic and skillful. We just have too many bulls in a china shop type guys. CT played his heart out, but May…did he even play tonight? Just kidding, sort of. I mean last time he scored 23 on them, tonight 2 points. These kind of wild fluctuations are not the hallmark of a good player. And Tarke needs to stop launching those terrible 3-point shots, and stick with driving to the basket. 7-32 in 2 games vs DE. I’m not going to push the panic button yet, but these last two games are alarming, in the sense we aren’t going to win when we score in the 50’s or low 60’s. Again, we don’t have that alpha dog who can take over the game-too many role players types. We all know, or should know, that this stat about being one of the best offensive rebounding teams is just another way of saying we have a lot of bad shooters. Need to go on a 3-4 game winning streak, with Elon, Hampton and W&M the next 3 games, but who knows, with 2 of those games being on the road