TSU88

Wish we had a big man’s coach or could send him to be tutored at one of those camps run by a former successful big. But certainly reason to be optimistic about this news. And Mat, I agree; the last ship should go to a player who can presumably step into Fobbs’ spot in the fall of 2020. Either a D1 transfer or maybe an under the radar JUCO, like Fobbs was

Could have a bigger impact on D, as rim protector & rebounder, than on O. Put him in the weight room until November 2020. Maybe his arrival will also be a boost to Solomon’s game. 1 ship left for this fall.

These kids using low-to-mid majors as lily pads, to leapfrog to bigger programs, should serve as a reminder of the whole business aspect of college sports. The schools (including TU) are using these kids to hopefully bring them success on the field, which translates (or can translate) to success on the ledger sheet. The kids are using the schools to get a free education &, in many cases, to showcase themselves to bigger programs.

LJ Owens (their PG from Annapolis) apparently is gone too. To recap, they’ve lost Pierce, Milon, Audige, Owens & Brown (recruit from PG County who de-committed & is now going to St. Joseph). That’s a helluva lot of talent. Knight has until 5/29 to decide if he’s leaving his name in the NBA draft. He didn’t get an invite to the combine (neither did JWF from Hofstra, which is ridiculous). I doubt Knight gets drafted, so he can go G-League, Europe, or come back to a shell of a W&M team. I guess he could also transfer, but he’d have to sit out a year &would only have a year of eligibility left after sitting out. While I have no sympathy for W&M (as I’m sure most of their supporters had no sympathy for us when ZM & Gorham bolted) I will say this-mid majors like TU, W&M & many others have basically been reduced to being farm teams for P5 schools. As soon as a kid at a mid-major has a good freshman or sophomore season, the P5’s come swooping in. It’s a lazy way for the P5’s to recruit, but successful nonetheless. Even if the kid they cherry pick won’t be a starter, he’ll be in the rotation in any event. From now on, any time one of our recruits has a good freshman or sophomore season, we’ll be looking over our shoulder waiting for the possibility of him transferring. ZM & Gorham; Pierce & Audige; the guy from UNCW who went to Arkansas; Gresham (NE) to Georgia; Ahmir (Drexel) to Minnesota.

Ok, so I’m playing devil’s advocate here & ask the following-who have been the impactful players (even if they ultimately transferred) during the Skerry era (I’m not talking about “try hard” guys like TPR or role players like EK). I say those players are Benimon, Davis, Morsell, ZM, Gorham & Fobbs. Maybe Timberlake & Solomon U will eventually get there, but they’re not there yet. What do all those players, with the exception of Fobbs, have in common? They all came from the corridor between Philly & VA

We’re going to offer 1 kid from each state in the union 😆 I know, according to verbalcommits, we have longstanding offers out to DMV kids, but offering all these kids from around the country doesn’t make sense to me. If you’re a P5 school, I can see see it, but, given our location, & our lack of national name recognition, I don’t understand why we don’t simply recruit between Philly to the north & Virginia to the south. There’s a ton of talent in that geographic zone & these offers to kids from California, Ohio & so forth make no sense to me.

From the “you can’t make this stuff up” file. One of our coaches is following on twitter Alexis Antetokounmpo, a 6’7 HS guard in Wisconsin. If his last name sounds familiar, it is-he’s the younger brother of Giannis Antetokounmpo, AKA the Greek Freak, of the Milwaukee Bucks. Well, some years ago we did have Kevin Durant’s brother play for us, so why not the Greek Freak’s younger brother?

I watched it. I don’t think he mentioned the football team making the playoffs last year. I’d be interested to know more (actually any) details about how much is donated to the TAF & are donations trending up or down

Kid is from Los Angeles. We’re the only school east of Missouri that’s offered him. Anything’s possible (maybe he’s got family on the east coast) but sounds like a long shot. Doesn’t mean you don’t try of course.

Well, since it’s gone radio silent as to the last 2 open ships for this fall, I thought I’d mention that one of our coaches is following, and is being followed, on Twitter Keondre Kennedy, a JUCO listed as 6’6, who had an impressive 1st year at Labette CC in Kansas, averaging 18ppg & 6 boards a game. Shot 48% from the field overall & 40% on 3’s. He’s got 3 years of eligibility left. After hitting on Fobbs last year, could we hit on another diamond in the rough?

This piggybacks on TU2012’s earlier question, but in the past I’ve gone to CAA.tv & watched TU road games for free. Does this mean I will no longer be able to do that?

I don’t necessarily see this as good news, if it does in fact mean no deal with the likes of Comcast or NBC sports networks. Less free games and I wouldn’t think this help with prospective recruits who want to be on tv

As far as NE goes, I can’t dismiss them, even with the departures they’ve suffered. Coen is too good a coach; somehow, I think he’ll find a way to make them competitive

We lost ZM & Gorham last season, and I doubt any other teams in the conference were shedding tears for us. Its not definite that Audige (or LJ Owens) is leaving W&M, but someone posted on their board that things are so dire that there might be open tryouts for walk-ons, given that the new coach hasn’t had time to bring in any recruits to replace Pierce, Milon & Brown. I suspect Knight will return for his senior year, so there cupboard isn’t totally bare. Meanwhile, the Elon coach has hit the ground running, getting commitments from 2 HS kids, one of whom decommitted from Wofford & had 20+ offers. I agree that UD & JMU should be 2 of the preseason favorites. However, NE is always tough & C of C & Hofstra (even without JWF) will be right there.

Wish him the best. Don’t see this as much of a loss, football wise. Like I once heard a former NFL player say, “you can’t make the team sitting in the cold tub.”

There’s no off-season when it comes to recruiting. We still have 2 open ships for this fall, and already making offers for 2020. We will have 4 ships, at a minimum, for 2020; Fobbs, Sanders, Howard & Tunstall.

10 points, 3 assists & 1 TO in 16 minutes ain’t bad.

Random thought-last year, Zane Martin didn’t announce his commitment to New Mexico until July. Point is that D1 transfers who have to sit a year are not under a deadline to sign with a school in May, like HS kids. So, with so many D1 transfers out there, I hope we take our time, rather than “settling.”

I’m not. I just want to bridge the gap between “showing interest” & actually getting commitments from 2 quality transfers, since we have 2 scholarships still open

We’ve “expressed interest” in like a million transfers I think

Mat, who’s the one that’s been mentioned?

Exactly. I meant to mention that. It doesn’t appear, at least according to verbalcommits, we recruited him out of HS. UMBC & UMES did though.

Another couple of transfers being followed on Twitter by one of our coaches. Mitchell Seraille, a 6’8 forward who is transferring from Stephen A. Austin. Shot 59% from the field, 4 boards a game & 1 blocked shot a game. Averaged 18minutes a game last season. He’s following our coach back on Twitter. The other is a 6’9 forward from Wofford names Keve Aluma. He shot 66% from the field, averaging 7 points & 7 boards a game. Not following our coach back on Twitter at the moment

I would think his chances of significant minutes at Georgia as a freshman would be remote; either deep on the bench or a redshirt. Don’t know about where he’d stand with the other schools. It is possible that his being from MD could be a big intangible in our favor. OTOH, some kids want to get away from home. We should find out in the next few weeks.

I read on the U St. Louis message board (or maybe the Charlotte board) that he grew 3 inches from HS to prep school. Apparently, he was nothing special in HS; 9 points & 6 boards a game, but the year at prep school was a blessing for him. Supposedly, he’s got a nice mid-range (12-16 feet) shot & even has 3-point range. He needs to add some bulk, but he certainly has upside, both on offense & as a rim protector on D. Now the question is can PS beat out a P5 (Georgia) & some legit mid-high majors (St. Louis, Charlotte, St. Bonaventure & UMass). I’m a born skeptic, but we’ll see. I believe sometimes a program like ours has to “steal” a recruit who’s being pursued by bigger programs.