TSU88

18 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

It's his offense, his shot selection, his lack of passing when he started out like Jason Kidd, his lack of explosiveness, his lack of finishing, and his shooting.

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 

45 minutes ago, TigerFan54 said:

I really hope Tarke doesn't come back next year. As has been noted in other threads, he's slow-footed and seems to get his shot blocked more often than not when going to the basket. As for those long-range bricks he throws up ... he even managed an airball on one attempt today. To my mind, he adds next to nothing to our lineup. At least Williamson has some moves when driving and also mixes in a fairly accurate step-back shot.

And, at the risk of sounding too dreary, I have NO HOPE of us reaching the NCAAs this decade. Nothing has changed with this coach, and nothing will. The AD is happy that we got 4,300 people into the arena today -- even if a third of them were kids showing their autism solidarity. I doubt there were 100 students in the "student section." The fact that we'll finish with a (barely) winning record will qualify this year as a success.

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 

13 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

but we need to get some guards to help them out. We can talk more about that in the general thread, because it's that time of the year again.

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

3 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

https://towsontigers.com/news/2024/2/24/mens-basketball-mens-basketball-falls-72-56-to-charleston-on-saturday.aspx

First of all, I'll be the first to congratulate Charleston on the win and expected CAA title. They played the game the way it was meant to be played. Quick passing. The ball never stuck to somebody like glue. Their defense was fantastic in the first half, where we couldn't even get a clean shot off. To an extent, their 15-of-22 three-point shooting is not normally who they are (around 33% on the season), but when you start the game 10-2 and are getting layups, the confidence level goes up. You realize that one team is ready to play and the other one is not. They were focused on revenge and getting first place. Looks like that will be accomplished with ease.

*I've been repeating myself over and over about length and athleticism. No offense to CP, but when he's going against James Scott, a 6-11 phenom, he doesn't have the foot quickness to overhelp on D and then get back and find Scott, who is mainly a dunker and shotblocker right now. Scary to see what Scott will be when he adds weight.

*Skerry seemed resigned to the fact that we might end up in 5th or 6. Basically, we said we have the depth to overcome that, but our players are so freakin' inconsistent from game-to-game, we don't have the talent to overcome if a May or Tejada have off games and they did today. Tejada got just one shot up in the first half. He's a scorer though they took away all his drives and they are a bit predictable with his right.

*

https://youtu.be/PE9LjhSmaYs

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. 
 

14 minutes ago, Chris Datres said:

Today was the largest glaring example of what works in college basketball and what doesn't.  You can hang your shingle on defense and rebounding but you'd better have offensive weapons in order to do that.  The years we won the conference regular season and advanced in the CIT, we had guys that could score.  You have to go out and find more of those scorers and not just a bunch of brutes that look good in a weight room and can play defense and rebound.  Kelsey took the job at Charleston and set about finding the type of players that work -- they're big, they share the ball, they hit open shots.  Meanwhile, we plod along and run a low-post offense with zero movement and sometimes a wing and a prayer to get a decent look or a look before the shot clock expires.  Twice today, the shot clock was running out and who had the ball?  Mekhi Lowery.  That can't ever happen.  We were largely clueless on offense, finding zero ways to get Tejada open (1 shot in the first half) and showing very little interest in running anything that had ball movement to 3 sides of the floor.  Meanwhile, Charleston is slinging it all over the floor and playing an orchestra on our defense (especially Thompson and Paar) with the pick-and-roll action.  Charleston's the template of what we should aspire to be.  They have D2 players just like we do but they found the offense while we went for the bruising fullbacks.  With whatever time Pat has left on his contract, he needs to overhaul his philosophy to be more like Charleston.  Otherwise, we've already hit our ceiling and it's never gonna get crashed through.

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. 

 

1 hour ago, mat1992 said:

My guess is at least 4,000 is likely so get there early if you have tickets 

I think the highest attendance at the arena formerly known as SECU is 4,262, the night the venue opened (at least for MBB), vs Navy. Would be nice to surpass that tomorrow 

5 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

14 seats in lower level remain. Apparently on the ticket site.  Last night also showed a large amount gone and crowd was small

Autism awareness day should result in fewer no shows. Also, senior day, good opponent, no weather issues and no football to compete with 
 

17 minutes ago, mat1992 said:

Tejada needs to touch the ball nearly every possession and they need to run the offense through him

Good suggestion, given the shooting struggles of May and Tarke. DWill runs hot and cold and CT is avg what, 8-9ppg? On a good night, Jones and Sulaiman might combine for say 15 points and Lowery, while a terror on D, isn’t at the point where he’s going to be a consistent threat on offense (though hopefully he works arduously in the offseason to develop a jump shot. If so, the sky’s the limit for him). 

Given these inherent limitations on offense, you have to overlook occasional defensive mistakes in the hope that he’ll make up for it on the offensive end 
 

4 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

16-11 winning season! Throw the damn parade! Give the life time extension!
 In all seriousness good game especially by our role players.  Tejada was great offensively. And lowery did a number on rice.  Love a game when 24 doesn’t shoot and think he’s lebron james. Also messiah was great offensively atleast, when he actually payed 
too bad we hacked up a game Saturday or the games against Charleston and uncw could have been interesting. 

17-11. Notwithstanding the Hampton fiasco, we’re still in play for a top 4 finish. Not sure why you say the games against C of C & UNCW won’t be interesting in that regard. I’m not willing to bet the mortgage we beat C of C Saturday, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility either. 

1 minute ago, mat1992 said:

https://towsontigers.com/news/2024/2/22/mens-basketball-tejada-scores-30-points-towson-mens-basketball-downs-monmouth-80-61.aspx

Freshman Tyler Tejada scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Tigers to an 80-61 victory over Monmouth before 1,910 at TU Arena. In their first meeting, Monmouth beat Towson 51-43 and this time, Towson had 44 points at the half. 

Mekhi Lowery did an outstanding job on Hawks' star guard Xander Rice, who was held to 4-17 shooting, though managed 16 points and three assists. With the win, Towson improved to 10-5 in the CAA and moved to a third-place tie with Drexel, who lost to 10-5 Hofstra tonight. Charleston improved to 12-3 and dropped Delaware to 9-6 after their 90-71 win.

You stole my thunder on the unsung hero tonight, Lowery. I tried to pay special attention to how he played Rice on D, and I came away very impressed. 

Not enough accolades to describe Tejada’s performance. He was on fire 🔥. Wonder when the last time a TU freshman dropped 30? Certainly a 1st under Skerry. 

CT with a solid overall game (7 points, 7 boards and 5 assists) and Jones & Sulaiman combined for 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Now, OTOH, May and Tarke shot a combined 2-12, for 9 points. Normally that’s not a recipe for success, but Tejada more than compensated for their scoring deficiencies tonight. 

Huge game Saturday vs C of C, before what should be a large, raucous crowd 


 

57 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

And Hampton hadn’t won a conference game or home game in a year…

Remind me again how you lost that job as a motivational speaker?🤔🤷‍♂️😆

23 minutes ago, TTiger2024 said:

No …. Prob no reason to extend if no finals .  But ( and I’ve seen the Kentucky message boards, I get fans being unreasonable) my question / thoughts are : what makes ya think Towson doesn’t go da other way ….BACK to da bottom of the barrel again?  Like …. You know ; 1-30, on probation laughing-stock ?   I wanna dance too, who doesn’t - but I just think we got a system NOW that gives us a chance every year …. Charles doesn’t sprain his ankle ; C of C doesn’t bury those 3 ballz last year ; …. You guys actually happy ?   IDK.   I get it …. Dance or die .  But ….it could (has) been wayyyyy worse (how soon they forget ) 🤷‍♂️.  #InMatt(andPARR)ITrust

I’m going to have to disagree with you that expecting to have made it to even just one conference title game, in 13 years, is unreasonable. I’m also going to have to disagree that fear of regressing under a new coach is reason to keep a coach who thus far, in not a small sample size, has proven unable to win when it most matters. 

CT spraining his ankle: C of C dropping 3’s (might as well add in the loss to W&M at the Baltimore Civic Center, when we had Benimon)…I’m sorry, but that’s losers talk. Results matter, and never having even made it out of the conference tournament semifinals in well over a decade isn’t good enough 
 

54 minutes ago, TTiger2024 said:

When measured against a staff that took the program from dumpster-fire / probation status to top handful of the league EVERY year

This argument cannot exist in perpetuity, to justify keeping a coach with, by any objective measure, a DISMAL postseason record, can it?🤷‍♂️🤔

32 minutes ago, TTiger2024 said:

You mean the President wasn’t overly concerned with the opinion of a ( I assume-  random; non basketball professional , non major donor ) fan / alum…. When measured against a staff that took the program from dumpster-fire / probation status to top handful of the league EVERY year while graduating ALL their players ?   Shocking .  Although- Adam Silver ignores my ALL STAR tweak suggestions ; so ….. 🤷‍♂️ 

The year 2011 just called and it said while it’s grateful that Skerry pulled the program from the abyss, it’s also ok to hold Skerry accountable  for never having made it to a conference championship game, if not, you know, actually winning such a game. 

It’s laudable he graduates players. Other coaches graduate players AND win conference tournaments and go to the dance. Graduating players is one metric; it’s not the only one.

Serious question-let’s assume we don’t make it to a conference championship game this season, and the 3 after, which would take us to the end of Skerry’s contract, absent another extension. Notice I didn’t say he actually wins the game, but I set the bar at him simply getting us to the finals. Would you advocate that he get yet another extension? 

4 minutes ago, Chris Datres said:

Tore his Achilles in those 6 minutes.

https://twitter.com/SamGuzmanTV/status/1742658134903009601?s=20

Poor guy. Sorry to hear that, but maybe that’ll get him another year of eligibility this coming fall 

2 minutes ago, Tiger93 said:

I am not fully disagreeing here, but the thing that makes this game so frustrating is there is enough talent there because it is not a great conference this year. This is a mediocre conference, and we have beaten the top three teams (four of the top five) at some point (I know two have come at home and that is a big difference from doing it on a neutral court). An effort like this when we are in the mix for regular-season conference title (which I know some of you don't care about, but I do) is inexcusable. I don't like the style or the sub patterns. They are too inconsistent and they don't seem to fit the players. The players also completely no-showed in the first half. This season is not over despite what some say, but obviously it is ridiculous loss. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. I can't be positive after a crap loss like this, but we have been much better at home (although our starts there have been bad lately too) so I am just wondering what Jekyl and Hyde version shows on Thursday and Saturday this week. 

Every now and then, one or more of our guys will pop & have a very good scoring game. Remember when DWill had a 26 point game a few weeks ago? But far too much inconsistency, especially from Tarke and May. I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I’m not sure either of these guys are shooting 40% for the season. Bottom line-too many role players/B or C listers, and no A listers 

31 minutes ago, Tgr4life said:

There is much truth to what you say. There are a few exceptions to your rule.

Some coaches love the idea of planting a seed and watching it grow. I think a good example is Bill Coen at Northeastern. In my opinion, he is one of the finest basketball coaches around. He has been at Northeastern for 17 years. His teams have won conference championships and gone to NCAA. He has been Coach of the Year and should be a desirable coach. The "seed planter" is a rare coach, but nonetheless they do exist 

All in all, you are likely right, but there are those that it is not all about "The Big Time". If you get one of them, you are a lucky program. 

 

You’re correct, that there are outliers, and Coen is a good example. The difference though is, unlike our coach, at least Coen has been to the dance. In such a case, if a coach wants to establish roots, it’s a nice feel good story. In our case, after 13 years of postseason futility, the expiration date on the milk carton has expired. Unfortunately, I fear it’ll eventually be 16 years of such futility. I assume Skerry will soon be lobbying for yet another extension, claiming his ability to recruit will be hamstrung if he’s a short timer. (A somewhat dubious claim, given that the advent of the portal has resulted in a pool of short term rentals). And of course, citing to the fact he graduates kids & they do community service. I can only hope our AD & new President don’t fall for this. If they do, they might as well just give him a lifetime contract and be done with it 

20 minutes ago, El Tigre Oro said:

I’ve been waiting for the right time to post this, think this is the correct time and place.

At this level in basketball and football a coach should be here no longer than 5 years. They are either doing a great job and moving up or doing a lousy job and getting canned.

The decade of mediocrity we had with both Ambrose and Skerry have done no one any favors and put athletics in a malaise and lead to general apathy about athletics on campus.

IMHO the early success that both Ambrose and Skerry had was due to their contacts they had recruiting at a higher level and bringing in top level transfers (plus Terrance West falling in his lap).

Once those connections waned they both got comfortable and performance dropped. We need to be known as a “launching pad” for coaches and keep building off of the previous coaches success.

 

 

You win the internet today, though I do disagree when you say that the decade of mediocrity has done no one any favors. It’s done Skerry a huge favor, by giving him airtight job security, earning him millions of dollars during this time. 

I could not agree with your “launching pad” statement more strongly. TU is not a place a football or basketball coach should get tenure. Either be successful and “ use” TU to leapfrog to a bigger & better job, or get out. It’s ok if we get “used” like that, as it means we achieved a level of success that enticed a bigger program to poach our coach. Then, with that degree of notoriety we achieved, we go out and hire the next go-getter, and hopefully it’s rinse, wash, repeat.

Your post reminds me of a funny story I once heard. A reporter asked TB Bucs coach John McKay how long he felt it would take for him to make the Bucs a playoff contender. He answered, “5 years.” When asked why 5 years, he said, “because that’s how long of a contract they gave me.”😆
 

16 minutes ago, Blounge said:

OTOH i was wrong before with Chris Bieku finding a new home

He’s played in 1 game for NM State, logging 6 minutes, with 0 points. Another brilliant recruiting decision by our staff. 
 

17 minutes ago, Tiger93 said:

Layups, Towson 10-32 and Hampton 13-18. It defeats the purpose to get 19 offensive rebounds if you struggle to put them back in to the basket. I

Bingo. I’ve said it before, being one of the leaders in offensive rebounds is terribly misleading, because in addition to missing the first shot, more often than not we miss the second one (and even the third one) as well. Please bring in better shooters!!!

6 minutes ago, Chris Datres said:

1.  What would you define as a bigger program?  Power 6?  If so, none of what we got is that caliber.  Heck, I was surprised that Timberlake got the attention he got and now that he's on a big-name team, the rest of the nation is seeing what limitations we had known he had for his career.  But if you're talking about a player going from here to an A-10 team or a AAC or goes out west to the Valley or MW/WCC, I think May and Tejada certainly would qualify and I bet certain coaches could get a lot out of DW, Lowery, and maybe even Cole.  I've said it once or twice in the chats the last few games that the backslide of Charles around the bucket as well as our softness around the rim plus the pathetic free throw shooting is a direct indictment of how we develop players.  How does someone like Messiah Jones, who shot 57% last year at Wofford comes here and often looks lost on the offensive end?  But if you get a certain mindset about being in the lane and around the rim and you learn to finish through contact, we don't have the pathetic numbers on layups that we do.   If you look at our roster and think back to the beginning of the season, who has gotten significantly better from Colorado to today?  I'm not sure if we can answer anyone confidently.

2. No chance.  When a player is in the portal, I wonder how much his 'team' looks at the below-the-surface stats like pace, etc and not just look at 'oh, they lost this guy, this guy, and this guy, so you can step right in and be the big dog'.  Do they take into account that we haven't been to a conference championship game in over 30 years?  How much of that do they even prioritize?  Are they more about winning or more about themselves and getting noticed for their future?  It would be interesting to hear what the selling points were to bring in the transfers that we have in the past.  

As I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, I have serious doubts about the ability of this staff to develop the players they bring in. 

1 hour ago, sr16 said:

We have to somehow now go 3-1 to close this out and have a chance at top 4. 

Highly unlikely, given that we have 2 road games left, including vs a UNCW team that will be spoiling for revenge + playing for the top seed. In any event, I’m highly skeptical we can beat NCAT on the road. Our 2 home games are no walk in the park either 

13 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

1. Yes because there’s some talent that you can hope to develop. Mays not bad defensively and Tejada is a tall shooter. Both wouldn’t “cost” much and would want to play for a winning program. Not saying they can go power 5. We know how that went with Timberlake. Sheesh. But could play for a real program like uncw or Charleston. Or a10. 

2. We’ve all been thinking this for years. Most of these guys are under recruited. A second team all NJ player going to Towson?? Again sheesh.  Kids want instant gratification and playing time (not to sit or be redshirted until they learn defense). Some skerry lovers would say we want instant gratification after 14 years of nothing to show 🤷‍♂️ 

Your answer #1 is to my point. Tejada and May would seem to be the only players who might generate interest, and neither would be slam dunks, though Tejada’s size and scoring ability makes him the pick of the litter. But other than these two, the cupboard is pretty bare. I mean Lowery is a great defensive player, but can’t shoot. Anyone have any hope our coaching staff will develop him? I certainly don’t. Williamson has his moments, but he’s not really a PG, and too small for a 2 guard. 

Been down this road before, but at the risk of being redundant, too many marginal role player types (Coleman, Paar, Jones, Sulaiman, and maybe Cole, who I had such high hopes for). I’d count Hicks in this group, but I’m not sure he’s ever going to play again. 

This is a reoccurring theme-the roster turns over every year, but rarely are impact players onboarded. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what impact players have recently been brought in via the portal, other than Holden. Why will this offseason be any different?

 

To the 10 or so of us who post here, I pose the following questions:

(1) If you’re a coach of another team, is there anyone on our roster you’re salivating over trying to poach? Tejada, maybe. May? Perhaps a lateral move, but would a bigger program covet him?  My point is, we just don’t have an abundance of talent;

(2) if you’re a talented scorer in high school or the portal, do you want to come play for a coach who is determined to play at the slowest pace in the country, and who’s track record of getting to his conference championship game is perfect, in a negative sense 

2 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Where are the post game comments?

What is there to say that would even possibly explain this debacle? I mean, he would say how he did a poor job of preparing them, blah, blah, blah. Just more words in the wind