Tiger93 299 Report post Posted January 20, 2022 3 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said: Depends. If we are one seed and lose to a worse team in the final, that isn’t a success. But if we are say a 5 seed and make a run to the finals, then yes it would be a success. I know I am probably nitpicking a little much, but if we were a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament (meaning we won the regular-season) I would consider the season a success before the conference tournament started. If we lose anywhere in the tournament it would be a bitter disappointment, but it would not make the whole season a failure. I agree that out of three phases of the season I listed the conference tournament is the most important, but they all build off each other. Hypothetically if we had somehow beaten Ohio State and San Francisco we would have a NET ranking good enough to get us an automatic bid going into conference play. If we finished first and lost three or less games in conference play that bid still might be in play. That would lessen the importance of the conference tournament. My overall point is I would like the raise the standards on those different phases of the season and the overall quality of our program's level of play for the season so we don't have to only rely on a conference tournament to define success. This season is a good small step in that direction. Call it "pie in the sky" if you will, and it probably is now, but I find it more important to build a team where this is a possibility than one that can win in the conference tournament. Sometimes you can control when a No. 8 seed (or any other team) shoots out of their mind and knocks you. The one point where I will completely agree with TuTigers2012 is we have to play better in the conference tournament. That is a Pat Skerry issue now because he is the coach, but it has been an every coach issue at Towson since I have been here (with a couple of exceptions where we maxed where we belonged). My final point is good mid-major programs take care of business the whole season and let the chips fall where they may. That is the place I want to get to. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mat1992 2,231 Report post Posted January 20, 2022 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tgr4life 167 Report post Posted January 20, 2022 3 hours ago, Tiger93 said: I know I am probably nitpicking a little much, but if we were a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament (meaning we won the regular-season) I would consider the season a success before the conference tournament started. If we lose anywhere in the tournament it would be a bitter disappointment, but it would not make the whole season a failure. I agree that out of three phases of the season I listed the conference tournament is the most important, but they all build off each other. Hypothetically if we had somehow beaten Ohio State and San Francisco we would have a NET ranking good enough to get us an automatic bid going into conference play. If we finished first and lost three or less games in conference play that bid still might be in play. That would lessen the importance of the conference tournament. My overall point is I would like the raise the standards on those different phases of the season and the overall quality of our program's level of play for the season so we don't have to only rely on a conference tournament to define success. This season is a good small step in that direction. Call it "pie in the sky" if you will, and it probably is now, but I find it more important to build a team where this is a possibility than one that can win in the conference tournament. Sometimes you can control when a No. 8 seed (or any other team) shoots out of their mind and knocks you. The one point where I will completely agree with TuTigers2012 is we have to play better in the conference tournament. That is a Pat Skerry issue now because he is the coach, but it has been an every coach issue at Towson since I have been here (with a couple of exceptions where we maxed where we belonged). My final point is good mid-major programs take care of business the whole season and let the chips fall where they may. That is the place I want to get to. I appreciate your thoughts regarding building a program that is solid beyond the goal of conference championship. You talk about strong foundations, so that we can be good for years going into the future, etc. These are worthy and noble goals. You mention this is a Skerry issue because he is the coach now....which is true. I suggest you remember that he has had over a decade to get this done and he has not accomplished this goal. The team is having a very good year thus far. If any coach coaches long enough, that coach is bound to have one good year, if only by accident. I will wait for ongoing proof before acting as this is that magic moment that Towson becomes Gonzaga. It is fun to watch this squad but there is still quite a bot to prove. Skerry teams have set a low bar to get Towson fans excited about. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tu_fan 110 Report post Posted January 20, 2022 24 minutes ago, Tgr4life said: I appreciate your thoughts regarding building a program that is solid beyond the goal of conference championship. You talk about strong foundations, so that we can be good for years going into the future, etc. These are worthy and noble goals. You mention this is a Skerry issue because he is the coach now....which is true. I suggest you remember that he has had over a decade to get this done and he has not accomplished this goal. The team is having a very good year thus far. If any coach coaches long enough, that coach is bound to have one good year, if only by accident. I will wait for ongoing proof before acting as this is that magic moment that Towson becomes Gonzaga. It is fun to watch this squad but there is still quite a bot to prove. Skerry teams have set a low bar to get Towson fans excited about. While I can't argue with you, I'll take Skerry over PK, Hunt, or any other coach heading back to Truax.....If Skerry can get shooters and passers, and then impress upon them his style of defense and rebounding, it's a winning formula. I would cringe at Spiro's post game interviews with Skerry where we would lose, while out-rebounding the other team, but have 3 assists.....And rather than ever mentioning spacing, ball movement our outside shooting, Skerry would provide his canned answers that "we need to guard & defend better," when the real issue was offensive style and skill. He was (and perhaps still is) such a one trick pony, to a fault, and it carried over to his recruiting, much to our detriment. Skerry is a defensive whiz. If he commits to finding scorers, shooters, and passers, and then imparts his defensive style, we will win. This year is the first year I have ever heard Skerry say things like....."I was proud of the ball movement" or "we are going to shoot 3s" etc. Maybe he and his staff have FINALLY connected the dots...... I graduated in 1994. It's been heartbreaking to see how utterly pathetic our teams have been the last 25 years. In my mind this season has already been a smashing success as the team is a joy to watch. You could see it the first game against Albany where those of us in the chat were like, "who is this team...".....I've had more pleasure watching these guys share the ball, shoot lights out, not need to rely on one specific player (like a gary neal, fobbs, martin, JB, etc.), while the rest of the team was awful, each and every night. I realize there is more to be done, but after having sand kicked in our faces for 25 years, it's great to see a team win, in some cases dominate, and do so in a way that is beautiful basketball. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sr16 158 Report post Posted January 20, 2022 https://twitter.com/EvanMiya/status/1484217267479064576?s=20 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TuTigers2012 1,061 Report post Posted January 20, 2022 4 hours ago, Tiger93 said: I know I am probably nitpicking a little much, but if we were a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament (meaning we won the regular-season) I would consider the season a success before the conference tournament started. If we lose anywhere in the tournament it would be a bitter disappointment, but it would not make the whole season a failure. I agree that out of three phases of the season I listed the conference tournament is the most important, but they all build off each other. Hypothetically if we had somehow beaten Ohio State and San Francisco we would have a NET ranking good enough to get us an automatic bid going into conference play. If we finished first and lost three or less games in conference play that bid still might be in play. That would lessen the importance of the conference tournament. My overall point is I would like the raise the standards on those different phases of the season and the overall quality of our program's level of play for the season so we don't have to only rely on a conference tournament to define success. This season is a good small step in that direction. Call it "pie in the sky" if you will, and it probably is now, but I find it more important to build a team where this is a possibility than one that can win in the conference tournament. Sometimes you can control when a No. 8 seed (or any other team) shoots out of their mind and knocks you. The one point where I will completely agree with TuTigers2012 is we have to play better in the conference tournament. That is a Pat Skerry issue now because he is the coach, but it has been an every coach issue at Towson since I have been here (with a couple of exceptions where we maxed where we belonged). My final point is good mid-major programs take care of business the whole season and let the chips fall where they may. That is the place I want to get to. If we beat Ohio state or USF and went 16-2 likely wouldn’t be enough. Net and tiger Rankings will fall even with wins in caa play Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bay Area Tiger 347 Report post Posted January 20, 2022 14 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said: If we beat Ohio state or USF and went 16-2 likely wouldn’t be enough. Net and tiger Rankings will fall even with wins in caa play Speaking of which.. +16 in Spokane tonight. Timme has been awesome as of late.. They crushed BYU by 26 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tiger93 299 Report post Posted January 21, 2022 15 hours ago, TuTigers2012 said: If we beat Ohio state or USF and went 16-2 likely wouldn’t be enough. Net and tiger Rankings will fall even with wins in caa play It is an interesting hypothetical and shows where the conference is right now (it has been a while since it has been a multi-bid league obviously). With this year's numbers, I think we would be in the conversation for an at-large with wins over both those teams. We didn't really come close to beating either so I am not sure it is really even a worthwhile conversation, but I only mentioned it because we did hang around and compete in both games. Just a hypothetical and the type of conversation I wish we could be in for real as a program, but we have just as many major non-conference upsets in recent memory as we do appearances in conference tournament finals. Both are areas where we could do much better. For now, I will just enjoy the rest of this season and grabbing a hard-fought victory over College of Charleston on what sounded like far from our best night (full disclosure, I was working another game and only was able to follow it through live stats). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mat1992 2,231 Report post Posted January 21, 2022 Interesting. One good year. They won 25 in 2013-14, 20 in 2015-16 and 20 the following year. If tournament success is your only factor for a successful coach in a one bid league, than he’s a failure as was Tony Shaver. I think it’s a part of the equation but so is winning games, graduating players and running a clean program with very little off the court problems. This is a good team and we’ll find out how good on Saturday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mat1992 2,231 Report post Posted January 21, 2022 Speaking of academics 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
