Summer Evaluations

[mat1992 2,238]

I thought I'd update everyone on each player I've seen through not only my eyes, but others who have filled me in on their reports. When it comes to freshmen, I'm going to grade on a curve so to speak. I'm not going to tear them down, but project them to what they might be down the road. Let's face it, in this era, there aren't many freshmen that are going to have big impacts on a mid-major team and why should they? The transfer portal gives you the opportunity to add a starter or rotation player to replace the player who graduated or entered the portal.

Let's take a look at all three transfers, three freshmen, two redshirt freshmen and the six other returners who played last season (yes, I'm counting Cole Paar).

0)Ryan Conway (6-0, 190), R-sophomore. SG/PG Only saw him once and he had a rough shooting day. Not worried about the shot, but the rest of his game still needs work. Doesn't really penetrate. But in this day and age, three-point specialists are needed. Ask Charleston, yet you'd like to see more versatility. Would likely come off the bench at shooting guard. 

1)Tomiwa Sulaiman (6-6, 215). Jr. Looks bigger than his listed weight. Carved out of stone. D-2 starter who will be a role player at this level. Has to improve his offensive game, but should be a strong defender. Wish he had better shooting form. Playing at a faster tempo will help his game since he's very athletic.

2)Jaiden Cole (6-4, 165). Fr. Talented, long and athletic, may end up being a combo guard. Has huge hands. Difficult to asses because he only practiced twice and then sat out most of the summer. Is getting back right now to playing in non-contact drills. Could use a few more lbs but again, how will he look in late September when practice starts? That's when I'll get a better evaluation.

 

3)Tyler Coleman (6-7, 220), Jr. .You have to give "Red" a lot of credit for changing his body. He was not a D1 rotation player when he began as a freshman at around 250 pounds. Last season, he lost a lot of weight and showed some good signs, but was still not a rotation player. He was out on Thursday due to a slight back issue. May end up playing some in Canada. Thought he played pretty well in the first practice. Since he's not very athletic, he really needs to become a solid 3-point shooter. But he did attack the basket well in that first practice I saw in late June.

4)Dylan Williamson (6-1, 180), r-Fr. Have high hopes for him but wasn't overwhelmed in the two practices that I saw him. It's a small sample size for a point guard who has grown from a skinny freshman who redshirted to somebody later in the season who was an impact player in practice. For Williamson to be effective, he needs to make open shots, but also penetrate and that's his strength. He can really create off the dribble, but don't love his shooting form that has no rotation. If it goes in, it doesn't matter. I need to see more. Canada will be big for him.

5)Christian May (6-5, 210), soph. For Towson to have major success, the athletic young wing will need to put up 12+ points per game in his season, but first as a starter. He's certainly capable, but will need to add more of a mid-range game or post-up. Likely to play more of a 3&D role. Added muscle won't hurt. 

10)Radhir Hicks (6-0, 180). Jr. Hicks has shown flashes in his first two seasons that he could be a steady starting point guard. Have seen him improve that 3-point shot, but also thought that he improved it last summer. Injuries have just de-railed him thus far. You have to wonder if he's better off the bench. However, if they pressure the ball some and go more uptempo, he should have some more success.

11)Mekhi Lowery (6-6, 200). Fr. Lowery has already put on 13 pounds since he arrived. He has a freakish wingspan and can touch the top of the backboard. Wearing No. 11, he reminds me a little of Dennis Tunstall. However, he's more of a wing and while he has a lot to work on offensively, his three-point shot has gone from needs a lot of work to serviceable. Defensively, this kid is going to be a factor with that kind of length. Has very good defensive instincts.

13)Chase Paar (6-10, 255). Paar missed most of last season and while his overall game has holes and he's not athletic, Towson needs his size to lean on the bigger centers on the schedule, especially 6-10, 240-pound Ante Brezovic from Charleston. Paar needs to stay healthy this season and a big weight loss can only help him.

15)Tyler Tejada (6-8, 220). Trying to figure out what Tejada is. He should be a backup power forward, but he's really a wing. His defense needs work, but he can shoot it well and has the ability to put the ball on the floor and drive. Probably needs another year to get stronger and figure out if he's a 3 or 4. I don't think he'll play much, but again if he shows something up in Canada, maybe he can fight for minutes. Seems like he needs a mean streak. At that size on the wing, needs to dominate smaller guys.

23)Marcus Watson (6-6, 215). R-Jr. Have only seen Watson once up close. Saw him play against Towson twice at NC A&T and he underwhelmed playing with Kam Woods. Playing as a No. 1 option, who can also create for others, was an impressive sight. Not sure A&T used him right. He's scary athletic and has great size for a two-guard. I'm worried about turnovers with him being a bit reckless and shot selection. Again, please push the pace. Let's see what he can do in transition because we are going to rebound and hopefully force some turnovers (hint). Towson has had few wings with that kind of size and athletic ability. I'll rattle off Sam Sutton, Chuck Lightening and Moto (more of a 4/3). But Watson is more of a shooting guard and he's a better shooter than all three. This offense should be able to get him better shots and he just needs to avoid the bad ones. No reason he should shoot 28% from the 3-point line with that form.

25)Messiah Jones (6-6, 230). Sr. It's hard not to like this Chicago native (Lowery also comes from the Windy City). He's an old-school power forward and a bruiser who will be playing some center as well. Did that at Wofford. Worried about foul issues and turnovers. Plays a lot like John Davis. A burly lefty who has a right hand. Pretty good finisher. Not going to overwhelm you with big numbers but will do the dirty work.

30)Cole Paar (6-9, 235). r-Fr. I'll be honest. I don't have much on Cole. He was injured last season and saw him briefly in my first practice in late June. He's not quite as big as his brother. He will get some playing time up in Canada. He just needs to box out, set screens and defense. Use his size. Was a Mount St. Mary's recruit so he's a D1 player.

32)Charles Thompson (6-7, 250). Gr. I think we should be grateful that CT is back. If not, we'd be talking about a complete rebuild. To his credit, he decided to not only come back but improve his game. Not saying he's going to start making threes like Nikola Jokic, but maybe he adds another assist per game like the Joker and hopefully, his free throw shooting will improve from 63% to closer to 70% with improved form. His passing has really stood out thus far and yes, he can make a shot outside of 8 feet.

Is this a better team that last season? It could be. I think the bigger question is when all the pieces are there and hopefully healthy in October, can they start out non-conference play in much better form despite having so many new pieces. Will they show up in every game? Playing more players can't hurt. Not relying on just Cam and Nick won't hurt.

 

 

 

[Blounge 521]

Thanks as always for the coverage. The Canada trip will be great for them to get some experience and chemistry playing together with all the new pieces. Marcus Watson is exciting, he could be special. How many years has Charles Thompson played now? Six? Gonna need Conway and May to catch and shoot 3’s at a high clip. Gonna be interesting to see how well Dylan Williamson will be able to dribble drive and create at this level. Gotta pray these guys can make free throws. Feels like the towson defense and rebounding will be present, but the towson scoring droughts might come back to haunt us

[mat1992 2,238]

Five games in Canada will allow them to experiment with lineups and rotations. It will also give Williamson, Tejada and Lowery a chance show where they are at. Personally, I want Williamson to get a lot of minutes because he’s the future and maybe the present.

[Blounge 521]

Hoping to see some highlights/coverage of the 5 games in Canada. I wonder if Chris Bieku will come see the team while we’re in his home country

[mat1992 2,238]

9 minutes ago, Blounge said:

Hoping to see some highlights/coverage of the 5 games in Canada. I wonder if Chris Bieku will come see the team while we’re in his home country

I don’t think there will be any video coverage unfortunately. Maybe a highlight or two. I will try and meet with PS after the trip to talk about what happened. Who played well and who has work to do.

[Moleman1 44]

Based on all I've read so far, the summary in my head is that we should be able to expect a reasonably good defensive and rebounding team. This in turn could make for more than usual # of transition plays for these Tigers..

So offense more than defense is where the focus for improvement needs to be..

So Question #1 - will we find the capability to cash in on these extra transition plays; or set plays too for that matter? Part of the answer would come from quality of passing, off-ball play and sharing the ball when advantageous. I hope the players become smarter in how to break down defenses, & more alert.. Question #2- with so many new parts to this '23-'24 team, how closely/smoothly will these individuals gel in tune w one another, and how swiftly (or slowly) will that will develop? 

Thanks for all the juicey, promising and interesting details - you do a great job Matt!! One question if I may - is there going to be a hire to replace coach Clark? 

 

[mat1992 2,238]

2 minutes ago, Moleman1 said:

Based on all I've read so far, the summary in my head is that we should be able to expect a reasonably good defensive and rebounding team. This in turn could make for more than usual # of transition plays for these Tigers..

So offense more than defense is where the focus for improvement needs to be..

So Question #1 - will we find the capability to cash in on these extra transition plays; or set plays too for that matter? Part of the answer would come from quality of passing, off-ball play and sharing the ball when advantageous. I hope the players become smarter in how to break down defenses, & more alert.. Question #2- with so many new parts to this '23-'24 team, how closely/smoothly will these individuals gel in tune w one another, and how swiftly (or slowly) will that will develop? 

Thanks for all the juicey, promising and interesting details - you do a great job Matt!! One question if I may - is there going to be a hire to replace coach Clark? 

 

Next week, there should be an announcement for new assistant.

[mat1992 2,238]

I'm not trying to make the new assistant hire secondary, but when you compare what has happened to the team over the summer with recruiting (more issues that I've mentioned) and then nearly losing two assistants, this is a move that won't be "splashy". Hopefully, they have a fun and successful trip up North.