Bay Area Tiger 347 Report post Posted January 13 I’m at a college football showcase in Mesa Arizona and missed the entire game only to have a fellow alum who follows the team text me…. “this team simply isn’t tough enough, mentally and physically, and that falls on the coaches” Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TuTigers2012 1,071 Report post Posted January 13 13 minutes ago, Bay Area Tiger said: I’m at a college football showcase in Mesa Arizona and missed the entire game only to have a fellow alum who follows the team text me…. “this team simply isn’t tough enough, mentally and physically, and that falls on the coaches” Haven’t been. For a guy who preaches toughness, his teams never have it. I did hear if we each 17* straight home wins he gets another half decade for his career 500 record! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TSU88 1,073 Report post Posted January 13 15 minutes ago, Bay Area Tiger said: I’m at a college football showcase in Mesa Arizona and missed the entire game only to have a fellow alum who follows the team text me…. “this team simply isn’t tough enough, mentally and physically, and that falls on the coaches” Not saying you’re wrong, but I think there’s also a talent deficiency, which is also on the coaches. Would have been interesting to see if Watson would have appreciably moved the needle, but I’m not sure Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tiger93 299 Report post Posted January 14 As much as I hate our style, slowing that game down probably helped us from being blown out (that is not advocating for it, just stating facts). Give Northeastern credit, because that was far and away the most efficient offensive performance against Towson all year. Both teams had only 54 possession, and Northeastern shot 58.1% and averaged 1.241 points per possession, which is the best by a Towson opponent all year. Luke Sakota and Chris Doherty were the best players on the floor by a mile (I thought Sukota completely controlled the game). Tarke was really the only Towson player, who played anything above a C- game today. They were We got burned on 3-4 backdoor cuts, which always seems to be Bill Coen's way to use our aggressiveness against us. We got outrebounded 28-21, but that is not unexpected when a team shoots 58% (65% in the second half). What is really concerning is we were pounded inside and outscored 42-20 in points in the paint. We have now been outscored by all four conference opponents in the paint to the tune of 134-86. We will need to change that. Our first two halfs in these road CAA games have been absolutely putrid. Against Northeastern, we were 4-17 with 9 turnovers in 25 possession (0.68 points per possession). Against Monmouth we 7-31 with 7 turnovers in 32 possession (0.625 points per possesion). Overall in two first halfs in road conference play, that is 11-48 (22.9%), 16 turnovers, 37 points in 57 possessions (.649 points per possession). We won't beat anyone if we can't figure out how to get off to better starts on the road. In the second half against Northeastern, we were actually 13-23 with only 3 turnovers, 42 points and 1.556 points per possession (we outscored Northeastern 42-39 in the second half), but out defense was too uneven and our bad first half was too much to overcome. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mat1992 2,235 Report post Posted January 14 3 hours ago, Tiger93 said: As much as I hate our style, slowing that game down probably helped us from being blown out (that is not advocating for it, just stating facts). Give Northeastern credit, because that was far and away the most efficient offensive performance against Towson all year. Both teams had only 54 possession, and Northeastern shot 58.1% and averaged 1.241 points per possession, which is the best by a Towson opponent all year. Luke Sakota and Chris Doherty were the best players on the floor by a mile (I thought Sukota completely controlled the game). Tarke was really the only Towson player, who played anything above a C- game today. They were We got burned on 3-4 backdoor cuts, which always seems to be Bill Coen's way to use our aggressiveness against us. We got outrebounded 28-21, but that is not unexpected when a team shoots 58% (65% in the second half). What is really concerning is we were pounded inside and outscored 42-20 in points in the paint. We have now been outscored by all four conference opponents in the paint to the tune of 134-86. We will need to change that. Our first two halfs in these road CAA games have been absolutely putrid. Against Northeastern, we were 4-17 with 9 turnovers in 25 possession (0.68 points per possession). Against Monmouth we 7-31 with 7 turnovers in 32 possession (0.625 points per possesion). Overall in two first halfs in road conference play, that is 11-48 (22.9%), 16 turnovers, 37 points in 57 possessions (.649 points per possession). We won't beat anyone if we can't figure out how to get off to better starts on the road. In the second half against Northeastern, we were actually 13-23 with only 3 turnovers, 42 points and 1.556 points per possession (we outscored Northeastern 42-39 in the second half), but out defense was too uneven and our bad first half was too much to overcome. A lot of good stats, but the basics to me are shooting% and let's take a look at the big sample size for the bigs: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/towson/men/2024.html If you are a subpar three-point shooting team and we're getting slightly better at around 32.2% now, you better make your twos. You can't shoot under 50% from 2-point range unless you're a jump shooter. Jones is shooting 46.4% from two-point range (42% overall) Sulaiman is shooting 53.2% from two-point range (46.6% overall). Thompson is 44.2% from the field and well, 44.2% from 2-point range since he doesn't shoot 3s. That's better than it was at the end of 2023 when he was shooting well under 40%. Paar is at 53% though pretty small sample size. I'll throw in Tejada since he's 6-8 and is at 46.2% from 2-point range and 36.5% from 3-point range. Interestingly, Williamson is at 47.5% from 2-point range and 38.5% overall. Needs to drive more. Bottom line is that CT needs to get back to last season's numbers where he was 56.5% from the field. Sulaiman is unknown since has at D2 last season. The most puzzling numbers of all: With Wofford last season, Jones made 58.9% from 2-point range and before that was in the 60s. What the hell happened? Injuries? Confidence? Coaching? He came back from the Achilles' injury from Nov. 2021 and his numbers weren't this bad. He looks like he's lost all confidence. He's dropping passes and throwing them away. Didn't expect him to be Cam Holden but thought at least based on past numbers, he'd be a solid 9 and 6 player. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/messiah-jones-1.html I'm usually not Debbie Downer, but unless Watson comes back at some point and is his pre-injury self (nearly impossible), we might make some slight improvements with this current squad but this is basically who we are. The freshmen, including Cole, will need to make drastic improvements. I don't see Tejada becoming Dennis Tunstall on D and Lowery becoming Cam with a jumper (Cam's Steph Curry compared to him) or Cole putting on 20 pounds. At some point though, Cole's minutes need to increase, especially if Lowery continues to struggle at the point and Williamson has his ups and downs. Defensively, maybe Charles is getting tired with so much asked of him offensively and as a point center. Not incredibly worried about the D, even though the post D stunk yesterday. Watching Lowery block 3 shots in one possession, made me wonder what he'd look like if he had the bulk to play the 4. Of course, that's the future. Sulaiman (6-6?), Jones (6-6?), Thompson (6-7) give you bulk but not a lot of length. CT has some length but he's been off his game defensively for the most part. Tejada is probably not strong enough to play down there yet, but he's 6-8 and has some length. Again, something to ponder to start him at the 4. It's not like the others are giving you great defense along very little offensive production. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TSU88 1,073 Report post Posted January 14 39 minutes ago, mat1992 said: A lot of good stats, but the basics to me are shooting% and let's take a look at the big sample size for the bigs: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/towson/men/2024.html If you are a subpar three-point shooting team and we're getting slightly better at around 32.2% now, you better make your twos. You can't shoot under 50% from 2-point range unless you're a jump shooter. Jones is shooting 46.4% from two-point range (42% overall) Sulaiman is shooting 53.2% from two-point range (46.6% overall). Thompson is 44.2% from the field and well, 44.2% from 2-point range since he doesn't shoot 3s. That's better than it was at the end of 2023 when he was shooting well under 40%. Paar is at 53% though pretty small sample size. I'll throw in Tejada since he's 6-8 and is at 46.2% from 2-point range and 36.5% from 3-point range. Interestingly, Williamson is at 47.5% from 2-point range and 38.5% overall. Needs to drive more. Bottom line is that CT needs to get back to last season's numbers where he was 56.5% from the field. Sulaiman is unknown since has at D2 last season. The most puzzling numbers of all: With Wofford last season, Jones made 58.9% from 2-point range and before that was in the 60s. What the hell happened? Injuries? Confidence? Coaching? He came back from the Achilles' injury from Nov. 2021 and his numbers weren't this bad. He looks like he's lost all confidence. He's dropping passes and throwing them away. Didn't expect him to be Cam Holden but thought at least based on past numbers, he'd be a solid 9 and 6 player. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/messiah-jones-1.html I'm usually not Debbie Downer, but unless Watson comes back at some point and is his pre-injury self (nearly impossible), we might make some slight improvements with this current squad but this is basically who we are. The freshmen, including Cole, will need to make drastic improvements. I don't see Tejada becoming Dennis Tunstall on D and Lowery becoming Cam with a jumper (Cam's Steph Curry compared to him) or Cole putting on 20 pounds. At some point though, Cole's minutes need to increase, especially if Lowery continues to struggle at the point and Williamson has his ups and downs. Defensively, maybe Charles is getting tired with so much asked of him offensively and as a point center. Not incredibly worried about the D, even though the post D stunk yesterday. Watching Lowery block 3 shots in one possession, made me wonder what he'd look like if he had the bulk to play the 4. Of course, that's the future. Sulaiman (6-6?), Jones (6-6?), Thompson (6-7) give you bulk but not a lot of length. CT has some length but he's been off his game defensively for the most part. Tejada is probably not strong enough to play down there yet, but he's 6-8 and has some length. Again, something to ponder to start him at the 4. It's not like the others are giving you great defense along very little offensive production. At the end of the day, there’s only so many chess ♟️ pieces to move. I put this question out-who on this team would be a starter on another mid-major? CT would certainly start on some other teams, but I highly doubt the offense would run through him. May? Meh. He had a 4-game stretch where he averaged like 16ppg, but other than that he’s shown himself to be a guy who’s going to score about 8ppg, with a subpar shooting percentage. DWill? Probably not. He’s not really a PG, and small for a 2 guard. A nice guy to come off the bench, for an offensive jolt, but probably not a starter. Sulaiman? That’s a hard no. Tejada? Probably notwithstanding any defensive liabilities. Tarke? Absolutely. So, CT, Tarke, and perhaps Tejada. And even these guys, on a good, or better than good, mid-major, probably would be complimentary guys, not A-listers. X’s and O’s are important, but we need more Jimmy’s and Joe’s 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Datres 423 Report post Posted January 15 We have a bit of a case study to go off of with Timberlake playing for Kansas. He was never gonna be a starter there and lately, he's been getting very limited run. As my KU friend said to me at the UCF game on Wednesday night, "I know he's your guy but he's not the answer here". Can't disagree with that one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TSU88 1,073 Report post Posted January 15 32 minutes ago, Chris Datres said: We have a bit of a case study to go off of with Timberlake playing for Kansas. He was never gonna be a starter there and lately, he's been getting very limited run. As my KU friend said to me at the UCF game on Wednesday night, "I know he's your guy but he's not the answer here". Can't disagree with that one. One would assume KU is having buyer’s remorse Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blazer49 186 Report post Posted January 15 As much as I bitch and moan about Joey D and his ridiculous Flosports deal, maybe I should be thanking him instead. If they were on ESPN+ I probably would have wasted part of my Saturday afternoon watching that garbage. Mat predicted the short turn around having an afternoon start after an embarrassing delay and then OT and having to travel, could be an issue but to me that can't be an excuse. I know we never play well in Boston but these "winnable" games on the road we hardly ever win. You are what your record says you are and in our case, it is good enough to get an extension to continue the mediocrity. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TuTigers2012 1,071 Report post Posted January 15 27 minutes ago, Blazer49 said: As much as I bitch and moan about Joey D and his ridiculous Flosports deal, maybe I should be thanking him instead. If they were on ESPN+ I probably would have wasted part of my Saturday afternoon watching that garbage. Mat predicted the short turn around having an afternoon start after an embarrassing delay and then OT and having to travel, could be an issue but to me that can't be an excuse. I know we never play well in Boston but these "winnable" games on the road we hardly ever win. You are what your record says you are and in our case, it is good enough to get an extension to continue the mediocrity. 8-8 on the year. 189-162 overall sans first season. Mediocre as mediocre can be Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
