Second Summer Practice Update

[mat1992 2,390]

The team is off next week so I thought I'd check them out one more time. The freshmen are still behind and understandably so. This is where if NIL was instrumental in our program and it's not, we'd be able to get a strong transfer to take over for Charles. But instead, we have Abdou Samb, freshman Caleb Embeya and Messiah Jones at center. Embeya is the most talented and is probably going to be 230 at 6-9 by the time league play starts. Hopefully, he'll be ready to start by then, but right now, he's learning and with 10 players back, the freshmen (Embeya and Ndefo) are behind.

Unfortunately, Lowery was on vacation (fortunate for him) so there was a 6-6 defender with a 7-2 wingspan lacking. That was probably the reason that the offense looked very good in a fast-paced environment with solid ball movement. The player who stood out the most IMO, because I wasn't sure what to expect, was Jaiden Cole. He's bigger, and while he doesn't do a lot of things well yet, he can flat out shoot it. Confidence is getting better though I'd like to see him drive it some. If he can just make 37%+ from 3-point range, he'll get on the floor some.

Dylan Williamson may not be an all-conference point guard next season, but he's becoming one of the first point guards in years that has a legitimate chance to do so. He's playing so much better than he did last season at this point, when I wasn't sure if he was a combo, shooting guard or point guard. Now, he knows that it's about finding the open man, dribbling to the paint and kicking it out and making most of his open shots. Defensively, he should be better, because he's much stronger than he was last summer. He needs to start at the point. Tarke is fine and looks slimmer, but he's more of a 2. Now that Hicks is back (hopefully will remain healthy), he can play the 2 behind May or you can move May to the 3. 

I do like Ndefo a lot. At 6-7, 210, he's physically ready. I don't know if he'll contribute much this season, but I think he will progress methodically throughout the season. His biggest issue is the adjustment from playing the post in HS to playing on the perimeter. He's athletic enough and has a solid jumper from 3 pt so I think he'll be fine at some point this season. He'll only have to play around 10mpg to start.

"Red" Coleman is athletic. Huh? Yes, Coleman looks bouncy all of a sudden, and while he doesn't do a lot of perimeter stuff and is nowhere near as talented as Ndefo, he's got a great motor. Unfortunately, that hasn't translated to games, but I have to give him props that he lost about 25-30 pounds and gives it 100% every practice.

May continues to shoot it well from 3. Still want to see him get better in the paint. Didn't know he was playing with a finger injury suffered during the UNCW regular season game. 

Tejada has redefined his body. His defensive game needs to continue to get better, but playing power forward or four-guard (I call it) will help some defensively. Offensively, I think it's time and this is his team. We've never had a player that was this big, who can do the things he does. The closest player I can compare him to was Isaiah Philmore in his second season, who was 6-7, 225, but more of a traditional PF (who went to Xavier to play SF and that didn't work out). Love Tejada's offensive game when he's "activated". In other words, I'd give him the green light, but in a team sense. I think he's taken better shots and last season, we saw him struggle when he tried to take over games and go 1-on-5 (semifinals). He'll be a year older and he has to understand that at 6-8+220, he can post up most players in the CAA, he can face the basket, he can shoot the three, he can score off the dribble and had a sweet floater in the lane today. The sky is the limit. He just has to play within the team concept and I think he's getting it.

 

 

Pat Skerry

“This has been a good week for our guys. They’ve been at camp all day. They are still lifting. Good to have to fight through. We’re relatively healthy. This isn’t easy this time of the year. It’s nice outside and they are inside grinding. Saw some separation from guys who have been around and they were making plays. We haven’t a lot of time on defense. Our ability to play with better pace and spacing is evident.”

“There’s nobody on the roster that can’t play. I understand that it’s challenging to play 13 guys. I do think that the depth of the roster is pretty good. I’m proud of the fact that Jaiden Cole has improved. He has a high IQ, his body is starting to change and he makes shots. This group has a chance to be closer to our championship team (2022-23) that we can really move it and guys can stick it. Can you make 38-42% from three? That will get you on the court. Nick Timberlake didn’t mess around with the ball. He went hard to the rim and was shot-ready. We have to shoot a better % from three. May had a very good week. He shot the ball well. He’s playing with a messed up finger. Apparently he did it in the UNCW game in the regular season and has played through it. He’s a tough customer.”

Dylan and Tomiwa

“He’s a point. He can score. We’re letting him loose. He’s really dynamic. We need to play with better pace. We have to take care of the ball. This group has enough experience and talent to do that. You know who has gotten a lot better? Tomiwa has gotten a lot better with his perimeter game. He didn’t shoot bad from three last year. He’s controlling his body a lot better. First time through it. Never took a three (in D2). We’re big at other positions Messiah is going to be effective for us because he can score and will go back to his natural position (at center). Defense is a team effort.”

On paint touches

“I’m not putting in specials in there yet. We have the ability to post guys. Not just Messiah, but Caleb and (Abdou Samb). Tejada, May, Tarke. We’re certainly going to post. Caleb is putting on some weight. The freshmen play hard, but they are new. We had so many new guys last year and had 10 extra practices to try and build things up. If you’re a new guy, they are getting thrown out against guys that know everything. They’ll eventually catch up, but it is moving fast.”

On missing Lowery today (on vacation)

“He’s an unbelievable ball screen coverage guy. We haven’t done any ball screen coverage yet. We will spend the last four weeks working on that. Embeya and Abdou have that length to effect that end of the floor like Charlie did. I won’t say they’ll do it as well as Charlie, who was an All-Defensive player for 3 years. Those guys have the length. That will be early for them. That’s where they need to make their mark. We have a lot of guys back on the other end of the floor. Lowery is getting stronger. He makes a lot of plays. We’re going to play a forward and four guards. It’s not going to matter whether it’s a taller guy..We’re not going to be hung up on who is there. We have a lot of depth. We’ve been fortunate since Covid. We have really good guys.”

On schedule

“The challenging thing with the schedule, is that if someone can get us a game, go get it. We’ll do it. We’re trying. The hard part is that if you’ve had any success at this level, and we have, is that the NET rewards teams more so for the margin of victory, which offensive efficiency is weighed into that, then the old RPI days about hey, this team is going to be top 2-3 in our league, beating them. Now you are seeing teams spending money on the bottom 275 down. They are buying those teams. Most of the bigger leagues have gone to 18-20 conference games. Those are two more opportunities that have gone out the window. We desperately need home games. We’re trying to get home games. We’re going to play an aggressive schedule. How long is that going to take, I don’t know. Last year, we played a non-D1 after Christmas. Steve and his staff had a very good crowd for that. That was the first time in five years (since fall of 2019). Are we going to play any (non-D1), I hope not. Today as we sit, we have five road games, three neutral games and two home games. That’s 10. We have three more opportunities. In a perfect world, I’d like three D1 home games. That’s going to be really hard to do unless we play somebody to play Towson. Five road games is a lot. (Charleston) is buying two games and played a non-D1 the last two seasons.”

 

 

[mat1992 2,390]

13 is Ndefo, 32 is Samb and 30 is Embeya

[TuTigers2012 1,154]

Hopefully lowery went somewhere nice. Or a week long jump shot boot camp? 😂 

[mat1992 2,390]

2 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Hopefully lowery went somewhere nice. Or a week long jump shot boot camp? 😂 

One of the islands. Yes, he still needs work on his shooting mechanics 

[Tiger93 321]

Sounds like we will be a long and athletic team, but at the end of the day if they want to get close to the 2022-23 team that Skerry referred to the shooting must get better. We were 295 in effective FG% and 319th in the 2-pt FG%. The combination of not finishing down low, having stagnant movement on offensive for long stretches, and bad shot selection made things extremely difficult on offense.

I do have some optimism for guys like Tejada, Williamson, and hopefully May to make a decent jump, but we will definitely need some good production from the freshmen class. Without a big impact transfer or a go-to-scorer they will need to be more efficient offensively from a collective standpoint. The offense was not very good last year, but there were times where things clicked for a half or a good 15-minute burst. Those stretches need to happen more consistently, or else the rebounding and solid defense this team will have gets pretty much canceled out. 

[mat1992 2,390]

2 hours ago, Tiger93 said:

Sounds like we will be a long and athletic team, but at the end of the day if they want to get close to the 2022-23 team that Skerry referred to the shooting must get better. We were 295 in effective FG% and 319th in the 2-pt FG%. The combination of not finishing down low, having stagnant movement on offensive for long stretches, and bad shot selection made things extremely difficult on offense.

I do have some optimism for guys like Tejada, Williamson, and hopefully May to make a decent jump, but we will definitely need some good production from the freshmen class. Without a big impact transfer or a go-to-scorer they will need to be more efficient offensively from a collective standpoint. The offense was not very good last year, but there were times where things clicked for a half or a good 15-minute burst. Those stretches need to happen more consistently, or else the rebounding and solid defense this team will have gets pretty much canceled out. 

The team played a slow pace last season and the offense went through Charles. I think you’ll see better ball movement with Dylan directing the offense and Tejada getting more touches. I agree that the shooting from the perimeter and the finishing in the paint needs to improve. It does look better in the two practices I’ve seen. It’s way too early to tell if Embeya is going to be a better finisher than CT or Paar, but I think eventually he’ll be able to face the basket and put the ball on the floor.

[Bay Area Tiger 371]

In 2024 it amazes me what strength and conditioning programs have done to transform players across the country.  
There really is no offseason anymore. 
College & NBA we have the most fittest athletes than ever before..  now if we could just raise the basketball IQ! 
 

Edited June 29 by Bay Area Tiger

[mat1992 2,390]

This was from the practice I attended 

https://x.com/towson_mbb/status/1807776868957126708?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

[Bay Area Tiger 371]

Did CT get on a Summer League Team to show off his skills for overseas?

[mat1992 2,390]

1 hour ago, Bay Area Tiger said:

Did CT get on a Summer League Team to show off his skills for overseas?

No, but I assume he’s looking for an overseas opportunity.