Skerry time to go?

[mat1992 2,234]

Look, Pat's not going anywhere but he's not beyond criticism. He knows that. I don't know if the fanbase beyond a few hundred really care. That's the shame about football getting to the title game because it brought thousands of people that cared for three hours and the weeks before. But once we went back to our old ways, nobody cared anymore. Pat got some people caring about Towson basketball again and for the first time, but a trip to the NCAA Tournament would multiply that by a few thousand, which for us is a lot.

Get that one more player aside from Zane and Justin in the backcourt that needs to be better than Starr at his best. And somebody who can be a more consistent Mike.

[TSU88 1,073]

Today’s loss exemplifies what has thus far been Skerry’s Achilles heel-his abject failure in not bringing in a good PG. Starr had a few standout games in his 2 years, but by in large he was average to below average. Getting outscored 24-0 need not be elaborated upon. 

Next year we will be loaded in depth & size up front with Sanders, Gorham, Solomon U, Tunstall & Thomas. Factor ZM back in & we’ve got some nice pieces. But the elephant in the room, as usual, is who’s running the point? Right now, unless he brings in a one year rental grad transfer, it’s going to be a freshman and/or a JUCO. He really needs to utilize the 2 open ships in a productive manner

[tualum 108]

Why bring up this topic again? He isn't going anywhere and this is who we are. An average to sometimes below average squad. Most took the kool aid from that 10-1 start besides myself and maybe one other. Will be having the same discussion this time next year and beyond  until his contract ends. Decent recruiter with the exception of a point guard and poor Xs and Os guy. His ability to lead and motivate is highly suspect. But again, no choice but to embrace it. Skerry ball lives on....

[mat1992 2,234]

One good thing about next season is that Zane got very few calls going to the basket and now that's he's a returning 2nd-team all-conference and likely first-team all-preseason pick, he'll get more calls. But sure, the rest of the league is not getting worse. It's getting better. I can see Charleston slide a tiny bit down losing Chealey and Cam Johnson. Also if Grant gets a bigger job. But there might not be a bad team next season. Really, JMU should be better. Everybody should be better. W&M probably gets a point guard to replace Cohn. One that fits their system.

[mat1992 2,234]

 

If you want to define "Skerry ball" as poor shooting and getting to the foul line, you also have to include good defense and rebounding. So Skerry ball wasn't really played this season because our defense was mediocre. Take away 1-31 and his record is far from average. That's a million times better than our previous three coaches. But sure, he has to get better. Losing Davis and Moto was a lot more devastating than we thought it would be and the 10-game winning streak and two tournament wins gave us some false hopes. But you'd be a fool to not credit him or the team for accomplishing something a Towson team has never done. I think the travel to Florida, Northern Ireland and Canada at the end of the day to use a tired cliche', became more of a detriment than a positive. 

[AtlantaTiger 203]

First, I hate to say “I told you so”, but I did call for an 80-67 Tribe win, 10 minutes before tip, on an earlier forum topic. Missed by 1! 

Look, this team had ZERO leadership on the floor the entire season. Today looked like they were playing a pickup game at the local YMCA. No semblance of an offense...just chuck it up.  Here’s hoping that the 2018-19 squad is much hungrier and much smarter.

[mat1992 2,234]

While there's no doubt that Towson needs a point guard as their top need, we also needed a center this year. Playing Gorham against Knight today was a losing proposition and while we could have doubled him, he would have found an open shooter for an easy 3-point attempt. Thomas was just limited and slow. He could only play about 10-15mpg. Having Sanders start and hopefully a healthy and bigger Tunstall is going to solidify that spot. Playing Gorham at center this season was a struggle defensively. Playing him at power forward was a plus on the offensive end and he was adequate defensively.

[mat1992 2,234]

1 minute ago, AtlantaTiger said:

First, I hate to say “I told you so”, but I did call for an 80-67 Tribe win, 10 minutes before tip, on an earlier forum topic. Missed by 1! 

Look, this team had ZERO leadership on the floor the entire season. Today looked like they were playing a pickup game at the local YMCA. No semblance of an offense...just chuck it up.  Here’s hoping that the 2018-19 squad is much hungrier and much smarter.

If you joined us on the chat, I wasn't particularly confident either. I never really am even in the Benimon era because I've witnessed so many losses live and on TV. But with this team, even with Starr back, it was hard to be confident from what we've seen in the last few weeks. Even when we cut it to 4, we found ways to take bad shots, turn it over, leave them open in transition and that was ballgame. A microcosm of the season.

[TuTigers2012 1,063]

25 minutes ago, tualum said:

Why bring up this topic again? He isn't going anywhere and this is who we are. An average to sometimes below average squad. Most took the kool aid from that 10-1 start besides myself and maybe one other. Will be having the same discussion this time next year and beyond  until his contract ends. Decent recruiter with the exception of a point guard and poor Xs and Os guy. His ability to lead and motivate is highly suspect. But again, no choice but to embrace it. Skerry ball lives on....

I for one never took the koolaid. Caa is not what it once was.  Jeez Kennedy could avoid play in game these days.   

How much is Leonard to blame?? He has Passed out extensions like candy. We shouldn’t be bottom third in football or men’s hoops but we are since he’s got there.    

I love graduating players and them becoming good members of society but we are the only  program save for Elon (who will fire their coach) to not make a Caa championship game 

[TSU88 1,073]

I didn’t start this thread, but to answer the question of why bring up this topic again, I suspect it was born of the frustration many of us feel with another poor showing in the conference tournament. Clearly, Skerry isn’t going anywhere.

Perhaps the better question is why was it necessary to give Skerry an 8 year extension? believe Skerry’s record is now 2-6 (I only remember W’s over JMU in Baltimore & NE last year) with 1 trip (a loss) to the semifinals. During the Skerry era I believe every other team in the conference, with the exception of Elon, has at least been to the finals of the tournament.

If you want a coach who graduates kids (at least the ones who stay) & who has made the program into a consistent 18-20 W’s a year team, then Skerry is your guy. If you want a coach who’s going to win the conference regular season title and/or the conference tournament, then, at least thus far, Skerry isn’t your guy. 

One other note, Skerry has had some disastrous recruiting results, to go with some of his successes in that category. Hairston, Matthews, Ingram, Hawkins, Foster & Prophete for various reasons have all flamed out (or, in Prophete’s case, is on the path to flaming out). I get it-every coach has recruits that don’t pan out, just seems like we’ve had more than our fair share. And I’m not even factoring in Marshall (the son of the NBA player), Barrington Alston, Deon Jones (who left & went on to have a nice career at Monmouth) & a couple of guys who signed, but never played a game here (like Amayo).