mat1992 2,235 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 I'm not giving Pat a pass based on losing two key sophomores, who should be here. But it is what it is. When he got here, we lost Isaiah Philmore and Braxton Dupree. There wasn't much he could do to replenish that team. He lost Martin and Gorham after the season. He had to pick up Selcuk and Timberlake. Then Howard was a late signee. Betrand was only supposed to sit for Martin for two years until he was ready. This is the reality we're living with. That's not a formula for winning and you can blame Pat for those guys leaving but once they left, we pretty much knew this season was going to be rough. The problem starts and ends with recruiting. He's recruited well enough to win in all but two seasons. But to get over the hump, he has to get more Jerrell Benimons. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TSU88 1,073 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 (edited) Guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree, Tgr4life. As I previously suggested, if next year is another train wreck then I hope the AD pulls the plug...assuming there’s a buyout option in the contract. If there’s no such clause, you, I and everyone else clamoring for change are just emptying the ocean with an eye dropper Edited November 19, 2018 by TSU88 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AtlantaTiger 205 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 I see the problem with Towson hoops as being one of two issues... 1. Pat Skerry is recruiting *exactly* the kind of players that he wants to run his system. Assuming he has been successfully recruiting his hand-picked players, then the only conclusion is that his style of play/scheme is ineffective. He runs a subpar style of offense. 2. He's NOT landing the recruits he wants/needs. In this case, the issue is he's not a good recruiter (salesman). Neither scenario is good. Some coaches are just meant to be career assistants. Not every HC is meant to be a HC. How many years of rebuilding, recruiting and starting over does Pat need before he gets it right? We got slaughtered by North Dakota State. I refuse to believe that at this point in his tenure that Pat can't find a way to WILL his players to a win over NDST. Meanwhile, Furman beats Villanova a few nights ago. Stunning. Let's ask Furman's coach what his secret is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mat1992 2,235 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 9 minutes ago, AtlantaTiger said: I see the problem with Towson hoops as being one of two issues... 1. Pat Skerry is recruiting *exactly* the kind of players that he wants to run his system. Assuming he has been successfully recruiting his hand-picked players, then the only conclusion is that his style of play/scheme is ineffective. He runs a subpar style of offense. 2. He's NOT landing the recruits he wants/needs. In this case, the issue is he's not a good recruiter (salesman). Neither scenario is good. Some coaches are just meant to be career assistants. Not every HC is meant to be a HC. How many years of rebuilding, recruiting and starting over does Pat need before he gets it right? We got slaughtered by North Dakota State. I refuse to believe that at this point in his tenure that Pat can't find a way to WILL his players to a win over NDST. Meanwhile, Furman beats Villanova a few nights ago. Stunning. Let's ask Furman's coach what his secret is. How many years have we been rebuilding? I don't get that statement. We're rebuilding this year because we lost the whole freakin' team. But in the last five years, we've won 25, 12, 20, 20 and 18 games. When he took over this program, this was an absolute dumpster fire, one of the worst in the nation. He's made them viable. Now he needs to get them to the next step and whether he do that is certainly questionable because he hasn't added that key player, preferably a guard. Who knows? Maybe that's going to be Timberlake? Or Dottin? Or Betrand down the road? I will never give up on freshmen who I think have some talent. This isn't last year's class where Prophete was not a good recruit to be kind and not sure what they say in Drayton other than he can score some. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TSU88 1,073 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 It’s going to be interesting to see what home attendance is like this season. We really don’t have many home games, outside of conference games. I have my season tix & I’ll be there, but if the team continues to play this poorly, will SECU be a cavern? If so, would that even make a difference in terms of how the AD views Skerry’s future (again assuming there’s a buyout option in the contract). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AtlantaTiger 205 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 Fair enough, maybe saying we're constantly rebuilding isn't accurate. However, when we haven't known any meaningful post-season success despite a run of winning seasons, I start to wonder what it will take. Someone posed a great question earlier, have we "plateaued" under Skerry? Perhaps he's taken us as far as he's capable of.....we may need to consider that this program needs a shot in the arm with new leadership. I think we'll know the answer within the next couple of months. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TSU88 1,073 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 I posted the “plateaued” question, and got the resounding sound of crickets 🦗 chirping in response. I will therefore answer my own rhetorical question with an affirmative reply. I personally believe we have plateaued under Coach Skerry. This is his 8th season. Season one doesn’t really count (he inherited the ruins of the Pat Kennedy program). But the fact remains that this will be the 8th straight year we will not only not win the conference tournament, but not even have made it to the conference final. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tgr4life 167 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 I agree. Skerry should get credit for getting a poor program back to average in the conference. You can only keep going back to that so often. Eventually you need to reach a top tier to keep a HC job in D1basketball for 10 years. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
griggey20 178 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 49 minutes ago, Tgr4life said: I agree. Skerry should get credit for getting a poor program back to average in the conference. You can only keep going back to that so often. Eventually you need to reach a top tier to keep a HC job in D1basketball for 10 years. Is winning 20 games in a season considered average? This is a serious question. I would consider being .500 is average. I think we have been underwhelming in the CAA Tournament and some of that blame goes to Skerry. Part of that could be that we overachieved in the regular season and part could be we under performed in the playoffs. Both can be true. I felt like Zane was going to be the guy that could put us over the hump. Him leaving was a major blow to the program IMO. The one thing I've always felt Skerry has been missing is a go-to guy in crunch time to get us a big bucket on his own (Bennimon was the exception to this). It may be PS's fault that he is gone but at the same time that was not expected. It seemed to me the 2017-2018 class was put together to build around him and Gorham. With their departures you have to reevaluate the entire program and start from scratch, which brings us to the 2018-2019 season. Its going to be long and wins are going to be hard to come by. I am just hoping these guys get better as the season goes on and the minutes this year translate to success in 2019-2020. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tgr4life 167 Report post Posted November 19, 2018 The number of wins in college basketball is often determined by your OOC schedule. If you load up with +uptakes, 20 wins does not mean very much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
