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mat1992

MBB Falls to GW on the road, 68-64

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Towson fell behind by as many as 13 points in the first half, cut the lead to two at the half. In the second half, took a seven-point lead but got cold down the stretch. Terry Nolan Jr. hit to big threes down the stretch for the Colonials and wound up with a career-high 24 points. Illinois -transfer D.J. Williams added 19 points.

George Washington, who averages just 60 points per game, shot 50 percent from the field. Towson shot 46 percent and turned the ball over 15 times, while GW had 13. The Tigers outrebounded the Colonials by 12, 36-24. Dennis Tunstsall tied a career-high with 13 rebounds, including a vicious one-handed put-back dunk in the second half.

 

https://gwsports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/team-stats;period=F

Some comments from Pat Skerry in postgame

"I was worried if we were mentally alert enough to play an A-10 team on the road. I thought our defense was bad. We hurt our selves down the stretch with bad turnovers down the stretch, especially at the quarterback position. Give them credit, they had some guys rise up and make big shots. They had some guys we tried to recruit. They made a good percentage. When it rains, it pours. Betrand got sick at the half. Drayton tore some ligaments in his hand. Timberlake had a good week of practice. Though Jordan played decent in the second half. We are a work-in-progress. Defensively, we didn't guard like Towson standards. We're not good enough yet on defense. On offense, we missed so many shots at the rim. Too many turnovers. We did a great job of passing against the zone. We just just missed a lot of shots in close. Dennis is playing hard. Maybe too many mintues. 13 rebounds is hard to take a guy out. Good thing about basketball is that we can't hang on this loss too long. We have to get ready mentally for the Morgan game. The effort is pretty good. The attitude is good. We're going to find out if the new guys are doing to do what it's take to get better."

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I think they should go with Solomon a little more. You might lose a little D but you gain some scoring, rebounding and athleticism. The bigs get offensive rebounds but they can't put them back in. Or they get the ball down low and don't finish. GW really just had one big guy and he played about 10 minutes. Thomas continues to struggle with that knee issue or whatever he has. That's not to say he hasn't struggled finishing when he was health.

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I admit I sound like a broken record, but when you shoot 25% from 3 (now 32% for the season) you’re not going to win a lot of games. We need a philosophical change in the type of players we recruit, but that’s an issue for another topic.

I really wonder who evaluated Howard & Sanders, because I’m just not seeing a great deal of upside in either of them. I know, we’ve only played 25% of the season, but Howard’s shooting is woeful (37%) & he’s only averaging 3 assists per game. Those numbers are no better than Starr last year. It’s true Howard averages more ppg than Starr did, but that’s only because he jacks up way more shots. As for Sanders, I had hopes he’d be a 12 ppg & 7 rebounds guy. Maybe he’ll still develop into that, but the early returns haven’t been great.

You make an interesting point about Solomon. While it’s a small sample size admittedly, he’s 10-11 from the floor so far this season. Why not give him more minutes?

Well, at least Timberlake hit a few 3’s & Tunstall grabbed 13 boards. This season is going to be about looking for individual improvement from players who will be back next year, because W’s this year likely will be few & far between 

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Sanders gets into trouble when he puts the ball on the floor. He should never play power forward because he's not quick enough. At center, he's fine but he picks up so many fouls, he gets out of sync. I'm not going to give up on Sanders scoring 12 and grabbing 7 boards a game. That's possible. I don't think Thomas should play many minutes right now, especially if he's hurt. Play Solomon more minutes and even a little Yagi. We know what Thomas can do. If you are playing against W&M with Knight or some other team with a very good big, fine. Use him because Sanders will get in foul trouble. But we need to develop the young guys who have upside. And when you have no real offensive threat outside of Fobbs so you can't afford to throw out guys like Tunstall and Thomas for 45-50 minutes who can't finish. Dennis played over 30 minutes tonight and while he was great on the boards, he can't finish underneath the basket with contact. Great dunk finish but if he scores over 5 points, that's a bonus.

Howard is a mystery. You have to play him. While he can't make threes right now, he has a bit of a floater that is working. Teams aren't respecting Dottin when he comes in. They are just standing five feet away from him, daring him to shoot from the outside. What I think Pat is upset at right now is Howard's ability to run the team, not his shooting. His lack of awareness at times. The turnovers tonight were brutal. It wasn't just him but McNeill had two, Fobbs had a brutal one late. You can understand when Timberlake and Dottin have two apiece but you're older players have to take care of the ball. If they don't, you might as well play those kids late. Let them make those mistakes and hope they learn from them. It's a shame that Betrand was sick tonight and couldn't play in the second half. Looks like Drayton is going to miss a lot of time so Betrand is going to need to play at least 10 minutes. 

Sometimes, you get the feeling that if Timberlake wants it enough, he can be a star. When he believes in himself as a shooter, he doesn't have that hitch in his jumper. When he gets in defensive position, he can stop most guys, if he focuses. He can pass and jump out of the gym. When he gets stronger and works on his handle, he'll be able to drive more and get to the basket. There's nothing he can't do if he continues to get confidence. He has the instincts because his father was a great player. It might take Betrand a bit longer but he just needs minutes. He has the length and athletic ability. His shot is not bad. We need to be patient as fans and well, the coaches need to be patient with the kids as well. Not as patient with the juniors and seniors though. 

Do they need to recruit better shooters? Of course. Better finishers inside. No doubt. We have one recruit for next season but he's pretty good. 

https://247sports.com/player/charles-thompson-46055832/

 

(from ESPN.com)

Strengths:
Right now, Charles' strength is centered on his size and length. Charles also stays near the basket where he is best suited right now - and hopefully will be in the future. Charles is willing to battle inside and, unlike some less bellicose classmates his size, does not seem inclined to drift to the perimeter. In other words, Charles is a 6'8 player who wants to play in the post. Perfect.

Weaknesses:
Charles is only effective offensively up to 6-feet from the basket as a sophomore. Currently, Charles is too foul-prone, needing to develop his feet to more properly position himself against basket intruders by land or by sky. Skill development across the board is a necessity here, as is the aforementioned footwork needed to augment his size and bulk (220 and counting).

Bottom Line:
Charles, like most big men in the current sophomore class (Class of 2019) is like an unfinished portrait - not done yet. Maturation of mind and body we hope will prevent foul trouble and inconsistency. Spending a lot of time with the basketball developing a move and a counter would stamp Charles a prospect with great size - already in place - and budding skills; that is always a combination desired at the next level.

 

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I know I sometimes look at the glass half full too often, but I do think the future is bright for next season if we can fill one spot. Thomas and McNeill are gone. I'm guessing we lose at least one player if not two. Juwan Gray is going to help a lot at power forward. At 6-8, 215 (hopefully 225 next season) with length and athletic ability, if he can shoot as well as he did in his freshman season at San Diego (40% 3pt), we'll be ok. Gray, Timberlake, Betrand, Sanders and a point guard (hopefully grad transfer or 3* recruit). I think Solomon also has outstanding potential because he's going to add strength and he can already rebound. And he's athletic. 

https://usdtoreros.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=402

Not giving up on Dottin but he's not exceptionally fast or quick and can't shoot from beyond 5 feet. If makes amazing improvements next season, then we could talk about him in the mix. But while I can see Timberlake or Betrand eventually playing some point, I want to see a jet who can be a one-man fastbreak, who can make the right decisions, is 6-0 or 6-1, and can make open shots. Doesn't have to be a great shooter but 42-44% with 4-5apg and 1-2tpg. One can only dream.

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I knew this was going to be rough season and it still will be. But if we are realistically looking at 2-4 more wins overall at most, I have seen enough of the two seniors, they need less minutes and do not deserve to start.  Being here 4 and 5 years and putting up with everything, they should be commended, but they are 8-12 talent in the CAA.

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9 hours ago, TSU88 said:

 

I really wonder who evaluated Howard & Sanders, because I’m just not seeing a great deal of upside in either of them. I know, we’ve only played 25% of the season, but Howard’s shooting is woeful (37%) & he’s only averaging 3 assists per game. Those numbers are no better than Starr last year. It’s true Howard averages more ppg than Starr did, but that’s only because he jacks up way more shots. As for Sanders, I had hopes he’d be a 12 ppg & 7 rebounds guy. Maybe he’ll still develop into that, but the early returns haven’t been great.

 

Hmmm... you say Howard "only averages 3.1 assists," that would be the highest for a Skerry era player since Benimon in 13/14.  Obviously that is not a great number, but when you only have 2 people who can semi score.. with one being himself, it does not lead to many assist opportunities. 

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You have a point. To get assists you have to have teammates who score when you dish to them. Obviously, the only teammate Howard has who can be relied upon to score on even a semi-consistent basis is Fobbs. Still, Howard is not a good PG & the bugaboo that has plagued the Skerry era, the lack of a good PG, continues unabated 

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Do not disagree at all '88. 

LET ME PREFACE THIS STATEMENT, before Mat, Datres and others get on me... I am not calling for Skerry to be fired, and believe he took the program as far as he can but...

Do you think the cats out of the bag on Skerry and his staff?  Do good players/recruits really want to play his style and for a coach who has been here coming on 8 years or so without a trip to CAA Title Game or NCAA's?? revolving door of players, even seems more so recently (and I know, I know its a problem plaguing college sports, but seems higher here)  AAU and high school coaches talk..

It just seems weird that a guy can stay this long at one program without any real accomplishments to the outside eyes and keep getting extensions. (Don't bite my head off, I (even more so) along with the rest of us here, know what he came into and he has graduated all of his players, put some overseas and has them do a ton of community service, All of which I am extremely proud of as and Alum and somehow who worked for this program for 4 years, 3 under PK and 1 under Skerry.)  But to the casual fan, alum, and student, they see "2-6" and no NCAA trips in 30 years.

Its tough to find good players nowadays ESPECIALLY a point guard to run this type of offense. Basketball is becoming like football, an open free flowing, up and down game, and it seems like Skerry and Co have not evolved. They keep trying to put a square peg in a round hole...

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I still think Howard has some potential. Fobbs is exciting but cant do it alone. I also like the spurts Timberlake shows.. Jordan just doesnt deserve to play. I commend him sticking it out thru the program but bench player... For some reason (bias) I dont want to write this team off just yet. We saw 10-1 last year and then NOTHING in conference play. Lets look for a nice reversal. :)

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