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mat1992

MBB falls to JMU, 74-73 on last-second shot by Lewis (story up)

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https://towsontigers.com/news/2019/3/9/mens-basketball-three-tigers-hit-double-digits-in-setback-to-jmu.aspx

Matt Lewis hit a three-pointer at the top of the key with 2.7 seconds left to lead No. 8 James Madison over No. 9 Towson, 74-73 in the first round of the CAA Tournament. The Tigers had a 65-54 lead with 7:36 left in the game and couldn't hold on to the lead. Brian Fobbs led the Tigers with 18 points. Towson couldn't slow down Lewis, who had 26 points and Dwight Wilson, who had 26 points and seven boards.

Some Skerry postgame comments on 1300am/TowsonTigers.com

 
"Couldn't keep Lewis off the foul line. Couldn't hold on to leads. Story of the season. Wilson killed us inside. Should have won the game. Scorers table was embarrassing. League should be ashamed of itself. Lewis made a big shot. Have to make some changes. Couldn't get enough stops today. Passing, ballhandling not good. Skill improvement is an issue."

Look, I know people are going to spend the entire offseason killing the coach and the staff. Most of it is deserved. But at least the coach can look in the mirror and say, we aren't skilled enough. We don't get to the line enough because our point guards don't drive and our power forwards can't. Gray will change some of that but sure, we need a freakin' point guard for the 25th straight season. Broken record, I know.

But I will be back, with a lot more hope for my 30th season of covering the team next season. Maybe I should just give it up and become just a fan but hopefully we find some recruits that can play right away. If not, I don't see much more than a few more wins with Gray and Timberlake.

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The problem isn’t people killing the coach and staff this off-season, the problem is that this dreck product extinguishes the enthusiasm for the program of the (few) fans it has, & turns potential new fans off. I consider myself an avid fan, yet I didn’t watch or listen to the game today. When I checked on the final score, my reaction was, “oh, we yakked another 2nd half lead. What’s for dinner.” I doubt either of the open ships will bring in impact players. We might be marginally better next year; perhaps we’ll finish as high as 7th or 8th in the conference. What’s our pitiful record in tournament play now under this coach? I know it’s abysmal.

Welcome to the indefinite future of TU basketball. 

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Appreciate all your insights. 

I will continue to have hope here in CA as I beat myself up for attending Towson State the Fall after we had made the Big Dance. 

At least we have Spiro.. one of the best.  

One wish would be for a grad transfer who plays the point to help us.  I know I know we need so much for next season. 

And PS to some of you...  Jamie Dixon will have TCU in the dance... bet that.  His formula is still effective despite the plethora of injuries he’s had this season. 

I like PS and want him to succeed.  One more season at the helm.  

Now give all the diehard fans a better home schedule!!!

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12 minutes ago, TSU88 said:

The problem isn’t people killing the coach and staff this off-season, the problem is that this dreck product extinguishes the enthusiasm for the program of the (few) fans it has, & turns potential new fans off. I consider myself an avid fan, yet I didn’t watch or listen to the game today. When I checked on the final score, my reaction was, “oh, we yakked another 2nd half lead. What’s for dinner.” I doubt either of the open ships will bring in impact players. We might be marginally better next year; perhaps we’ll finish as high as 7th or 8th in the conference. What’s our pitiful record in tournament play now under this coach? I know it’s abysmal.

Welcome to the indefinite future of TU basketball. 

I can't argue reasonable points without going off the deep end. I'm not quite that pessimistic and I watched every second of the dreck other than the Bahamas this season. This game as predictable as it was, but it was fairly entertaining. Not great defense, good passing and decent shooting. Could't stop a 260-pound big man, who was fairly average all year. But in the end, as you say, we "yakked" it away, some bad fouls, two missed FTs, terrible execution against their 1-3-1 in the final seconds. Dottin was MIT in the last 15 minutes and for good reason. Howard just better until the end. But with Howard on the floor, you sacrifice some defense. So if you want great shooters, you often sacrifice defense. 

Watching Wilson dominate the paint made me wonder if need a solid big man defender to complete our 3-ship class (maybe more).

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The other issue we had all game was foul trouble. Sanders had to be tentative with three fouls and then picked up his fourth, so we had to double Wilson or go zone. Big Al was just not effective at all this game and Tunstall/Solly are not big enough to defend the 260-pound Wilson. On the defensive end, Fobbs was getting abused by Lewis because he had picked up 3 fouls (a tick-tack call). He gave him a foot on that last 3-pointer, maybe by instinct because he didn't want to foul him. But foul trouble cost us on the defensive end in the second half, horrific turnovers hurt us in the first (10).

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16 minutes ago, Bay Area Tiger said:

Appreciate all your insights. 

I will continue to have hope here in CA as I beat myself up for attending Towson State the Fall after we had made the Big Dance. 

At least we have Spiro.. one of the best.  

One wish would be for a grad transfer who plays the point to help us.  I know I know we need so much for next season. 

And PS to some of you...  Jamie Dixon will have TCU in the dance... bet that.  His formula is still effective despite the plethora of injuries he’s had this season. 

I like PS and want him to succeed.  One more season at the helm.  

Now give all the diehard fans a better home schedule!!!

Grad transfers don’t work. It’s a band aid. 

Unpopular opinion, he bleeds black and gold, but not a fan of spiro. 

 

Need a better schedule but pat loves padding his WL record.  

I want pat to succeed but he needs to change and needs a staff more offensive minded 

mat, who else has a dominant big in our confeeence? That can bully inside? Not to many so a guard is more of a concern

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9 minutes ago, TuTigers2012 said:

Grad transfers don’t work. It’s a band aid. 

Unpopular opinion, he bleeds black and gold, but not a fan of spiro. 

 

Need a better schedule but pat loves padding his WL record.  

I want pat to succeed but he needs to change and needs a staff more offensive minded 

mat, who else has a dominant big in our confeeence? That can bully inside? Not to many so a guard is more of a concern

Wilson is not a dominant big but he dominated foul-prone Sanders and a gimpy Thomas. Knight is pretty damn good. I don't know who is coming next season. I didn't say let's get three big men with our three ships. I think he's getting a point guard, a combo guard and a 4/3 that can shoot a little. Maybe Charles Thompson can defend the post. Defending the post is not a bad thing. Sanders isn't very good at it, Tunstall is thin and Thomas is gone. Maybe Solly grows into that with a little more muscle. I don't want five guards. You need to defend the post and the paint a little. That's still important in today's game because a guy like Wilson had a field day.

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On the bright side, they'll have an extra day to recruit and there are a lot of HS tournaments going on this weekend. Now it's all about recruiting. You can't strike out anymore or hit singles. They need to hit home runs like they did with Fobbs. 

I know they struck out in the class with Prophete, Ingram, and Drayton. That's why they keep going after transfers. That's a big problem and it's leading to where we are today. Sure, losing Martin and Gorham was devastating but with them we were 8-10 in the CAA. Without them, we were 6-12. Dottin, Timberlake, Solomon and Betrand still to be determined. Without a doubt, better than the previous class. I don't know if Dottin is more than a backup. He can D up some but his passing instinct isn't there and he's a terrible shooter. Solomon shows flashes. Needs to get stronger but put him in a more up-tempo system and let him run some. Showed that today. Betrand is tantalizing at times but then makes the killing turnover. He has to slow it down. Looking to rush every time he touches the ball. Too small a sample size for Timberlake. Needs more muscle and moxie but does have the passing gene.

Starts with the backcourt. Can't continue hitting singles or striking out. Need some blue chippers.

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A band aid would help for next season and allow our younger guards to develop more.  

Fobbs is a really nice player we only have for one more season.  

Maybe I’m crazy but I’m seeing West Coast Conference Teams grabbing them left and right and it’s been effective.  Hell give me a grad transfer big if he’s out there.  I know we’ve done in the past with some success.

You have a ton of underclassman coming back.  He’s gotta win next season or else.

EG/Geno Crandall at Gonzaga/Josh Martin at Santa Clara 

Wow maybe we need an entire thread on Spiro...    He’s fantastic in my opinion however I didn’t realize it was unpopular!?

You graduated in 2012!?  

You need to try on a pair of plyometric sneakers to understand what someone of us have had to sit through these decades plus.  I’ll take Thomas & Sanders over Crump any time.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Bay Area Tiger

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Mat, you’re right that the Prophete, Ingram, Drayton class was a complete fail. It’s conventional wisdom that the biggest leap a college basketball player makes is beteeen his freshman & sophomore seasons, so we’ll see about this past season’s class of Dottin, Betrand, Timberlake & Solomon. You’re also correct that they need to hit HR’s with the remaining open ships, which doesn’t mean the leading freshman scorer avg 6ppg. While past performance is no guarantee of future results, history has taught us that PS does not bring in freshman who are capable of stepping right in and avg 10+ppg. History has also taught us that PS has never recruited a quality PG (unless you count Frank Mason, who never played a game here, or Hairston’s freshman year). So, if history repeats itself, I would not expect a significant improvement next season. 

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