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Game Day!!!! 3:31pm tip here on the West Coast.. Old Man Stevens been busting my chops for those reports and I’m like hey Boss I gotta basketball game chat scheduled today with Matt, 2012, 2024, the TU Alum and likely TSU88, Blounge etc that I can’t miss. Going for 10 conference wins up in Long Island. He’s like.. “You still planning to take some days off the week of March 17th???? cause you know that is our busy time” I’m like this is literally like 34 years in the making and may never ever happen again.

Tough crowd. I don't think celebrating getting our two best players back means we aren't skeptical of Pat and what looms in the CAAT. I believe we have all made our collective stance on that clear. Just remember that multiple things can be true at once! You can be happy with the squad we have and displeased with the coach. Pumped that we will have a strong regular season, but worried about March, etc. If none of it matters anyway, just check out and we'll see you in 10 months or so to gather the pitchforks. I'll continue to ride the turbulent wave that is Towson basketball and just enjoy the ride for what it is.

Mid Majors were feeders for big programs even before NIL but now it’s just ridiculous. I’m not necessarily anti NIL, but gone are the days of a VCU, George Mason and Butler making tournament runs. I don’t blame the players for cashing in now since most of them will never sniff the NBA but I do miss old school college basketball when players would play all 4 years at the same school.

I think I wrote a similar headline last season and I believe, I'm tired of it. But I try to think about what can we do better instead of the obvious because that's not happening. So, I still I think I recap the season at some point after people calm down, but I might point out some things that may been bought up about what's missing and others that may have not been. 1)Guard play. and passing Those who watched UNCW/Delaware and the other games not with Towoson involved saw this. We see it over and over. We finally got a really good lead guard in Dylan Williamson (6-1, 180), but even he has flaws due to his lack of size. But let's look at some of the top lead guards in the CAA. *Jean Anguren, Hofstra (6-3, 190), *Cruz Davis, Hofstra (6-3, 170) *CJ Fulton, Charleston (6-3, 190) leads league in assists with 6.4/Derrin Boyd (6-3, 215) *Izaiah Pasha, Delaware (6-4, 190), 3.9 apg. Who was fantastic on Tuesday night against UNCW *Donovan Newby, UNVW (6-1, 185) (3.5apg) Newby looks like he's 200. Built like a tank. *Isiaah Mbeng, W&M, (6-2, 170), 3.4apg *Rashad King, NE (6-6, 204) 3.3 apg *Madison Durr, Monmouth (6-5, 190), 3.2 apg You get the point. All these guards were not only bigger than DWill aside from Mbeng, but also dished out more assists. Was that DWill's fault? Not necessarily. Sometimes he threw perfect passes and guys either missed bunnies or wide open shots. The fact that he was a 2nd-team All-Conference player and was used often in the two-man game with a big man who was not a threat to score, is pretty amazing. If he returns next season, how good would DWill be if he had a big lead guard like Izaiah Pasha next to him? He was brilliant against UNCW with 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Nothing against CMay or Tarke, but there's a reason why this team is near the bottom of the CAA every year in assists. Some of that is poor perimeter shooting. This year, we were last with 10.64 per game and it showed in both games when we went iso and one-on-one in way too many situations. 2)I said this on the chat throughout the season and in the rare losses and some close wins. This team was flawed and not just at the 5 spot (I'll get to that later) In a lot of ways, PS did his best coaching job before the tournament. I don't care if they played an easy schedule after the first two games, they still won 16 of 18 games and beat the best team in the league UNCW (beat Delaware twice, talented and underachieving Drexel 2x, etc.). 3)Going16-2 in the regular season was great, but we had to come back in too many games. It didn't feel like your typical top seed. Going on a 30-1 run against W&M was incredible, but we were way down in that one to win by 15. We had to come back to beat Hampton at the end of the season. We played pretty well against Campbell on the road and I thought that was one of the better performances of the year, considering it was in that bandbox after a tough loss at Elon. This was not a dominant team by any means and I think the Timberlake/Cam teams along with the Benimon teams were better. They had dominant rebounders and better defensive squads. But the results were all the same. But this team also didn;t have a JB or a CT in the middle to control the paint. 4)I've been about full-court pressure since the 80s of Georgetown and the 90s of Maryland. Not saying we had the perfect team to press but my favorite game of the season was watching us beat NE 75-65 on Jan. 27 on the road. Got them out of their comfort zone. We forced 17 turnovers and had 10 steals led by five from Tarke, who was used to playing in that manner at Coppin State. Not sure why we stopped doing that especially in the CAAT. Lowery and Tarke are made for pressing, trapping and uptempo basketball. 5)Centers. I said it in preseason. Who is our five? Can Embeya get better? Can MJ's body hold up? Can Samb be serviceable? I can't blame Messiah for trying. Dude was maybe 6-5 and 235, with a bad shoulder, knees, Diabetes, ertc. He's not even a 25-minute player. Embeya got better defensively, but he was afraid to shoot. Samb was well Samb. He didn't really hurt them much late in the season. Going small was the right thing against Delaware but they probably should have started Lowery at the 5. Or Sulaiman. Not wait until late in the game. Act don't react. Delaware was not the same Delaware we played in the regular season. Maybe our guys never realized it. Then again, we loved to get behind in games and come back all year, At some point, it was going to bite us in the ass and it did. I'm not every going to jump off the bandwagon. I never did when Jazz, Hunt and PK ran the show (into the ground) and I won't know. Frustrated as shit, no doubt, but I like talk about resolutions and not just grievances. Believe me, if they won, we'd have more people here, more people donating and half the team would have left and we would still be freakin' happy. Instead of doing a depth chart, I'll just assume that TT will leave and hope that DWill stays. But with Barton, Womack, and Holmes coming in and Ndefo, Coleman and Cole back from redshirts (I assume), here's what we need (assume that Tarke, Hicks, Sulaiman and Jones are all gone). PG DWill, Barton SG Cole SF May/Lowery PF/Wing Womack, Ndefo C Embeya, Coleman, Samb, Holmes (rs) This leaves two players and while I'd love to have another big man, we're desperate for two quality guards, hopefully with some size though Barton (6-3, 210?) is pretty big. Not sure if he'll be ready yet to play in the rotation. He was basically a 4 in high school because they had small guards but was All-WCAC. Womack will be a stud at some point. Might just play the 5 but it's always tough as a freshman. But he'll 100% play right away. Just don't know how long a guy like that will be around so better take advantage and get the cash ready. The center position will still be a question mark unless they can play Womack at 6-7, 230 ready to play, but too many questions. Still desperately need better passers and shooters assuming Tejada is gone. They are the definition of "fine" right now. Need two impact guys at lead guard and wing. Need more than fine, but at least expectations will be mid at best if DWill returns. If not, they'll have 3 spots and they better spend 75% of that NIL/SAR money on transfers. Delaware was a bit of fluke but they showed the formula on offense. Shooters everywhere. Big lead guard. Didn't need 10 players. UNCW a dominant rebounding team with two quality big, neither being great, but you don't need great in this league at the 5. Just good. A threat. Charleston was Charleston but they had the guards, the bigs, etc. Coaching wasn't quite as good and maybe chemistry was off after so many losses. I'd still love to have a down season like Charleston. We know they'll be back because they have Lazar Djokovic. A Xavier transfer who may not be Ante' but he's a force. Jealous of UNCW for winning and Delaware for getting there. I know that having a strong regular season is not enough. Some changes HAVE to be made. Personnel-wise, schematically to fit the talent on both ends of the floor. I'm not saying 40 minutes of hell next season like Arkansas in the 90s is necessary, but Ndefo, Embeya, May, Womack and Lowery are all athletic and their talents should be used in some sort of trap and pressure. It worked against NE and at the end of the Delaware game. Changes are not about helping us go 16-2 in the regular season again and who cares? That probably won't happen next season or ever again. It's about getting a top 4 seed (unless your' Del/Sbrook) and playing your best. Doing whatever it f-ing takes to cut down the nets in March, not February. Take chances.

Annual thank you to Mat for the continued coverage of this team that helps me stay engaged. Same to all of the regular posters, whose words I regularly read and silently praise or argue with. Even when I disagree, I'm glad that people are talking Towson. With that in mind, I am wary of the cancelling of season tickets, not attending games, etc. I understand and have pointed out myself that the time for change is well overdue and that it's hard to support a team when we all know what's waiting in March. However, I do think it's important to try and build off of the fan support and momentum from the end of the regular season, especially for the current students. According to the numbers from the CAA, we were 4th in home attendance. Say what you will about the schools drawing less than us, but getting 2,600 people out to games, on average, is a far cry from the days when I was in school. While we all agree that March and getting to the Dance (maybe just a Conference Final?) are the true bars for success for a mid-major, we can care about more than one thing at a time. Part of success as a program to me is people actually giving a shit about Towson. I care so deeply about students supporting these teams and carrying that into life beyond college. I want my fellow alumni to follow our teams and have some passion. So many of the people I went to school with could not care less about anything Towson related. Didn't when we were students, don't now. Having a team that consistently wins, independent of the staff or the potentially meaningless nature of regular season games or lack of March success or whatever else, can help build a culture. Seeing the arena mostly full and loud for those last few games made me genuinely happy. To have that consistently at Towson would be incredible. Please do not think this is me saying I want things to stay the same or watch more Skerryball - I do not. I am not one of these mysterious, fervent Skerry supports lurking in the shadows that 2012 always brings up. Far from it. But I do want to support the student athletes and to have our home court be a great place to watch a game. More people who care means more voices, more pressure for the AD/school to actually make meaningful decisions. Will it work? Probably not, and I get that. However, abandoning the team, especially when we know Skerry likely isn't going anywhere for two more years, is just going to set the program back to the darkest of days. I completely understand why this might be an unpopular take and the perspective that basketball as it currently exists doesn't demand time, money, or attention. I just wanted to share some thoughts. Appreciate you all, Hail Towson.

Instead of everyone making posts, why don't we cut and paste from last year. Would be a real time saver

My prediction a lot of agita and chewed fingernails starting Sunday, ending with a heart pounding victory on Tuesday night over our nemesis C o C!

We ought to just table all this for a week, and see how the conference tournament plays out. I mean we’re all too painfully aware of the record in the conference tournament under Skerry, and naturally that gives rise to anxiety about next week. But until a week from today, at high noon, let’s reflect on a historically successful regular season in conference play and hope it continues in the District. If it does, great. If it doesn’t, they’ll be plenty of time to discuss the fallout

I’m going to write something now that’ll be blasphemous to some, and even to me to some extent…given the talent level on this team, I think a legitimate argument can be made that Skerry is doing his best coaching job this year. He also deserves some credit for landing recruits like Tejada, DWill and Lowery, to a lesser extent. And he’s got a kid coming in next year named Womack who could be an impact player. No one is more aware of his deficiencies, not the least of which is his dismal record in conference tournament play, but in fairness he should get credit where credit is due.

We play who they put on our schedule. If we had lost, the board (all 10 or so of us) would implode. After years of frustration with this program, I am generally a glass half empty guy when it comes to TU MBB. But after 12 W’s in a row, I believe we are tied with Akron for the longest current winning streak in ALL of D1 basketball (350+ teams). We are also 1 of only I believe 15 teams in all of D1 who has 1 or fewer conference losses. None of this Does this guarantee success in DC in a couple weeks? Of course not, but let’s enjoy this historic (for us) ride while it lasts, rather then putting qualifiers on it

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There's a very fine line between a win and a loss some nights and Dylan Williamson showed that to us tonight. 2nd to last possession, they're slow getting into whatever offense they wanted to run with the shot clock running out, he loses the ball and JMU gets a basket to cut it to 2. Then we play clockball again, which we should, but run a nothing set and Dylan is forced to chuck it and it happens to go in. 9 1/2 times out of 10, that doesn't go our way and we're facepalming after another terrible loss. It went our way tonight. Then Dylan has the icing on the cake -- pun intended -- with the two free throws to close it out. This was a pretty gritty win against a team that looked very similar to us in how they played at both ends of the floor. This game also showed that Hicks is all the way back from his concussion issues from last year and a contribution like that is going to go a long way for the rest of the offense. If we can transition to a situation where Williamson is more of the alpha shooter while Hicks runs the point, I think the offense gets more efficient. But...we really need May and Tejada to find their games and have Sulaiman and Messiah do their best to contribute on the inside. We need to put one of those electric fence collars on Tarke whenever he thinks about shooting from the outside. Drive all you want and distribute and set up others but goodness, no more of the outside stuff. Twice in that game, he hoisted up 3's immediately after coming down the floor and they led to run-out buckets at the other end. You're supposed to be a senior. Think like one. One other thing that struck me was how big this win could and should be for future attendance the rest of the semester. That place looked hyped and a win like that in a good atmosphere is the best advertisement for getting people to come out to the next one and build that atmosphere even more.

My prediction of a 41-24 Towson win drew some skepticism from some of my fellow Tigers here. I wasn’t too far off. Just felt like the Towson squad we saw against UC was not a fluke but a truer indication of what this team is capable of offensively. Granted, that team was led by Davis. However, after what I saw from Brown against Villanova, I’m all in on that dude. I feel like he has better instincts and composure. There are still some challenging games left but none of them are “improbable” wins. I still wouldn’t be shocked if we ran the table the rest of the way.

When most of us think of NDSU, we think of losing 35-7 in Frisco. I’m old enough to remember playing them in Fargo in the 1983 D-II playoffs. We had a phenomenal team that year, went 10-1, including our first ever win over Delaware. But our offense was pass-oriented and the weather in Fargo was bitterly cold (no Fargodome back then). The Bison were run heavy and controlled the time of possession, winning 24-17, then went on to win the first of their many championships. What still irks me is that we were higher ranked at season’s end and should have hosted that game. Temps here that day were in the 50s, which would have greatly benefited our passing offense. I’m convinced we would have won had the game been played at Minnegan Stadium and TSU would have been national champs.

It’s no wonder there’s like 10 people who post here. Aside from general apathy, it’s gets depressing reading the same negative comments ad nauseum. No question the results on the court and the gridiron have left much to be desired. I get it. But I’m growing weary of getting poked in the eye with these ceaseless depressing posts. You don’t have to be a cheerleader, and the board shouldn’t be a propaganda tool for struggling teams and coaches, but when it’s constant negativity I just assume you have some personal agenda/axe to grind

Who or what has been the cause of the beef between us and Loyola? The Hounds released their schedule and they've got Lancaster Bible on there as their 2nd game of the season. I get that there wouldn't be a home-and-home series in season with them but doing a constant home-and-home with them would at least check one home game box for each side every other year. It's also kind of absurd that two schools that close in proximity don't play each other anymore.

And the nightmare continues. Skerry does juuuust enough during the regular season to get some otherwise reasonable & rational people thinking that he’s some kind of coaching gem. Twelve-game in-conference winning streak….Historic number of conference wins in a season….COTY winner…..it’s all meaningless. However, it makes it very difficult for an AD to can a coach after that type of season. So, the saga will continue again in the 2025-2026 season. Can’t wait to see the preseason prognosticators discuss the new talent coming in via freshmen, transfers, second year guys, etc. Debates about who should be starting, who should be the 6th-man, yada, yada. None of it matters. Auburn’s starting 5 could transfer to Towson tomorrow and Pat Skerry wouldn’t have a clue what to do with them. It makes ZERO DIFFERENCE who suits up for Towson as long as Skerry is the coach, we will NEVER make it to the NCAA Tournament. Wanna hang a banner in the arena for 20 win seasons? Pat’s your guy. Wanna beat Arcadia University and Penn State-Wilkes Barre by 49 points? Pat’s got that covered. Want to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 30+ years? How DARE YOU have that unreasonable expectation of Pat Skerry in his 14th season!! This program is in desperate need of a complete reboot. I don’t care if we have to endure a few 10 win seasons under new leadership, I just want to see a new face on the sidelines. Ten wins or 20 wins, if you don’t make it to the Big Dance it’s the all the same in a conference like CAA. Don’t know if anyone else stayed tuned in to the CBS Sports postgame show but Jon Rothstein gave an absolutely spot-on summary of Towson’s historic failures in the CAA Tourney, going as far back as 2014….stopped just short of calling them “chokers”. Winter will soon turn to spring, spring to summer, summer to fall and before long many Towson fans will start convincing themselves that year 15 of the Pat Skerry era will be the year he gets it done. It won’t be. It will be more of the same post-season ineptitude and heartbreak.

Woke up this morning absolutely craving a big, heaping plate of crow served up by non other than Pat Skerry. Prove me wrong, Patrick! Please prove that, in YEAR FOURTEEN, you have what it takes as a coach to get us to the big dance. It starts today.

Heck of an atmosphere. 4500+ loud and engaged is something we don’t see often (or ever). impressed how loud it got. Can those greek tools come out to every game? First half was bad. This team finds a way to win. That hoop facing the band no one can seem to shoot well at .. May good defense Suliman the energy fun game Glad we didn’t rest players or not try like some suggested. great regular season team with a lot to prove when it matters

Got to give them credit for winning these games. As you said, in the past we would find ways to lose these. Not sure this style will be conducive to winning 3 in 3. They are such a statistical anomaly. score and give up 66.8 PPG. One of the worst assist teams in the country. Play at one of the slowest tempos. Rank top 20 in "luck" (Has Towson athletics ever been considered LUCKY?!) One of the worst shooting teams (from the line and at 2') in the country. Average #'s in defense. One of the worst teams in the country at getting fouled. Very good at not turning the ball over (but playing slow and ISO ball aids that). Most interesting number is we allow 33 points in the second half of games, which is 13th in the COUNTRY. They also score 3.5 points more in the second half to first half, which shows adjustments are being made. Just a very odd team statistically wise.

The last three years we have had one nonsense loss in conference play. Last year, it was losing at Hampton to give them their first first conference win at 1-13, two years ago it was to William & Mary team who entered the day 4-9 in conference play, and the previous year it was given Northeastern its first conference win in 12 games. Let's see if we can avoid the banana peel completely this year. This game is definitely in that same category. We need to show up ready to play and not mess around.

I believe this is the second straight year, Williamson has caught fire in the second half in Newark to take us home to victory. Last night, he had 18 points on 7-12 FG and 4-5 3pt FG shooting in the second half. If I am getting this right, he had 2 pts on 1-2 FG in the first half last year before erupting for 21 points on 6-8 FG and 1-2 3pt FG in the second half. That is 39 pts (19.5 ppg) on 15-20 FG and 5-7 3pt FG in his last two second halfs at the Bob. Messiah Jones only played 16 minutes, but played some great defense with a team-high four steals. He also had six rebounds, and had a great pass out of a double-team right under the basket to find an open Williamson. I believe that was the three that gave us the lead for good. We had 11 steals, and have 21 in the last two games. Towson has had 10 steals of more five times, and two came against PSU-Wilkes Barre and a full game of garbage time against South Carolina. The other came against UC Irvine. Also nice to see a fairly strong game at the charity stripe. We only shot above 70% from the free throw line once in the first 10 games. Since that point, we have now shot over 70% in seven of the last 12 games. It is still not a great part of what this team does well, but it has been markedly better. Tejada, Tarke and Williams had 56 points last night. If they can get to 45-50 points, I feel like it gives us a good chance to win games. If you take away Samb and Lowery going 4-5, everyone else was 2-14 from the field. However, it seemed like everyone found little ways to contribute. My only worry is our offense at this point is really heavily reliant on Tarke, Tejada and Williams (occasionally May does something notable). It would be great if we could get May to do more, but right now the combination is working. As others have said, I think Skerry has done a good job with this team in conference play. I still think it is pretty talented and deep CAA team, and it has been nice to win games in a different way. I think this win signaled we are a conference contender, but I think it also means we have to raise the standard on this team. It feels like we should be favored in every game this rest of the way, and that at Elon, at Campbell and maybe at Monmouth are the only even close to excusable losses. Obviously you can only take each game one at a time. I also realize that just because we are on this winning streak doesn't mean all of our flaws have gone away. There is still a lot to fix as go here to try to end the long NCAA Tournament drought.

So we are all clear.. dinner invites will only be issued to fans on this board.. no late arrivals or gravy trainers hoping on the bandwagon will be able to attend our fan message board gathering in March. City TBD of course. First place in the CAA right now. What a run we are on.

Once Dylan got his shot back after that slump through late November and December, it's elevated not only his game but everyone else's. That defense in the final 4 minutes was outstanding again and is what put us over the top. I'm sure there's a lot of brow furrowing over allowing so many offensive rebounds and putbacks but hopefully that gets ironed out. This team has shown a ton of resiliency during this winning streak and it's something I really didn't expect to see after those first 10 games of the season. It's great to see and they really have a good roll going. So...first place all alone in the conference and the next home game is on big TV at a pretty advantageous social time. Marketing has a big challenge ahead over the next 36 hours but there's really no reason that there shouldn't be 3500-4000 fans in attendance on Saturday evening. Go hit the $1 beers for your early buzz before heading uptown. There's a winner on campus and it's time to make that arena loud.

Towson basketball tickets are the only thing that haven’t gotten hit hard by inflation the last 30 years! Still $10 a ticket! That was expensive back then! Was the $8 discount for being a student?

Seen this rodeo before but will take it like usual..lol

This is what we’re reduced to. The coach complementing a player who finally made 1 shot from the field. Good grief. When does this purgatory end? It’s a tiresome exercise, pointing out how pitiful this team is, game after game. It’s probably better just to divert my eyes from this dreck and pray that the Athletic Director and/or the University President aren’t delusional enough to give this coach an extension. I never bought into the no-nothing nitwits who picked us to win the conference, and until recently I thought we could win 8 or so conference games. Even if the conference is as bad as some suggest, I’m starting to think maybe 5-6 conference wins is our ceiling. Is there a more hapless, slow, dull, poor shooting, inept offense in all of D1? This coach is getting a half a million dollars a year. Think about that for a minute. This is the bang we’re getting for those kind of bucks? This is completely unacceptable

It’s no secret that I’d very much like to see a change in leadership for our MBB team. It’s long overdue. Having said that, Pat Skerry is a very likeable guy. I just wish his postseason and non-conference success were greater because he’s easy to root for and I like to see good things happen to good people. He’s a good person.

Runyon is going to the Hula Bowl All-Star game https://x.com/hula_bowl/status/1864795715618148545?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw

Towson: 27 Spiders: 24

Granted, it was only an exhibition game, and perhaps St. John’s is a very good team, but the stats from this game are discouraging-28% from the floor, including just barely over 20% from 3; a whopping 25 turnovers; and Tejada & May were a combined 7-25; Lowery and Suliman a combined 0-10. But, here’s a shocker…we out rebounded them 😆. I’d say we’re in mid season form 😆. On to St. Mary’s

Made the roundtrip there and back from the Twin Cities today (about 3:15 each way), so I really appreciated the fight in the second half to make the game interesting. This team has definitely shown some fight in the first four games, but I still feel like we don't know much about them. The NDSU offense is pretty good this year, but that is a somewhat subpar NDSU defense for that program. We didn't put enough pressure on them early when we could have made this a tighter game. Our first drive was pretty solid, but Davis missed an opportunity to get a TD on the third down play when he couldn't quite get enough air on his pass to get it to an open receiver. It was a difficult roll-out play, but one that could have been made. On our next two drives, we got decent yardage on first and second down but couldn't executive on 3rd and 3 and 3rd and 4 due to a combination of breakdowns. It felt like one at least one of those third down plays, Davis could have run for the first down. He made that adjustment very well in the second half, but it was probably too late at that point. I only listened on the radio last week, but was wondering what others think about the comp with Brown's throwing arm compared to Davis. It felt like there were 3-4 above average throws that Davis missed today that could have been big plays. He also had the jitters early on, and it seemed like his accuracy was off a little bit. Meanwhile four of NDSU's five 3rd down conversions in the game came on 3rd and 9 or longer. With the game tied at 3-3, we had them at 3rd and 10 from their own 30, and they came up with a 49-yard pass play to keep a drive that ended up as a TD alive. Late in the second quarter at 17-3, NDSU seemed content to run the clock out and was at 3rd and 11 from their own. Once they completed a 16 yard pass play, they quickly drove down the field and made it 24-3. They converted a 3rd and 15 from their own 39 in their first drive on the second half on pass interference, but thankfully missed a 44-yard field goal. They also had a 3rd and 9 from our 22-yard line and converted on a pass interference play, and pushed the score to 31-10 later in the third quarter. I know I am being picky pulling up each of those plays, but between the two punt play letdowns, the two PIs on 3rd and long, and the two other 3rd and long spots we gave up, we just had too many letdowns to make this as tight of a game as it could have been. That was little disappointing. I know some of the big plays we made against NDSU and Cincy show off some of the talent on this team, but finding yourself down 21-3 in the first quarter in Cincy and 24-3 at halftime against NDSU helps loosen the intensity of those defenses too. Our best offense has come try to claw our way back from huge deficits, and I hope we don't see many more of those this year. I also don't think NDSU is a top five team and that Villanova is a top 10 squad. They are still good teams, but both are a tad overrated from what I can tell. Still, credit the players for fighting hard the whole game and for making some adjustments in the second half. Davis did a good job of using his legs when things broke down offensively in the second half, and the Tyrell Greene Jr. TD run was a thing of beauty. We actually almost came close to replicating it with Devin Matthews when it was 34-24, but NDSU's safety made a solid one-on-one tackle to keep it from being a big gain and the drive broke down because of penalties. Overall, I was a little disappointed with some of the mistakes that let us fall behind by so much in the first half. Those mistakes won't just hurt us against NDSU and Cincinnati, we will pay for themi in conference play if we don't clean them up. The talent level and the fact that our total yardage has been 438, 346, 394, 366 in the first four games (even if we piled up a lot of it against NDSU and Cincy when we trailed big) are both promising. We have also run for 5.2 (194) total, 5.1 (137 total), 5.2 (161 total) and 8.5 (205 total) yards per carry in our first four games. We just need to clean up special teams and some of the mistakes we have made on both sides of the ball. They made the Morgan State game closer than it should have been, they cost us the Villanova game, and they blew a chance for this to be a really tight and competitive game against NDSU the whole way.

I started following UC’s football program on Instagram about a month ago to get a feel for how their summer camp was going. They definitely have some beasts. Granted, 20 second instagram stories can be made to look impressive but in all reality this team has some stud athletes as you would expect from a Big 12 program. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I’m most concerned about our smaller/shorter d-line against their experienced and huge OL. Would not be surprised if they rush for 250+ on us. However, I also wouldn’t be surprised if they sleep on us early and we break off a few big chunk plays and maybe make it interesting in the first half. Regardless of what happens, I can’t wait for the season to begin. Got myself some new Towson swag to wear….I’m making the trip and will be in attendance this Saturday at Nippert. Go Tigers!!

Understandable opinions about the last transfer but my expectations were a lot less after the Maryland 7-footer went to Villanova and we were offering or showing interest in basically the same type of player. So I'm not surprised that we landed Seck. We desperately needed a seven-footer with length that could block shots. That's who we were offering and showing interest to. Most were limited offensive players. Those who can score wind up at a school with limited funds after we paid out most to two players. Right player, right price (hopefully). Seck is not a game-changer offensively, but we don't need him to be. We need him to defend the other bigs in the conference and not give up 50 pounds or a half a foot as we did at times last season against UC Irvine, Saint Mary's, Charleston, UNCW, Elon, etc. I do like 2012's point of going zone when Seck is in the game. Depends on the team and matchup but it could be used not on a full-time basis but to change things up. Or even start some games in zone. Seck had an ACL injury in late January of 2024 so he should be 100% now as it normally takes 9-12 months for a complete recovery. Either way, he's going to be a dunker and occasional hook shot on offense. Sure that sounds like Samb 2.0, but he's five inches taller and bout 15 pounds heavier. Size does matter. I think we're in good shape but: 1)At least two centers have to be competent. Not great. Not even looking at numbers. Need to rebound, protect the paint, etc. That could also include Womack, who at 6-7 with length could be around 230 by the start of the season (he's around 225). 2)Need inside scoring. Not desperate for it. CT provided some of that and we missed it. Perimeter guys can't be on every night. You need a guy to get grimy points in the paint when they are off. Not sure we have that yet. In fact, we don't on paper. A)A bulked up Tejada, Womack and Ndefeo (all around 217-225+) need to get some points in the paint to allow perimeter guys to cook. Doumbia is the middie guy and slasher that could flourish as a third option and Schmidt could play off of that if we have a decent low-post scoring option. 3)Backup point guard. Biggest needs right now aside from competent play at center. Dylan averaged 31 minutes per game last year. I can see him playing closer to 35. That doesn't take away the fact that we still need somebody to play 5-7mpg at that spot. Cole better step up this season. I know he's bigger and stronger, but has to be better with the ball. I think he's a more natural 2-guard. 4)Find a rotation. We know the starter. Seck will likely start and Embeya will play a lot depending on his progress and foul trouble. If we're playing Samb more than a 1 minute per game, Towson we have problems. 5)Backup shooting guard. Look, CMay wasn't really a two but he started there. When Tyler Schmidt sits, you can move Tejada or Dombia there because they can handle it some. Ndefo is more of a 4/3 and Womack is a 4/5 so it means Barton or Cole have to at least show they can play 5-7 minutes off the bench and not hurt the team. Barton is way ahead of Cole physically (210lbs) but he's just a freshman. 6)Summer is all about developing the freshmen (Womack, Barton, Ndefo), making sure Embeya takes steps on the court and in the weight room (he has to progress on offense and get stronger), and developing chemistry with the new guys. I don't think the off-season depends on whether Cole can play at this level or not, but it can't hurt. He could be the x-factor. We don't have a lot of options behind DWill and Schmidt. PG DWill, Cole SG Schmidt, Barton SF Doumbia, Ndefo PF/Wing Tejada, Womack C Seck, Embeya, Coleman, Samb, Holmes (rs)

Towson would still lose in the semis regardless.

I wasn't around when the game was going on, but watched the first half this morning (I hope to watch the second half tonight, although doesn't sound too exciting). One thing that jumps off the page to me is a 20-2 edge in points off turnovers. I don't care who you are playing against, four turnovers in a game (59 possession) is pretty impressive. It is also really important when you don't do a lot of things well. The last two games we have had seven turnovers in 112 possession while our opposition has had 28 turnovers in 116 possessions. We are currently the lowest in the CAA with 8.2 turnovers per game in 11 conference games. Our opposition is at 11.8. That is a lot of extra opportunities for us to make up for what at times has been some really sloppy play. I was interested how this compares with other Skerry teams, and while we still have a lot of season left we are 9.3 turnovers per game. The lowest previous rate was 11.88 in 2019-29 (I know it shows just because you keep your turnovers down does mean you have a great year). If we keep it up this would be fourth time under Skerry that we had less turnovers than our opponents for a season. The best year for this was 2017-18 when we had a turnover margin of +0.59 (13.25 opponents to 12.66 for Towson). This year our turnover margin is +2.6 (11.9 opponents to 9.3 for Towson). We are also averaging 6.8 steals per game, which is the third-most by a Skerry team (we had 6.84 in 2016-17 and 7.3 in 2021-22). I think we can press more and get some steals, but the fact that we have averaged 9.0 steals per game in our last four contests has been helpful. From looking at the boxscore, it seemed like we barely got the two scorers we needed in the second half to pull out this win with Tarke and Williamson scoring 22 of the 34 points in that half on 7-13 shooting (the rest of the team was 4-18. Also really nice to see us go 13-15 from the charity stripe (7-8 in the second half). Props to Christian May for grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking two shots even though he still can't fully get his offense on track. Messiah Jones also had four offensive rebounds, seven points, and was +10 in 26 minutes (which is his highest minute total of the season). Most came with our early run, and he didn't do much statistically, but Sulaiman was a +15 in his 15 minutes on the floor. I mentioned some of the nonsense losses of the past and there are still some landmines out there, but give this team credit for finding ways to win when they don't play well. In the past (and at times this year), this team has made a lot of mistakes down the stretch and missed free throws in bunches, but in a crappy game with not much room for error (because of being dominated in other areas) this team had four turnovers and went 13-15 from the free throw line. Those are definitely ways you can win games where you don't play well, and good teams do that. As was mentioned earlier, Monmouth is 5-1 in home conference play with a good win against Charleston. UNC-W is its only loss at home this year. If we want to win the regular-season conference title, we need to keep pace with what UNC-W did there. We have seven conference games left, and the three road games are incredibly difficult as it relates to this conference. One game at a time, but we will need to do a lot better than we did last night to have any shot at Monmouth. We know that, Skerry knows that, and the players know it. That being said 10-1 is pretty damn awesome so far!

Not sure what the big deal is about him not being at the presser. We have a credible source (Mat) who has told us he had a death in the family. Circumstantially, I would add that my seats are close to where his wife sits, and she was not there yesterday, which I found odd at the time, as I couldn’t recall a time when she wasn’t at a game. More importantly, the focus should be on the dreadful “performance” on the court. Long way to go, and the “real” season hasn’t started yet, but from what I’ve seen so far, there’s not a helluva lot to be optimistic about

2024 Towson Football Review https://towsontigers.com/sports/football/schedule In Pete Shinnick’s second season, the Tigers were picked ninth in the CAA. Talk about no respect as the Tigers finished tied for sixth with a 4-4 record in 2023. This season, they finished 5-3 in the CAA, which once again tied them for sixth place with Elon and Stony Brook. Let’s take a look back on a 7-5 campaign that featured a lot of ups and downs. This was going to be the season where the Tigers needed to win at a minimum, eight games overall and six games in the conference, due to a very tough schedule early on, that was guaranteed to give them two losses. The first game was one of those guaranteed Ls at Cincinnati. Towson lost that game 38-20 as they fell behind 21-3 and 28-10. Early in the third quarter, they were down 28-20, but never scored again. Carlos Davis completed 21 of 37 for 244 yards with two TDs, while Devin Matthew ran for 70 yards. Defensively, it was a struggle with two true freshmen (S Jasin Shiggs and CB Emiril Gant) getting most of the time in the secondary due to injuries. They allowed 383 yards passing and 275 yards rushing. Towson won the second game at home over Morgan State 14-9. One of the few bright spots of that game was that there were 8,394 people at Unitas Stadium to witness the game. Davis completed 21 of 28 for 209 yards with a TD and a pick. Matthews ran for 95 yards on 11 carries, but the Tigers also fumbled the ball three times (lost one). Davis was injured late in the Morgan State game and was replaced by Liberty transfer Sean Brown, who rarely played in 2023. When looking back at the game that the Tigers needed to win and blew their opportunity, this was the one against the No. 4 team (at the time) in the nation. Brown did an admirable job, completing 20 of 36 for 233 yards with a TD and Matthews ran for 135 yards on 14 carries. But Keegan Vaughan missed two kicks in the final 1:13 and missed a 31-yard kick earlier that was blocked (but was kicked low). Lukkas Londono also dropped a pass in the corner of the end zone on a drive that ended with a short field goal. Towson recovered a second Villanova fumble to have that last opportunity, but fell 14-13. That loss hurt tremendously as the Tigers headed to No. 2 North Dakota State and fell 41-24 with Davis back at quarterback. Davis really struggled in the first half and fell behind 31-10 late in the third quarter, but made it a game late thanks to a Davis 15-yard TD run and a Tyrell Greene Jr. 72-yard score up the middle with 10:05 left in the game to cut the lead to 31-24. Towson couldn’t hold the lead and allowed two late scores including one with 1:04 left. Davis threw for just 136 yards and a pick. He was replaced late in the game by Brown, who threw for 26 yards. Brown was back at quarterback against No. 10 William & Mary at Unitas Stadium after a bye week. For the second straight season, the Tigers physically handled the Tribe in front of 6,165 people. The Tigers led 34-14 heading into the third quarter and allowed two touchdowns, including one with 2:05 left to make the final score of 34-27 misleading. Brown had a pick, but completed 17 of 24 for 185 yards with two TDs. Greene Jr. had another strong game with 133 yards and a TD, while John Dunmore caught two TD passes. In the following week, the Tigers faced Norfolk State and played down to the competition, winning 28-23. Brown was very “Jameis-like” completing 25 of 43 for 306 yards with three TDs and also had three picks. Defensively, the Tigers gave up a 58-yard TD run and a 43-yard pass. Dunmore and Fresno State transfer Jaceon Doss both had touchdown receptions. Sam Reynolds caught two passes for 68 yards as his comeback story from a cardiac event the previous year was coming to light. The ragged play against Norfolk State carried on to their (1pm) Homecoming Game against Stony Brook. If Villanova was the reason Towson didn’t make the playoffs, this game helped shut the door. The Tigers jumped out 17-14 lead, but Stony Brook scored two TDs in the final 4:24 to take a 28-17 lead. One of the odd things about this team was the way they handled situations late in the half. They were not getting the ball back in the second half but with 40 seconds left to go in the first half, with the ball at their 25, you’d expect to use time-outs (they had 2) and an attempt to get the ball into field goal range. After a 13-yard pass to Greene Jr. on first down, Towson had a 1st and 10 at their own 38. Brown hit Doss for a 2-yard pass to the 40 and they let the clock run out. The Seawolves scored on their first possession of the second half to make it 35-14 and rolled to a 52-24 win in front of a little over 3,000 fans. This was the worst performance of the season and while Brown struggled with 158 yards and a pick, the ground game was outstanding (247 yards, 3 TDs). But the pass defense was dreadful as little-used Tyler Knoop started for the Seawolves and completed 34 of 40 for 387 yards and six TDs. Wide receivers were open shot and intermediate routes all day and Knoop was basically playing 7-on-7. North Dakota State and Cincinnati didn’t have this kind of success (they had a lot) against this defense. The best thing about this team was that they could bounce back. They had just one losing streak and it was a two-gamer. They bounced back from the Stony Brook loss and beat Monmouth on the road 26-14. The defense showed up for this one even if they allowed 305 yards passing, but that was on 47 attempts and just 28 completions. Brown threw for 243 yards and two TDs, while Matthews ran for 75 yards. The Hawks held Towson to just 114 rushing yards, but the Tigers were efficient. TE Carter Runyon led the way with two TD receptions. After the Monmouth win, there was really just one game that mattered and that was No. 12 Richmond. If they couldn’t beat Hampton, NC A&T and Campbell, then it was not worth discussing the FCS playoffs. And after losing to the Spiders 35-24, the discussion was over. Brown threw for 275 yards and a TD with a pick, but there were just too many mistakes in this game, including a Christopher Watkins fumble with 29 seconds left at the Towson 11. The Tigers were down 16-10 at the time, but were getting the ball back in the second half. The Spiders were held to a field goal, but went up 19-10. To the Tigers’ credit, they scored on the first drive in the second half to cut the lead to 19-17, but a Richmond field goal and a 90-yard interception return from Jabril Hayes early in the fourth quarter sealed this game. Towson could not run the football (108 yds, 3.3ypc), lost three fumbles and their defense was often put in bad field position due to the four turnovers. They held the Spiders to six field goals as the Richmond offense scored just two touchdowns. Since this was recent and expected, I’m not going to dwell on the last three games. To their credit, Towson took care of business in all three, beating Hampton (27-10) and NC A&T (31-13) at home, while beating up on the Campbell Camels 45-23 on the road to end the season.

Williamson's last 6 games against Mid-Major teams: 18.2 PPG 2.7 RPG 2.3 APG 1.2 TPG 34-63 overall from the field, 18-28 from Three! 23-25 from the line. That will certainly play!

On what could have been a trap weekend for Towson, they travelled to Stony Brook and won both matches comfortably, setting up a potentially crazy final week of the regular season. There is still everything to play for going into the last two matches, with literally not a single team being fully certain of their place in the standings yet. T1. Towson, Charleston, Delaware, Hofstra (13-3) 5. NC A&T (10-6) 6. Northeastern (8-8) 7. Stony Brook (7-9) 8. William & Mary (6-10) Eliminated: Elon, UNCW, Campbell, Hampton The Tigers play their old buddies Hofstra at home, with possibly first place on the line. They would need help from a few others, but you never know. What we do know is that two losses to the Pride would guarantee the Tigers the 4-seed. All other outcomes are uncertain. No matter what, it won’t be doom-and-gloom; with four teams clearly separating themselves as the contenders, failing to get a bye would not be the end of the world. Even as the 4-seed, they would play A&T first, who is a pretty clear step down from the top 4. After that, it’s just the top 4 left, in any configuration. So there isn’t really going to be an “easier” or “harder” path in the bracket. Delaware should pick up two wins against already-eliminated Elon and grab a bye in the process, while Charleston will be facing Northeastern in two huge games for both teams. Stony Brook is currently one game out of the playoffs, but they should beat Campbell twice, while Northeastern has a much more difficult road. W&M is *technically* still alive, and they will pick up two wins against Hampton. However, they would need Northeastern to lose twice to Charleston (definitely possible) and Stony Brook to lose at least one match to Campbell (not completely unheard of, but unlikely). Like I said, after 16 matches absolutely nothing has been solved, and this will be another exciting end to a very competitive season.

A wild and wacky Week 6 in the CAA sees Towson pick up 2 road wins against Elon. That result was expected; several others weren’t. The big matches of the week between Hofstra and Delaware both went the Blue Hens’ way in 5 sets. Stony Brook and Northeastern split their matches, which benefits Stony Brook more, as they’re one game ahead in the standings. But the biggest happening of the weekend, by a mile, was Charleston throwing away all of their momentum by losing BOTH matches to middle-of-the-pack A&T. For context, Towson beat A&T 3-0 twice a couple weeks ago. The shock results bolster the Aggies’ playoff hopes substantially, and create a logjam at the top. Here are the standings: T1. Charleston (9-3) T1. Towson (9-3) T1. Delaware (9-3) T1. Hofstra (9-3) 5. NC A&T (8-4) 6. Stony Brook (7-5) 7. Northeastern (6-6) 8. Elon (5-7) 9. W&M (4-8) T10. UNCW (3-9) T10. Campbell (3-9) 12. Hampton (0-12) Charleston is still most likely to end up as the #1 seed, as their schedule is very easy from here on out. Delaware welcomes the dangerous Stony Brook next week, which is proving to be a trap game for just about every team in the league. Hofstra has W&M, while Towson hosts a Northeastern team that needs a win badly, currently sitting one game outside of the playoff picture.

Kudos to the defense and the staff on that side of the ball for making all the adjustments necessary after that dog of a game against SB and holding the #1 offense in 1-AA to 14 points. Never in my wildest dreams (and bets) did I think that was going to be possible.

So much to talk about, but this was a big win and that was an understatement. Easily the biggest win of the Pete Shinnick era. I certainly wouldn't call him a risk taker (I know, 4th-and-1 at midfield), but going with Sean Brown at quarterback turned out to be the right move. Considering how well he played against Villanova, he probably should have started against ND State but Pete didn't want Carlos Davis to lose the job that way. He gave him a shot against the Bison and he realized that he left too many plays on the field. Brown was 17 of 24 for 185 yards and two TDs. Still can get better and needs to get Carter Runyon involved. But he's the guy. The real star tonight was Tyrell Greene Jr. who had 133 yards and a TD. He showed explosion two week ago against ND State, but for some reason, Sheppard had him with just one carry tonight. Devin Matthews was banged up early in the second half and Greene took over. At worst, he should have the same amount of carries. He was spectacular and they probably should have fed him on that second to last drive when we punted on 4th-and-1 and they went down the field and scored (thanks to help from us and the zebras). Pete did bring up the fact that we had four penalties against ND State and two were iffy or "interesting" as he tried to be diplomatic. I think both of corners, especially Myles Brodie, need work with finding the ball. I thought one of those PIs against Shafeek Smith was borderline at best. But once you start jumping offsides on D and get a few personal fouls, the penalties just start coming from everywhere. Defensively, I thought we played great in the first quarter, ok in the second quarter and then the forced turnovers won the game for us. However, you can't expect to force three turnovers to win games like these. You to force some punts or thankfully, as we did late, stop them on fourth down. Either way, it's very Towson-like the way we nearly collapsed and Greene Jr. was able to finish it.

Am I the only one here who thinks the special edition helmet logos for this weekend’s game are a little lame? Cartoon Doc decals? Really?

When’s basketball start?

ARETE!!!! Game Week! Don't get injured, don't end up on ESPN's not top 10, & make sure that check clears!

Mat, thank you for keeping us updated. I appreciate your insight (depth chart) and quotes from Coach Shinnick. Looking forward to watching this team compete for a CAA title.

There’s only one man who can save the CAA!