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Showing content with the highest reputation since 02/09/24 in Posts

  1. 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.
    6 points
  2. We've done so well with me not being able to watch or listen to the game live that I think I'll do it again for the semifinal game too unless it rains here which is not in the forecast. Impressive effort by the freshmen to carry the day, especially Williamson. Big step up by Tarke to sort of jumpstart things in the 2nd half and get us rolling. The 3-pt defense since the 12:00 mark of the 2nd half vs W&M has been very impressive. That'll be ultra necessary against Charleston as they'll whip it around the perimeter like they did against us in the home game. Only way we're gonna beat them is if we keep up this same defensive effort and if we shoot like we did at their place. Charleston's that white whale that for the most part we haven't been able to take down in a big spot. We've proven they're beatable. Just have to play that same game from January. Oh, and that's another 20-win season. Of course, there will be those who will foolishly place asterisks on it and that's their agenda. Would you prefer the consistent 20-loss seasons from 1998-2011?
    6 points
  3. Matt, while I realize I do have an air of negativity regarding the coach and the program, I would like to thank you for your time, effort and tolerance. It makes a difference.
    6 points
  4. Introducing Towson Fans 2.0. This update fixes all of our old issues: - New users can signup without getting stuck in limbo. - New chat box coming soon - Embed videos directly in posts - Over 50 new features with this new update - We will possibly update once again in July. -Less spam signups and posts We have an opportunity for growth. A lot of people don’t know about this website. Let’s get them in here!
    5 points
  5. 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.
    5 points
  6. 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.
    5 points
  7. 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.
    5 points
  8. 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
    5 points
  9. 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.
    5 points
  10. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! No ifs, ands or buts. 4-11 record in conference tournament; never has won more than 1 game in 11 years of tournament play; never has even made it to the tournament championship game NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! No ifs, ands or buts. No credible, unbiased observer could conclude otherwise. Anyone who does, lacks credibility in my estimation. It’s stunning to me how anyone, with a straight face, could say an 18-12 regular season, over 13 years, with the postseason futility cited above, is acceptable. It’s NOT GOOD ENOUGH, end of story, full stop
    5 points
  11. 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.
    4 points
  12. 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.
    4 points
  13. 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.
    4 points
  14. 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.
    4 points
  15. 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.
    4 points
  16. 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?
    4 points
  17. Seen this rodeo before but will take it like usual..lol
    4 points
  18. 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
    4 points
  19. 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.
    4 points
  20. Runyon is going to the Hula Bowl All-Star game https://x.com/hula_bowl/status/1864795715618148545?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw
    4 points
  21. Towson: 27 Spiders: 24
    4 points
  22. 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
    4 points
  23. 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.
    4 points
  24. 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!!
    4 points
  25. When you're the better team, you should win that game. We were the better team tonight and the defense against those snipers was on point...for 36 minutes. When May banked in the 3 to put us up 7, I thought that was a sign. But when we got the stop at the other end and decided to go into clockball with 4 minutes left, I knew we were in trouble. This is a choke of epic proportions that puts every one of our past disappointments in the conference tournament down a peg. I have no idea why in the world you wouldn't just keep running your offense and working the ball down low to CT with that 7-point lead. Oh wait, I know. It's because we have a choking tactician on the sidelines. How man free throws did we shoot tonight? 7. Shameful. As soon as we got that 7-point lead, that was the time to run the offense thru Charles and force Charleston to either collapse and open up a shooter or get him to the free throw line. He had finally figured it out in the lane in the first half and yet only had 2 points in the 2nd half (while also committing a couple of insanely dumb fouls for anyone, let alone a 5th year senior). But instead, freakin Paar is in the game and DW is out there on an island all by himself with no one coming to the ball. Then we gotta chuck up crap at the shot clock horn when we hadn't done that the entire game. Tarke should have been stapled to the bench after the first 10 minutes of the game when he showed that he was gonna be Bad Tarke and throw up a bunch of crazy crap around the rim. He did NOTHING tonight. But he could have made it all better if he flushes that breakaway layup. Nope, that was too much to ask of him. Weak. This also points to the lack of player development and regression we've seen throughout the season out of a lot of players. Who got better as the season went on? DW, Tejada (though still an enigma at times), and that's about it. I'd put Lowery on the positive side too but he needs to get tons better at the offensive end. I love his defense and his activity on the boards. So now the elephant in the room. I'm done with Skerry. Great guy, keeps his players out of trouble (for the most part), graduates them, gets them opportunity post-college. But he's hit his ceiling. You have to be a winning coach in this situation when you're up by 7 with 4:00 left against the best team in the conference. You can't have offensive liabilities on the floor during that time. You have to realize that certain players don't have it tonight and make sure they don't continue to hurt you. But most of all, you have to make your players better as the season goes on. The player development over the last couple of years has been lacking. I can't count the number of times I've watched a big man this year take it soft to the basket and miss layups. That should be corrected in the summer, not allowed to fester throughout the entire year. He's brought in a pair of D2 All-Americans in the last 2 years and both players looked like they wouldn't make a roster of any D1 team in the country. Worst of all, we still try to win games via the caveman era. We haven't evolved with how the game has evolved. And yet, when we needed to go to that in the last 4 minutes, the wrong personnel is on the floor and the wrong gameplan is called out. This is a shameful choke.
    4 points
  26. There was a small piece of schadenfreude last night when ODU lost in OT on the first day of their conference tournament to finish the season 7-25. For any of the other old-schoolers besides Mat and I from the ollllllld CAAZone days, we took a beating from the ODU fanbase among others for how bad we were. They're a good example that the grass isn't always greener as they've only been to 1 Tourney since they left CAA whereas they had been to 4 in the 9 years before leaving.
    4 points
  27. The long and short of it is Skerry is not a good basketball coach. He ahs had 13 years to win something, even if it is by accident. His offense is dribble for 20 seconds, throw up a bomb and send everyone to get the rebound. His defense is mediocre, but it is a story of keep telling everyone it is good and sooner or later they will believe it. His teams are good enough to beat bottom feeders and every now and then another mediocre team. Fundamentals are lacking and basketball IQ has not improved once the talented kids arrive. These are all responsibilities of a coach. These kids have potential, but it needs to be developed. During 13 years, the TU coach is overpaid and under productive. It is sad to see. When the hallmark of the 13 years is good coaching PR....you are in trouble.
    4 points
  28. Yesterday was a display of coaching and execution. More importantly, it was a message to Towson…We have the biggest D*%#k in this conference. Ive watched Charleston overcome lesser athletic ability by out coaching and out executing their opponents. Yesterday was a prime example of how they do it.
    4 points
  29. Today was the largest glaring example of what works in college basketball and what doesn't. You can hang your shingle on defense and rebounding but you'd better have offensive weapons in order to do that. The years we won the conference regular season and advanced in the CIT, we had guys that could score. You have to go out and find more of those scorers and not just a bunch of brutes that look good in a weight room and can play defense and rebound. Kelsey took the job at Charleston and set about finding the type of players that work -- they're big, they share the ball, they hit open shots. Meanwhile, we plod along and run a low-post offense with zero movement and sometimes a wing and a prayer to get a decent look or a look before the shot clock expires. Twice today, the shot clock was running out and who had the ball? Mekhi Lowery. That can't ever happen. We were largely clueless on offense, finding zero ways to get Tejada open (1 shot in the first half) and showing very little interest in running anything that had ball movement to 3 sides of the floor. Meanwhile, Charleston is slinging it all over the floor and playing an orchestra on our defense (especially Thompson and Paar) with the pick-and-roll action. Charleston's the template of what we should aspire to be. They have D2 players just like we do but they found the offense while we went for the bruising fullbacks. With whatever time Pat has left on his contract, he needs to overhaul his philosophy to be more like Charleston. Otherwise, we've already hit our ceiling and it's never gonna get crashed through.
    4 points
  30. The date was Dec. 28, 1996. Lefty Driesell came to the Towson Center and the Baltimore area (if I recall) for the first since getting forced out at Maryland in October of 1986. I was on the radio at the time with Stan the Fan on the Sports Exchange, doing mostly local college basketball reports, producing, and about 1-2 nights a week. When I knew that Lefty was returning to this area for the first time in at least 10 years, I was hoping to get the Towson Center sold out or at least get 3,000+ (4,000 was about as full as it could get) by talking about the game and putting a bunch of guests on to promote it. We lost the game 83-75 and drew just 1,900. Marketing was not great back then or even good. Terry Truax was the head coach at the time and I lost it off the air while calling for his firing. Then Stan brought it up on the air and I agreed with im. The slight irony of that statement was that both Truax and Lefty were fired after that season. But I've never felt worse about a firing though I don't think my statement had anything to do with it. For me personally, having to see Coach T a few weeks after that statement walking to the Towson Center with my head down, I've never felt worse. He had his flaws (saved all his timeouts like Dean Smith until the end, rarely stood up during games, not a yeller or screamer, etc.), but having to cover the team since 1989 and on message boards since 2001, I'm not going to ever push for firing the head coach. If his contract is expiring, then that's different assuming the success has dried up or never really was there. I felt embarrassed because I had covered him since 1989 and he only found out due to some minion. But either way, I was apologetic since he did approach me and was fairly intimidating. That's one of the main reasons I don't call for the firing of coaches on here. https://jmusports.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/1996-97/towson/boxscore/5136 After Terry was fired in 1997, he bounced around a lot and was never back in Division I which was sad. He was a pretty good basketball coach despite the average record. He had won 3 ECC Tournaments (2 NCAA's) and two Big Sout titles. I think the constant moving of conferences from ECC to the Big South to the North Atlantic/America East wasn't helpful for recruiting. He probably deserved another year or two to get things right, but recruiting in Baltimore was starting to dry up. We weren't getting the Devin Boyds, Kurk Lees or Scooter Alexanders anymore. The guys we were getting from B-More were fine, but not in that class and the step up in competition didn't help. I saw Terry Truax right before he passed away in 2015 when he was at the only Towson game he attended at SECU against Drexel. Unfortunately, it was right before he had suffered a stroke and passed away, not too soon after his mentor Dean Smith died. I was able to walk with him to his car where the "regular" people parked and he appeared to be in bad shape, but I didn't see him passing so soon at 70. He did lose his wife Pam a few years before that. She was a Flight Attendant who those who may remember, was at every game with their very young daughter Annie (his second wife) dressed at a cheerleader in every game. I was happy that I was able to get a chance to speak with Coach T. one final time. I didn't talk about the JMU game and I felt bad for him that he wound up not really in coaching at the end. The bottom line was that I realized that once I called for Terry's firing, there were going to be repercussions. I couldn't have a professional relationship with a coach and call for his firing so I've never really done that since. Guys, you can do what you want here, but I'm also getting older and impatient. Some things cross the line. Not talking about PS and y'all wanting him gone or Steve Eingenbrot or whomever. I've just had enough of the bullshit. Call me sensitive, call me a bootlicker, but the biggest reason I wanted to moderate this board was to bring Towson people together. I don't give a rat's ass if you have different opinions about the head coach or any head coach. If that person likes PS, he shouldn't be dragged through the mud and vice versa. If people are afraid to post here and I know some have left for various reasons, then there will be actions taken if that is continue. Now, I'd also like people to actually constructively criticize. Everybody thinks they are Red Auerbach or Erik Spoelstra or Pat Riley and some just take shots without giving info.. Kudos to Tiger93 for coming up with salient points and numbers. But here goes my middle age BS opinion about this team. I needed two days to get my emotions in check. 1)Push the effing tempo. We're not going to get much better than shooting 41.6% from the field and 32.8% from beyond the arc. This is who we are with 4 games left, but we don't have to be 359th in pace for the rest of the year. Push the ball off every rebound, steal, block, etc. We've been pressing full court lately, but more of a mild press. If Lowery is in the game, use him to trap. Nobody can really throw the ball over his 7-2 wingspan. 2)I've been watching Towson basketball for nearly 35 years so I've seen some of the shittiest offenses, but when they were home and I was there for basically every game in 16 straight losing seasons, I couldn't just walk out. The 10 or so minutes against W&M (not Hampton) nearly drove me away for the first time from Flo SPorts. The offense was so boring and predictable and we just did nothing to really alleviate it. Maybe our intensity needs to be ratcheted up because talent isn't going to overwhelm the other team and playing bully ball can get us so far. 3)Yes, defense can be a problem at times, but a lot of that is effort. Lowery, May, Tarke, Sulaiman and Charles are all capable defenders. We can't shoot the ball on the road lately, and defenders aren't going to just defend if they can't make shots. Our overall road numbers aren't terrible, but in the last four games, we are shooting 37.4% from the field and 26.7% from long range. Time to do something other than run the offense through CT. It's fine to go to him down low or go inside out. But mix it up. 4)What I noticed against Hampton was how unathletic we are. Yes, Lowery is and Williamson in transition, but nobody was getting to the basket against them. Not Tarke or Williamson, who are decent drivers. Tarke is stocky, but a bit heavy legged. He doesn't explode past guys and some quicker point guards get past him. BTW, Tarke has been brutal. I don't expect great shooting numbers, but 36% from the field and 31.5% from beyond the arc is brutal and worse than expected. Last season, he shot 42.6% from the field and 32.7% from beyond the arc. My biggest issue with Tarke was his FT shooting (54% LY) and he's done pretty well (72%), but isn't getting to the line a ton. You do have to wonder when your two top transfers Tarke and Jones are shooting much worse at Towson than last season with other teams. Even Messiah Jones was at 57.2% last season and is now shooting 47.8%. Something is wrong when your players are shooting worse and it's mianly twos. 5)With a bunch of guys that are graduating, but may have a year left, I have to wonder who many if any of those guys return. It's a business and we need better players. More skilled, length, better guard play, etc. Better free throw shooters. Charles has the most attempts at 116 and is shooting just 58.6%. May is second at 69 and is shooting just 62.3%. Maybe adding a bigger Gibson-type of player would have helped. Personally, I don't know about everyone else, but I want to see them respond well against Monmouth, who is a very dangerous team with Xavier Rice. I love this program and I know what it's capable of, though in this era of NIL, we have to be creative with D2s, NAIA, Euros, juco, etc.
    4 points
  31. I was one of those 1900 in attendance that night and I remember that JMU seemed to have more people rooting for them than we did people rooting for us. Truax's teams were at least entertaining even though they could be frustrating as hell. He'd schedule anybody anywhere and the majority of the time, they'd hold their own. Just in my time of Towson awareness, they beat St. John's (year before I got there), West Virginia, and Louisville and they went to places like Arizona, Tennessee, and Virginia and didn't embarrass themselves. That was a product of the type of ball that he ran. I wasn't a fan of his firing and that seemed to be the result of a new AD wanting to put his stamp on the program. That led to one bad hire after another that culminated with the abyss that Pat Kennedy put us in. So there's a small history lesson for those young enough to not have had to suffer though the Jaskulski/Hunt eras. What Pat Skerry has done with the foundation he was given is very commendable. At some point (and that point could have come as soon as 5-7 years ago), the level has to improve. Since the last time we went to the Tournament, we're one of 18 teams that haven't even played in their conference championship game (the others -- Army, Central Arkansas, Citadel, Incarnate Word, UMKC, UMES, UNH, Presbyterian, Sacramento State, SIU-Edwardsville, UC Riverside, UTRGV, Utah Valley, Brown, Columbia, Rice, Dartmouth). In Skerry's time, we've had 2 teams that were beyond capable of not just advancing to the Final but also winning it. But as happens in conference tournaments, a bad shooting night can sink your entire season and we've lived that. Rather than being able to continue to raise our level from those teams, we regress and it seems that we don't want to adjust our systems. It's ok to make your mark on defense and rebounding but you'd better have offensive tools to back that up. With the exception of the Benimon team and the 2021 team, we've failed to cultivate any offensive skills. Thus, we win games via smoke and mirrors that may not even crack 60 on the scoreboard. That's entertaining, huh? But the biggest mark against us is the lack of improvement with players who obviously have talent but they're either held back by lack of minutes or lack of continued development (or both). If you didn't know anything about us and you saw a potential frontline of CT, Sulaiman, and Messiah, you'd think that we could be a pretty formidable offensive team in the lane. Nope, far from it. The potential that May showed us at the end of last season only comes in bursts this year. We have the potential to have a point guard that can engineer a transition game but the governor gets put on because we don't like to push the pace. There's 4 regular season games left. There's zero reason why we shouldn't go 4-0 in those games. This conference doesn't have that dominant boss at the final screen that it's had in past seasons. If Elon can win at Trask, we certainly can too. Somehow, we need to flush last week's offensive effort and use these last 4 games to ramp up for the tournament run. But I've also been beaten down by decades of failure so winning games in a big spot are more of a surprise. I let myself believe that 2021 was finally going to be the year and I was treated harshly for the belief. TL;DR -- I'm annoyed that we're living the Groundhog Day of college basketball.
    4 points
  32. A-MEN !!!! Can't even follow the P by P because Patsos won't leave room for Spiro to get a word in!!!😡 Timing is everything when you're the color commentator. Without the P x P, there's no point in listening; better to just go to the stats-board option to catch the action & find out what's going on in the game.. And I STILL say Jimmy sounds like Charles McGraw in "Hang 'em High" (1968) 🙄
    3 points
  33. I attended todays game and we looked good overall. We definitely made the extra passes tonight and it led to good shots. Our big men were terrible though, I watched them miss easy buckets and drop easy dimes. Got bullied in the paint tonight. **Had a couple of alumni come out and they loved the $1 beer promo & the win. They plan on coming back.
    3 points
  34. Looks like this team has found their January/February run. Hopefully it carries beyond that.
    3 points
  35. Yes. We are on the upward caa part of the skerry cycle. There will be a quick drop, losing a game or two to bad teams, then a slight uptick again right before the tournament, that gives everyone some false sense of hope. Only to crash down in an epic collapse in March. Agree. Was shocked when I saw the box score and play by play. He has been dreadful this season so it’s gotta be a good feeling for him to have a very solid game for once. winning on the road is tough and even more so at the DAC. So yesterday was a very good win in that respect. Again, I really like this schedule that they have. Can they take advantage? The last two games scoring 76 and 80 are the outliers on the season. This team is closer to the 62 ppg team the first 14 games of the year than the close to 80 one. Though I feel we are more in the 67-69 point per game range.
    3 points
  36. I’ll give credit where credit is due. Tonight’s game is usually the type we lose. Instead it was UNCW who yakked a 7 point lead with a little over 3 minutes left. If you would have told me before the game that DWill and TT would combine for 9-38 shooting, I would have told you we would lose by 30. Go figure. Credit to Hicks, Samb, who had a nice little spurt in the first half, and, to all people, Tarke, who actually made a few plays. Let’s temper this though with the fact that UNCW is not the same team as last year, when Trazarian (sp) White was tearing up the CAA (he’s now getting paid quite handsomely to avg 10 ppg for TCU). Also, as alluded to earlier, our shooting was woeful. Anyway, take the W and on to C of C. Frankly, no matter what happens in Charleston, the road trip is already a success. Forgot to mention that Suliaman was a bad man on that put back dunk
    3 points
  37. For all the latest news and events associated with GOH Collective for NIL https://x.com/gohcollective/status/1823817079960822134?s=46&t=nScacl1TWT-KyOwj5stBaw
    3 points
  38. When you look at the strengths of the 2024 Towson Football team, you start with the running game. Devin Matthews ran for 896 yards with five TDs and a 6.8 yards per carry average to finish over 2,000 career yards rushing. Greene Jr. who is also graduating but has a shot to return, had 752 rushing yards with nine TDs. Towson averaged 5.0 yards per carry and 164.9 rushing yards per game (6th in CAA). They allowed 3.8 yards per carry and 146.1 yards per game. Matthews and Watkins have no eligibility left. The rushing offense and defense (6th) made big strides this season, but the passing offense and defense…. Towson ranked 11th in pass efficiency, 6th in total offense (379.3ypg), 11th in pass yards/completion (7.2) and 10th in passing yards per game (214.5). Defensively, they ranked 12th in pass defense with 229.8 yards per game allowed and 12th in pass defense efficiency (140.97). Brown completed 62.9% of his passes for 1,974 yards with 12 TDs and eight picks. He returns for his final season. Davis completed 61.3% of his passes for 600 yards with three TDs and two picks. Neither QB was a major threat on the ground. Davis, Scott Smith and Nathan Kent will graduate. The good news at wide receiver is that their top five receivers return not counting TE Runyon (45 catches for 502 yards, 5 TDs). Dunmore had a solid season with 42 catches for 619 yards and five TDs. Doss also had some big plays early, but wound up with just 29 catches for 450 yards and three TDs. Reynolds, who was a fantastic comeback story, added 16 catches for 222 yards and a TD. Next season, assuming both are back, the Tigers will need more from Londono (12 for 148 yds) and Zay Perkins (14 for 143 yds). All-conference center Ralph Paige Jr. is gone, but right tackle KL Brooks returns from injury, along with backup T/G Jaelin Montgomery, who started at left tackle when Dan Volpe was injured and took over at right tackle when Brooks was out. Everyone is back except Paige. The defense did improve against the run, but was a mess at times in the secondary. They also did not have a consistent pass rusher other than Nchabanu Fortaboh, who had 6.5 sacks in 11 games with 9 TFL. He was on the 31 senior list at the end of the season but has a shot of returning. Grad LB Will Middleton led the Tigers with 87 tackles, adding 6 QBH and 2.5 sacks with one forced fumble. Safety Xavier Terry added 82 tackles, two FB, two FF and five PBU. He is expected to return. John Gioia, another grad student, added 68 tackles, two sacks, 3 QBH in nine games as he was injured in preseason camp. Rodney Roane Jr. (58 tackles, 4 sacks, 5 QBH) is likely to start at one of the LB spots in 2025. Up front, Ernie Smith (32 tackles, 2 sacks) and Jurnee Dunbar (30 tackles, 2.5 sacks) are both gone. Dunbar had a strong year at nose guard and was named to the All-CAA third team. Towson played a ton of true and redshirt freshmen led by Rion Roseborough, who had 9 tackles and also 3 blocked kicks. C.J. McClendon (46 tackles, 1 FF), Evan Rutkowski (32 tackles, 2 FF) and Daniel Raymond (56 tackles, 3 sacks, 6 QBH) are linebackers who played their last game against Campbell. Other than true freshman Alfred Thomas (21 tackles), the Tigers need some experience in 2025 so they are in desperate need for a bunch of LB transfers The secondary, especially at corner, was not great after losing Robert Javier. Myles Brodie (44 tackles, 9 PBU, 2 INTs) improved as the season went on and he is not expected to return though things could change. Shafeek Smith (40 tackles, 5 PBU) was adequate at times and then struggled later in the season. Gant (16 tackles, 1 PBU) and Shiggs (31 tackles, 1 INT) played a ton as true freshmen and it showed. Kam Snell (58 tackles, 1 INT) is gone at one of the safety spots as is Kaden White (21 tackles) so Shiggs could start next season but a veteran is certainly needed at safety and cornerback. The special teams was led by punter Bryce LaFallette, who averaged 42.9 yards per punt with 18 placed inside the 20. Vaughn made 15 of 19 field goals with a long of 49. He made the third team all-CAA and will graduate so that’s another spot to fill. Dunmore averaged 9.4 yards per punt return and just 13.6 on kick returns. He replaced Doss, who struggled on when to bring the ball out and when not to from the end zone.
    3 points
  39. No Big Boyz!!! Jmu (while nowhere near as close as to as good as they were last year) was semi solid and probably the best one in a while, which is an indictment to this program. But we are like 30-3 under skerry against Morgan, Coppin, Loyola, umbc and goucher!!! #charmclassicchallenegechamps
    3 points
  40. This whole thing about returning so many players and minutes from last season is a red herring if most of the guys (Jones, Lowery, Suliaman, Hicks, Tarke, May) are either role players or have seen their game take a nose dive. And if Samb is the caliber of player we’re going to get out of the portal, we’re better off staying out of the portal. And who knows if DWill and/or Tejada will be back next season? Unless we overpay them (assuming we have the assets to do so) why would they come back. I want to have at least a modicum of hope, but more and more I’m reconciled to just waiting out Skerry’s contract (whenever that is) and starting over. Unless of course he gets another idiotic extension, which is what will probably happen
    3 points
  41. 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!
    3 points
  42. Hopefully this is a good omen, my best friend’s brother Dave Weinstein is calling the game on SEC Network tomorrow night and he’ll be as much as a homer for us as possible.
    3 points
  43. Towson held the nation's top FCS offense to 14 points and 56 rushing yards in a 26-14 win on Saturday over Monmouth. Sean Brown completed 26 of 35 for 240 yards and two TDs. Both touchdowns went to TE Carter Runyon, who caught six passes for 39 yards, while Jaceon Doss led the way with eight catches for 65 yards, The Tigers converted all four 4th-down conversions and held the Hawks to just 4-o-13 on third downs. Devin Matthews led all rushers with 75 yards on 15 carries, but was injured late in the game (upper body). Xavier Terry led the defense with eight tackles and an interception. No. 18 Richmond is up next on the road next week. https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=530330
    3 points
  44. don't have to remind me. did we bring Deb Moriarty back to kill all the fun? IMO stupid stuff like that rests of Dr. E's head. He's got to figure out a way to keep the bureaucrats away from athletics. The students also are not dumb they see the CAA is trash, and all our historical rivals are gone. We are not an HBCU or Ivy that want to play at this level long-term who have been able to maintain historical rivalries with some pageantry. A 1 pm start time is just stupid for homecoming. The lack of home games to start or a signature wins also hurt. We are now in late October and just had the third home, hard to build any momentum with nothing to get excited about. I was on a plane so I missed watching the game but man I am glad I did. I've said this on many threads now I don't understand the QB situation at all. When I checked the box score and saw only Brown played I was mindblown. We are getting blown out, you gotta make the change - at least in game to see if you can give the team a shot in the arm.
    3 points
  45. 3 points
  46. 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.
    3 points
  47. Sun story on Sam Reynolds https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/09/12/towson-football-sam-reynolds-heart-attack/ Sam Reynolds III’s 5-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter of Towson’s 14-9 win against Morgan State was the first of his college career. So it’s not shocking that the score is also his favorite. “It’s not even close,” the redshirt junior wide receiver said. “I went through hills and mountains to get that.” Reynolds isn’t exaggerating. He is 13 months removed from surviving a heart attack in his sleep that forced doctors to place him in a medically induced coma to protect his brain from further damage. Reynolds’ appearance in the Tigers’ season opener at Cincinnati on Aug. 31 came 651 days since his last appearance, a 27-7 victory over Hampton on Nov. 19, 2022, and 384 days since his heart attack. His determination to return to football is an inspiration for his teammates and coaches. “His teammates are just fired up that he’s back with us,” coach Pete Shinnick said. “The fact that he caught a touchdown, it was fun in the locker room. We gave him the ball that he caught. To be back from all of the things that had taken place for him and to have a full recovery, it’s amazing, it’s a miracle, and it’s a blessing.” Since the age of 10 when he began playing organized football, Reynolds said he has avoided serious injuries except for his freshman year at South Carolina in 2021, when he battled shin splints. And nothing felt out of the ordinary on Nov. 14, 2023, when the 5-foot-8, 185-pound slot receiver returned to his apartment after a day of practice, meetings and some time with girlfriend Victoria Barrett, a senior outside hitter on Towson’s volleyball team. “I was hooping at practice and doing my thing,” he quipped. The 21-year-old Reynolds said he went to bed around 10 p.m. When he woke up to use the bathroom, he found an IV line attached to his arm and his parents Grateful and Sam Reynolds Jr. and several doctors around his bed at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. His parents informed Reynolds that he had suffered a heart attack in his sleep and was rushed to the hospital where doctors placed him in a medically induced coma for the next three days. Despite the information, Reynolds thought he was being pranked. “I woke up and felt like I just had the best night of sleep,” he said. “I felt refreshed. I didn’t think too much of it until I looked, and there was a wall of doctors. At that point, it was like, ‘All right, what are the steps to getting back to walking and just being able to live my life?’” Redshirt junior wide receiver Lukkas Londono found out about Reynolds’ heart attack after receiving a group text before midnight. He said teammates congregated the next day in the locker room waiting for an update on Reynolds’ status. “There were a lot of heads down,” he said. “Everybody was just kind of worried about him. There were a lot of feelings that people were going through.” After driving to the hospital with his wife Traci, Shinnick said he was startled when he saw Reynolds’ body connected to a bank of monitors and machines. Shinnick said he feared the worst. “When a guy’s not responding and nothing’s happening, you’ve got all of the emotions in the world, and you’re trying to go through, ‘OK, what’s going to happen? What’s going to take place? How is he going to make it?’” he said. “And when they got him out of that [coma], there was still a little bit of some time where he didn’t respond. So now you’re going, ‘How is this going to play out? What’s going to take place with him?’” Reynolds recovered quickly enough to return in time for the start of the fall semester on campus, and he wore a portable defibrillator for two to three months. But when he voiced his desire to return to football for the final two games of the season, his mother and the doctors had concerns and delayed that pursuit until after the 2023 season. “It was more about getting back to normal for me,” he said. “Getting back to class, being on time to graduate, rehabbing, that was about finding my routine and maintaining that routine to get back to where I wanted to be.” In January, Reynolds underwent a procedure but said doctors still don’t know why a healthy 20-year-old athlete suffered a heart attack. Reynolds said the scare gave him a fresh perspective on life. “It kind of makes you think that you never know when it’s your time,” he said. “So I always have a smile on my face, and I always try to make somebody else smile. I’ve started to notice the little things in life. So I appreciate that, and you just want to realize that in the moment, it’s the little wins and little things that I enjoy a lot more.” Doctors, the training staff at Towson and coaches limited Reynolds’ participation in spring ball, but he was given full clearance for preseason camp. Londono said the heart attack hasn’t changed Reynolds. “It’s like he never had it,” he said. “He’s 100%. Actually, he’s more like 110%. He probably has more of a drive right now than he did before.” Reynolds didn’t disagree with his teammate, adding that he feels “hungrier” than before. He said he doesn’t ponder the possibility of a recurrence. “I think that’s the furthest thing from my mind,” he said. “I trust in the Mayo Clinic, and I trust the situation around me. I don’t feel like the coaches would put me in any bad situation. I’m just kind of taking it day by day and enjoying everything. I’m being where my feet are, which is a big thing for me and which is why I don’t overthink what could or could not happen.” Shinnick said Reynolds’ ordeal and recovery are an inspiration for others. Reynolds blushed at the accolade. “I think I’m just a normal human,” he said. “I’m always an open book, and if anyone wants to reach out and talk to me, I’m always there. I’m always a resource. I’d say I’m not a role model yet because I’m still learning about myself, but I’d love to be a resource for somebody else if they need it.”
    3 points
  48. Personally, not a fan of paying players (them receiving money for jerseys with their names on it, and appearing in commercials, etc. Yes), but so is the way of the world now. Just made my contribution to the GOH collective for Men's Hoops. Hope everyone else who can, also does and we can hit that $25K match.
    3 points
  49. This does not exist. You merely make this up that there are those (on this board at least) who celebrate this. It might be mentioned as a stat, and we might even say it is better than sucking. However, I don't think anyone views this as having arrived where we need to be as a program. This is where I think you put some of those words in people's mouths. We probably put words in your mouths that might not be fair too.
    3 points
  50. If I were the SB coach, I wouldn’t call Skerry for any tips on how to close out the game
    3 points
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