TSU88

It would be nice to see at least one other TU fan there

While we’d love to come out with a W, these games are more about the check clearing, getting out with no injuries and hopefully not getting embarrassed

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. One of my best friends is a CU grad, and lives not far from Boulder. So when we played CU a few years ago, I went out for the game. My other best friend, who I’ve known since 7th grade, lives in, wait for it …SLC, so I’ll be going out for that game

A rarity indeed. A few major leaguers have done it. Without googling it, I know Cesar Tovar did it for the Twins and Bert “Campy” Campaneris did it for the A’s (might have been when they were still in KC, before moving to Oakland). It’s been done since these guys did it, but very infrequently

Every team has a “last guy off the bench” player, and that may be Ndefo. The fact that he’s on scholarship is unlikely to impact the team that much one way or the other, unless he suddenly steps his game up. He certainly looks the part. I’m guessing he’ll be fighting to be part of the rotation with guys like Holmes and Kirk (maybe some others). I’m not too concerned about the SG position. We’ve got Roseborough (if he can stay healthy) who shot 40% from 3 and Stanford, who avg’d in the teens in a better conference than the CAA. Also Sajid will hopefully lend some production. I’m more concerned about PG, with a JUCO and a freshman

I would prefer to keep this thread on topic, which was the cast of new players, rather then devolve into a diatribe on the shortcomings of the HC, which I think by now we’re all painfully aware of, and which has generated enough prior comments (including from myself) to last us all a lifetime. Right now, the grade for both the portal additions and the incoming freshman is an incomplete, for obvious reasons. Skerry has a huge task in front of him, with 11 new players, 8 of which have never played any D1 minutes. I would imagine we’ll be picked to finish in the middle-to-bottom of the conference, but in this era of almost complete roster turnover every season, those preseason predictions are meaningless. I think a lot of this is going to come down to how good Doerr is, seeing as the only other natural PG on the roster is Wright, the incoming freshman. I’m cautiously optimistic about Stanford, Roseborough and Badalau, though Roseborough’s history of injuries is a red flag. If everything goes right (which it rarely does) we could compete for a top-4 finish. With Stanford, Roseborough, Badalau, Womack, and hopefully 1 or 2 of the freshmen (Sajid and hopefully 1 of the others comes to the fore) we might have something. Then again, with so many variables, things could go south. That’s why the games are played on the court, and not message boards or preseason polls. If nothing else, it should be interesting (and maybe fun from time-to-time) to see how all these new players mesh and are integrated into whatever rotation Skerry settles on. While I don’t have any unrealistic expectations, I am nonetheless excited to see how it all plays out

If you just google his name, and then click on “video” at the top of your screen, a number of clips of him come up. At least that’s what worked for me

Well, that’s a fairly low bar, particularly during the Skerry era, but as I posted before, he is intriguing; a 6’8 euro who can hopefully score facing the basket

4.17 gpa? Reminds me of a story I read once, attributed to former MLB player Mickey Rivers. A reporter told Rivers that Reggie Jackson claimed to have an IQ of 150 (or maybe even higher), to which Rivers replied, “out of a thousand?”

Ok, so first off, I like that we signed a Euro. The only 2 prior Euro’s I can recall in the Skerry era were a big from France, who was a stiff and a guy from Turkey, who quit during the season. Next, this guy’s forte, notwithstanding his numbers in limited minutes at Rutgers last season, is outside shooting. How many 6’8 guys have we had during the Skerry era who could score facing the basket? I can only think of Benimon and Tejada, and Nykae Sanders, to a lesser extent. Badalau had an interesting season at Rutgers. He shot 1-12 in his first game then came back the next game and scored 19 points in the first half, versus Maine. As the season progressed, his minutes shrunk and his numbers weren’t great. But, keep in mind that he won’t turn 20 until this summer. Despite that, he was good enough to play (limited minutes) in what I think is the top Italian pro league, against much older guys. He also excelled in a U18 Adidas tournament for Euro’s, where he avg’d 18ppg; 8 boards and 3 apg. Also, he played on Romania’s championship U20 team in Division B (supposedly comparable to low-to-mid major D1 competition, per AI), where he avg’d 16ppg, on 45% FG shooting from 3. I’m going to assume that B10 competition was too much for him, but he won’t be playing against that level of competition in the CAA. Mat may have already posted it, but there’s video of his play in the FIBA U20 tournament. I would encourage people to watch it, as it’s rather impressive, although not necessarily against top tier competition. Time will tell, but I’m cautiously optimistic this guy could be a sleeper

Revive an offer? Was an offer previously extended, withdrawn and re-extended, thus “revived?” I’m usually not the grammar police, but this one is pretty sloppy

This is the natural progression, to start paying HS kids. How far down the line is paying junior high school kids? Duke has also cut a NIL sponsorship deal with Amazon Prime, In return for AP broadcasting 2 Duke games next season.

That is the bottom line

Interesting. I wonder how much PT he’ll get?

This topic has come up previously. For whatever reason, Skerry has bypassed Baltimore as a recruiting target for the most part. Let’s see..McNeill, Gorham, the skinny guy who transferred here from Long Beach State (I think he went to Poly). I’m probably forgetting some, but these are the only guys I can think of off the top of my head. He has brought in some DC suburbs guys…Gibson, DWill come to mind immediately. Again, I’m probably forgetting some. And we all know how he loves Philly guys.

Ryan Skerry doesn’t really count, TBH. No MD players next season, unless the last spot goes to a Marylander. Womack from NOVA and Barton from DC would be the closest I believe. I’m intrigued by Roseborough. I like size, the 3 point % & he seems to be athletic in the sense of being able to get to, and finish, at the rim. I temper all this with the fact he’s been plagued by injuries going back to his HS days. Only time will tell, but he’s the type of high risk, but maybe high reward type guy we’re going to have to target 🎯 in the new NIL world order

I think this is a valid point. As things stand, we’re putting all our PG eggs in the basket of a JUCO (Doerr) and a freshman (Wright). That’s a total of zero minutes of D1 experience running the offense

I’m going to hate myself in the morning for asking this, and I don’t mean this in a confrontational way, but if you’re really as down as you are on the additions to the team (and who knows, you might wind up being right) and the program in general, why even bother to post about it? I know the answers already…you’re a long suffering fan (you hardly have a monopoly on that) and you want the best for the program and you have a right to your opinions. But I just wonder if there comes a time that someone might be happier finding other things in life that don’t make them so miserable. After all, life’s too short

Now I’m getting annoyed, though I will endeavor to reply in a manner that does not reflect this. I was talking about Stanford and Roseborough, though I suspect you knew that. I’m not necessarily “back on the wagon” as you say, I’m at most cautiously optimistic, within the context of accepting that we will always be the poor relatives of UNCW and C of C, and maybe even Hofstra and Stony Brook. On the other hand, I’m not always going to run people down and wallow in negativity. That, my friend, is negative energy that is unhealthy and unproductive. I will leave it at that, except to ask you to kindly refrain from attributing thoughts to me that don’t necessarily reflect my true opinions.

There’s some talent there

The reference to Stanford quitting on his team is based on facts Or disgruntled Nova fans? The team will be as good as the freshmen, redshirts and Womack? Aren’t you forgetting 4 other guys, 2 of whom have scored in double digits for schools in better conferences than the CAA. We may still wind up being a middle of the pack, or worse, team, but the negativity and selective memory stuff is disappointing

I like this. Sure, there’s risk here, given the injury, but no risk it, no biscuit. We’ve been clamoring for a guy who’s first digit in his 3 point shooting percentage is a 4. The Mountain West is a better conference than the CAA, so it’s not unrealistic to think he could put up good numbers here. Btw, is he the 1st west coast native in the Skerry era?

I’m starting to think Dundalk Community College has more resources than we do. Disclaimer, I’m just a tad frustrated that we haven’t filled our last spot yet. While I’m sure there are plenty of guys still unsigned, but that pool is going to shrink with each passing day. The tension here is between our interest in wanting to hear some news vs being patient. To this point, I’m still not sure what the urgency was to sign Doerr and Atkinson

Punting from our end zone isn’t a big concern. What’s far more concerning is when we punt from the opponent’s 33 yard line (yes, we really did that last season)

C’mon now. NCAA step in and stop this nonsense!! He’s already played at 5 schools!!! Does he even have a degree? Dude is old enough that he helped Dr. Naismith put up the first peach basket. F’ing insanity