TSU88

I’m afraid you’re spot on, in this regard. JMU, gone; DE gone; Richmond gone; W&M gone; Nova probably a short timer. We seem to be reactive, not proactive, like other institutions. Our attendance is spotty, at best, and no one is going to be terribly motivated to come watch the rest of the flotsam and jetsam left over in the conference. I love Saturday home football games at Johnny U, so it pains me to say this, but I’m becoming increasingly pessimistic about the future of TU football. The cost of running the program, by virtue of the equipment, travel expenses, and number of scholarships (I’m probably leaving out other factors) has got to be staggering, and to what end? We squandered the momentum of the trip to Frisco, back in 2014, and I have reservations about the current coach, although that’s an issue for a different day. We also know that the most successful basketball programs in the conference have been the ones that don’t have a football program competing for resources. When was the last time the CAA was represented in the MBB tournament by a school that also had a football team? What can the football program do? Stay in the crappy conference we’re in? We certainly can’t move up, as I see it. Our current President came to us from George Mason, which as we know had a historic run in MBB, without a competing football program. I don’t know what the end game is-continue to tread water in a capsizing ship; move up (HOW???); move down; disband? I think we could be approaching a tipping point & I assume the powers that be at TU will soon have to make some decisions that will impact the future of the program profoundly

I’ve occasionally pondered whether C of C and/or UNCW will leave the CAA. While I have no insight into their collective thoughts processes, one thing I come back to is why would they want to leave? They’re big fishes in a relatively small pond and where would they go? The convenient answer is A-10, but the A-10 is basically a 1-bid league now (just like the CAA) and is dominated by VCU

Just for football, at the moment? Certainly another blow to CAA football, but I think it makes sense from W&M’s perspective. Given their academic background they seem a more natural fit for the Patriot League. And yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nova’s days in the CAA are numbered. This is probably a good point for a serious discussion about the future of TU football. Not just in the CAA, but in general

It’s wise to stay within one’s budget

That’s a gift even UNCW would be envious of 😆

That 67K has increased by like 40% since the post announcing it. (My math might be a bit fuzzy, but what do you expect from a Mass Communications major). I just don’t see the need to mock what we’ve brought in, compared to UNCW, other than maybe discouraging a prospective donor. Perhaps fewer posts lauding all things UNCW wouldn’t be a bad idea 🤔

Nobody has ever mistaken me for this iconic character

The following stats are not fabricated or embellished: in Seck’s first two starts at Hawaii, vs UC-Irvine and Cal State Northridge, he avg’d 15ppg, 12 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. I’m not in any way suggesting he’s going to put up numbers here even remotely close to those, but there’s gotta be some talent there.

Should we be terribly surprised that the fans of a player who’s left in the portal badmouth the guy on the way out the door? I’m going to reserve judgment until I see him in person. Who knows, they may be right & he’s Mr. Magoo. Time will tell

I’m guessing the rotation will consist of: DWill, Schmidt, TT, Doumbia, Seck, Embeya, Womack, Ndefo, and Cole and/or Barton. Coleman & Samb bringing up the rear. Generally speaking, I think most teams (W&M was an exception last year, as they played about a million guys) can succeed with an 8-9 player rotation. Injuries of course are always a wild card. And backup PG is important. It looks like it’s to have to be Cole or Barton. I’m not thrilled with that, but I’m not sure what other options exist

I’m not so sure Samb & Coleman are going to get a lot of PT, absent injuries or foul trouble. If Embeya & Seck can combine for 10+ boards and 2-3 blocked shots per game, I’ll take it. As far as scoring, 8-10ppg, maybe. Again, with our other scoring options, what Embeya and Seck do on D is more important. And I agree about wondering who the backup PG is going to be. Guessing DWill will play a solid 30 mpg, but someone is going to have to spell him

FWIW, he was offered by Kansas out of HS. Another interesting factoid; in his first career start (At Hawaii) he scored 14 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked 4 shots (not versus Goucher, but rather UC-Irvine). Why he never built on that, who knows? I think I saw where he did have an ACL injury at some point. I’ll take a glass half full approach for now and hope for the best.

I’m guessing we spent most of our NIL on retaining Tejada and DWill, along with bringing in Doumbia and Schmidt. So, like it or not, Seck was the kind of guy we were going to get. Tim Duncan wasn’t going to be walking through the door with what we could offer. Is he Samb 2.0? Hopefully not, but we should probably take a wait and see approach before we automatically consign this guy to the junk heap. Again, I think we should be realistic with our expectations, but not fatalistic. If you’re expecting Seck to score 10+ ppg, you’re almost certainly going to be disappointed. If he can grab 5 or so boards a game, and block/alter some shots (in a part time role) then perhaps he’ll be a serviceable rotation guy.

If Embeya improves over the summer (no guarantee) hopefully we won’t need Seck to play more than 15 mpg or so. I agree, Seck can make his bones 🦴 simply by grabbing boards and blocking shots. Any scoring beyond 5-6 ppg (assuming he’s capable of that) would be gravy.

I think we can safely assume we didn’t have much left in the NIL coffers. Does this guy become the tallest player in TU history? Numbers are underwhelming, but I’m not sure we need much from him offensively, with Tejada, DWill, the 2 other portal guys and hopefully Womack. What we do need from him is a rebounder and shot blocker who can hopefully hold his own with the new bigs UNCW and C of C hired.

Oh boy, looks like we’re now plumbing the “project” depths. Not sure that’s an encouraging sign. Was hoping for a D1 guy who avg’d let’s say 8 ppg and 5-6 boards, but something tells me that after resigning our guys + the 2 transfers we got, that the NIL cupboard is bare

Class act. I believe GW will be his 18th school. True student athlete

This is kinda my point. UNCW and C of C are going to reload like this every year. So yes, it gives us very little margin for error in terms of the players we bring in, either as HS recruits or via the portal. Sometimes buying a “dream team” roster works, but not always. Sometimes a money ball team crashes the party. If Womack, and to some extent Ndefo, are as good as I think they can be, and if our portal guys can avg low double digits, and if we bring in a competent big, and if Tejada gets a little better…well, lots of ifs, but I don’t think it’s implausible we can beat UNCW and/or C of C any given night. A couple of observations on this free agent frenzy: one of the potential losers in UNCW’s spending spree is Christian May. With Lamothe and Luster (and whoever else they buy) it would seem May’s minutes will be harder to come buy. Also, are UNCW and C of C even bothering to recruit HS kids anymore, or just relying on the power of their purses to bring in their free agents? I wonder if an unintended consequence of D1 basketball now being professional basketball is less HS kids getting scholarships. Last, but not least, does it matter that much anymore who the head coaches of the teams not named UNCW & C of C are? I mean, you could have Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley all rolled into one, and he’s still going to be shipping at KMart while UNCW & C of C are on sprees at Saks, Bloomingdale’s and Lord and Taylor’s. As bleak as all this looks, it could be worse. It’s obvious UNCW & C of C have separated from the pack, but it looks like we’re in the next tier and that many of the other CAA teams are way behind and probably quite demoralized knowing that if they develop a good player he’ll be with UNCW or C of C the next season

Look, we’ve got to be pragmatic about this. We can’t control the fact that UNCW and C of C are in an arms race and are spending like the money is flowing from a spigot that won’t turn off. We’re never going to be in that tax bracket. Best we can do is put together the best team we can, within the confines of the resources available to us, and hope that in any given season we don’t have to play both of them in the conference tournament

You needn’t use bold. Owing to my TU education, I am quite capable of reading between the lines

There are a few people on here, well at least one, who can never be satisfied. I mean, we can’t control how many mercenaries UNCW hires. And maybe they will repeat as conference champions, but let’s see how it plays out before coronating them, 7 months before next season even starts

2012 will be disconsolate, at least until they add their next “all galaxy” transfer

If you really believe it would take Cooper Flagg for us to have a shot at beating UNCW, then there’s nothing I can say to you. Im quivering in my boots thinking about playing UNCW. Oooh, UNCW is coming. Heaven forbid. I propose we forfeit the season now and just get it over with

I was anticipating this tired straw man argument. Yes, UMBC whipped us last season. I’m highly skeptical they would have done so had we played them at or near the end of the season. If you’re predisposed to being a consistent naysayer, then yes, yours is the argument to make. Maybe Walsh will avg a double/double. Who knows? Let’s crown UNCW the champions of April, but I’m going to hold off doing so unless/until they beat us next March in the District. Put another way, F UNCW & F their attempt to buy a conference championship

Btw, there’s a difference between quality and quantity. Sure they’ve brought in a boatload of new guys (and I’m sure they’re not done). But is that a guarantee they’re going to run roughshod over us? Unless and until they do, I’ll reserve judgment on that. The teams that spend the most in free agency don’t always wind up as the champion