ReverendRemulak

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.

The press happening so late is among the stuff that drives me nuts. Why on earth did we wait so long? We were getting killed, change something. Try something different. I feel like we constantly watch other teams adjust to us and we do nothing. I believe it was Mat that pointed out that UD probably watched the way Drexel attacked the paint and tried to replicate that. And we just got burned. I agree with your point about Tarke helping us get to the 1 seed. However, he was brutal in stretches last night. I don't see how anyone could think he should stay on the court after watching him repeatedly bullrush to the paint and haphazardly toss the ball at the rim looking for a foul. I'm not saying the bench options were markedly better, but he needed to sit and settle down and be told that what he's doing is not going to get us a win. In other words, be coached.

I would be shocked if anyone, literally a single person, who actually follows Towson wants to keep Pat around. He’s a great guy and has been a really good rep for the school. This past regular season was fun and should be celebrated. But the reality is that the real success of a mid major is determined in the conference tournament and once again we show that we cannot get over the hump. Doesn’t matter who we have or who we face. How many more times do we need to watch this happen? Nonsense half court “offense,” poor rotations, and a team that looks like they just started playing together. Same old, same old.

I’m really excited to see this offense against FCS teams. Lots of potential there and I think Davis is going to end up being a great addition. I agree that he held onto the ball too long at times today and was maybe trying to do a little more than what was necessary. Time will tell how good the Bearcats are, but I’m certainly not going to dismiss 438 yards of total offense. Just need to clean some things up like finishing drives - not getting points on the goal line was a bit deflating. Defense needs a lot of work, particularly in the secondary, but I have to imagine that most of those issues won’t be as glaring in conference play. Maybe we just plan for shootouts every game. It’s obviously hard to judge how good a defense is when they’re outmatched with size, speed, etc. Pumped about this season. Go Tigers!

I just read my post from our semifinals loss to CoC last year… Groundhog Day.

We wasted a truly great defensive performance. All game I was complaining that we would get a stop or TO and either turn it right back to CoC or chuck up a bad shot. The lack of a half court offense continues to be a major problem. I said it in the chat - we often look like a group of guys playing pickup who don’t really know each other. We just sort of play around until it’s time to shoot.

Unsurprising, and yet I’m still crushed. Another year, another “almost.”

What a win. I’ll admit that somewhere in the second half I had my mind made up that the game was over. Very glad to look foolish on that. Impressive performance from the offense, with Kent in particular deserving a lot of praise. I’m not going to expect this every week, but damn does it feel good right now. I’m officially trusting the process.

Interesting that he's on the defensive side of things. Hope he does well.

Can you elaborate, or point us in the direction of where we can learn more? I haven’t seen or heard anything.

Kansas will be my #2 team this year. Grateful for his time as a Tiger and wishing him all the best at KU.

Like clockwork...

Those Dulaney teams had some serious talent. Got to see them play in person a few times. Che Evans was arguably the biggest name on those teams and he ended up transferring from SDSU to UTEP to USC Upstate. I would not have guessed that none of those kids would have stuck at their original school. Nature of the beast that is the transfer portal I suppose.

Hammer that. We are going to get abused. Hoping for a miracle, but this program is in a bad way right now.

Completely agree. People are as high on Towson as I've ever seen in my time as a fan and we need to keep that going. We have to keep this program moving forward and I have serious concerns about what the next few years will look like if we keep the status quo.