TDCB: A Tour of Maryland Dynasty

[timmyw3]

I’m going to start this dynasty as coach of the Towson Tigers of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). I have a history with the college, namely that I was unceremoniously booted out after 3 lackluster semesters there. Needless to say, academics wasn’t exactly my M.O. during my tenure at the Baltimore-area campus. I did have a good time though and hopefully I can turn around the basketball program during this stay.

From the school’s website, “Towson University, the largest comprehensive university in the Baltimore area, is nationally recognized for its excellent programs in the arts and sciences, communications, business, health professions, education, fine arts, and computer information systems. The university is located in the suburban community of Towson, Maryland, just eight miles north of downtown Baltimore.”

For those not in the know, Towson was founded as a teacher’s college has undergone numerous name changes. The school was known as Towson State University until 1997 when they dropped the “State” in an effort to sound more prestigious. Towson now boasts a total enrollment of 16,647.

As far as the basketball program goes, they have fallen on hard times recently after spending some time as a major power in the Big South Conference in the late 80’s, making the NCAAs on one occasion. They moved to the America East at the same time UMBC moved out of the Big South. Am East was really not a good fit as they were much farther south than most of their conference foes such as Vermont, Hartford, Maine, New Hampshire, etc. This year they moved to the CAA which consists of much tougher competition such as Drexel, Delaware, James Madison, etc.

Distinguished alumni include a pair of former All-Pro football players in Sean Landeta and Dave Meggett. Basketballer Kurk Lee also spent some time with the New Jersey Nets in the early 90s. At one point, Towson held a high ranking with Playboy magazine as far as the high quality of female student body(ies) is concerned. I can attest that their ranking was well deserved and helped paved the way for my exit from campus.

The goal with this dynasty, like most others is to win a national championship. Obviously, that will not happen at TU. Ideally, I’d like to end up at my alma mater, Maryland, which will give me the opportunity to compete for a title. My own restriction is to stay at each stop for at least 3 years. You could pretty much consider the Colonial a borderline mid-major. We are at the bottom of it so the initial challenge should be tough.

Next up: A look at your 2002-03 Towson Tigers!!

[Raven]

My alma mater. Heh.

[timmyw3]

Meet the Tigers…

There are a myriad of ways I can go with what I’ve inherited. No player stands out as a go-to guy so some tinkering will definitely take place. We have a lot of tweeners and guys listed as being of one position while their skills and size look to fit another. I took a combination of the scouting reports, ratings, and gut feelings to come up with an initial starting 5 and bench rotation. We’re going to start by running out a 3-guard set.

The Coaching Staff

Head coach Tim Watts, a former Towson drop out, starts his initial season in charge of the Tigers. The 45 year old from Maryland brings his competent reputation and strong knowledge of the guard positions to the table.

Assistant Head Coach Thurman Sides is best known for his recruiting efforts. Assistants Arthur Cook and Keyon Brown and head trainer Pete Turner round out the staff. Brown is an up and comer and could be a head coach someday.

The Starting 5…(initially)

PG John Morris, Junior, 6-3 165, Moorefield HS (Moorefield, WV)
Morris is a solid defender and a deadly 3-point shooter according to his ratings. The scouting report by Coach Sides was a little less favorable but says he should be a starter. It looks like he may be a little turnover prone so I’ll keep an eye on that. Endurance is a question mark as well.

SG Reggie Grandison, Senior, 5-10 157, Christian Central Academy (Buffalo, NY)
Reggie is a little undersized for a 2 guard but has the scoring ability and the outside shot we need for that position. He should shuttle between the 1 and the 2 and could start at either spot. His problems come on the defensive end as he’s too small to guard most 2 guards and too slow to handle most point guards.

SF Marquis O’Kelley, Junior, 6-1 162, Beekmanton HS (Plattsburgh, NY)
The third member of our 3-guard set, Marquis has a decent all-around game. He won’t hurt us on D and has enough scoring potential to keep teams honest. If we start to get obliterated on the glass he could move to the bench or to the point. He is a great clutch player according to my right hand man and his endurance is unparalleled.

PF Ben Seals, Sophomore, 6-6 183, Agawam HS (Agawam, MA)
Seals is listed as a SF and our PFs are not what I need at that position so we are going to start him at the 4 and see how it goes. Despite being undersized he is a good rebounder. Coach Sides thinks he is a waste of space but I think otherwise. We’ll see whose right but Ben will have the shortest leash of those in the starting 5.

C Rob Millford, Senior, 6-10 247, Bradford Central HS (Bradford, NY)
Rob is probably the best all-around athlete on the team. He’s a tenacious rebounder with the ability to score a few points when needed. He excels on the defensive end where he should be a formidable shot blocker with his long wingspan.

Off the Bench

PF/C Josh Lenard, Sophomore, 6-6 204, Storm King HS (Cornwall on Hudson, NY)
Lenard should play big minutes for us as the top backup at the 4 and 5 with a chance to start at the 4 if Seals falters. He’s a good athlete but needs to work on his defense. Carries a 4.00 GPA.

G/F John Burks, Senior, 6-3 170, Shrewsbury HS (Shrewsbury, MA)
If there were a DH in basketball John would be All-American. No D and all offense. If we need a spark on the offensive side, he’s our guy. If we need a defensive stop, I’ll send him to the locker room.

F Justin Davis, Junior, 6-6 201, Rome Free Academy (Rome, NY)
Justin could also enter into the mix at both forward spots but like many others on this team, a lack defense is his downfall. He rebounds well and is an accurate shooter though. He’s just below 2.00 in the GPA area so there’s a risk that he might not be with us all year.

F Craig Green, Sophomore, 6-8 254, Nyack HS (Upper Nyack, NY)
Don’t let the big body fool you. Craig is a teddy bear and that reflects on his on-the-court play. He has good handles and has a decent shot for a man his size but he doesn’t bang the boards as much as he should at 254.

G Anthony Huge, Freshman, 6-2 174, Falmouth HS (Falmouth, MA)
Anthony is the highlight of a mediocre freshman class. More of an athlete than a basketball player, he can play both guard spots.

PF/C Phil Metcalf, Freshman, 6-8 194, Poce HS (Poce, WV)
The wiry Metcalf needs to bulk up. The scouting reports say he is injury prone as well. Still, he is a good enough rebounder and has the most potential of the 4 freshmen. One to keep an eye on for the future.

F Edem Keith, Freshman, 6-6 227, Dobbins Tech HS (Philadelphia, PA)
Edem is a solidly built athlete but he doesn’t have enough basketball skill to make an impact. Strictly garbage time for this freshman.

PG Reggie Swanson, Freshman, 6-1 172, Clifton HS (Clifton, NJ)
Reggie is decent shooter but beyond that he’s pretty much worthless. Add that to his current sparkling 1.75 GPA and you may not hear from him again after this post.

[Poli]

What happened to you made a bad choice?

[timmyw3]

Originally posted by ardent enthusiast
What happened to you made a bad choice?

I had started that under 1.12. With 1.21 out I decided to start from scratch just because it's really a totally different game. Plus I didn't have team nicknames in there and they can't be added after you start a new game. I also added the correct logos finally as well.

So to me the game is so different I started over. I guess the UMBC dynasty was somewhat of a test run though I don't rule out firing it up and running quickly through a few years. It was more a way to get a style together as that was my first dynasty posting attempt. Look for this one to be more thorough than that one.

[timmyw3]

2002-03 CAA Preview

1. James Madison
Head coach: Rob Victor
Easily the most talented team in the Colonial, the Dukes have a solid core with a pair of youngsters who will make an impact this year. They look to have too much scoring power for teams to keep up with but they’ll only go as far as their young backcourt will take them.
Top Gun: Sophomore C Akin Berry, who could possibly be the best all around player in the CAA.
Young Gun: Freshman SG Patrick Slane could be their leading scorer and has the inside track for Freshman of the Year.

2. Virginia Commonwealth
Head coach: LaMar Elleby
Elleby preaches defense to the Rams as they’ll look to take a more disciplined approach to the CAA crown. They don’t look to be as deep as JMU but their starting 5 is as good as any other in the Colonial.
Top Gun: Junior SG Dusan O’Connell, a fearless, bombs-away gunner with the green light from anywhere.
Young Gun: Freshman PF Andrew Seals, a solid player who should make his name in no time.

3. Delaware
Head coach: Paul Richeson
The Blue Hens look to have the best defensive squad in the conference. They are deep too with a plethora of talented frontcourt players with plenty of fouls to give. They just need someone to step up as a primary scorer.
Top Gun: Senior PG Clyde Watkins runs the slow down Blue Hens. He provides the O and leaves the D to the rest of them.
Young Gun: Sophomore C Chris Hayden who has superstar written all over him.

4. Drexel
Head coach: Billy Agbai
The Dragons are a well-balanced squad with lots of athletic ability and strong senior leadership. Rebounding looks a little shaky though.
Top Gun: Senior SG Joshua Stewart, not so much as a scorer but as a defensive stopper and team leader.
Young Gun: Sophomore SF Kieron Correa, another solid defender and athlete. If he finds a jump shot, look out.

5. Hofstra
Head coach: Lamont McKnight
The Pride is a run-and-gun style team whose success depends on how well they do shoot it. They have a solid, experienced backcourt and a monster up front to clear out the paint.
Top Gun: Senior PG Brian Wallace, a preseason All-CAA choice, who leads the fast paced attack.
Young Gun: Freshman C Earl Robinson, a heady player who just needs consistency to make a real impact.

6. William & Mary
Head coach: Preston Hill
The Tribe looks to be a middle of the pack team searching for an identity. Their youngsters have a ways to go so they’ll have to rely on the upperclassmen for production.
Top Gun: Preseason All-CAA PF Marqus Morris, a superb athlete who will need to carry the Tribe on his broad shoulders if they want to be successful.
Young Gun: Sophomore C Randy King. He already has an offensive game, he just needs a defensive one to complement it.

7. UNC-Wilmington
Head coach: Rowan Martin
The Seahawks boast a budding superstar in sophomore SF Eric Tebbs but there is not much behind him. They just don’t have the athletes to go very far.
Top Gun: Tebbs, who is perhaps the best defensive player in the conference already, has a very high ceiling.
Young Gun: See above, the rest of their underclassmen are not worth mentioning.

8. Old Dominion
Head coach: Maurice Fuller
The Monarchs could put together a formidable 4x100 track team but as far as basketball is concerned, they have a lot of work to do. They are horrid offensively as there isn’t a guy that jumps out as a scorer. But their athleticism and defense should keep them in most games.
Top Gun: Hard to say but I’ll go with junior PF Kelley Cue who looks to have something that resembles an offensive game.
Young Gun: Freshman C Tyler Harris, raw but has some basic skills which the coaches can work with.

9. George Mason
Head coach: Terrell Ward
They have guys named James Brown and Mark Malone. That’s about all I can say about them. Actually they do have probably the top 2 guard in the conference in…
Top Gun: Senior SG James Childress, their 1 and only threat.
Young Gun: Sophomore C Merv Bannon, a good inside scorer and rebounder.

10. Towson
Head coach: Tim Watts
Anywhere but the basement for us would be a success. We don’t have much size and our scoring options have yet to be determined.
Top Gun: Senior C Rob Millford, more for his defensive efforts.
Young Gun: Sophomore F Ben Seals who was given the opportunity to start. But can he keep it?

[timmyw3]

Schedule

Out of Conference

@ Indiana-Purdue
Bowling Green
Texas Arlington
@ Georgia
@ St. Bonaventure
@ #8 North Carolina
@ Vermont
Winthrop
Montana State
@ Western Illinois
Loyola (MD)

Obviously, UNC is our toughest matchup with the Georgia game not too far behind. I tried to schedule UMBC but apparently they didn’t want to travel halfway around the beltway to Towson. Loyola had no trouble in agreeing to a battle for Charles St. game to break up the conference schedule.

Preseason All-CAA Team
PG Brian Wallace, Senior, Hofstra
SG James Childress, Senior, George Mason
SF Eric Tebbs, Sophomore, UNC-Wilmington
PF Marqus Morris, Senior, William & Mary
C Akin Berry, Sophomore, James Madison

Recruiting service

We’re pretty much stuck with the 1-star Sid Nyquist’s Hoopz Galore service. Otherwise we’d have like $600 to spend per week and that’s not going to cut it. In essence we are losing a pair of guards and our starting center but I’d prefer to get 2 big men and a quality guard so that’s what I’m aiming for.

More details to come…

Preseason Top 25

No surprises here, you should recognize most of these names:
1. Arizona
2. Duke
3. Illinois
4. Kentucky
5. Florida
6. Kansas
7. Maryland
8. North Carolina
9. UCLA
10. Stanford

[timmyw3]

Recruiting Overview

As expected there aren’t many recruits knocking down our door so I’m going to have to pull out the old salesman routine for this year. Not helping our cause is the lack of recruits from our home state, only 4. No one from this area can tell me that there could only be 4 D-I prospects in the entire state of Maryland in a given year. Hell, Dunbar used to do that by themselves on a yearly basis. But that’s the situation we are stuck with.

Without further ado, here are our initial 8 targets in order of desirability:

1. Andy Grace, C, 6-11, ***, Philadelphia, PA
Andy is rated 82nd overall in the East. He has a refined low post game and is solid all-around. He doesn’t have any big names in his top 4 so we’ll try to make some inroads early.
2. Jeremy Woods, SF, 6-6, ***, Washington, DC
Woods is the scoring type of wing player we covet. He’s ranked 76th overall in the East region.
3. Kyle Sanders, PF, 6-6, ***, Tatnall, DE
Kyle is one of the 2 players with initial interest in our program, the other being a complete stiff. Despite being undersized, he is rated as an excellent rebounder with good potential, just a little rough around the edges.
4. Matt Church, C, 6-9, ***, Sussex, DE
Matt is similar to Sanders ratings wise with a little less potential, at least according to Sid Nyquist.
5. Darius Williams, PF, 6-8, ***, Cataret, NJ
Darius has average skills but is putting up big numbers at Cadaret HS.
6. Leon Hayes, SG, 6-3, **, Clarksburg, WV
Hayes is a combo guard with a good offensive game.
7. Scott Riggs, SF, 6-8, **, Chesapeake (MD) College
Riggs is an athletic JUCO player with some scoring ability.
8. Reggie Okotie, PF, 6-7, *, Richmond, VA
Despite being rated 1-star, Reggie is an excellent defensive player and is scoring 17.3 ppg in HS.

[timmyw3]

Week 1

Recruiting

We make initial phone calls to 7 of our 8 targets (everyone but Okotie) with varying degrees of success. Kyle Sanders, who was interested in us from the start, had a high level of interest. Jeremy Woods, Matt Church, and Scott Riggs were a little less enthusiastic. Meanwhile, Andy Grace, Leon Hayes, and Darius Williams almost hung up on me when I told them where I was calling from.

We put forth moderate effort towards Sanders and will probably invite him to visit next week. We exhaust the same resources towards Woods and Riggs and we’ll try to get one of the 2 in for a visit next week as well. We go lightly at Grace, Church, and Hayes. We don’t want to scare Grace off, plus he’s expensive to recruit.

Preseason Tournaments

The only action in Week 1 took place in the fun that is the Hawaii Classic, Alaska Shootout, and Preseason NIT. Needless to say we were not a part of that.

Up in Alaska, the 12th ranked Boston College Eagles took the crown beating 11th ranked Michigan State in the finals 70-62 behind 24 points from Tom Mattox (not the Steeler QB). In New York, #5 Florida took the Preseason NIT beating the 15th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes 76-69 in the finals. Erik Cooper led the Gators with 22. In the week’s marquee matchup, top ranked Arizona won the Hawaii Classic final 74-60 over #7 Maryland. Nathan Bains scored 20 to pace the Wildcats.

[timmyw3]

Week 2

2 games for us this week, we open up on the road in Indianapolis to face Indiana-Purdue out of the Mid-Continent Conference and then come home for the home opener against Bowling Green of the MAC.

Recruiting

We start the week calling forward Kyle Sanders of Delaware. Sanders was interested in the program initially though we don’t appear in his Top 4. In our call he says he was interviewed by Basket Bytes and even though they say that Howard is his #1, he tells me that we are. So we recruit him lightly and bring him in for a visit. If all goes well he’ll get an offer for our first scholarship.

Outside of Sanders though, things look bleak. None of our recruiting efforts have impressed our targets thus far. We make calls to 5 others including the one guy we didn’t contact last week in Richmond area PF Reggie Okotie. He had minimal interest and said he wants to stay in state and is very expensive to recruit so we may drop him from the list.

Our top 2 targets, 6-11 Andy Grace of Philadelphia and Jeremy Woods of DC, weren’t exactly enthusiastic either. Grace has Temple, St. Joseph’s, Penn St., and Villanova on his list and he said he wants the national exposure that Towson does not offer. We got a better feel from Woods, who has Georgetown, Howard, LIU, and Boston in his Top 4, said that he wants the process to play out and to call him in a few weeks. We put light effort towards both.

Our last 2 calls went to DE center Matt Church and WV guard Leon Hayes. Those calls went nowhere but we put light effort towards Church. We also put light effort toward NJ forward Darius Williams and MD JuCo player Scott Riggs to round out the week.

[timmyw3]

November 18, 2002

Towson (0-0) @ Indiana-Purdue (0-0)

This is the season opener for both teams. The Jaguars, coached by Sean Ballinger, look to have one of the better players in the Mid-Continent Conference in junior SG Glendon Hargrove. He’s got 5 inches on our own Reggie Grandison so we just want to keep him under control. Senior PF Orlando Gostin also looks like a player and at 6-10 could give the undersized Ben Seals some problems as well. The scouting report says that they have the advantage in all 5 matchups so we should see what we are made of right away.

Grandison gets the first 3 points for the year as his 3-pointer bounces around the rim and in. A good sign. We hit 5 of our first 6 to jump ahead 11-6 with 5 minutes gone. We stretch the lead to 13 after a 9-1 run, forcing a Jaguar timeout. They cut the lead to single digits behind the play of Hargrove but Grandison gets hot and pushes the lead back to 10 with 5 minutes left in the half. Holding on to a 7-point lead, Marquis O’Kelley hit a buzzer beating 3 to give us momentum heading into the half with a 44-34 lead. Grandison hit 3 of 6 3s and has 16. O’Kelley’s shot gave him 11. Hargrove leads the Jags with 13.

We start the 2nd half well as Grandison hits his 4th 3, pushing the lead to 57-42 with 5 gone in the half. Our PG John Morris does pick up his 4th foul early though, but that’s our only area of concern tonight. A 21-7 Tiger run over the next 7 minutes turns this one into a laugher. We clear the bench and freshman PF Edem Keith hits a 3 ball to complete the scoring. Final Score: Towson 93 IUPUI 58.

In all, 12 of 13 Towson players score points. Grandison finished up with 21 points and 4 assists to lead in both categories. For now he looks like the go-to guy we are seeking. O’Kelley added 15. Seals hit all 6 of his field goal attempts and had 12 points, while off the bench John Burks proved his scoring abilities with 12 points in 18 minutes. Hargrove led the Jaguars with 18 and Josh Miller added 15. We pretty much dominated, surprisingly, in all areas. We shot almost 58% to their 46%, hit 8 of 15 from deep, outrebounded them 33-22 including 15 on the offensive glass, and forced them into 17 turnovers while only turning it over 10 times ourselves. A damn fine debut if I do say so my damn self.

[timmyw3]

November 23, 2002

Bowling Green (0-1) @ Towson (1-0)

The Falcons, from out of the MAC, make the trek to the Towson Center for our home opener. Bowling Green, coached by Joey Dupree, lost their first and only game of the year at Seton Hall, getting doubled up 108-54 in a game where they were outrebounded 49-9. Senior PG Justin Reese led the Falcons with 18 points and senior SF Tony Tahid added 12. They have the matchup edge in 3 of 5 spots but we have the overall based on our frontcourt strength. We’ll try to take advantage of that tonight.

The men in the stripes are working hard in the first as Bowling Green gets in the bonus in just 6 minutes. Still, we lead it 11-6 at that point. A 7-0 run pushes the lead to 18-8 and forces a Falcon timeout. Rob Millford is playing the role we envision for him, getting rebounds and put back baskets. We maintain the 10-point lead at the last TV timeout but Bowling Green closes on a 9-2 run to cut the halftime lead to 31-28. Millford has 7 points and 5 boards in the half. Marquis (I keep wanting to call him Robert, the former Wake Forest star) O’Kelley and reserve Josh Lenard each have 6. Tahid came alive late for the Falcons and has 8.

For the second we’ll try to further establish Millford down low since we were 0 for 6 from downtown in the first. We can’t extend the lead past 6 and the fouls for us continue. Millford picks up his 4th with 12:21 left and before I can get him out PF Ben Seals does the same a minute later. We manage to keep it together with Lenard and Justin Davis playing well and with 6 to go it’s 47-44 and I put the starters back in for the stretch. Millford and Grandison score and a John Morris 3 pushes the lead to 9 with 2:43 left. Millford fouls out with 1:29 left and us up 9. The Falcons cut it to 4 but 2 Seals free throws with 22 seconds left seal the win. They hit 2 buckets in the final seconds, one at the buzzer to make the final score: Towson 66 Bowling Green 64.

Millford finished with 14 points and 9 rebounds, both team highs. That’s the kind of game we’ll expect from him on a regular basis. Grandison finished with 12, 9 in the second half. Tahid led Bowling Green with 20. We shot well again (56.8%), from the field that is. What almost cost us tonight was the free throw shooting. An abominable 12 of 34, 35.3%. We were also outrebounded 32-26 and allowed them to shoot 53.2% from the field. Still, we are 2-0 so I shouldn’t be complaining.

[timmyw3]

Week 2 in Review

Around the Colonial

(In this segment I’ll run down each team in order of their standings)

1. Towson (2-0)
1st Place baby!!! A rout over IUPUI and a close win against Bowling Green. Reggie Grandison looks like he’ll be our go to guy averaging 16.5 points in the 2 wins.

2. Virginia Commonwealth (1-1)
The Rams lost their opener at in-state rival Hampton 72-66. They rebounded by beating Elon by 52. Jim Murdock led 6 players in double figures with 28.

3. Old Dominion (1-1)
ODU split a pair of road games, opening with a 88-76 win at Army and following that with a 74-72 loss at Fairfield. Sophomore PG Greg White had a conference record 38 against the Black Knights and followed it up with 21 at Fairfield.

4. Hofstra (1-1)
Hofstra dropped their opener to Wagner 84-66 despite 22 points from freshman guard Chris Dondon. They followed that up with an impressive home win against Manhattan thanks to 19 points from Greg Williams.

5. George Mason (1-1)
The Patriots went out west and beat CS-Northridge 82-76 to open the season behind 33 points from Deandre Long. They attempted exactly 0 free throws in that one. They followed that up by getting smoked at Providence 84-32 after trailing 45-14 at the half.

6. William & Mary (0-2)
The Pride lost a tough one at home to Murray St. 88-82. Brett White had 23 while Racers’ guard Lorenzen Davis had a triple-double. They then lost 86-66 at LSU despite 24 from Anthony Molnar.

7. UNC-Wilmington (0-2)
The Seahwaks started with a nightmare schedule losing at #18 Tennessee 102-44 then playing #15 North Carolina tough at home, losing 76-70. Cedric Arline had 23 in the loss to the Tar Heels.

8. James Madison (0-2)
The Dukes, the CAA preseason favorite, lost a pair of home games. First to Chicago St. 85-77 in overtime, then 70-54 to Austin Peay. Andre Cross had 29 points and 8 rebounds in the first game while Curtis Iversen dropped in 24 in the second game.

9. Drexel (0-2)
The Dragons were dreadful in a pair of home losses, 90-76 to Alabama A&M and 102-64 to New Orleans. PG Josh Williams had 33 in the opener and followed that up with a goose egg against the Privateers.

10. Delaware (0-2)
The Blue Hens looked good in one loss, downright terrible in the other. They lost at California 85-80 in OT to open up with Cary “don’t call me Harry” Potter scoring 22. They came back across the continent to lose 72-48 to the College of Charleston.

Around the country

Games of the Week

2 biggies to report this week. #14 Kentucky held off #25 Connecticut 66-62 down in Lexington. Jahidi Mason paced the Wildcats with 17 points.

#4 Maryland dominated visiting #20 Texas up in College Park. The Terps bolted out to a 17 point halftime lead and never looked back. Dupree Moncrief scored 32 for the victors.

Upsets of the Week

Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) waltzed into Palo Alto and upset #10 Stanford 62-58. Marshall Hite led the Kangaroos with 19 points. They also managed to make 21 field goals as a team without a single assist. Amazing.

#22 Texas Tech visited the nation’s capital and left with a big L, losing to American 68-64. Caron Harrington led the winners with 26 points, including 18 of 22 from the line, and 6 assists.

Week 2 Awards

The first CAA Player of the Week award was given to Old Dominion’s Greg White. The sophomore guard from Hartsdale, NY hit 21 of 24 shots and averaged 29.5 points in 2 games, including 38 in a win over Army. The National Player of the Week was Memphis senior Todd Kettle. The 6-4 forward from Barbourville, KY averaged 34 points and 8 rebounds in 2 game including 38 in a win over Santa Clara.

The CAA’s Freshman of the Week was VCU’s Herbert Sneed. The 6-8 forward averaged 13 points and 4 rebounds in 2 games. Nationally, the award went to Jacksonville St.’s Brian Beaudean. The 6-1 point guard averaged 26 points and 6 assists for the Gamecocks which included a 32 point performance against UT-Chattanooga.

IP Top 10

Last week’s ranking in parentheses.

1. Florida 5-0 (2)
2. Arizona 5-0 (1)
3. Boston College 5-0 (3)
4. Maryland 4-1 (4)
5. Iowa 4-1 (6)
6. Michigan State 4-1 (5)
7. Duke 3-1 (7)
8. Kansas 3-1 (9)
9. Georgetown 3-1 (12)
10. Mississippi 2-0 (17)

News & Notes

Not much going on in the early stages. 7 high schoolers decided to forgo college ball and declare for the NBA Draft. This total includes Maryland prepster Larry Bollman from nearby Montrose Christian Academy. He’s ranked 20th overall in the .400 Sports Top 200.

[timmyw3]

Week 3

The unbeaten Tigers will stay at home to start the week against Texas-Arlington. Should be a winnable game. The weekend’s game will not be as we travel down to Athens to face 17th ranked Georgia.

Recruiting

Things took a turn for the better on the recruiting front as 6 of our 8 targets now appear on the interested list. Kyle Sanders was very impressed by our win over Bowling Green so we’ve offered him our first available scholarship. Jeremy Woods also took notice as the 76th ranked player in the east’s interest level has gone from minimal to maximal. He will be visiting this week. Our #1 target Andy Grace has also jumped on the Tiger bandwagon at least somewhat and will join Woods for a campus visit this week.

Everyone else who I contacted by phone had a higher interest level than they did before with the exception of JuCo player Scott Riggs who is apparently not that impressed. Every one of my recruits’ stock is falling too so that may have something to do with it. For this week we moderately pursue C Matt Church and SG Leon Hayes and lightly track Darius Williams in addition to our visits.

[timmyw3]

November 28, 2002

Texas-Arlington (1-0) @ Towson (2-0)

The Mavericks, under coach Shane Hayes, won their only game in impressive fashion over Pac 10 stalwart Arizona State in Tempe 78-76. Like us, they send out a 3-guard set which is led by junior SG Eddie Livas and junior SF Matt Short. Livas, from out of Dodson, MT, scored 33 against the Sun Devils while Short added 16. The scouting report gives them the edge in this battle.

We get off to a good start behind Grandison to take a 12-5 lead less than 4 minutes in prompting a Maverick timeout. Our hot shooting that was prevalent in the first 2 games is still there and we hold a 10-point lead midway through the half. Livas and PG Sam Anderson keep the Mavericks close. We get a major boost off the bench from John Burks but we can only manage a 44-40 lead at the break. Grandison has 14 while Burks has 13. The 2 combined for 9 of 11 shooting helping our 72.7% effort. Anderson leads the Mavs with 13 on 6 of 6, Livas has 9.

Each time we threaten to pull away the Mavericks come back and at 12:13, Short’s jumper from the top of the key gives them their first lead at 57-55. The lead is 3 at the 8 minute mark, mostly due to their 6 of 9 from the 3 point arc. With the lead at 5, Seals hits 2 freebies to cut it to 3 with under 2 to go. Grandison takes a charge at the other end and on the ensuing possession Seals is fouled again and makes both to make it a 1 point game with 1 minute left. With our defensive specialists in the game, we force a missed shot and get the ball back with 25 seconds to go. Marquis O’Kelley drives to hole and gets fouled, shooting 2 for the lead. For the game he has hit 3 of 6 and he’s under 50% for the year. But Marquis calmly hits both to give us the lead back at 75-74 with 16 seconds left. O’Kelley’s defense forces a Livas turnover with 6 seconds left and Grandison hits 2 free throws to make it a 3 point game. The Mavs do get a shot off to tie but Anderson’s 3 is off the mark. 3 in a row for the Tigers. Towson 77 Texas-Arlington 74.

John Burks led the scoring with 19, though none of those came in the last 15 minutes. Regardless, he has earned a starting spot. PG John Morris has struggled with turnovers and will now come off the bench. Grandison will shift to the point and O’Kelley will move to the 2 with Burks at the 3. Grandison finished this one with 16 points and 4 assists. O’Kelley came alive in the second and scored 15 including the game winning free throws. Ben Seals added 11. Anderson finished as the high man for UTA with 20. Livas had 13 points and 11 assists. We both shot over 60% but the advantage for us came at the foul line. We shot much, much better compared to the last outing, 18 of 26. They were just 4 of 8. Look for the streak to end this weekend at Georgia.

[dacman]

Timmy,

Did you ever run across or hear of a basketballer at Towson named Matt(?) Dellinger(sp?)? Last name pronounced DEL-ling-grr. Would've been in the mid-90's.

[timmyw3]

Originally posted by dacman
Timmy,

Did you ever run across or hear of a basketballer at Towson named Matt(?) Dellinger(sp?)? Last name pronounced DEL-ling-grr. Would've been in the mid-90's.

The name sounds familiar. I was there in 94-95 so he was probably there when I was. I only went to 1 game while I was there though, the night they beat Louisville in '95. The only name I can remember from those years was Ralph Blalock, he was their main scorer and has carved out a nice career for himself over in England.

[timmyw3]

December 1, 2002

Towson (3-0) @ #17 Georgia (2-1)

This is the first of 4 straight on the road for us as we head down to Athens to face the 17th ranked Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs come in losing their last game up in Syracuse 72-60. Before that they beat both Fresno St. and New Mexico St. at home in Stegeman Coliseum. Their strength lays in their backcourt of sophomore PG Mark Inglis (17.0 ppg, 3.0 apg) and senior SG Hector Madic (19.3 ppg). Senior PF Gene Cross (12.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg) provides the muscle up front. A win here would be monumental. I’ll be happy if we make a respectable showing.

Our new look starting lineup gets off to a quick start as O’Kelley scores 6 points and we take an early 11-4 lead. Inglis leaves the game with an injury, giving us further hope. We don’t let up either, with 10:56 left we extend the lead to 24-10 and Georgia takes a 2nd timeout to a chorus of boos. That seemed to wake them up and combined with some ice cold Tiger shooting, Georgia embarks on a 17-2 run to take their first lead at 27-26 with 2:33 to go. A Grandison 3 and Millford basket pushes us back ahead but Cross scored and little used Scott Rhodes hit a 3 with 3 seconds left in the half for a 32-31 Bulldog lead. O’Kelley has 12 to lead us while Grandison has 9. Cross has 9 for Georgia. We only shot 36% and were outrebounded 24-13 but we are still in it due to our 9-0 edge from the charity stripe.

Bad things happen to start the second. O’Kelley picks up his 3rd foul quickly and on a turnover Millford appeared to pull something and has to leave the game with us still down by 1. Without our defensive star in there, Georgia effectively pounds it in to Cross. They go on a 17-6 run to make it 57-45 with 9:03 left, taking the fight out of the Tigers. O’Kelley fouls out 2 minutes later and the floodgates open. Despite a strong second half from Grandison, we lose this one big. Georgia 83 Towson 58.

Grandison finished with a game high 18 points and 5 assists. O’Kelley was scoreless in the second and finished with 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting. Cross killed us inside with 19 points and 10 rebounds while T.J. Roberts, replacing Inglis, had 13. We did keep Madic in check as he had just 8 points and turned it over 8 times. Georgia shot a mind-blowing 20 for 25 in the second half and 59.3% for the game while we were at 39.6%. We hit just 4 of our 24 3-point attempts and were outworked on the glass 38-20. We played well for a half but the Bulldogs just outclassed us in the second. Good news on the injury front, Millford’s injury is not considered serious and he will not miss any time.

[timmyw3]

Week 3 in Review

Around the Colonial

1. Virginia Commonwealth (3-1)
The Rams knocked off a pair of West Coast squads, winning at home over Northern Arizona 96-76 and at San Diego St. 72-68. The duo of Jim Murdock and Dusan O’Connor was key in both as O’Connor had 28 and Murdock 23 in the first win. Murdock had 20 and O’Connor 17 against the Aztecs.

2. Towson (3-1)
We split a pair, squeaking by Texas-Arlington before getting hammered at Georgia. A tougher road is ahead.

3. George Mason (2-2)
The Patriots were hammered at home by St. Francis (PA) 94-54 but rebounded to beat Elon at home 82-68. Jeremy Battier had 20 in the loss while Mark Malone’s 20 points and 8 rebounds sparked the win.

4. James Madison (2-2)
The Dukes won both of their battles this week, beating UNLV in Las Vegas 68-58 and Pacific at home 102-70. Andre Cross had 24 points and 12 rebounds in the win over the Rebels. Akin Berry hit 12 of 13 shots and scored 24 points with 10 rebounds in the Pacific win.

5. Hofstra (2-2)
Hofstra was crushed by visiting St. Louis 88-58 to start the week. They hosted Coppin St over weekend and got a 78-68 victory. Chris Dondon had 23 in the loss. Kwame Jackson paced the W with 21 points. Curtis Grant had 39 for Coppin St.

6. Drexel (1-3)
The Dragons dropped a road game to Vanderbilt 74-56 then won at home over UNC-Asheville 77-76. Joshua Stewart had 25 in the loss and 16 in the win.

7. Old Dominion (1-3)
The Monarchs dropped a pair losing at Troy St. 74-58 and at home to ACC power Virginia 74-60. Last week’s CAA Player of the Week Greg White had 16 in the win but was held scoreless against the Cavs.

8. William & Mary (0-4)
The Tribe lost a pair on the road, 68-66 at Princeton and 92-64 at CS-Northridge. Anthony Molnar had 22 against the Tigers and Brett White led with 20 out in California.

9. UNC-Wilmington (0-4)
The Seahawks suffered a couple of losses to quality opponents despite the play of Zeljko Lekivicius. Lekivicius scored 25 in a 72-60 loss at Minnesota and followed that up with 34 points in a 94-92 loss to St. Joseph’s.

10. Delaware (0-4)
The Blue Hens lost 2 by a total of 66 points, 74-44 at Kansas and 100-64 at Georgia Tech. They hit 1 of 20 3 point attempts against the Jayhawks. Cary Potter had 19 in the loss to the Yellow Jackets.

Around the Country

Games of the Week

#20 Syracuse defended their home court in a 72-60 win over 17th ranked Georgia. Sophomore Mike Eyles had 27 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Orangemen.

#9 Georgetown traveled north to Ann Arbor and crushed 22nd ranked Michigan 78-42. Senior Joe Evans dropped 39 on the Wolverines including 7 of 10 from behind the 3 point line.

Upsets of the Week

Three Top 25 SEC teams were beaten. #1 Florida was knocked out of the top spot by unranked Massachusetts on their home court 68-54. Sophomore Michael Alford led the Minutemen with 33 points and held Florida’s Victor Coleman scoreless on 0 of 8 shooting plus 8 turnovers.

#14 Kentucky was smoked at home by the Wright St. Raiders. David Waterman torched the nets for 39. Meanwhile #16 Mississippi St. lost at SE Louisiana 62-58. The Lions shot just 33% and were outrebounded by a 3 to 1 margin but still managed to pull off the upset.

Week 3 Awards

This week’s Player of the Week in the Colonial was UNC-Wilmington’s Zeljko Lekivicius. In a pair of losses, the 6-5 junior forward averaged 29.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. The National Player of the Week was Wright St.’s David Waterman. The 6-4 guard from Bettendorf, IA dropped 39 in an upset over Kentucky and averaged 34 points for the week.

The CAA’s Freshman of the Week was James Madison’s Patrick Slane. The 6-2 guard averaged 16 points in the Dukes’ 2 wins. The National Freshman of the Week was Dartmouth’s Tyler Gooden. The Oak Hill, WV product averaged 22.5 points for the week for the Big Green including 27 in a loss to Maryland.

IP Top 10

1. Boston College 7-0 (3)
2. Arizona 7-0 (2)
3. Florida 6-1 (1)
4. Maryland 6-1 (4)
5. Michigan St. 6-1 (6)
6. Iowa 6-1 (5)
7. Duke 5-1 (7)
8. Kansas 5-1 (8)
9. Georgetown 5-1 (9)
10. Missouri 5-1 (12)

News and Notes

Fall semester grades are out and luckily no one on our roster will miss any time, though Justin Davis was dangerously close. Only one player in the Colonial will sit out. That is William & Mary starting forward Joe Surpin. Surpin was averaging 9.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 32.0 minutes a game.

On the recruiting front, a number of kids have started to commit. None to Towson or any other Colonial school. USC looks to be headed for a dynamite class having landed 2 of the top 10 from .400 Sports.com’s Top 200 in forward Kevin Robinson, the #4 overall player from Indiana, and 8th ranked Rolan King, a point guard from Oregon.

[timmyw3]

Week 4

2 tough games for us this week as we go on the road for both. We travel north to New York to face St. Bonaventure and then head south to play the role of sacrificial lamb to the Tar Heels of North Carolina. If win either one of these I will be ecstatic.

Recruiting

We went ahead and offered our other 2 scholarships to Andy Grace and Jeremy Woods, following our offer to Kyle Sanders last week. We are the first to offer a scholarship to any one of the 3. Sanders looks to be the best bet to sign on the dotted line but he is the least talented of the 3. Other than us he has Howard, American, and UMES completing his top 4.

Grace has some bigger names in his top 4 with Temple, St. Joseph’s and Penn State completing his Top 4 with us. I’m holding out hope they none of them come calling as he is a big and talented player. Woods is actually rated higher than Grace and is putting up good numbers down in DC. He’s got 2 hometown schools on his list along in Georgetown and Howard along with LIU.

We try to set up some backup plans in case the guys we are after go elsewhere. Of the other players on our watch list, WV’s Leon Hayes looks like the best fit and is the most interested. He would be our first choice if we miss out on either Sanders or Woods. Matt Church also remains an option though we still aren’t in his Top 4. We also reestablished contact with Richmond’s Reggie Okotie who, despite his 1-star status, has looked impressive in his senior year. We also added another new name to the list in Johnny Johnson, a 6-2 shooting guard from Poughkeepsie, NY.

[timmyw3]

December 5, 2003

Towson (3-1) @ St. Bonaventure (3-1)

The Bonnies under coach Aaron Richardson come in winners of their last 3. After an opening loss versus Weber St., they have beaten Villanova, American, and Chicago St. Senior forward Ken Kamara leads the Bonnies in scoring at 22.3 points a game, with a season high of 35 against CSU, to go with 7.5 rebounds a game. He played his high school ball in our backyard at Southern High School in Baltimore. Both guards, Drew White (18.3 ppg) and Jerome Braswell (12.5 ppg, 5.3 apg), are dangerous as well.

But one of our weapons comes out hot at the start. John Burks hits 3 3-pointers over the first 4 minutes to put us up 11-8. At the midway mark it’s tied at 17. The bigger Bonnies are owning the boards but we are combating that by forcing turnovers. Burks continues to play well and is even holding his own against Kamara on the defensive end. Holding a 1-point lead late in the half, Braswell scores with 4 seconds left giving the Bonnies a 35-34 halftime lead. Burks finished the half with 14 while Grandison has 7 points and 4 assists. Braswell leads them with 10. Kamara has just 4. They shot 61.9% and outrebounded us 16-9 but the 8-2 turnover advantage keeps us alive.

The Bonnies keep the lead to begin the second but can’t extend it past 6. With just under 7 remaining we come back to take our first lead of the half on a Reggie Grandison 3-pointer. The lead changes hands a few times and with 2 minutes left, the Bonnies reclaim the lead at 60-59 on a Kamara basket. Burks missed a 3 at the other end but Braswell turned it over going the other way. With 48 seconds left Ben Seals hit 1 of 2 free throws to tie it at 60 with 48 seconds left. Each team gets 1 possession but neither even gets a shot off and we head to our first OT of the year.

Marlon Ledbetter scores his first 2 of the game to give the Bonnies the lead with 3 minutes left. Burks answers with a basket at the other end. But that would be our only points of the extra session. Kamara hit a 3 to give them the lead and hit another with seconds left and the shot clock winding down to finish it. Final score, St. Bonaventure 68 Towson 62.

Burks finished with 18 but was just 2 of 8 after halftime. Grandison shot just 3 of 10 for 12 points to go with 5 assists. Braswell had 18 to lead the Bonnies while Kamara finished strong and had 17. We were outrebounded by 12 and shot just 10 of 19 from the foul line. O’Kelley has been particularly brutal in that category. We did force 15 turnovers and committed a season low 7 on our end but it wasn’t enough on this night.

[timmyw3]

December 7, 2003

Towson (3-2) @ North Carolina (4-2)

We visit Chapel Hill for this impending rout against the ACC power Tar Heels coached by Chad Haywood. They were actually ranked 8th to begin the season but lost in the first round of the Preseason NIT to Missouri 84-38. They also lost at Albany by 18. They have won their last 2 over Washington and SW Texas St. Junior SF Jason Mitchell is their ringleader, scoring 17.7 points a game. Their senior backcourt of senior PG Ori Bro-Grebe (14.0 ppg) and David Myers (12.8 ppg) is solid as well though Bro-Grebe turns it over almost 7 times a game. They also start 2 freshman, Jay Truscott and Jay White, down low.

It takes just 1 minute and 17 seconds for PF Ben Seals to pick up 3 fouls so our depth will be tested. We trail 11-6with 5 minutes gone but the Tar Heels athleticism and talent start to shine through. Myles sparks a 21-7 to lead UNC to a 32-13 lead with 7 minutes left. We are settling for 3-point bombs and they aren’t falling thus far. We limp to the half down 46-20. Grandison and John Morris both have 4 whole points a piece to lead us. We are 6 of 24 shooting and 2 of 14 from deep. Myles has 16 and the Heels shot 78.3% from the field. Pathetic.

5 minutes into the 2nd it’s 50-23 and all hope seems to fade until we unexpectedly go on a 12-2 run to cut it to under 20. We are getting to the line but we can’t stop anyone on the defensive end and we can’t get much closer. Millford fouls out with 7:40 left and it’s time to clear the bench. Final score: North Carolina 80 Towson 52.

An expected loss draws us to 3-3. John Burks led the scoring parade, as short as it was, with 11 but hit only 1 of 8 free throws. Grandison was awful, missing all 8 of his 3-point attempts finishing with 6 points. We shot 31% from the field, hit 5 of 23 from beyond the arc, and made just 54% of our 39 free throws. Myles led UNC with 23. They missed a grand total of 8 shots for the entire game, only 3 of which were inside the 3-point line. We also managed to get outrebounded 36-10 though admittedly there weren’t many defensive rebound opportunities.

[timmyw3]

Week 4 in Review

Around the Colonial

1. Virginia Commonwealth (5-1)
The Rams continue as the hottest team in the Colonial having won 5 in a row. They beat San Diego at home 76-70 behind 29 points from Dusan O’Connor. O’Connor followed that up with 22 in a 74-58 win at Murray St.

2. Hofstra (4-2)
The Pride have now won 3 straight and are 2-0 against teams nicknamed the Cougars after winning at Houston 77-74 and at home against College of Charleston 72-66. Justin Gordon poured in 37 but turned it over 12 times against UH while Chris Dondon dropped 30 on Charleston.

3. Towson (3-3)
We have now lost 3 in a row after starting 3-0. Despite playing some tough competition, it’s not good for morale. We are still trying to search for a consistent scorer and much, much better defense.

4. Drexel (2-4)
The Dragons split a pair on the road, losing at Southern 106-86 and winning at Western Kentucky 94-78. Kieron Correa scored 29 in the first game and 26 in the 2nd. Southern’s Martin “Dirty” Sanchez torched the nets for 45 in Game 1.

5. Old Dominion (2-4)
The Monarchs won at Yale 90-62 behind 26 points from Billy Flannery. Greg White dished out 18 assists to set the conference single-game record. They followed that up by getting spanked at home versus New Orleans 76-48. Pat Jones had 14 points and 22 rebounds in the loss.

6. James Madison (2-4)
The Dukes took Temple to overtime up in Philly but came out with an 87-80 loss. Andre Cross continued his strong play with 30 points and 9 boards. They weren’t so good at #19 Providence, losing 80-44. Cross was 0 of 14 from the field and had just 4 points.

7. George Mason (2-4)
The Patriots lost a pair of road games, 72-52 at St. Mary’s and 90-78 at Manhattan. 3 players scored 12 each against the Gaels while James Childress scored 23 against the Jaspers.

8. Delaware (2-4)
The Blue Hens got off the losing skid winning at E. Tennessee St. 80-68 and at home against Brown 90-76. Jeff Waters led both wins with 24 and 28 points respectively.

9. William & Mary (1-5)
The Tribe won at home against Wisconsin-Milwaukee 74-70 then lost at SE Louisiana 84-60. Brett White led the way in the win with 24 while Randy King and Brandon Perry each has 17 in the loss.

10. UNC-Wilmington (0-6)
The Seahawks remained winless losing twice to ranked Big East teams this week. Zeljko Lekivicius scored 38 in a 92-64 loss at #17 Syracuse but had just 2 points in an 88-48 loss at #24 Seton Hall. The Hawks have played 4 of their 6 games against teams that were ranked at the time. It should help them come conference play.

Around the country

Games of the Week

#13 Arkansas came to the nation’s capital and obliterated #9 Georgetown 90-52. The Razorbacks’ Kerry Roberts enjoyed one of the finest performances of the year for any player with 38 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.

#20 Indiana visited #21 USC and came home with an 86-72 loss to the Trojans. Ryan Green, 26 points, and Paul Jakeway, 25 points, led the way for USC.

Upsets of the Week

For the 2nd week in a row, the country’s number 1 team was upset by a less than prestigious team. The top ranked Boston College Eagles were smoked by the Northwestern St. Demons in Louisiana 88-62. Boston College committed 23 turnovers. The Demons’ Joe Williams had 21 and hit all 12 of his free throw attempts.

The only other Top 25 team to lose was 18th ranked Iowa St. who lost in Ames to American 61-52. Joseph Minton led the victors with 27 points.

Week 4 Awards

Delaware’s Jeff Waters was awarded the CAA’s Player of the Week award for week 4. The 6-2 junior guard from Seaton, NY averaged 26.0 points in the Blue Hens’ 2 wins. The National Player of the Week was 6-4 junior forward Martin “Dirty” Sanchez from Southern U. Sanchez scored a season high 45 in a win against Drexel.

The Colonial’s Freshman of the Week was Hofstra’s Chris Dondon. The 6-2 guard from out of Boston averaged 23 points in the Pride’s 2 victories. Nationally, the award went to Ohio St.’s Ed Reid. The 6-7 forward from Greensburg, IN scored 41 in a win over CS-Northridge.

IP Top 10

1. Arizona 9-0 (2)
2. Tennessee 6-0 (14)
3. Wake Forest 6-0 (16)
4. Arkansas 6-0 (13)
5. Duke 7-1 (7)
6. USC 6-1 (21)
7. Maryland 8-1 (4)
8. Syracuse 6-0 (17)
9. Oklahoma 6-0 (23)
10. Ohio St. 6-0 (22)

News and Notes

The initial CRI Ratings were released and we are about two-thirds of the way down the list at 223. Despite playing powerhouses North Carolina and Georgia, our strength of schedule is a weak 286. Arkansas is the top rated team in the CRI while Clemson (2-4) is rated as having the toughest schedule thus far.

On the injury front, William & Mary was dealt another blow when they learned that they will be without Preseason All-NEC selection Marqus Morris for about a month with a pinched nerve. Morris, a senior, had been averaging 11.6 points and 9.0 rebounds a game for the Tribe who are already missing another starting forward, Joe Surpin, who is out on academic suspension.

On the recruiting front, there are still no commitments for us or any other of the Colonial schools. The consensus top 2 players in the country made there college choices. The #1 player in the land, 6-10 center Benjamin West from California, will stay in state and play at Stanford.. The 2nd rated player in the land, 6-6 forward Greg Jepsen from Georgia, will leave the state and play at Kentucky.

[timmyw3]

Week 5

The schedule is a little kinder for us this week as we don’t have any major conference opponents on our itinerary. We finish up our 4-game road trip up at Vermont and then come back home to face Winthrop over the weekend. Both of these teams used to be conference rivals from Towson’s days in the Big South and more recently in the America East.

Recruiting

After last week’s excitement, bad news came across my desk when all 3 of my main targets received a pair of offers each from other schools. Andy Grace is now contemplating offers from higher profile schools Temple and Penn State. In our phone conversation he says not to worry about the Hoops Galore interview where they say Temple is his #1 because we are his #1. I’ll believe that when he signs on the dotted line.

Jeremy Woods now has offers from Georgetown and Long Island to think about while Kyle Sanders has offers from Howard and UMES, 2 schools with just as much, or more appropriately as little, prestige as we do. We recruit all 3 of them lightly for the week.

As far as the backup plans are concerned, Leon Hayes will come in for a visit this week but it may be too late as he has offers from St. Joseph’s and Central Connecticut. New York’s Johnnie Johnson, who we first contacted last week, would be next in line. He has no pending offers to speak of so we recruit him lightly. Finally, Delaware center Matt Church is also not holding any offers in hand so we step his recruiting up to moderate and hope to bring him in for a visit next week.

[timmyw3]

December 10, 2002

Towson (3-3) @ Vermont (1-4)

This is the last of a 4-game stretch on the road for the Tigers. The Catamounts, under coach Donnie Stukes, have stumbled coming out of the gate, losing 4 of 5. Their only win came at Samford 92-84 last week. The last time out they lost by 18 to Cornell. Senior forward Marcus Adams is averaging a double-double, 15.8 points and 10.2 rebounds, to lead the team. Three other players, junior forward Ashley Collier, senior guard Stevie Peskine, and freshman guard Jason Anderson, average double digits in scoring. They also have a player named Jahidi White, this one is about 100 pounds less than his real life namesake.

Burks gets off to a quick start scoring 6 of our team’s first 8 but the freshman Anderson matches him and we trail by 8 at 19-11 with 11:08 to go. We cut into the lead a bit but turnovers are hurting us and we head to the half down 37-31. Ben Seals had a good first half with 8 points. Burks was quiet after his initial burst and has 7. Anderson has 10 for the Catamounts. We are both shooting around 45% but we’ve turned it over 9 times in the half.

We can’t get much going to start the half and we trail by 9 at 48-39 with 6 and a half minutes gone. Vermont rolls off 6 straight to go ahead by 15 with 9:01 left and it’s time for a Tiger timeout. We respond by scoring 6 in a row after the TO behind Burks to cut it back to 9. With just under 4 to go a John Burks 3 cuts the lead to 5 and hope returns to the Tiger bench. Anderson scores his first 2 of the half though and the lead is 8 with 1:34 left. A Seals dunk and 2 O’Kelley free throws cuts the lead to 70-66 with 47 seconds left. Adams hits 1 of 2 at the line and Grandison scores at the other end to make the deficit 3 with 22 seconds left. But unfortunately for us, they go a perfect 4 of 4 from the line and we can’t make it all the way back. Final score: Vermont 75 Towson 71

Burks had 14 of his game high 21 in the second to fuel the comeback that almost was. Grandison turned it on too and finished with 16 points and 6 assists. Seals finished with 13 and O’Kelley had 10. Adams and Peskine killed us in the second. Adams finshed with 17 while Peskine had 16. We shot a shade under 50% for the game but defense, or lack there of, continues to kill us. The Catamounts shot 52.1% and hit 7 of 17 from deep. Defense is what concerned us at the beginning of the year and it looks like it’s going to be a trouble spot all year.

[timmyw3]

December 15, 2003

Winthrop (0-5) @ Towson (3-4)

We finally return to the comforts of the Towson Center to take on the winless Eagles. Winthrop has been a victim of a tough schedule having played 4 teams in the Top 100 of the CRI (Indiana, Rutgers, Louisville, and SDSU). They played Louisville pretty tough losing 84-72. They were dealt a blow in the first game of the year when top player Kashien Crumble was injured just 4 minutes in. He will miss this one. Junior forward Michael Jones has picked up the slack and is averaging 14.6 points a game. Juniors Josh Greer (13.2 ppg) and Scott Ellis (12.0 ppg) are also major contributors.

For the Eagles, it’s an unknown name leading them in the beginning as David Ridnour, averaging all of 5.6 points a game, scores 9 in the first 8 minutes. Still it is not enough as we lead 20-16. Marquis O’Kelley gets it going and spurs a 10-2 run and we lead 36-24 with 4:36 left. After an Eagle timeout they cut into the lead behind Ridnour and the Tiger halftime lead is 44-36. We have our own unknown playing big for as. Justin Davis led the way with 11 points in 10 minutes off the bench. O’Kelley and Burks have 9 each. Ridnour finished the half with a ridiculous 17 in just 9 minutes. We are killing them on the offensive glass and we forced 11 turnovers so if we keep this up we should cruise.

O’Kelley scores 7 of our first 9 of the half and we go up by double figures again at 53-42. The Eagles start to go cold and we go on a backbreaking 24-5 run to effectively end it. Lots of playing time for the end of the bench. Reggie Swanson even scores a couple of buckets. Final score: Towson 86 Winthrop 54

5 players scored in double figures led by O’Kelley, who hit 7 of 10 shots and scored 22 points, a new team record. Justin Davis finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds in 17 minutes. Burks had 12 and Millford added 11. Grandison just missed a double-double with 11 points and 9 assists. Ridnour finished with 19 for the Eagles in just 13 minutes on the court. Jones, their leading scorer coming in, was held to 4 points on 2 of 8 shooting. We shot 62% from the field, outrebounded them by 7 and forced 23 turnovers. It all adds up to a 32 point win and back to .500 for us.

[timmyw3]

Week 5 in Review

Around the Colonial

1. Virginia Commonwealth (5-3)
The Rams had their modest 5 game win streak stopped rather rudely by Tulsa 74-44. Dusan O’Connor had 14. VCU then lost at Morehead St. 66-64 despite 23 from Jim Murdock.

2. Towson (4-4)
We lost all 4 on our road trip but came back home for a big win against Winthrop to even the record at 4-4.

3. Old Dominion (4-4)
The surprising Monarchs won a pair at home, beating Eastern Illinois 82-54 and Murray St. 78-72. Marty Raines led the first win with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Billy Flannery had 24 against the Racers.

4. Hofstra (4-4)
The Pride dropped a pair, losing at Washington 72-70 and at home to Boise St. 70-66. In the game against the Huskies, Justin Gordon had a triple-double and did not officially attempt a single field goal. He had 12 points (on 12-12 free throws), 10 assists, and 10 steals.

5. James Madison (3-5)
The Dukes split their 2 home games, losing to Western Illinois 66-64 before beating Oral Roberts 80-75. Curtis Iversen hit 9 3-pointers on his way to 36 points against Oral Roberts

6. William & Mary (2-6)
The shorthanded Tribe lost at Western Kentucky 74-58 then followed it up with a 70-60 win at Wichita St. Gene Campbell and Dennis Rencher have stepped up their play in place of Morris and Surpin. Rencher had 26 in the win over the Shockers.

7. Drexel (2-6)
The Dragons lost 2, 78-70 at Massachusetts and 80-66 against 2nd ranked Tennessee. They trailed by just 4 at the half against the Vols but could not pull off the upset. Josh Williams had 29 in that loss.

8. George Mason (2-6)
The Patriots lost twice, 70-52 at DePaul and 76-53 at home to Utah St. Mark Malone had 24 against the Blue Demons and then had 21 in the second loss.

9. Delaware (2-6)
The Blue Hens trailed Indiana by 3 at the break but ended up losing 66-54. Jeff Waters had 20 but hit only 9 of 28 shots. They were then manhandled at Charleston Southern 84-48. Waters had 13 in that one.

10. UNC-Wilmington
The Seahawks remained winless, losing at SMU 80-70 and at Furman 78-66. Mark Blair had 32 against the Mustangs. Cedric Arline had a nice game at Furman with 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Around the Country

Games of the Week

In an exciting Big East/ACC battle, #8 Syracuse held off Georgia Tech 71-68 in overtime up at the Carrier Dome. Tech did not attempt a single free throw.

Unranked Stanford waltzed into Knoxville and crushed #2 Tennessee 86-48. Jabari Murray led 5 players in double figures with 17.

In the only matchup between Top 25 teams, #18 Mississippi beat #10 Ohio St. 72-54. Zack Canty hit 16 of 20 shots for a game high 36.

Upsets of the Week

#9 Oklahoma was the victim as Eastern Kentucky beat them in Norman. The nation’s 2nd leading scorer Ray Singletary scored 36 points for the winners.

The school located about 8 miles south of Towson sprung a big upset. Loyola (MD), not to be confused with Loyola Chicago or Loyola Marymount, beat 15th ranked Seton Hall 74-66 behind 24 points from Gilbert Howell.

#19 Missouri fell to Sam Houston St. 60-56. Michael Bracey led the scoring for SHS with 20. Missouri’s Jim Smith attempted 26 free throws making 16 contributing to his 35 points.

Week 5 Awards

The CAA’s Player of the Week is James Madison’s Curtis Iversen. The 6-4 guard from Ogdensburg, NY scored 36 in a win versus Oral Roberts and averaged 27.5 points for the week. The National Player of the week was Arkansas’ Travis Kraft. The senior forward from Lakeland, FL scored 34 in a win over San Diego St. for the 4th ranked Razorbacks.

The Colonial’s Freshman of the Week was Billy Flannery of Old Dominion. The 6-7 forward from Duxbury, MA averaged 21.5 points for the week. Nationally, the award went to Michigan St.’s Derrick Guthridge. The Detroit product had a wonderful game versus Creighton with 19 points and 18 assists.

IP Top 10

1. Arizona 11-0 (1)
2. Duke 9-1 (5)
3. Wake Forest 8-0 (3)
4. Arkansas 8-0 (4)
5. USC 8-0 (6)
6. Maryland 10-1 (7)
7. Florida 10-1 (13)
8. Syracuse 8-0 (8)
9. Kansas 9-1 (12)
10. Virginia 7-1 (16)

News and Notes

We are pleased to announce that we have filled 2 of our scholarships for next year. The 2 incoming freshman for this year are:

Andy Grace, C, 6-11 211, Archbishop Ryan HS, Philadelphia, PA
Grace was the top choice for us from the beginning. He has a refined offensive game and is solid defensively and handles the ball well for a man his size. He’s got good potential but he needs to get better on the boards. He is ranked as the 82nd best player in the East region.

Kyle Sanders, PF, 6-6 168, Tatnall HS, Tatnall, DE
Sanders was more interested in us than we were in him but we are happy to have him. Despite being a bit undersized his forte is rebounding. His skills right now are unrefined but he has plenty of upside. Could be a candidate to redshirt.

In other recruiting news, 2 players who were on our initial list have committed elsewhere. Darius Williams will stay in New Jersey to play at Monmouth and JuCo player Scott Riggs will play at nearby Coppin St.

In the Colonial, Delaware pulled in 2 recruits. First and most impressively is West Virginia area center Delawn Walker. Walker is rated at 4 stars and the 68th best player overall, the 11th best center, and 18th in the east. He is a junior college transfer so we’ll only have to deal with him for two years. The Blue Hens also inked 3 star guard Anthony Carson from Salem, NH.

On the injury front, Drexel was given some bad news when they learned starting guard Joshua Stewart will miss the next month with a dislocated knee. Stewart had been averaging 14.4 points a game. Just when things couldn’t get worse for winless UNC-Wilmington they learned they will be without the services of Mark Blair for 2 months with a torn quad. Blair is averaging 9.4 points and 3.5 assists this year.

16 underclassmen declared for the NBA draft. No names that I am familiar with but I am sad to see that my alma mater, the University of Maryland, will be losing 3 juniors to the draft on top of their 3 seniors.

Finally, our CRI Ranking has gone down to 239 with a strength of schedule of 301. The worst team so far has been Jacksonville St. while the team with the weakest schedule is Campbell.