TOWSON, Md. – About a year ago, on January 5,
2012 to be exact, Sports Illustrated
college basketball writer Seth Davis gave the Towson men's basketball team one
of those kick-'em-while-their-down shots that sounds even more sophomoric today.
Davis fired the shot in a tweet the day
after the Tigers lost 60-27 at Drexel.
“Towson scored 27 pts vs Drexel to lose its Div I record-tying 34th
straight game. One of dozens of teams with NO business competing in D-1.”
He never mentioned the other “dozens.”
Just Towson, a program that, at the time, was so low it had to reach up just to
touch bottom. Very courageous. Astute? Not sure about that considering his obvious
lack of familiarity with the program.
Understandably the Tigers were tossing
and turning through a nightmare that was 395 sleepless nights long. They
finished 2011-12 with a horrible 1-31 record.
The record-setting losing streak reached
41 before a 66-61 home victory over UNC Wilmington ended it.
Bad enough the Tigers had to endure the
losses. What also hurt were the snickers coming from every direction. Some of
them were even embedded in sympathetic pieces.
To the credit of the Tigers, however,
no one associated with the program - including AD Mike Waddell, head coach Pat Skerry and all players – shied away from the interview requests that came from
various news agencies such as the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun and numerous websites with heavy internet
addresses.
Fast forward to January, 2013.
The Tigers are coming off an impressive
73-47 Colonial Athletic Association win over James Madison, pushing them to
10-9 overall and 5-1 in the league. It's Towson's best start after 19 games in
13 years.
With 12 games left it's a scary thought
to some like Seth but the Tigers could earn their first winning record in 17
years, against a schedule not unlike those of the past 16 years.
Six of the games are on the road. The
Tigers have to face George Mason twice, a team they have not beaten (0-19) since
Towson joined the CAA. Hofstra looms ahead. The Pride is working on a
seven-game win streak against Towson. A very hungry Old Dominion five can't
wait for the Tigers to arrive in Norfolk on January 30 to feed on an opponent
the Monarchs are 19-1 against since the two schools became CAA siblings.
Two games against Georgia State are
going to be challenging. The Panthers are 6-2 against the Tigers in the last
eight games. Both Tiger victories were overtimers. Then Towson has to deal with
the revenge factor raging in William & Mary, UNCW, Delaware, JMU and Drexel
– all victims of first-meeting losses to the Tigers.
However …
The Tigers look like a team that is
making a move to turn the corner. The 26-point victory margin over James
Madison wasn't as much a result of the offense as it was the dogged defense the
Tigers are playing. Seven steals, seven blocks and 30 defensive rebounds while
holding the Dukes to 25.5 per cent shooting proved to be the difference.
They'll need to use those same skills in the weeks ahead because the opposition
is accustomed to putting up hefty numbers against the Tigers.
“Would you still support a college
basketball program if it only won once in nearly 400 days?” asked James Johnson
of The Inquisitor last year.
Probably not.
But how about one raising itself out of
the ashes to erase words like “worst” from the headlines. There's a neat story
developing here. It'll be interesting to see who follows it with a little more
effort than a caustic one-liner.
By the way …
The consecutive losses record numbering
34 that Towson broke was formerly held by Sacramento State whose current
athletic director is Terry Wanless, in his 10th year leading the
Hornets' program (arrived after the streak). Terry got his start in athletics
as an assistant football coach for the Tigers under Phil Albert. He left the
football program to become an associate AD under Joe McMullen and later served
as the interim AD at Towson after Joe's passing. Terry was AD at Western
Carolina and the University of North Dakota before assuming his current post.
