The Colonial Athletic Association?s men?s basketball coaches and the media covering the league showed everyone at the ESPN Zone in Washington exactly how good they think Towson will be this winter: They picked the Tigers to finish in last place.
“To me those things have always been irrelevant,” Towson coach Pat Kennedy said. “In this league no one knows who anyone else has. We are Boston to Atlanta, recruting is [very regional]. We got five guys that virtually no one knows. George Mason is returning all five starters. We could end up having all five of our guys return next year. I actually like where we are at.”
The Tigers being picked to finish below the league?s 11 other teams can be attributed to the graduation of two players: Gary Neal and Dennard Abraham.
Neal, a standout guard now playing overseas, scored 2,295 points in his collegiate career, including 810 last season, when he accounted for 37 percent of the team?s scoring. Abraham, a forward, was the team?s second-leading scorer and top rebounder, as he averaged 11.2 points and 6.3 boards a game last season.
If the Tigers, who won 15 games last season, are to disprove their critics, they will need huge seasons from senior point guard C.C. Williams, who averaged 6 points and 4 assists last season and junior college transfer Vernon Carr, a junior guard who averaged 15 points and 6 assists per game last year for Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College.
However, Kennedy, said his team will be more balanced on offense this season after relying so heavily on Neal to win games the previous few seasons.
“When you have a guy like Gary you are blessed because he takes you to another level,” Kennedy said. “It?s going to be a collective effort to replace him. If we can get a group of guys scoring in double-digits, those teams with four or five scorers tend to have more chemistry and are more competitive.”
Towson?s 15 victories were its most in 11 seasons, and was a marked improvement after winning 12 games the previous year and 6 in 2004-05 ? Kennedy?s first season.
It will be imperative the Tigers play well at the Towson Center, where they went 9-5 last season, which included victories over Vermont and James Madison. Towson opens the season against visiting Loyola on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.
“How we come out of November, and our first five conference games in January are huge keys for us,” Kennedy said. “We are right at the doorstep [of being a winning team] right now.”
