Hanging on a wall inside TU Arena is a banner commemorating the 1990-91 Towson men’s basketball team that was the program’s last representative in the NCAA Tournament. It is daily viewing for redshirt sophomore point guard Dylan Williamson.
“The crazy thing is, I look up there before every practice,” he said during the team’s preseason media day on Wednesday inside their home venue. “Before we start, I look up there. I just want to get our team up there.”
Securing a coveted spot in the NCAA Tournament is the objective for the more than 350 Division I schools — many of which will tip off the 2024-25 season on Monday. It is especially compelling for the Tigers, who were voted to finish first in the Coastal Athletic Association preseason poll.
Since joining the conference in 2001, Towson has been predicted to finish first in the CAA twice before — in 2013-14 and 2022-23. The program’s best finish in the regular season was a tie for first place in 2021-22 but it is 0-5 in the league tournament semifinals.
The weight of the Tigers’ postseason drought isn’t lost on coach Pat Skerry.
“That’s absolutely the goal, and I take a lot of responsibility for that,” said Skerry, who has shepherded Towson to all five CAA Tournament semifinals, including each of the past three seasons. “That’s what drives me every day, and I’ve gone to enough practices [to see] that there’s no less juice [from the players] every day. What I’m glad about is that we’ve created something where that is the expectation. For a long, long time, there wasn’t much of any expectation of success. So that’s why guys came back, and that’s what we coach.”
The Tigers’ position atop the CAA preseason poll isn’t unwarranted. They return four of five starters from the team that went 20-14 overall and 11-7 in the league before falling to eventual tournament champion College of Charleston by five points in the conference tournament semifinals.
Towson also welcomes back three key reserves from last year’s squad that led the conference in defense at 63.6 points per game. Christian May, one of those four starters, said the chance to end the program’s absence from the NCAA Tournament was a carrot for the players.
“I think that’s the reason we all came back,” he said. “I don’t think anyone liked the way the season ended last year. I think we were so close and we all think we could have won and went last year. So I’m pretty sure that’s the reason why everybody came back. We all bought in and said, ‘This is going to be the year we make it happen.’ It hasn’t happened in more than 30 years. So I think we’re excited to try to make that happen this year.”
Williamson said the players’ familiarity with each other from last winter is a foundation for this year’s group.
“Our confidence is through the roof this year with all of these guys coming back,” he said. “We know how we play, and we know where to get guys so that they can score.”
May has incentive this season. With the Tigers trailing the College of Charleston, 58-56, with 20 seconds left in regulation, May missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw, and the Cougars closed out the game with three consecutive free throws.

Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun
Coach Pat Skerry is determined to take the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over three decades. (Baltimore Sun staff)
“That was probably the worst moment of my life, but I’m glad it happened,” he said. “I feel like everything happens for a reason. It’s not something I try to think about a lot, but it’s definitely something that I use as motivation. Just the fact that happened has fueled me even more for this year.”
If there is one player who will be missed, it is 6-foot-9 power forward Charles Thompson, whose prowess as a rebounder and defender contributed to the Tigers leading the CAA in both rebounding margin (plus-8.4 per game) and blocks (4.2 per game). Skerry said he will lean on a committee approach anchored by 6-6 forwards Messiah Jones and Tomiwa Sulaiman to fill the void created by Thompson’s graduation.
Skerry said he hopes the players enjoy the preseason accolades, but noted they come with stipulations.
“I always tell them, ‘You can prove them right or you can prove them wrong,’” he said. “Our intention is to prove them right, but like any team, we’ve got a lot of work to do over the trajectory of the season.”
Projections might be premature, but Skerry said the team’s early strengths are ball movement and positional versatility. He said some areas of improvement are rebounding on the defensive glass and protecting the ball.
Towson walked away from exhibition losses to Rutgers and St. John’s with ups and downs, but Skerry said his confidence in the team is high — as are his expectations.
“I want it for this group just like they want it,” he said. “We’re not there yet, but we can get there.”
Here’s what else you need to know about the other Baltimore-area men’s college basketball teams:
Coppin State
Coach: Larry Stewart, second season
Last season: 2-27, 1-13 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Postseason: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal, No. 8 seed
Preseason conference poll: Eighth of eight teams
Starters gone (3): SF Justin Winston (13.2 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game), PG Greg Spurlock (8.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.6 assists per game), PF Toto Fagbenle (5.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg)
Starters back (2): SG Camaren Sparrow (6.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg), SG Aa’Reyon Munir-Jones (3.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg)
One-liner: Point guard Ryan Archey, who averaged 9.3 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists primarily as a reserve last winter, figures to slide into the starting lineup after being named to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s preseason second team.
Loyola Maryland
Coach: Josh Loeffler, first season
Last season: 7-25, 5-13 Patriot League
Postseason: Patriot League Tournament first round, No. 10 seed
Preseason conference poll: Tenth of 10 teams
Starters gone (3): PG Deon Perry (17.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.5 steals per game), SG D’Angelo Stines (9.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg), PF Golden Dike (7.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
Starters back (2): PF Milos Ilic (7.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg), SF David Brown III (4.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg)
One-liner: Loeffler, who was an assistant coach with the Greyhounds from 2013 to 2017 and replaced Tavaras Hardy, guided Johns Hopkins to a 114-27 record and four NCAA Division III Tournament appearances in six years before spending last winter as an assistant at Cincinnati.

Maryland
Coach: Kevin Willard, third season
Last season: 16-17, 7-13 Big Ten
Postseason: Big Ten Tournament second round, No. 12 seed
Preseason conference poll: Tenth of 18 teams
Starters gone (2): PG Jahmir Young (20.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 4.2 apg), PF Donta Scott (11.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg)
Starters back (3): PF Julian Reese (13.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1.9 bpg), SG DeShawn Harris-Smith (7.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.2 apg), SF Jordan Geronimo (5.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg)
One-liner: For the Terps, all eyes will be on the trio of transfers — junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Belmont), fifth-year senior shooting guard Selton Miguel (South Florida) and sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice (Virginia Tech) — to see if they can improve on last year’s 28.9% efficiency from 3-point range.
Morgan State
Coach: Kevin Broadus, sixth season
Last season: 11-20, 7-7 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Postseason: Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal, No. 5 seed
Preseason conference poll: Fourth of eight teams
Starters gone (1): PF Allen Udemadu (7.8 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
Starters back (4): SG Wynston Tabbs (14.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.9 apg), SF Will Thomas (14.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.9 apg), PG Kameron Hobbs (10.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.4 apg), SG Amahrie Simpkins (8.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg)
One-liner: In addition to welcoming back their top five scorers, the Bears return 80.3% of their scoring, 70.9% of their rebounding, 87.6% of their assists and 83.3% of their steals from last season.
Mount St. Mary’s
Coach: Donny Lind, first season
Last season: 13-19, 9-11 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Postseason: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament first round, No. 8 seed
Preseason conference poll: 11th of 13 teams
Starters gone (3): SG Dakota Leffew (17.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.5 spg), SG Joshua Reaves (8.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg), SF George Tinsley (5.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
Starters back (2): PF Jedy Cordilia (6.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg), SF Dola Adebayo (6.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg)
One-liner: After leading the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in shooting percentage (.473) and ranking third in scoring (72.7), the Mountaineers might run into some difficulty repeating those numbers without Leffew, who transferred to Georgia, and Reaves, who transferred to the University of Illinois Chicago.
Navy
Coach: Ed DeChellis, 14th season
Last season: 13-18, 8-10 Patriot League
Postseason: Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal, No. 7 seed
Preseason conference poll: Eighth of 10 teams
Starters gone (2): SG Mac MacDonald (8.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg), SG Austin Inge (5.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.6 apg)
Starters back (3): PG Austin Benigni (17.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.8 apg), SF Donovan Draper (9.5 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 1.9 spg), SF Mitch Fischer (5.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg)
One-liner: The Midshipmen will lean on Benigni and Draper to help transform an offense that ranked last in the conference in field-goal percentage (.396) and 3-point efficiency (.300).

Towson
Coach: Pat Skerry, 14th season
Last season: 20-14, 11-7 Coastal Athletic Association
Postseason: Coastal Athletic Association Tournament semifinal, No. 5 seed
Preseason conference poll: First of 14 teams
Starters gone (1): PF Charles Thompson (9.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg)
Starters back (4): SG Christian May (10.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg), SF Tyler Tejada (10.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg), SG Nendah Tarke (9.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.5 spg), SF Messiah Jones (5.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
One-liner: In addition to the four starters, the Tigers welcome back point guard Dylan Williamson (10.2 ppg, 2.9 apg and 1.6 rpg) and small forwards Tomiwa Sulaiman (5.7 ppg and 4.1 rpg) and Mekhi Lowery (3.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg), who will be expected to play larger roles.
UMBC
Coach: Jim Ferry, fourth season
Last season: 11-21, 6-10 America East
Postseason: America East Tournament quarterfinal, No. 7 seed
Preseason conference poll: Fifth of nine teams
Starters gone (2): SG Dion Brown (19.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 2.6 apg), PF Max Lorca-Lloyd (6.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg)
Starters back (3): SG Marcus Banks Jr. (15.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.9 apg), PG Ace Valentine (6.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.7 apg), SG Devan Sapp (3.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg)
One-liner: The departure of Brown to Boston College puts an onus on the rest of the Retrievers to replicate last year’s offense that led the America East in 3-point efficiency (.357), ranked second in field-goal percentage (.466), and was tied for third in points per game (78.7).
Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Tim Schwartz at timschwartz@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/timschwartz13.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.