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FEDORA (using DDSCB2020)

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Dominick Collins, SG:

Sunday broke sunny and cold.  We left early so we could arrive in DC early. As one of the organizers, Adrian Brown (Towson’s previous PG and present graduate assistant coach) needed to help make sure the event would kick off right.  Thousands would be depending upon him.

I have to admit I was nervous.  I’d never been involved in anything like this.  But Coach Fed’s decision to participate gave me the courage to be a part of it.  Actually Coach Fed had discouraged me, saying he thought it better for me to attend our regular Sunday practice and prepare for our upcoming game.  But he finally relented when he realized what this meant to me.

We arrived at Franklin Square and Adrian met with his co-organizers.  With time on our hands before things began, Coach Fed and I decided to get an early lunch at Five Guys at 14th & I Streets NW, kitty-corner from the Square. 

After guzzling down the free peanuts as well as the double cheeseburger, fries and milk shake that Coach Fed bought for me, we moseyed back.  By that time the Square was filled with participants who were listening as the organizers pumped up the crowd and laid out the guidelines for the Black Men’s March.

Adrian had told us that getting the route for the march approved had been a real challenge.  The city had denied allowing marchers to go from Franklin Square to the Lincoln Memorial past the White House.  Instead they required the march to proceed west on L Street and then south on 19th Street NW to the Mall and then to the Lincoln Memorial where the big shots (mainly politicians and entertainers) would address the crowd about steps needed to be taken for racial justice.

There was no way for me to determine how many were involved in the march.  All I could tell was that it was a huge number.  I was glad that Coach Fed wore his customary fedora since that made it easier to find him when we occasionally were separated. 

As the march was beginning, Adrian got Coach Fed and me up towards the front and we stepped out with the crowd which was chanting and singing.  We picked up the participants who had overflowed into McPherson Square a couple blocks along our route.  The march went well and we turned left from L Street to 19th Street.  But at that point we encountered counter-protesters who were haranguing us from both sides of the street.  We continued but soon heard a commotion behind us.  There had been a confrontation and a small melee had begun. 

Adrian began hurriedly pushing his way through the crowd  back toward the melee in attempt to try to defuse things.  When he saw Adrian heading back, Coach Fed told me to stay right where I was and remain clear of the fracas.  But he said he was going to make sure Adrian didn’t get into trouble and headed back with him.

Soon the crowd noise grew much louder and erupted into a much higher pitch, and I heard the squeal of tires on pavement.  Later I was to find out that even though the police had blocked off the streets of the march, a few cars had been able to evade the blockade and had gotten onto 19th Street.  The marchers had begun pounding on the sides of those cars.  One driver had stepped on the gas and had struck some of the march participants and peeled around the next corner to speed away.

Not knowing any of this at the time, I wanted to go see what was happening but stayed where Coach Fed had told me to remain.  So all I could do was to look at the crowd as I tried to spot the recognizable fedora.  Finally Adrian approached with a distressed look on his face.  He told me that one of those struck by the car was Coach Fed.  I asked if he was OK.  Adrian said, “He got thrown to the pavement.  All I could see was blood on his head before they put him into an ambulance.”  That’s when I noticed Adrian had Coach Fed’s fedora clutched in his hand.  He’d picked it up from the pavement after the ambulance left.

Adrian pulled me along with him back to our car so we could go to the hospital.  We got there but had a helluva hard time convincing anyone to talk with us since we weren’t related to Coach Fed.  Eventually a hospital orderly who was familiar with Towson basketball said “Hey, ain’t you Adrian Brown!  I liked the way you played the point.”  He then began to keep us in the loop.  After our pacing around the waiting room for what seemed like days, even though it was only a few hours, the orderly came back and pulled us aside.  “I’d lose my job if anyone at the hospital found out I was telling you guys anything.  The docs worked hard on your coach.  His head apparently hit the curb.  They did everything they could.  The injuries were really severe.  I’m really sorry to tell you that he didn’t make it.”  Adrian and I looked at each other in disbelief.  Unable to speak, it felt as though our worlds had collapsed around us.

Thus ended Towson Tigers basketball coached by Frederick Aura.  RIP Coach Fed.

{This ending necessitated by the demise of my computer on which all of this dynasty’s saves resided. 

*@)*&$)(*&#)**&^*&@#!

Even though it will be repaired under warranty, the files will be deleted in that process.  Moral of the story: Be SURE to backup regularly.}

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Coach Frederick Aura:

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.  Yes, I know that quote has been attributed to Mark Twain.  But now it applies to me as well.

Five other marchers besides myself were hit by the car that sped through the marchers.  All were rushed to the nearest hospital.  I was the last to arrive by ambulance.  Upon arrival, the ER was overburdened.  My head injuries, while they appeared terrible and bled profusely, were considered non-life threatening, so to avoid further stress on the hospital’s ER capabilities, I was taken to the next available hospital.  But somehow in all the resulting confusion, the identification information from my wallet was mistakenly applied to the hospital’s records for another tall, slender black man who had much more severe injuries. 

When Adrian and Dominick arrived at the first hospital, they had no idea that I had been transferred to the other hospital.  But the mistaken identification had not yet been resolved by the hospital.  And the hospital orderly who was communicating with Adrian and Dominick relayed the information he could gain about patient “Frederick Aura” who eventually succumbed to his extensive injuries.  It was several hours before things were cleared up and the Dominick and Adrian learned that I not only was alive but that I had been released from the hospital in battered by good condition.  And I even got the fedora back that I wearing that day since Adrian picked it up from the street.

I feel terrible about the angst that Adrian and Dominick had to endure on Sunday.

The driver of the car was stopped and arrested after he got out of Washington, DC.  He’s being held on vehicular manslaughter and homicide charges and the case is being investigated as a hate crime.  Authorities are checking out his social networking, cell phone texts and calls, and internet usage as well as any organization with which he has been affiliated.

[My computer has been repaired and since only the RAM needed replacement, all my files and programs were amazingly INTACT!  Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than wise. I pondered whether to just let this dynasty go or to continue it.  Since there are a few things I still want to pursue with it, Coach Fed has been resurrected from his supposed death bed.]

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Jan. 4, 2023: Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens (4-7, 0-0) @ Towson Tigers (8-3, 0-0)

Ahmad Nooram, Towson fan

I’m excited by how good the Tigers are this season.  Our starting lineup is just so sound.  I want them to whip up on Delaware tonight and make a real statement with a big win.  I have a friend at work who went to Delaware, so a blowout win by Towson would make for some great smack talk this week.  Coach Aura has really done a great job with the Tigers, but I wish he’d play the starters more and run up so impressive wins so they’d be ranked in the polls.  My favorite player is Deon Penn but he’s been taking a back-seat to Donny Flint this season.  Together they’re a formidable interior duo and should be tough for most CAA teams to handle this season.  If a team tries stopping one, the other is going to kick their butts.

Delaware doesn’t appear to be that good this year.  They’ve lost 6 of the 7 road games they have played thus far.

I hear that Coach Aura got injured some way so he won’t be coaching tonight’s game.  Leading the Tigers in his place will be 1st Assistant Coach Kenyon Haynes.

After 5-1/2 minutes of play, the Tigers were on top 15-3.  At the midpoint of the first half, their lead had grown to 21-6.  Towson continued to expand their lead and by the end of the half were ahead 43-24.  C Donny Flint had a huge half, scoring 14 and grabbing 9 rebounds.

Rather than pouring it on in the 2nd half, Towson simply held Delaware off and finished with an easy 80-67 win.  Great that we won, but another opportunity squandered to DOMINATE and WIN BIG.  The pollsters don’t see our games, all they see is the final score and instead of a 25-30 point win, we settle for a 13 point win that’s not going to impress any of the pollsters.

Top players for the Tigers included: C Donny Flint with 18 points and 17 rebounds; PF Deon Penn with 19 points and 7 boards; and PG Shaun White with 15 points.

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Jan. 7, 2023: Towson Tigers (9-3, 1-0) @ Charleston Cougars (8-6, 0-1)

Coach Fedora:

I hated missing our CAA opener, but my docs. AD Perry Winkle, and Janeka, my wife all told me to step back, take a few days rest, and that my guys could handle things.  But I’m raring to go now and am back on the bench. 

Charleston began the season by winning their first 4 games and 6 of their first 7…against some impressive competition.  But then starting C Ed Jenkins broke his wrist.  That was followed a week later by sub PF/C Corey Harris breaking his foot a week later.  The Cougars have won just 2 of their last 7 games.  Freshman Brian Black has been filling in as a starter, but has been inconsistent.  C Gale Thorne has been the Cougars’ strongest player, averaging 12.1 ppg and 8.6 rpg.

We’re at full strength, but PF Deon Penn is nursing a sore arm.  He’ll start and should be able to play as much as usual though.

I’m hoping Dominick Collins plays well tonight.  He had an off-game in the game following my suspected death so I think the ordeal affected him.  Adrian Brown also has been quieter in his graduate assistant coaching role.  I think he feels responsible since he was an event organizer and Dominick and I went to the event because of him.  I’ve talked with both of them, so hopefully things get back to normal soon.

1st Half:

We came out and played aggressive defense early, turning several turnovers into breakaway layups to go ahead 16-8 with 15:12 remaining.  We continued to play well and expanded our lead to 14 points.  But Charleston began hitting 3’s and with 6 minutes left in the half, they took a 34-33 lead.  We came back late in the half to take a 48-35 advantage to the locker room.  We had six players scoring 6 or more points, led by SF Wayne Burrough with 9 points.  I got on the guys during the intermission about how they slacked off defensively in the last 10 minutes of the first half.  We let Charleston hit 57% of their shots during the entire half after holding their shooting below 40% during the first 10 minutes.

2nd Half:

We played better defensively but so did the Cougars.  The score remained close but Charleston held a small lead more often that did we.  With 1:49 remaining we trailed 75-73.  We called a time out.  The play I drew up didn’t was unsuccessful, but the ball was tipped out of bounds by the Cougars.  So we got a second chance and Wayne Burrough dropped in a nice 16 foot jumper that tied the game.  Charleston’s Gale Thorne scored inside even though we double teamed him and we again were behind by 2 with a minute to go.  We missed two shots and Charleston’s Thorne again scored inside.  We blew another chance and went down to a disappointing 81-75 defeat.

We were outshot 50% to 39% which was enough to overcome our 46-30 rebounding advantage.  We just got out-defensed in the 2nd half.  C Donny Flint had another double-double with 17 points and 10 boards.  SF Wayne Burrough scored 13 and grabbed 9 rebounds, C Jason Miner hit for 11 points and PG Matt Faust added 10 points.  Charleston’s reserve SG Grant Hopkins hit 7 of 8 from the field including 2 of 3 from beyond the arc to score 16 points in 15 minutes of court time.

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Baltimore Sun

TOWSON'S FLINT GAINS AWARD

After scoring 35 points and pulling down 27 rebounds as well as getting 5 blocks and 3 steals in Towson’s two games last week, C Donny Flint gained his 2nd Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week award.  Flint is now averaging 14.2 ppg and 9.8 rpg this season for the Tigers.  Flint who is a Sophomore, transferred to Towson after playing for Butler as a freshman where he was the Big East Conference’s Freshman of the Year and was named to the Big East All-Conference 1st Team.

“Donny’s really coming into his own as the season progresses,” said Coach Frederick Aura. “He scored in double figures in 10 of our last 11 games and had 10-19 rebounds in 7 of those games.  He’s also playing some solid defense.”

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Jan. 11, 2023: Elon Phoenix (5-8, 0-2) @ Towson Tigers (9-4, 1-1)

Perry Winkle, Athletic Director

Glad the scare about Coach Aura has passed.  I heard about it after it was all over and resolved, but he really could easily have sustained far greater injuries.  Human bodies are designed to fair well when being hit by an automobile.

I’m hosting a bunch of the university’s big donors tonight.  So I’m hoping our guys do extremely well to keep this group in a very good mood.  We’re going to the university president’s house after the game and I know he wants them in a good mood so they will be in a “giving” mood.  With the exception of reserve PG Matt Faust (strained hamstring), everyone on the team is healthy for tonight’s game.

We started out well.  After the first 4 minutes we led by 6 and after the first 8 minutes we were on top 19-11.  Elon was shooting well, but already had 8 turnovers.  Our guys shot well and continued to steadily pull away from the Phoenix and were ahead 30-17 with 6 minutes left in the half.  Elon cut our lead to 10 but then we went on a tear toward the end of the half to build a 42-23 halftime advantage.  We hit 48% of our shots (and 56% from beyond the arc) while holding Elon’s shooting to just 39%.  We also sported an 11-4 turnover advantage.  SG Dominick Collins was on fire, hitting 7 of 10 from the field and connecting on both of his 3-point shots and scoring 19 points in the half.  The donors I had brought to the game were eating it up.

The Tigers’ lead ranged between 17 and 22 points throughout the entire 2nd half as both teams just seemed to be marking off the final 20 minutes and get the game concluded.  The final score was Towson-72, Elon-54. 

SG Dominick Collins finished with 26 points (a career best) while C Donny Flint had yet another double-double with 13 points and 14 boards. 

Only a few of the donors remained for the entire game.  Most left early in the 2nd half to get to the university president’s house for early cocktails.  I’m guessing the extra alcohol will result in additional donations.

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Jan. 14, 2023: Towson Tigers (10-4, 2-1) @ Northeastern Huskies (6-9, 1-2)

1st Assistant Coach Kenyon Haynes

Northeastern’s 6-9 record is not necessarily a reflection of how good the Huskies are.  Three of their losses have been against Top 25 teams and their two CAA losses have been to the two teams presently atop the conference standings with 3-0 records.  We will need to play our best to have a chance against Northeastern on its home court.  So I’m happy that Coach Aura is back directing the team rather than me.  The Huskies are led offensively by two freshmen (SG Marcus Cook, 14.2 ppg) and SF Steve Leath(11.7 ppg) and a senior (C David Dawson, 11.9 ppg), but senior PG Lee Puckett is a good floor general, averaging 7.1 ppg and 6.9 apg.

Rock solid defense allowed us to jump ahead 14-3 after 8 minutes of play.  Northeastern got their offense in gear at that point and cut our lead to 6 points.  We then pulled away again and finished the half ahead 40-27.  We outshot the Huskies 50% to 36% and held an 18-14 rebounding advantage and a 12-6 turnover advantage.  We spread our scoring pretty evenly among 7 players with C Donny Flint scoring 8 while picking off 7 rebounds.  During halftime, Coach Aura warned the players that the Huskies had the ability to strike back and that we needed to play hard for another 20 minutes and to work at resurrecting the tenacious defense we started the game with.

But we let Northeastern score the first 7 points of the 2nd half.  We reestablished a double digit lead quickly.  Then neither team was able to gain momentum.  With 11 minutes left, we led 49-40.  From that point on we combined a solid defense with a dynamic offense to achieve a 79-57 blowout victory.

For the entire game we only hit 42% of our shots, but we limited Northeastern’s shooting to 34%.  We dominated the boards 42-32 and made only 9 turnovers while we forced the Huskies to turn the ball over 19 times. Overall a very good effort by our team that lifted us into a 4-way tie for first place.

PF Deon Penn scored 21 while grabbing 9 rebounds.  C Donny Flint scored 14 points and was a monster on the boards with 17 rebounds.  PF/SF Jason Vickers added 12 points in 14 minutes of play.  For Northeastern, SG Marqus Cook hit for 20 points.

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Jan. 18, 2023: Hofstra Pride (7-8, 2-2) @ Towson Tigers (11-4, 3-1)

TIGER BLOG

Last night Towson hosted the Hofstra Pride in a game the Tigers were heavily favored to win.  A win was necessary to keep them in a tie for 1st place in the Colonial Athletic Association.

Towson fell behind 6-0.  Led by C Donny Flint together with a 3 by PF Deon Penn, the Tigers took their first lead at 10-8 after 6 minutes of play.  But Towson’s poor shooting kept the Pride in the game for the first 12 minutes.  The Tigers then scored 9 unanswered points in the next 75 seconds to pull ahead 24-15.   The Tigers continued to shoot well and finished the half ahead 38-27.  Towson was led by Donny Flint’s 11 points in the first half.

Hofstra came out on fire in the 2nd half and knotted the score at 40-40 just 3 minutes into the half. The Pride continued their dominance and led by 5 with 11 minutes to go in the game.  Following a fiery shellacking of the team by Coach Aura during a time out, the Tigers tied the game and then PG Shaun White nailed two consecutive 3’s to put them on top 65-59 with 8:15 on the clock.  Two-and-a half minutes later, Towson was ahead 74-59 to conclude a 20-0 run.  The Tigers then cruised to a 90-71 victory.

Towson hit 49% of their FG attempts and 44% of their 3’s while achieving a 23-15 turnover advantage.

C Donny Flint scored 19 and picked off 8 rebounds, SF Wayne Burrough hit for 17 points, PF Deon Penn had 14 points and 8 boards, and PG Shaun White scored 12 points.  12 of the 13 players Coach Aura put on the floor scored.

The win keeps the Tigers tied with James Madison, Drexel, and Charleston for 1st place in the conference with 4-1 records.

“We woke up when Coach Fed lit into us during that 2nd half time out.  Hofstra had been crushing us, but we then hit just about every shot and took the wind completely out of the Pride’s sails,” said Shaun White.  He added, “The 5 of 6 minutes following that time out was maybe the best we’ve played all season.”

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Jan. 21, 2023: Towson Tigers (12-4, 4-1) @ NC-Wilmington Seahawks (7-9, 2-3)

Adrian Brown, Graduate Assistant Coach

I’ve yet to get my life and my coaching back to normal since the day Coach Fed was hit by the car in the demonstration that I had organized.  The event keeps flowing through my mind and there’s a level of guilt that I am having a tough time eliminating.  Coach has been good about letting me slowly regain my composure and focus.

I believe we definitely are the better team in tonight’s game.  But I played enough road games to know that being better doesn’t ensure a win when playing on another team’s home court in front of their fans.  Our past record playing in Trask Coliseum in Wilmington hasn’t been good.  So our statistical advantages and higher talent level will be offset unless our guys are able to focus their efforts to gain and maintain control.  We believe our front line can control the boards.  But the Seahawks have hit a higher percentage of their shots than have we.  So I’ve been working with our guards to prepare them to apply defensive pressure that will keep the NC-Wilmington team off-balance and result in turnovers.  I’m hoping that doesn’t result in our guys getting into early foul trouble.  We’ll see if my efforts were successful.

Game notes:

The stands are full and the crowd seems amped up to help the Seahawks get past us.  Neither team could gain control throughout the entire first half and there never was more than a 4 point difference.  When the buzzer sounded we held a slim 40-38 lead.  C Donny Flint got into foul trouble and had to sit out much of the half.  But PG Shaun White hit for 11 points.  Overall we kept the Seahawks in check with the exception of the two players we thought would be most difficult…SG Mike Clay pumped in 14 points and C Byron Humphries tossed in 12. 

Our planned defense took hold in the 2nd half.  NC-Wilmington shot poorly and we got a number of turnovers.  But our shooting wasn’t much better and C Donny Flint fouled out, so the best we could do was to very gradually build and add to a small lead.  That was enough though to give us a satisfying 78-69 road win.

Both teams hit under 40% of their FG attempts but we held a 41-37 rebounding advantage and had just 12 turnovers compared to 17 by the Seahawks.

Four of our starters scored in double figures (PG Shaun White-18 points and also 8 assists, SF Wayne Burrough-15 points, SG Dominick Collins-13 points, and C Donny Flint-11 points and also 9 rebounds).  PF Deon Penn had 8 points but pulled down 12 boards and had 2 steals and 2 blocks.  NC-Wilmington’s SG Mike Clay scored 20 points.

After the game Coach Fed gave me a big pat on the back for helping prepare the team for this win.  He wants me to continue working more closely with our guards and said he’s going to involve me more in pre-game planning sessions with his 3 primary assistant coaches. 

We also found out after the game that the other 3 teams that had been tied with us lost.  So we’re now alone in 1st place.  That really got our team excited.

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Jan. 25, 2023: William & Mary Tribe (6-11, 3-3) @ Towson Tigers (13-4, 5-1)

Byron Vickers, father of PF Jason Vickers

I try to get to most all the Tigers home games to root them on and watch Jason play.  I’d sure like to see Coach Aura give Jason more playing time. Jason has done a good job coming off the bench and scoring and rebounding well at both PF and SF.

SG Kueth Johnson is the Tribe’s leading scorer averaging 14.4 ppg.  He’s had two big games in which he scored 36 and 28 points.  But typically he’s not an efficient scorer, having to put up a lot of shots to score in double figures.  So the Tigers need to keep him from getting loose for easy shots so that he doesn’t score too many points and instead fires up a lot of misses trying to be his team’s top scorer.

The Tigers got off to a strong start jumping ahead to sport a 13-4 lead at the first media timeout.  He refs put C Donny Flint on the bench with 2 fouls just 6 minutes into the game.  Towson continued to take it to the Tribe and with 9 minutes to go were ahead 31-10.  The rout continued and halftime came with the score 47-24 in favor of Towson.  Jason got to play 12 minutes and scored 4 points plus had 3 assists.  Another substitute, SG Ryan Taylor and starting PG Shaun White led all scorers with 9 points apiece.

Even though Flint and PF Deon Penn picked up their 3rd fouls early in the 2nd half, the Tigers continued to roll, extending their lead to 71-29 with 10 minutes remaining.  The Tigers stomped William & Mary by a final score of 93-45.  Towson hit 54% of the FG attempts while the Tribe only made 27% of theirs.  The Tigers also totally dominated the boards 45-23.

I was really proud of Jason.  He had a big game, scoring 14 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and handing out 4 assists.  C Donny Flint and PF Deon Penn each scored 13 points with Flint also pulling down 12 rebounds in just 17 minutes of play.  C Jason Miner scored 12 and PG Shaun White added 11.  The Tigers held William & Mary’s Kueth Johnson to just 6 points as he hit just 2 of 10 shots.

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Jan. 28, 2023: Towson Tigers (14-4, 6-1) @ Drexel Dragons (10-8, 4-3)

Matt Barnes, 2nd Assistant Coach

SF Aaron Dupay hit two quick 3’s making it 6-0. Drexel hit 5 of first 6 shots to take 12-4 lead.  Meanwhile we hit just 1 of our first 10 shots to drop behind 17-8.  SF Wayne Burrough then hit 3 straight shots to get us to within 3.  But we slid back again and by the end of the half trailed 37-26, hitting just 31% of our shots.  Burrough was our top scorer with 9 points.  Coach Fed has been kicking butts, but thus far that’s not done much to improve our team’s level of play.

Our shooting didn’t improve in the 2nd half and we fell behind by 14 points.  Midway through the half we were still down by 12.  For the next 8 minutes we would cut the repeatedly lead to 8 or 10 and then fall behind by 12-14 points.  Drexel pulled away in the last few minutes and we fell hard by a final score of 78-61.

We hit just 37% of our FG attempts, 13% of our 3P attempts and 63% of our FT attempts.  We out-rebounded the Dragons 40-31 but made 17 turnovers to just 10 by Drexel.  Overall just a very poor showing by our team.

SF Wayne Burrough scored 17 while hauling down 9 boards and PF Deon Penn had 16 points and 8 rebounds.  The rest of the team failed to produce.

The loss slipped us into a tie for 1st place with James Madison.  We play them this coming week so the tie will be broken very quickly.

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Feb. 1, 2023: James Madison Dukes (14-6, 6-2) @ Towson Tigers (14-6, 6-2)

Donny Flint, 😄

It was very clear that Coach Fed and the other coaches were pissed off about how we played against Drexel.  They worked our asses off in practice and there was a lot of yelling.  Coaches want us to keep freshman SG Nick Calhoun from breaking loose.  He’s averaging 14.4 ppg and 5.6 apg but has scored over 20 points in 6 of the Dukes games this season plus he’s hitting 50% of his FG attempts and 43% of his 3’s.  They also want Deon and me to keep C Chris Reid from getting easy shots inside since he’s knocked down 59% of his shots this year.  They’ve been asking me if I’m feeling OK since my production has been down the past 3 games.  I think it’s because teams have been tightening their defense on me.  Also the refs got me into foul trouble in 2 of those games.

SG Dominick Collins scored 6 points in the first minute of play as we took a 6-2 lead.  But there were 11 lead changes and the game was tied 6 times in the first half.  At one point we dropped behind by 7 points but cam back to forge a 39-39 halftime tie.  I scored 6 and grabbed 7 boards but also picked up 2 fouls.  Our leading scorer Dominick Collins with 14 points.  C Chris Reid scored 9 for the Dukes so it was on my shoulders to defense him better in the 2nd half.

The early going of the 2nd half was much like the first half with the lead shifting back and forth.  But midway through the half, James Madison got hot and opened a 9 point lead.  Coach Fed got us to clamp down defensively and we slowly came back and finally took a 78-77 lead with 6 minutes left.  With 1:43 remaining the game was tied 86-86.  We got tagged with a picky foul so the Dukes went ahead 87-86 with 40 seconds to go.  Coach Fed set up a pick and roll which worked perfectly with PG Shaun White driving down the lane and pulling up to sink a 6 footer giving us an 88-87 lead with 37 seconds on the clock.  The Dukes missed a shot and fouled immediately sending SG Ryan Taylor to the line with 16 seconds left to play.  Ryan made the first but missed the second shot putting us up by 2.  We locked down defensively keeping them from getting an open shot and they were called with a travelling violation with 2 seconds to go.  We escaped with an 89-87 win putting us back into sole possession of 1st place in the CAA.

There were 26 lead changes and 13 ties in this game.  Even though we were outshot 53% to 49%, we won by out-rebounding the Dukes 30-28 and gaining a 17-11 turnover advantage.  SG Dominick Collins poured in 24 points plus had 4 assists and 4 blocks and SF Wayne Burrough hit for 19 points.  I had 8 points but pulled down 13 rebounds.  James Madison’s guards, PG Chris Ausler and SG Nick Calhoun, scored 22 and 20 points, respectively.

Reserve SF Ross Davis sprained his wrist and will likely miss a couple games.

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Feb. 4, 2023: Towson Tigers (15-5, 7-2) @ Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens (8-12, 4-5)

Baltimore Sun

FLINT STRIKES FOR TIGERS

In a game that Towson needed to win to maintain a slim 1 game lead over James Madison to        remain atop the Colonial Athletic Association standings, the Tigers center Donny Flint came up big.  Flint pumped in 22 points, scoured the boards to grab 19 rebounds and came up with 4 blocks.  That was enough for Towson to come away with a 61-51 victory on the road against the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.  The Tigers held the lead throughout nearly the entire game and were ahead 30-21 at the end of the first half.  The only other player for Towson to score in double figures was reserve PF Jason Vickers with 11 points.

Defense predominated otherwise with the Tigers only able to knock down 33% of the field goal attempts and Delaware limited to 32% from the field.  But Towson completely dominated the boards, coming away with a 46 rebounds while Delaware had only 33.

Individual Stats: C Donny Flint: 22 pts, 19 reb, 4 blk; PF Jason Vickers: 11 pts, 2 reb; SF Wayne Burrough: 9 pts, 4 reb; SG Dominick Collins: 6 pts, 6 reb, 2 stl; PF Deon Penn: 3 pts, 9 reb; SG Shaun White: 4 pts, 2 reb, 3 asts; SG Ryan Taylor: 4 pts, 2 asts; PG Alex Haywood: 2 pts.

Coach Frederick Aura said, “Donny was absolutely dominant inside tonight.  Even though he was in foul trouble throughout most of the game, he was able to keep from fouling out and carried us the entire way.”  Aura added, “We’ve shot very poorly in our last two road games, so we need to improve upon that the rest of the way through our season.  Gotta give credit to Delaware’s defense though.  Fortunately our defense was as strong as theirs.”

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Feb. 8, 2023: Charleston Cougars (14-9, 6-4) @ Towson Tigers (16-5, 8-2)

Rexa Cartwright, Towson student, friend of Janeka who helps to take care of the Aura’s kids

I’m still helping Janeka and Frederick with caring for their kids.  It's been a good way to make some money to help pay some fo my college expenses and the Aura's have been very nice to me.  Omari and Malik now are both in high school so they really don’t need that, but Devany is now a 1st grader so I care for her when Janeka’s shifts at the hospital make it necessary.

Tonight I brought the boys with me so they can watch the game.  Both are really into basketball and I’m told are very good players.   We’re sitting behind the Tigers’ bench.  I don’t know much about baskeball, but Omari and Malik said this could be a good game because Charleston is one of the better teams in the conference.  They said their father was worried about the Cougars because they’re a good shooting team.  Towson beat Charleston earlier this season by 6 points.

The TIgers got off to a good start and led 13-7 at the first media timeout.  Even though the Cougars made a couple runs that tied the game, Towson was able to re-assert their dominance and ended the half on top 43-31.  Malik and Omari said that Towson’s defense was the difference in the game.  The dominant players for the Tigers were C Donny Flint with 10 points and 6 rebounds, SF Wayne Burrough with 8 points and 7 rebounds, and SG Dominick Collins with 9 points.

Towson opened a 20 point lead with 15-1/2 minutes left in the 2nd half.  The Tigers overwhelmed Charleston and buried them by an 89-58 final score.  Omari and Malik were crowing about how Towson outshot the Cougars 52% to 34% (and 53% to 38% from 3-point distance), dominated the boards 41-33 and held a 13-9 turnover advantage.

Top scorers were: C Donny Flint—21 points and 15 rebounds, SG Dominick Collins—21 points and 7 assists plus 3 steals and 4 blocks, PF Deon Penn—14 points, PG Shaun White—11 points and 9 assists, and SF Wayne Burrough—10 points and 11 rebounds.

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Towerlight (Towson University student newspaper):

Tigers Roar

Towson’s basketball team kept a tight grip onto sole possession of 1st place in the Colonial Athletic Association with their 89-58 humbling of Charleston.  The Tigers 9-2 record in the CAA kept them a game ahead of 2nd place James Madison and put more distance between them and the rest of the conference.  Towson’s season record now stands at 17-5 and their RPI is 35th best within all of Division I basketball. 

In their victory over Charleston all five starters scored in double figures. But more impressively, all five are AVERAGING in double figures for the entire season.  Leading the way is sophomore center Donny Flint with 14.3 ppg.  Flint, who sat out last season after transferring from Butler where he played just one season for the Bulldogs, is also averaging 10.7 rpg.  He’s been named the CAA’s player of the week twice this season and has 10 double-double games this season.  Last season’s scoring leader, senior PF Deon Penn, has continued his consistent excellent offensive and defensive play inside and is averaging 11.3 ppg and 6.6 rpg.  Penn and Flint, backed by the team’s two Jason’s, Jason Vickers and Jason Miner, provide interior dominance that other teams have a tough time matching.  SF Wayne Burrough is averaging 11.0 ppg and 5.9 rpg.  Burrough has been the model of consistency during his 3 seasons with the Tigers, averaging 10.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg as a freshman, 10.0 ppg and 5.6 rpg as a sophomore before continuing to improve on those stats this season.  Burrough was the star of Coach Aura’s inaugural recruiting class at Towson.  At the guard positions, sophomore SG Dominick Collins and PG Shaun White have been solid performers throughout this season.  Collins, another of Aura’s transfers who also sat out last season after playing at Southern California as a freshman, is averaging 10.6 ppg, 3.0 apg and 3.2 rpg.  Collins has scored over 20 points in two of the Tigers last three games and has hit 22 of 37 shots in those 3 games.  White is a junior who played two seasons of JC ball.  He’s averaging 10.2 ppg, 4.8 apg, and 2.4 rpg.  He’s also hitting 46.2% of his FG attempts, 43.6% of his 3’s and 93.0% of his FT’s.

Lauding his starters, Coach Aura said, “I had some concerns when the season started since 3 of the 5 had never played for us before.  But they coalesced as a group very quickly.  And they continue to play better and better together as the season progresses.  Not only are they strong offensively, but they all play solid and aggressive defense.  If an opponent is successful at shutting down one or two of them, the others will pick up any slack for us.  I know I wouldn’t want to have to prepare a game plan to take on such a talented five.  Our competitors can’t focus on one or two.  To do so just means they’re going to get burned by the others.  The other thing that sets these guys apart is that they’re unselfish.  Not one of them is looking to be the “star”.  Instead they just want to contribute and work together as an efficient unit and seem to exalt in making each other look good.”

He followed up by saying, “I don’t want to discount the other players on our team.  Several of them could be starting.  It makes my job a lot easier to be able to send in guys from the bench knowing that they will fit in well and play solid offense and defense.  Three of our top subs, SG Ryan Taylor, PF Jason Vickers, and C Jason Miner, are seniors.  Each of those three provide solid minutes each and every game as they’ve done in previous seasons.  My other reserves who are on scholarships will be back in upcoming seasons and I think several of them have the ability to step into starting roles in the future.  The style of aggressive defense we play means our starters will tire, so it’s imperative that our bench is ready and able to fill in successfully.”

Aura added, “I don’t want to miss giving a shout out to our 3 walk-ons and ineligible transfer player who are a part of our team.  All four of these guys work hard in practice and are a big component in our preparation for upcoming games.  They’re also good teammates who help the team blend together well.  So while fans may focus on the stats of our starters, it takes all 15 guys on our team to keep us winning.”

When asked how this year’s team would do the rest of the season, Coach Aura responded, “I never predict the future.  We want to keep everyone on our team healthy and injury-free.  If we do that I think we will do well within the CAA.  Any CAA team can beat us though, particularly when we play on their court.  Four of our remaining seven games are on the road.  And when it comes down to post-season tournament play, it often takes a lot of good fortune as well as solid play.  So I, like the entire team and my assistants, just have to focus on each upcoming game.  Every team wants to knock us off.  We try to turn that around by concentrating on the things that each opponent does well and figuring out how each of us can neutralize those aspects of their game.”

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Feb. 11, 2023: Towson Tigers (17-5, 9-2) @ Elon Phoenix (9-13, 4-7)

Coach Frederick Aura

We’ve been playing pretty well, but road games are always a worry.  I also am concerned that it’s easy for our guys to let up when we’re playing a team that’s down toward the bottom of the CAA standings.  We beat these guys by 27 when they played at our place earlier this season.  But that doesn’t ensure a victory when we play in their den.  PF Erick Church and C Del Garren provide interior strength for the Phoenix.  We need to keep them in check but that always increases the likelihood that our interior guys, Deon Penn and Donny Flint, can get into foul trouble.  Yeah, I’m a worry wart.

Good early defense allowed us to take a 18-0 lead six minutes into the game.  We continued to control the game and forged a 52-32 halftime advantage.  The refs sent the two teams to the foul line for a total of 44 foul shots in the first half.  Three of our starters and 2 our our subs had 2 fouls assessed against them in the half.  We outshot the Phoenix 55% to 23%.  Due to foul troubles, SG Dominick Collins only played 8 minutes by scored 9 points to lead our offense.

We continued to play well in the 2nd half but pretty much put it on cruise control.  Solid play on both ends of the court yielded a surprisingly easy 89-69 victory.  We now have a 2 game lead over 2nd place James Madison.

We had 4 players score in double figures: SF Wayne Burrough topped our scoring with 15 points, SG Dominick Collins hit for 13, and PG Shaun White and C Donny Flint both scored 10 points with Flint also pulling down 13 rebounds and blocking 3 shots.  Our starters played well, but we also got scoring from 6 different reserves.  I was particularly impressed with the level of play by subs PF Jason Vickers, PG Matt Faust, and SG Copley Dwiggins.  Elon’s PF Erick Church led all scorers with 22 points.

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WBAL Radio Sports Report

In local college basketball, the Towson Tigers hosted the Northeastern Huskies last night at SECU Arena on the Towson University campus.  The Tigers' defense squashed the Huskies' offense in the first half.  Northeastern could only convert 21% of their shots while Towson's offense pulled away for a 46-26 halftime advantage.  Even though they relaxed their defense a bit in the 2nd half, the TIgers never let Northeastern back in the game.  Towson drubbed the Huskies by a final score of 87-63. The Tigers dominated all phases of the game, outshooting Northeastern 42% to 35%, dominating the boards 46-29, and holding a 19-13 turnover advantage.  

Leading the way for Towson was C Donny Flint with 10 points and 15 rebounds.  But all the other starters for the TIgers also scored in double figures with SG Dominick Collins hitting for 13, PG Shaun White 11, and PF Deon Penn scoring 12 while pulling down 9 boards.  Coach Aura played his bench liberally with all 6 reserves scoring.
 

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WBAL Radio Sports Report

Towson's basketball team braved a snowstorm when they travelled to New York to take on the Hofstra Pride. But a fresh new foot of snow on the ground didn't stop the Tigers as they did their own storming, a 93-79 thrashing of Hofstra. Following an extremely close first half that was filled with numerous lead changes, the Tigers built steadily on their first half narrow 43-40 edge to go up by as much as 17 points in the 2nd half. The Tigers pulled away even though their talented center Donny Flint fouled out early in the 2nd half.

Dominick Collins led Towson's scoring with 20 points. It's the 3rd time in their last 6 games that Collins has scored 20 or more points. Other major contributors to the Tigers' offense were SF Wayne Burrough with 16 points and PF's Deon Penn and Jason Vickers, both of whom scored 14 points.

The win was the Tiger's 6th straight and improved Towson's season record to 20-5 and their CAA record to 12-2 which keeps them 2 games ahead of 2nd place James Madison. The Tigers will next host NC-Wilmington this Wednesday at SECU Arena.

Edited by PointGuard

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Feb. 22, 2023: NC-Wilmington Seahawks (9-16, 4-10) @ Towson Tigers (20-5, 12-2)

Terrence Kennedy, Youth Basketball Coach

I coach a youth basketball team composed of 9 and 10 year olds.  Towson University asked us to play a short exhibition game against another team of kids the same age during halftime of tonight’s game.  Our kids are tremendously excited.  I’ll try to pass along some thoughts on how the Tigers do against the Seahawks as well…that is if the kids don’t get too rambunctious while they sit in the stands waiting to play their exhibition game.  I’ve never been to a Towson game before but have watched them on TV a little.

Towson had a tough time solving NC-Wilmington’s 2-3 zone defense but the Tigers’ defense is even more effective.  6 minutes into the game, Towson is on top 8-5.  But it took 15 minutes into the game before the Tigers were able to shake the Seahawks to build a 27-18 advantage.  When the half ended Towson was ahead 40-30 with SF Wayne  Burrough dropping in 11 points and C Donny Flint grabbing 7 rebounds in the half for the Tigers.

My boys got out onto the court to play about 10 minutes against the other youth team.  Play was erratic, even a little more than usual.  But the crowd loved it.  Both teams had a really tough time getting the ball in the hoop…lots of forced shots that never had a chance of going in.  Finally our one good player, Bobby Fairchild, took control, got free for a couple individual drives and put in a few buckets.  So we outscored the other team but it all didn’t really matter.  The kids had fun and thought they were stars.  Most of the boys left after we finished or early in the 2nd half since tomorrow is a school day.  I stayed so I could watch the remainder of the Tigers/Seahawks game.

The Tigers scored the first 10 points of the 2nd half to take a 50-30 lead with 18 minutes remaining.  Towson continued to control the game and went up by 29.  At that point, Coach Aura played his entire bench which allowed NC-Wilmington to cut into the lead a little.  No matter though.  Towson stomped the Seahawks by a final score of 82-62.  The Tigers controlled the boards 42-30 and held a 16-9 turnover advantage.

Leading the scoring for Towson was SF Wayne Burrough with 21 points.  He also had 4 assists and 8 rebounds.  SG Dominick Collins hit for 19 points plus had 7 assists and 6 boards, PF Deon Penn had a double-double (16 points and 12 rebounds), PF Shaun White had 14 points and 8 assists, and C Donny Flints had 12 rebounds.

James Madison got stomped at home by William & Mary, so the Tigers now have a 3 game lead in the Colonial Athletic Association.

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Feb. 25, 2023: Towson Tigers (21-5, 13-2) @ William & Mary Tribe (11-15, 8-7)

Perry Winkle, Towson Athletic Director

I accompanied the team because I needed to meet with my counterpart from William & Mary. 

First half was close all the way with the lead switching back and forth the whole 20 minutes.  We cam out of it with a slim 33-31 lead.  A combination of strong defense and weak shooting on both ends of the court.

Coach Aura must have revved the guys up good in the locker room because they came on in the 2nd half singeing the net.  Our guys dropped in 53 points in the 2nd half to come away with an 86-74 road win.  Our 44-29 advantage in rebounding was a big reason for our victory.

Six of our players scored in double figures: SG Dominick Collins dropped in 22 points, PF Deon Penn and SF Wayne Burrough hit for 14 points apiece, C Donny Flint had 13 points, PG Shaun White scored 12, and PF Jason Vickers added 11.  Flint had 12 rebounds, Burrough pulled down 9, Penn had 8, and White grabbed 6.  White also had 7 assists.

Late in the game, Jason Vickers was injured.  Followup assessment determined he sustained a sprained toe.  If this doesn’t keep him out of the next couple games, it’s likely to limit his action.  Jason has been playing well coming off the bench and has one of the team’s best shooting percentage from the field.  Shaun White is nursing a sore wrist, but it’s not expected to keep him from playing in our next game.

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Mar. 1, 2023: Drexel Dragons (15-12, 9-7) @ Towson Tigers (22-5, 14-2)

Tom Braxton, Towson University grad and fan

Drexel rolled over the Tigers 78-61 in the game played in Philadelphia earlier this season.

The Tigers lacked enthusiasm in the first half, shooting poorly (38%) and being totally dominated on the boards by Drexel.  The Dragons pulled away in the last 8 minutes of the half and held a 37-30 halftime lead.  Hopefully Coach Aura gives them a big kick in their collective butt in the locker room so they come out to play aggressively in the 2nd half.

The team continued to slog through the early going of the 2nd half but finally tied the game at 47-47 with 12-1/2 minutes left to go.  But they didn’t take a lead until the 7:18 mark when SF Russ Davis sunk 2 free throws to put the Tigers on top 58-56.  Towson built a 6 point lead but SG Dominick Collins and then C Donny Flint fouled out.  With 57 seconds left and Towson on top 69-68, Drexel pulled won a rebound and called a time out.  The Dragons hit a field goal with 30 seconds on the clock to go ahead a a single point.  An interior shot was blocked by Drexel forcing the Tigers to foul with 12 seconds remaining.  The Dragons hit both shots to go up by 3.  After the ensuing time out, Wayne Burrough got off a 3 from the top of the key but it bounced off the rim.  The Tigers dropped the game 72-69.  Having already sewn up first place in the conference, they seemed to have had a letdown.  They hit just 36% of their FG attempts and 29% of their 3’s. 

C Donny Flint scored 11 and PF Deon Penn and SF Wayne Burrough both had 10 points.  PG Nathaniel Keys dropped in 21 points for Drexel.

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Mar. 4, 2023: Towson Tigers (22-6, 14-3) @ James Madison Dukes (18-10, 10-7)

Kenyon Haynes, 1st Assistant (Practice) Coach

Coach Aura and we assistants were all upset by the team’s letdown against Drexel, particularly since we were playing them on our court.  Playing James Madison on the road is a tall task, but we want to finish our regular season on a positive note and not go into the conference tournament with a losing streak.  We’re at full strength with the exception of PF Jason Vickers, who will play but is still bothered by a strained toe.

But James Madison came out hot, hitting shot after shot.  They shredded our defense to seize a commanding 51-37 lead at the half.  SG Dominick Collins and C Donny Flint both got into early foul trouble and spent most of the half on our bench.  But our letting the Dukes hit 59% of their shots had Coach Aura roaring in the locker room. 

We adjusted what we were doing defensively, dropping our zone defense entirely to go strictly to a tenacious man-to-man with a lot of double teaming on their guards who had zapped us in the first half.  The tongue-lashing and our shift defensively paid dividends.  The Dukes began firing up blanks.  We also forced a lot of turnovers that led to some easy breakaway baskets.  We began trimming the lead steadily.  With 5:25 to go we got our first lead of the game when Dominick Collins sank a long 3.  The lead shifted between the two teams for the next 4 minutes.  But after we went up by 2 with 90 seconds to go, we doggedly held onto the lead and came away with a hard-fought win, edging James Madison 84-80.

We held an amazing 46-14 advantage in points-in-the-paint and also an 18-6 difference in fast break points.  That helped us make up for refs putting the Dukes on the line a lot more where they scored 9 more points than did we.

SF Wayne Burrough scored 12 plus grabbed 9 rebounds.  PF Shaun White had a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists plus he had 4 steals.  SG Dominick Collins had a big 2nd half to finish the game with 13 points even though he played just 17 minutes the entire game.  C Donny Flint played just 20 minutes but scored 12 and had 7 boards.  Four of our reserves played a combined 60 minutes and scored a combined 31 points, led by PF/SF Jason Vickers 10 points and SG Ryan Taylor’s 9 points.  Even though we throttled the Dukes’ SG Chris Archey, PG Nick Calhoun, and reserve guard Chris Ausler in the 2nd half, because of their first half onslaught they still finished with a combined 49 points with Calhoun adding 11 assists.

We considered the last 20 minutes a good tune up for the upcoming CAA tournament which we’ll enter with the #1 seed.

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FINAL Colonial Athletic Association standings:

 

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Even though we held a 4-10 game cushion over the rest of the teams in the conference, there are no guarantees when it comes to the conference tournament.  In our first tournament game, we’ll play the winner of the Delaware/NC-Wilmington play-in game.  But if we win that game and Drexel wins their first game, we’ll be matched up against the Dragons in the semi-final round.  Drexel beat us both times we played them this season. 

We now have 3 players with minor injuries: (1) PF Jason Vickers has a sprained toe but should be at full strength by the time tournament play begins; (2) PF Deon Penn is complaining about back pain and it’s unclear as to whether he will be a full-strength when we play our first tournament game; and (3) SG Ryan Taylor sprained his ankle and while he may be able to play, he definitely won’t be at full strength throughout the CAA tournament.

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Matt Barnes, 2nd Assistant (Recruiting) Coach:

The day after we finished our regular season with our come-back win and our 1st place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association, we got two phone calls.  Those 2 calls dampened our spirits.  First, C Dan Jackson called and said he had decided to go to Villanova.  Then SG Mike Cook notified us he had accepted a scholarship offer to Memphis.  I was despondent since both had shown enough interest that we’d offered them our final two scholarships, and I figured at least one of them would come our way.

That meant we again had 2 scholarships to re-offer.  Thus far we have 3 high school recruits who have signed letters of intent…two are big men and the other is a PG.  I think all 3 are strong, but any or all of them may take some maturing and development before they are ready to step in for major minutes.  Even though we don’t have any highly ranked big men on our remaining list of recruits, we would like to add one more.  With the other offer, we likely will go after either a SF or SG.  With Dominick Collins, who is a sophomore presently, coming on strong toward the end of this season and Copley Dwiggins, a present freshman, looking like he could develop into a strong player (although it may take another year for him to do so), we’re more likely to go after a SF.  Even though we are presently very strong at that position, both Wayne Burrough and Ross Davis will be seniors next season.  So it would be good to get in someone who could be ready to step in after they leave.

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