Roster 2018-2019

[dennycrane]

What makes you so sure of this, up, that we will move up? Within the last two years, Rob't Vowels, at one of the outdoor picnics, when asked if we were married to the HL, responded that we were very married. So I don't necessarily agree that the Athletic Dept's long term goal is to move up. There's been no indication of that at all.

[upbasketballfan]

What makes you so sure of this, up, that we will move up? Within the last two years, Rob't Vowels, at one of the outdoor picnics, when asked if we were married to the HL, responded that we were very married. So I don't necessarily agree that the Athletic Dept's long term goal is to move up. There's been no indication of that at all.

Vowels has already shown that he doesn't have a problem telling a fib or two. I think there is something in the agreement, either between Vowels and Davis or Garibaldi and Davis, that helped close the deal that brought Davis to us, other than what has been disclosed to this point. It's not like Davis is coming home. He was raised in the South and went to college in the South. Houston is a great town and although Detroit is getting better it's still not Houston. Going from a team with talent and a full roster on cruise control to a team in havoc without players where he will have to work his tail off over the next 2 years to get to the comfort level he just left. Davis talks about the basketball talent for recruiting but Michigan at the present is on a sharp decline as far as talent level. The SWAC is not that far inferior to the Horizon as far as leagues are concerned. Davis could have done better than what were seeing and from what I've been able to gather he is not a stupid man. What is it other than the thrill of someone he knows asking him to jump off of a cliff. There has to be more than an acquaintance and a challenge. So Denny to your question, just hope and a gut feel.

[ExcitedTitan]

If we promised or Davis thought there was a chance of changing conferences in the near and not so near future then they are all fools, assuming that change would be for a better conference. We have no money to move, don't offer a better conference much, if anything, and nobody wants us. Hate to break it to you but we are not Butler, Valpo, Loyola, Xavier, Dayton or Evansville. We are not even like Duquesne, LaSalle or St. Louis. We are more like Oklahoma City or Oral Roberts.

We draw 1000 fans on a good day. We rarely win our conference regular season ('98, '99) or championship ('94, '99,'12). That's 2 regular season and 3 HL tournament wins in 38 years, and 4 of those happened in a 5 year period.

1 conference championship and 0 regular season championships in the last 19 years.

Lets hold off on the conference move talk until we win something or we sell an asset worth hundreds of millions of dollars and Detroit becomes a huge market again after the City rebounds more. The HL is fine conference for us right now. Its not great and getting worse, but its ours. I'm not saying we can't win or can't move up but its not going to happen anytime soon.

[Tacitus651]

This is just my opinion after reading a lot about Davis and listening to him talk, but I doubt moving to a better conference is a high priority for him. He's stated that fans want NCAA tourney appearances. Fact is, in a weak league like the HL you have a path to get there if you build a decent team and play smart. Davis has demonstrated this at other schools already. Sure, the A-10 might be a multi bid league many years, but that's considering some of their teams are tested to the limit.

And, everything Excited said is true. We're not going anywhere.

[Commissioner]

If we promised or Davis thought there was a chance of changing conferences in the near and not so near future then they are all fools, assuming that change would be for a better conference. We have no money to move, don't offer a better conference much, if anything, and nobody wants us. Hate to break it to you but we are not Butler, Valpo, Loyola, Xavier, Dayton or Evansville. We are not even like Duquesne, LaSalle or St. Louis. We are more like Oklahoma City or Oral Roberts.

We draw 1000 fans on a good day. We rarely win our conference regular season ('98, '99) or championship ('94, '99,'12). That's 2 regular season and 3 HL tournament wins in 38 years, and 4 of those happened in a 5 year period.

1 conference championship and 0 regular season championships in the last 19 years.

Lets hold off on the conference move talk until we win something or we sell an asset worth hundreds of millions of dollars and Detroit becomes a huge market again after the City rebounds more. The HL is fine conference for us right now. Its not great and getting worse, but its ours. I'm not saying we can't win or can't move up but its not going to happen anytime soon.

The trouble with the truth is it's always the same ole thing ... It has ruined the taste of the sweetest lies.

[upbasketballfan]

If we promised or Davis thought there was a chance of changing conferences in the near and not so near future then they are all fools, assuming that change would be for a better conference. We have no money to move, don't offer a better conference much, if anything, and nobody wants us. Hate to break it to you but we are not Butler, Valpo, Loyola, Xavier, Dayton or Evansville. We are not even like Duquesne, LaSalle or St. Louis. We are more like Oklahoma City or Oral Roberts.

We draw 1000 fans on a good day. We rarely win our conference regular season ('98, '99) or championship ('94, '99,'12). That's 2 regular season and 3 HL tournament wins in 38 years, and 4 of those happened in a 5 year period.

1 conference championship and 0 regular season championships in the last 19 years.

Lets hold off on the conference move talk until we win something or we sell an asset worth hundreds of millions of dollars and Detroit becomes a huge market again after the City rebounds more. The HL is fine conference for us right now. Its not great and getting worse, but its ours. I'm not saying we can't win or can't move up but its not going to happen anytime soon.

Part of getting better is learning from our mistakes. We haven't figured out yet that proactive works a lot better than reactive. You say we are not like Valpo,Loyola,Xavier, or Evansville. You are correct and by being reactive we never will be like them. They got on the boat and got out of town. We are still standing by the shore waiting for the water to part. It's a good thing Loyola didn't wait to get to even .500 or they would still be on the shore with us. We complain about the attendance #'s but do nothing about it. How many people want to spend their entertainment $'s on what we have been trying to feed them for the last 20 yrs. We say we can't afford to leave but we definitely can't afford to stay. I really have a hard time following the reasoning and thought patterns of my fellow Titan fans.

[JimmyChitwood]

Speaking of the 2018-2019 Roster . . . Loyola was in VERY good financial shape when they moved on, and were in a huge market, to name just a couple of differences. Valpo, I am no so sure about, but they do have decent name recognition and more recent success than us. There are a lot of things in our hands we can do, and a lot of things out of our hands. There is a lot of blame and a lot of improve on. But all is not lost. The college landscape is always changing, and conferences go through "redistributions". We missed the boat the last few times, but hopefully not the next.

[titanmac]

right you are up! organizations are never static. if its not spiraling up its spiraling down. either way its hard to reverse, takes a very talented and gifted leader. if hiring davis is the first step im all in. there are a lot of guys around here that wear a belt and suspenders too. they may be right? negative often is. as every good bureaucrat knows, saying no means you don’t have to do anything.

[NC Titan]

Lets hold off on the conference move talk until we win something or we sell an asset worth hundreds of millions of dollars and Detroit becomes a huge market again after the City rebounds more.

Detroit already is a huge market: 5.3 million people, #12 metro market in the country. We need a winning, competitive program that will attract players and fans. Then we move.

[titanmac]

some interesting numbers from last year:

Through 11 home games this season, Loyola is averaging 2,057 fans per game — which still ranks last in the MVC. This is, in part, due to the smaller capacity of Gentile Arena.

Gentile holds 4,486 people, which is less than the top three MVC teams’ average attendance numbers this season. Bradley University is averaging 5,125 fans per game, Illinois State University is averaging 4,855 fans per game and Missouri State University is averaging 4,631 fans per game.

[upbasketballfan]

Lets hold off on the conference move talk until we win something or we sell an asset worth hundreds of millions of dollars and Detroit becomes a huge market again after the City rebounds more.

Detroit already is a huge market: 5.3 million people, #12 metro market in the country. We need a winning, competitive program that will attract players and fans. Then we move.

Mac was right, a belt and two pair of suspenders, so we do nothing!

[ptctitan]

Make the men's BB program into a winner. The tournament fees paid for the bid from the HL are the same as are paid for a bid from a more prestigious conference. Win our conference tournament and we get the bid. Win consistently playing a tough schedule and we get a better seed. Keep winning and we pull the HL up. Maybe, in time, it becomes a 2-bid league.

Attendance is always going to be an issue simply because we graduate less than 1,000 new alumni per year and half of them find jobs away from Detroit. It's a pure numbers game. When Calihan was built, undergrad enrollment was 2-3x today's full-time number. There are only 700-800 students living on campus. And about 2000 more undergrad students living elsewhere. Even if 100% of all undergrad students attended every home game, Calihan would not be half-full.

IMO, we start with the basics - a winning team. That's something we can control. And the disparate factions of fans band together to support the team by attending home games and donating to efforts to improve the facilities. We have another chance here.

Our 2018-19 roster returns 4 players - three of whom have decent playing experience. And if Davis does coach to the player rather than trying to impose "his system"on a player, then we may see Eichler emerge as a surprise contributor. Just not as a power center. Antoine Davis will learn the D-1 game and could, in time, become a good shooter. Same with Knight if his verbal commitment is followed up by enrollment. So, we will land a group of up to 8 new scholarship players.

The HL remains open for the taking. If Davis lands the players that want to play for him, then we have a chance to end 2018-19 on a very positive note.

[TitanBen]

Great post Ptctitan!

[dennycrane]

Where will these 8 scholarship players come from, pct? I know that you know the importance of the spring recruitment period, which we completely missed during the 79 day hiring cycle. We also largely missed the same recruitment period in 2016, by the way. But, in fairness, there have been instances of late signings who had decent careers. Chris (?), the player from Chicago about 10 years ago, was an August signing who could play. Cole Long, a hard worker who has improved, was a somewhat late signing by BA. So there are exceptions.

Then there is the issue of getting admitted. We are not the ideal destination for that unclaimed juco player still out there who may have question marks on the academic side. Perhaps you would agree?

[HSScout1]

Where will these 8 scholarship players come from, pct? I know that you know the importance of the spring recruitment period, which we completely missed during the 79 day hiring cycle. We also largely missed the same recruitment period in 2016, by the way. But, in fairness, there have been instances of late signings who had decent careers. Chris (?), the player from Chicago about 10 years ago, was an August signing who could play. Cole Long, a hard worker who has improved, was a somewhat late signing by BA. So there are exceptions.

Then there is the issue of getting admitted. We are not the ideal destination for that unclaimed juco player still out there who may have question marks on the academic side. Perhaps you would agree?

Chris Hayes 2005-06 Team

[TerryTylerFan]

Where will these 8 scholarship players come from, pct? I know that you know the importance of the spring recruitment period, which we completely missed during the 79 day hiring cycle. We also largely missed the same recruitment period in 2016, by the way. But, in fairness, there have been instances of late signings who had decent careers. Chris (?), the player from Chicago about 10 years ago, was an August signing who could play. Cole Long, a hard worker who has improved, was a somewhat late signing by BA. So there are exceptions.

Then there is the issue of getting admitted. We are not the ideal destination for that unclaimed juco player still out there who may have question marks on the academic side. Perhaps you would agree?

I believe that Anton Wilson was also a summer signing, but I agree that it could be very tough to get more than one or two new recruits beyond the names we’ve already heard about.

[ptctitan]

Guards: McFolley, Davis, Knight, Holland

Forward: Long

Forward/Centers: Blackshear, Eichler

[1975SHjoe]

The 3 new guards are all over 6 feet @ 6'1"; 6"3"; 6' 4" That's the size of guards Valpo consistently had. A good start!!

[titanmac]

im sure coach knows what he’s doing. we’ll be fine. especially when we bolt to the new league!

[titandave]

Guards: McFolley, Davis, Knight, Holland

Forward: Long

Forward/Centers: Blackshear, Eichler

Hopefully we'll see a couple of power forwards added to the roster .... a Graduate Transfer and Greg Eboigbodin would be nice.