NCAA Basketball: Ranking teams in the 2019 Charleston Classic

7. Towson Tigers

It may come as a bit of a surprise that I would put Towson ahead of Saint Joes, but the roster speaks for itself. The Tigers return seven of their top eight players from last year’s squad, including 17.5 points per game scorer Brian Fobbs. Fobbs, a former NABC First Team All-American at the JUCO level, became head coach Pat Skerry’s go-to player in his first season at Towson.

Skerry’s tenure at Towson has been a bit of a roller coaster. In his initial season with the Tigers, he went 1-31. Two years later, he guided them to a 25-11 record. That record fell to 12-20 the following season and then won 20, 20, and 18 games over the following three. Last season, he won 10. This year’s team is primed to be a force in the Colonial and we may get a taste of that in this tournament. The first-round match-up with a fringe top-25 team is the perfect opportunity for the Tigers to show us what they can do.

Along with Fobbs, the Tigers welcome back seniors Tobias Howard (10.2 points per game) and Nakye Sanders (8.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game). Dennis Tunstall and Solomon Uyalunmo also return in the frontcourt.

Skerry’s biggest question mark coming into this season is the point guard position. The Tigers do have Jordan Gibson, a 6-foot-1 point guard out of Maryland, coming into the program to address that issue. Gibson is thought to be an elite shooter, but I wonder if he is physically ready to contribute immediately. He has a little flash to his game and, if he is able to defend at the D1 level without getting tossed around, he might prove to be an asset in 2019-20.