who gives a crap what happened 2 years ago, let alone last year. 194 is not a decent mid major.
2025-2026 - NET, Rankings, Polls, Awards
- Thread starter Section9_RowD
- Start date
so Mooney had a crystal ball and figured JMU would be worse than Southern Virginia, VMI, Garnder Webb, the Citadel and Charleston Southern?
we'll see at the end of the year if they aren't better than that murderer's row.
Eight Legger
Bench player
The ONLY possible way this scheduling works out is if playing a bunch of losers truly allowed us to gel as a team and gain confidence, which we then take into the A10 and start kicking major ass. I suppose it's possible that this could happen, though I can't remember the last time a team did this. Certainly no Mooney team ever has.
But, if we have a 300+ SOS and do not get an at large because of this, how could you say this scheduling worked even if we do kick ass in the A-10?
MrTbone
Bench player
I don’t think organizationally we operate like a program seeking at large bids. If we did operate that way, we’d never tolerate a schedule like this, even in a down year, and we wouldn’t tolerate a coach with the tournament achievement rate that ours has.
There’s some marginal benefit to the weak schedule to try to reclaim a disappointed fan base. There’s also a benefit to the coach who maybe is polishing a turd. Both could still end up in the toilet.
Spiders4ever
Bench player
Weak schedule darn sure isn't helping with attendance.
MrTbone
Bench player
Agreed, not so far. But i think if they exit the OOC with only 1 loss, some fans are gonna start to come out.
gospidersgo
Walk-on
Maybe for some, but not for me. This is the worst home schedule I can remember in my decades coming to games, and my poor attendance this year definitely correlates.
the point you are missing is that playing JMU would have made a negligible difference. It is a amazing the amount of bi*ching going on for having a fun team to watch, that is winning games and brings energy every single night. Oh, yea,we are also 9-1.
Two years ago in this same position on schedule, we were 5-5, with to be frank, looked bad in some losses (including Wichita St, No Iowa). Best OOC win at that time was UNLV, which finished year at 76. No one thought what would happen after that. DeLonnie came back, and we didn't lose until Feb 3. With college basketball as transactions as it is, I don't like comparing season. I would say that this roster, although not as good at the top as that one, is deeper and has more weapons, which teams will needs as the season unfolds and conference tendencies are easier to identify.
Section9_RowD
Starter
Well said - Crush the Phoenix tonight.
*23*
All A-10 player
Interesting Mite.
Would be interested in seeing defensive metrics as well. Loved the wing defending combos with Dji, Bigs and Harris.
One thing with that team - we saw with the last two games King and all seemed worn down - or as many of us also indicated Mooney and team were taking victory laps after tying reg season - which resulted in collapse at GMU and loss in first round of A10. But I do think King wore down possibly at the end - I feel like he may have been nursing an injury.
If this team can get to the finish line in good shape, and keep playing a lot of depth, may be in better shape to make a run in A10 tourney or through the conference slate. I do like that we have balance and guys that can get us buckets (especially AJ, Daughtry, Johnston, and Aiden), with Tyne and Thomas capable of carrying us for stretches too.
Would be interested in seeing defensive metrics as well. Loved the wing defending combos with Dji, Bigs and Harris.
One thing with that team - we saw with the last two games King and all seemed worn down - or as many of us also indicated Mooney and team were taking victory laps after tying reg season - which resulted in collapse at GMU and loss in first round of A10. But I do think King wore down possibly at the end - I feel like he may have been nursing an injury.
If this team can get to the finish line in good shape, and keep playing a lot of depth, may be in better shape to make a run in A10 tourney or through the conference slate. I do like that we have balance and guys that can get us buckets (especially AJ, Daughtry, Johnston, and Aiden), with Tyne and Thomas capable of carrying us for stretches too.
Spider2020
Bench player
Good luck, I said a very similar thing a month or so ago, and multiple posters acted like we turned down a home game against Duke. JMU is the same caliber as a lot of the other teams on our schedule, adding them wouldn’t change the resume one bit. Honestly, with the NET rankings, it’s likely more beneficial to schedule cupcakes you can destroy rather than to schedule a team ranked 200 that you’ll only beat by 5-10.
With the depth on this team, it’s very possible we end up at our best at the end of the season when other teams are worn down. If we end up top 4 in the A10 (or close) I don’t think anyone will count us out in the A10 tourney. Hope the guys keep playing hard and winning.
Bergen Spider
New recruit
King had his thigh injured against SJU when we beat them at home. He had shot about 45% in conf play (2’s and 3’s). Then shot 25% in those last four games. I think it was actually Klaczek that fell on him to cause the injury - who is now on Elon.
Don’t think we have anyone as good as King this year but I also don’t think we are as susceptible to being impacted by one non-critical injury.
maybe it is true that it's best to play cupcakes. we're winning. our NET is solid. fans are getting positive. we may or may not be good, but at least we haven't PROVEN we're not good. and you can simply tell everyone that you scheduled soft because nobody will agree to play us.
we went public with how hard it is to get decent games. then JMU, probably out of frustration, breaks the coach-code and tells the world they offered to play. which begs the question if there are other decent teams who reached out and we turned down. maybe after hearing for years about 55% we simply wanted a soft schedule without saying we wanted a soft schedule.
Oh how to get lost in the weeds.
The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was Southern Va. Why that was considered as a regular season game is beyond me and of course it doesn’t even factor into the NET. Would much rather have seen JMU as the regular season opponent and I am sure the Robins Center would have had good attendance.
There are many factors involved in scheduling, but the one that got the short straw this season was fan appeal. The closest thing to an appealing home game had to be W&M and of course it turned out to be a very exciting one as well. I think UR better think long and hard for next year’s OOC schedule because we already see that the team makeup is going to be very dynamic year over year, so that puts even more importance on the opposition’s uniform. Hard for someone to buy season tickets to a group of mostly unknowns playing against schools with no name recognition.
I totally agree that the best thing about this year’s team is that they are fun to watch regardless of opponent. Based on watching other A10 teams, I don’t see a dominant one so I expect a bunch of close games once conference play begins. UR has as good a shot as any of winning the autobid, which is good news as we knew before the season started that an autobid is the only path to the tournament. The NET is just a conversation starter nothing more.
The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was Southern Va. Why that was considered as a regular season game is beyond me and of course it doesn’t even factor into the NET. Would much rather have seen JMU as the regular season opponent and I am sure the Robins Center would have had good attendance.
There are many factors involved in scheduling, but the one that got the short straw this season was fan appeal. The closest thing to an appealing home game had to be W&M and of course it turned out to be a very exciting one as well. I think UR better think long and hard for next year’s OOC schedule because we already see that the team makeup is going to be very dynamic year over year, so that puts even more importance on the opposition’s uniform. Hard for someone to buy season tickets to a group of mostly unknowns playing against schools with no name recognition.
I totally agree that the best thing about this year’s team is that they are fun to watch regardless of opponent. Based on watching other A10 teams, I don’t see a dominant one so I expect a bunch of close games once conference play begins. UR has as good a shot as any of winning the autobid, which is good news as we knew before the season started that an autobid is the only path to the tournament. The NET is just a conversation starter nothing more.
again, who gives an "F" what the coach of JMU says... Maybe the only date they offered was a date we already booked... Who knows. And yes, scheduling is hard,....it is an epidemic on college basketball.
97spiderfan
Bench player
Playing JMU is not and was not ever going to move the needle on our schedule. But playing JMU is certainly a better option that playing VMI, Citadel, Gardner Webb, Southern Virginia all of whom are on our schedule this year.
If we had a scheduling philosophy of playing the best possible teams, we would have played JMU and not played one of those 4 schools. If you apply that philosophy across our entire schedule, maybe we would have ended up with OOC schedule strength in the Top 200 (which is still bad) but not nearly as egregious as our current OOC schedule strength which is in the 300's.
Our OOC schedule says to me, we didn't try very hard at all AND have zero standards when it comes to putting together an competitive OOC. Neither of those should be the message you put out for your flagship D-1 sports program. Lastly players want to play big games and good teams, we denied our players that opportunity this year as well.
If we had a scheduling philosophy of playing the best possible teams, we would have played JMU and not played one of those 4 schools. If you apply that philosophy across our entire schedule, maybe we would have ended up with OOC schedule strength in the Top 200 (which is still bad) but not nearly as egregious as our current OOC schedule strength which is in the 300's.
Our OOC schedule says to me, we didn't try very hard at all AND have zero standards when it comes to putting together an competitive OOC. Neither of those should be the message you put out for your flagship D-1 sports program. Lastly players want to play big games and good teams, we denied our players that opportunity this year as well.
it is funny though ...
end of the day with a wide range of schedules, the top half of the A10 are all pretty close in NET ranking.
anyone here sure we're better than Dayton or VCU? they played much better schedules so they lost a couple.
with our soft schedule and more wins, our NETs are very comparable.
looks to me like most other A10 team besides VCU and Dayton played similar schedules as UR.
end of the day with a wide range of schedules, the top half of the A10 are all pretty close in NET ranking.
anyone here sure we're better than Dayton or VCU? they played much better schedules so they lost a couple.
with our soft schedule and more wins, our NETs are very comparable.
looks to me like most other A10 team besides VCU and Dayton played similar schedules as UR.
Exactly why those teams aren’t going to the dance without an autobid too. The A10 is at most a 2 bid league and chances are at least one of the 2 is VCU or Dayton.
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