don't give Mooney any ideas.
2025–26 Spider men's basketball schedule
- Thread starter SFspidur
- Start date
Retire0
Walk-on
Look, I get being disappointed, but I think this is the new normal for the majority of mid majors now. No P4 program wants to play a midmajor for what would be a Q3 win by the end of the season AT BEST. So much of this is out of their hands, and it’s a LOT of complaining in this fan base clamoring for a tougher schedule like we’re not gonna end up 8-5 going into A10 play anyway. This conference doesn’t produce at large bids anymore. This group is not a contender. Maybe we can start demanding more games against better conferences if we don’t lose to Bucknell Marist and W&M. Beating a couple AAC teams would be a good start, as this group has done nothing to deserve a shot at a P4 team. SLU only has one game vs P4 on the schedule, Rhody has none, Duquesne has none (albeit a MW and Big East game), Bonnies only have one.
I think we are taking this as a sign of a sorry program. To me, it is far more a sign of the times, and there shouldnt be this much blame laid at the feet of the program. Tough to get good non-con schedules in the A10 if you’re not VCU or Dayton, especially if you’re coming off a down year. There are plenty of fair things to hold against Mooney, I really think we’re wasting our time with this being one of them
I think we are taking this as a sign of a sorry program. To me, it is far more a sign of the times, and there shouldnt be this much blame laid at the feet of the program. Tough to get good non-con schedules in the A10 if you’re not VCU or Dayton, especially if you’re coming off a down year. There are plenty of fair things to hold against Mooney, I really think we’re wasting our time with this being one of them
Retire0
Walk-on
Cmon man the last six seasons we either raised a banner or got robbed of one by a pandemic in 50% of them. How are we having this rough of a time after one horrible season that didn’t even set back the quality of transfer recruits that much? Show me two losing seasons in a row and THEN I’ll be willing to slap that tag on us
I certainly don't expect a home P5 game, Retire0.
One road P5 game doesn't seem unreasonable, but I get that it's not as easy as it used to be. OK ... sign of the times.
But if you can't get one, then no P5's in a neutral site tournament is weak. You want no criticism for a schedule that doesn't play a high major for the first time in 75 years?
One road P5 game doesn't seem unreasonable, but I get that it's not as easy as it used to be. OK ... sign of the times.
But if you can't get one, then no P5's in a neutral site tournament is weak. You want no criticism for a schedule that doesn't play a high major for the first time in 75 years?
Retire0
Walk-on
I agree it’s weak. I’m not blaming them for not aiming high in scheduling, I believe they’re trying. My criticism is of the slop they put out on the court all last season that made it impossible for them to come up with a quality schedule. I guess I’m just not sure what everyone was expecting, a weak non con wasn’t surprising to me
*23*
Bench player
This is weak excuse mongering. Other mid majors do it. Look at lil ol St. Mary's. Look at Dayton. Hell, look at effing Gardner effing Webb's schedule. Mooney is just freaking ridiculous in his comfort - which has extended to the schedule. No where near the fire and motivation he had first 5-6 years. He is just the dean using up all his tenure to stay in place. It is disgusting if you ask me. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. I will blame Mooney and Hardt and know I am 100 per cent in the right on this one.
*23*
Bench player
Hilariously, after my previous post, went to twitter and this was first thing I saw in my TL. 
. New Haven - Year ZERO in D1 has scheduled better than us. AND to add insult to injury, two of the coaches that gave them games are supposed to be big buddies of moon: Hurley and Rhoades. Unbelievable.
. New Haven - Year ZERO in D1 has scheduled better than us. AND to add insult to injury, two of the coaches that gave them games are supposed to be big buddies of moon: Hurley and Rhoades. Unbelievable.97spiderfan
Bench player
Rhody is planning Providence, that is a really good high quality game.
GW is playing Florida and South Florida
Duquesne is playing Villanova, Boise, and Nevada
SLU is playing Santa Clara, San Fran, Grand Canyon and either Stanford/Minnesota in a MTE
Loyola is playing Wichita St. Colorado State, San Fran
Davidson (fricking Davidson) is playing Washington State, St. Mary's, Temple, Kansas plus an MTE with Boston College and Utah State
Lasalle gets Temple and Nova as Big 5 games (full schedule has not been released yet)
Further we all know that VCU and Dayton are playing big boy schedules
Yes, it is harder to schedule P5 games but the rest of the league has adjusted and gone out and scheduled other really high level mid majors programs (and most have a high major still on their schedule) to create a schedule that really tests their squads and allows them to still get some Quad 1 and 2 opportunities.
The outlier of course is our schedule. With 9 homes games and a schedule entirely made up of Quad 3 and Quad 4 games (maybe Furman/Belmont/Illinois State is a lower end Quad 2 game at best).
So, no when you look at the rest of our peer group, the A-10 our schedule is the outlier and the worst OOC schedule in the league.
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Rambunctious
New recruit
Ram coming in peace. It’s a struggle for us too. We’ve had quite a few years where the fans have been like mercy look at this crap. Last year we scheduled a D2 for the first time. Our AD is blunt. They literally have called P5 and said we’ll play a neutral game two miles from their campus and they still refuse. PSU bought out our series. Which let’s be honest our resume tends to be better. Even PSU reporters went you spent hundreds of thousands buying out a quality Q1/Q2 game just to schedule some awful school you can pound? That’s where we’re at. We really have no room for error as far as you gotta perform in early season tourneys and can’t drop good opportunities. I mean last year us and Mason had a crazy strike and still come March one would be dead in the water.
What I have serious problem with is P5 like PSU that absolutely could schedule tougher but choose not to versus schools like us that don’t control that. You should be punished in March for intentionally scheduling all weak schools OOC if a P5 but NCAA doesn’t have the balls to do it.
Spider17
Bench player
The difference is VCU makes it known that they want these kind of games and isn’t afraid to call out other programs. The expectation is to have a great schedule that sets you up for at-large success and for the most part has delivered. Also, VCU is getting into the top MTE. Last season, it was announced that you all will be in the 2026 Maui invitational before Richmond even knew which MTE we would be in a month before the season started. The only reports from UR we’ve gotten about our schedule is how hard it is for mid majors to get these games, when literally every other A10 team had gotten quality games except UR.
I have debated in the past the merits of what I consider a good schedule, but I think everyone here can agree that this schedule we have absolutely stinks. This is the 2nd year in a row where we have an unexciting, mediocre schedule and at this point it seems intentional, which is sad. Because it either points out that our recruiting isn’t good enough where the coach doesn’t have confidence in the players to perform or it’s to try and save face and have a better record for the sake of “progress” after last year. Either way it’s unacceptable. It’s unacceptable to the spider fans, our players, the Atlantic 10 conference, and frankly our program as a whole which has historically prided itself on not backing down against anyone.
Spider17
Bench player
Lots of teams that are Q3 or Q4 are getting P4 games. New Haven just joined D1 and is getting Penn State and Connecticut. If anything, you would think P4s would want to play us because we are beatable in their eyes and we have upside that the A10 can improve our NET to a Q2 game. We’ve had a long history of having solid OOC schedules. Now all of a sudden we have back-to-back years of really mediocre schedules. I agree with you that it’s gotten harder, but teams are finding ways to get it done. Loyola is flying to California to play a neutral game against Santa Clara. Not only did we not get any good P4 teams, we hardly got any good top mid majors who are supposedly in the same boat as us with their difficulty of scheduling P4s.
To your point about scheduling tough and going 8-5 into conference play, I agree to a large extent and have spoken at length about my thoughts on this on the old site. But I was arguing a 7 out of 10 difficulty schedule rather than let’s say a 9 out of 10. What we have now is the other extreme which is a 2 or 3 out of 10 difficulty schedule, which should always be unacceptable for a program like ours.
Agreed, the fans and the players deserve better than a FCS basketball schedule. If you can support this schedule and chalk it up to the new times then you are drinking the kool-aid.
The narrative is laughable as many have pointed out that other “lower tier” A10 teams have a game against a P4/P5 opponent. There is nothing “special” about UR, they simply decided to schedule light which other A10 teams like GW did last year.
As expected, the focus is on “more home games” and the longest home stand in 41 years (5 games). Also mentioned is the fact that the number of home contests is the most since the 1955-1956 season. Of course, the release failed to mention that it has been 75 years since UR had no P4 teams on the schedule.
All I know is they lost a Men’s season ticket holder this year, even though “they will just get more fans”. Maybe one set of tickets doesn’t materially matter, but there have been plenty others before me and I am sure there will be others this year too.
As expected, the focus is on “more home games” and the longest home stand in 41 years (5 games). Also mentioned is the fact that the number of home contests is the most since the 1955-1956 season. Of course, the release failed to mention that it has been 75 years since UR had no P4 teams on the schedule.
All I know is they lost a Men’s season ticket holder this year, even though “they will just get more fans”. Maybe one set of tickets doesn’t materially matter, but there have been plenty others before me and I am sure there will be others this year too.
*23*
Bench player
The schedule is just another characteristic of the overall feel of the Mooney regime that just sends a message that we are ok with being mediocre. If we make the tournament every 6 or 10 years we can bang our chest and say look, we do it the right way and still win. Reality says you can still do it the right way and to win you have to be very adaptive and forward thinking - opposite of Mooney.
Kneepad McKinney
New recruit
I don't think the comp is New Haven. All power teams will be glad to play New Haven. The comp is the A-10 and Missouri Valley and Conf USA. As has been spelled out, those teams are getting some high major games, so Mooney has no excuse.
*23*
Bench player
Yes, just an example that we have every excuse in the book covered. Similar mid major. Good mid major. Bad mid major. Mid mid major. Good A10, bad A10. Old D1 , new D1. KEVIN BACON
