2025–26 Spider men's basketball schedule

Our schedule release said "top-tier' mid major programs. Who are the "top-tier" programs? And it is funny that the 1st paragraph, which should set out to get you excited about the schedule, mentions no opponents by name because all 13 are games that scream "Yawn!!!!!!!!".

And Mooney's comments are ridiculous here. "Excited about our schedule". Really, Coach? I am not excited about any of the 13 games. "Help prepare us for the A-10". Again....really, Coach? There is not even 1 OOC game that will prepare us for the A-10. Not one. Who on our garbage filled OOC schedule comes close to preparing us for a VCU or a Dayton? Every comment Mooney has made about scheduling this off season has been pathetic. The whining and excuses got old a long time ago.

As many know, I have defended both Mooney and Hardt a lot on here, but this schedule is beyond awful and cannot be defended. There is no excuse for it. None. And I have never been more pissed off at our program than I am right now.
 
I do find is hilarious and also not ironic that the MBB Facebook page announcing the OOC got a total of 12 likes and 1 comment (which was negative). One of our flagship sports main social media page is basically devoid of engagement for a major announcement like the schedule unveil.
 
97spiderfan said:
I do find is hilarious and also not ironic that the MBB Facebook page announcing the OOC got a total of 12 likes and 1 comment (which was negative). One of our flagship sports main social media page is basically devoid of engagement for a major announcement like the schedule unveil.
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I guess you are referring to the Spider Gang page? If so, I think of that as a general sports platform with a focus on football and basketball. The overall tone towards the Men’s program has definitely taken a turn there and of course it is totally justified. Seems like the band wagon is getting mighty light.
 
RichmondNative said:
I guess you are referring to the Spider Gang page? If so, I think of that as a general sports platform with a focus on football and basketball. The overall tone towards the Men’s program has definitely taken a turn there and of course it is totally justified. Seems like the band wagon is getting mighty light.
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Native thanks for all you have done to help reestablish this forum...I could be wrong, but believe 97 is referring to the UR men's Basketball Facebook page...I haven't looked at it recently, but know that they have one...

Ha! I do have a working knowledge of The Spider Gang Facebook page and appreciate your description...almost all of the comments on the Men's basketball schedule have been negative...even those fans who still wholeheartedly believe Coach Mooney can turn this thing around agree the non conference schedule is a ridiculous embarrassment...it's indefensible!

Go Spiders!
 
vt4700 said:
Our schedule release said "top-tier' mid major programs. Who are the "top-tier" programs? And it is funny that the 1st paragraph, which should set out to get you excited about the schedule, mentions no opponents by name because all 13 are games that scream "Yawn!!!!!!!!".

And Mooney's comments are ridiculous here. "Excited about our schedule". Really, Coach? I am not excited about any of the 13 games. "Help prepare us for the A-10". Again....really, Coach? There is not even 1 OOC game that will prepare us for the A-10. Not one. Who on our garbage filled OOC schedule comes close to preparing us for a VCU or a Dayton? Every comment Mooney has made about scheduling this off season has been pathetic. The whining and excuses got old a long time ago.

As many know, I have defended both Mooney and Hardt a lot on here, but this schedule is beyond awful and cannot be defended. There is no excuse for it. None. And I have never been more pissed off at our program than I am right now.
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At this point of his career CM is on autopilot. Not only has his coaching philosophy evolved very little through the years, but his media responses seem like he's dialing it in. His comments about the schedule seem like words he forced himself to say. He really had no other choice but to try to come up with something that was positive. I doubt Moon is serious about the schedule and really believes what he stated. On the other hand, if he does believe his own words, then we are much worse off than any of us previously believed if that is possible.
 
Mojo-Spider said:
Native thanks for all you have done to help reestablish this forum...I could be wrong, but believe 97 is referring to the UR men's Basketball Facebook page...I haven't looked at it recently, but know that they have one...

Ha! I do have a working knowledge of The Spider Gang Facebook page and appreciate your description...almost all of the comments on the Men's basketball schedule have been negative...even those fans who still wholeheartedly believe Coach Mooney can turn this thing around agree the non conference schedule is a ridiculous embarrassment...it's indefensible!

Go Spiders!
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Happy to help. Still can’t believe what On3 did/didn’t do. Glad everything is close to back to normal now. Of course, there is a service cost now but individual investment should be minimal as long as the majority throw some dollars in the pot. Waiting for SF to finalize the collection mechanism.

Never knew there was a Men’s Basketball FB page. I will have to look for it.

Go Spiders!
 
Mojo-Spider said:
Native thanks for all you have done to help reestablish this forum...I could be wrong, but believe 97 is referring to the UR men's Basketball Facebook page...I haven't looked at it recently, but know that they have one...

Ha! I do have a working knowledge of The Spider Gang Facebook page and appreciate your description...almost all of the comments on the Men's basketball schedule have been negative...even those fans who still wholeheartedly believe Coach Mooney can turn this thing around agree the non conference schedule is a ridiculous embarrassment...it's indefensible!

Go Spiders!
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Correct, I was referring to the UR men's page that is run by our athletic department. The Spider Gang Facebook page had a very accurate description of the OOC schedule and it received a lot more engagement on their post than the one run by UR.
 
97spiderfan said:
Correct, I was referring to the UR men's page that is run by our athletic department. The Spider Gang Facebook page had a very accurate description of the OOC schedule and it received a lot more engagement on their post than the one run by UR.
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I found that page. My apologies for my confusion. Sort of funny that they posted on it looking for Team Managers. I don’t think FB is the social media of choice for current students.
 
Kneepad McKinney said:
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.
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Some of them are getting high major games, some aren’t. Fordham and Rhode Island don’t have one and SLU has a crappy one against Stanford or Minnesota. We’re coming off a year where we played at a Fordham level, so it didn’t surprise me that we got a Fordham level non-con. Where I’m coming from is that playing better basketball will result in power conference opponents being willing to schedule you, and we did not earn that in the slightest. Idk if we tried and failed to get better games or if we chose to go the cupcake route. If it’s the latter, of course that would be deserving of criticism, but we don’t know that that’s the case. All I know is it’s harder to schedule now than it used to be for most mid major programs, we’re no exception to that, and it’s not gonna get any easier when you lose to multiple low major teams the year prior
 
I'd take Stanford or Minnesota, and even without other high-majors, SLU got Santa Clara, San Francisco, and Grand Canyon. If you struggle to get the big boys, those are the teams you absolutely HAVE to land.

Rhody does have Providence, and they filled in with Yale and McNeese, a shot at playing a solid Liberty squad in Orlando, and potentially another decent game there as well.

Fordham is Fordham...nothing new there.
 
Retire0 said:
Some of them are getting high major games, some aren’t. Fordham and Rhode Island don’t have one and SLU has a crappy one against Stanford or Minnesota. We’re coming off a year where we played at a Fordham level, so it didn’t surprise me that we got a Fordham level non-con. Where I’m coming from is that playing better basketball will result in power conference opponents being willing to schedule you, and we did not earn that in the slightest. Idk if we tried and failed to get better games or if we chose to go the cupcake route. If it’s the latter, of course that would be deserving of criticism, but we don’t know that that’s the case. All I know is it’s harder to schedule now than it used to be for most mid major programs, we’re no exception to that, and it’s not gonna get any easier when you lose to multiple low major teams the year prior
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2 years ago Davidson finished 13th in A10 regular season and we finished 1st. The next season they were playing in Battle 4 Atlantis and we were playing a D2 school in an MTE in Florida that we found out right before the season started. Last season Davidson finished 12th in A10 season and is playing Kansas, Temple, Saint Mary’s, and a great MTE in Charleston classic this year. We finished 14th and our best game is Furman in the Terry Chocolate ESPN invitational. Is it harder to schedule good games? Sure. But the fact we didn’t capitalize on our 1st place A10 regular season with a good schedule and now also have a near equally bad schedule tells me this is done intentionally.
 
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Retire0 said:
Some of them are getting high major games, some aren’t. Fordham and Rhode Island don’t have one and SLU has a crappy one against Stanford or Minnesota. We’re coming off a year where we played at a Fordham level, so it didn’t surprise me that we got a Fordham level non-con. Where I’m coming from is that playing better basketball will result in power conference opponents being willing to schedule you, and we did not earn that in the slightest. Idk if we tried and failed to get better games or if we chose to go the cupcake route. If it’s the latter, of course that would be deserving of criticism, but we don’t know that that’s the case. All I know is it’s harder to schedule now than it used to be for most mid major programs, we’re no exception to that, and it’s not gonna get any easier when you lose to multiple low major teams the year prior
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There is no question we chose the cupcake route. Are u saying any decent mid major won't play us either? Come on. This was 100% intentional and it sucks.
 
Retire0 said:
Some of them are getting high major games, some aren’t. Fordham and Rhode Island don’t have one and SLU has a crappy one against Stanford or Minnesota. We’re coming off a year where we played at a Fordham level, so it didn’t surprise me that we got a Fordham level non-con. Where I’m coming from is that playing better basketball will result in power conference opponents being willing to schedule you, and we did not earn that in the slightest. Idk if we tried and failed to get better games or if we chose to go the cupcake route. If it’s the latter, of course that would be deserving of criticism, but we don’t know that that’s the case. All I know is it’s harder to schedule now than it used to be for most mid major programs, we’re no exception to that, and it’s not gonna get any easier when you lose to multiple low major teams the year prior
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If you are pining for a job in the UR athletic department, please submit this with your resume. You are exactly the type of candidate they are looking for. Maybe throw in a couple misspelling and grammatical errors if you really want to stand out.
 
I think Hardt handed him the memo. It's amazing when u see the inflection point of the #RVA season, and the path VCU took and we doubled down on being Lil ol Richmond. Maddening.
 
RichmondNative said:
Can’t wait for the official release touting high number of home games.
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Of course, the expected release came out and now we have the official AD update e-mail to boot that includes:

“…. With nine non-conference home games, the men’s team will play 18 regular-season games at Robins Center this season, its most since the arena opened in 1972.

I’m thrilled that our Spider family will have more opportunities than ever to gather in the Robins Center this season. A crowd of Spider faithful passionately supporting a group of hard-working student-athletes is the very best of Richmond Athletics. It brings all parts of our campus community closer. It extends the Spider spirit across our city and region. And it helps create the unrivaled student-athlete experience that we strive to give every Spider here at UR. “

Too bad this showing of “Spider spirit” cannot be expended on any high quality out of conference games that basketball fans want to see.
 
RichmondNative said:
Of course, the expected release came out and now we have the official AD update e-mail to boot that includes:

“…. With nine non-conference home games, the men’s team will play 18 regular-season games at Robins Center this season, its most since the arena opened in 1972.

I’m thrilled that our Spider family will have more opportunities than ever to gather in the Robins Center this season. A crowd of Spider faithful passionately supporting a group of hard-working student-athletes is the very best of Richmond Athletics. It brings all parts of our campus community closer. It extends the Spider spirit across our city and region. And it helps create the unrivaled student-athlete experience that we strive to give every Spider here at UR. “

Too bad this showing of “Spider spirit” cannot be expended on any high quality out of conference games that basketball fans want to see.
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yeah read and thought the same thing - and close to absurd to me for it not to include any mention of the women's team and prospects for the upcoming season and why we should all consider women's season tix too
 
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