2026 Portal Prospects

Mooney has no clue, no direction, not inspiring, just as 97 noted a funeral parlor vibe. At the end of the day his checks cash, he has a comfortable life (even though he jumps out of bed and is at the office 8AM sharp) and the beat goes on.

Even with this increased NIL budget, he still has to recruit these guys and sell them on a vision. Very little faith in that, especially with players prioritizing winning and playing good schedules. Hoping to be proven wrong. If we had a real AD, he would be on Mooney - show me all the players you are targetting, what changes, etc etc. Mooney's big change, tone down the summer workout intensity. Un EFFING Believable.
 
sman said:
Lopez has a hit ... not that we won or anything. but he was good and a fun player.
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Agree. Lopez had a good year. It is not his fault Mooney coached them to a losing season. This was not an overall talented team, but we had some good players and were a couple good players away from being really good. Just think if Tanner's or Tyne's minutes could have gone to more impactful players. Who knows how well we could have done?

And I still think a good coach would have had us in or close to the top 4 A-10 this year, even with this team. It really doesn't take much to get there. Mason went 11-7 and Davidson 10-8, and they were certainly not great teams. When I say that, keep in mind, I am talking different system, different offense, different defense, and most importantly, different coaching.
 
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vt4700 said:
So frustrating. All we get from Mooney is how great it is that he can have more time talking with our returning guys.
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Yes. A couple questions

A. How long does it take to talk with returning players? A couple days max to have meetings with all of them
B. How many players do we really want returning. AA, Daughtry, (Harper/JRob, maybe, the 2 redshirts, probably, but are you giving these guys much money, probably not. That's 5-6 players. The rest of them should be pretty short meetings cause you really don't want them back.
 
sman said:
Lopez has a hit ... not that we won or anything. but he was good and a fun player.
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Agreed. Lopez was a good player. It is tough to say anyone was a "hit" on a team that went 5-13 and finished at .500 playing the weakest sh*t schedule we could put together. Lopez was also a senior, so even though he was good, nothing to build on there because he is one and done, actually took minutes from a player who we might be developing for a part of our future.
 
97spiderfan said:
Yes. A couple questions

A. How long does it take to talk with returning players? A couple days max to have meetings with all of them
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agreed, and he's done that. not sure what else people want him to say. the portal isn't open. yes, I'm sure we're looking at everyone who has announced. but you're not supposed to reach out yet. and I'd like to see who hits the portal at least on day one before I start prioritizing targets.

I thought delaying the portal opening was a good idea, but I don't now. who does it benefit? I guess it tries to help the coaches who are still playing so they can focus on the games? but it just benefits coaches who will break the rules.
 
97spiderfan said:
Meanwhile VCU is teasing fans with multiple big announcements over the next few days. While Mooney tells us yeah not much going on over here, check back in a couple of months. Their is more energy at a funeral parlor than there is at the RC these days.
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Yep. This is one of the things - or lack there of - in Mooney’s case that is a reason why my stance has shifted this year. Winning is obviously the most important metric but nowadays with social media, tv contracts, generating student/fan interest, we need a coach who can also energize the team and fan base. We get absolutely none of that with him. If I was in his shoes I’d be going out now to try and reinvigorate a fan base after 2 awful seasons. Give hope and promise about the future.

I am being mindful to avoid saying Mooney doesn’t care because I am sure he does and I can’t speak to his own personal thoughts. All im saying is that externally, he sure isn’t showing it in a way I think we’d all like.

While VCU and Martelli is going on a 4 day tour and radio shows about the exciting things to look forward to, what have we done? A generic post conference in the robins center where Mooney had an epiphany that in today’s day and age we have to build off transfers and not rely that much on high school recruits. I was saying that 2 years ago! And il not getting paid nearly $2 million to lead this team. Or somehow coming to the conclusion that practices now need less intensity because the issue this team had was too much intensity. Give me a break. It truly never ceases to amaze me just how poorly our university and leadership is handling our most cherished sport at this university.
 
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Over 10% of teams have had a coaching change with a replacement named, so presumably there are a good number of guys in the portal right now, not just pre-announced. Commitments are starting to happen. Are we on any of these guys? Haven't heard a peep about us being active yet.
 
Yep, crickets. I see sman thinks that is just playing by the rules. But what exactly are the rules?? and to SF point, there are plenty guys "legally" in the portal. To me it screams: "We are paralyzed, we cant figure this out, so we will go with our last two years strategy and get the guys that the p5's and top mid majors don't want, but have good stats, but can't play defense or grab a rebound. Hopefully I am proved wrong, but that's what it seams like.

Even Bonnies, with seemingly uninspiring hire, I see a Bonna twitter account giving a blow by blow on MacDonalds' strengths and gives some hope. We get NADA.
 
maybe I'm searching X wrong, but I don't see many players that have had schools reach out.
 
sman said:
agreed, and he's done that. not sure what else people want him to say. the portal isn't open. yes, I'm sure we're looking at everyone who has announced. but you're not supposed to reach out yet. and I'd like to see who hits the portal at least on day one before I start prioritizing targets.

I thought delaying the portal opening was a good idea, but I don't now. who does it benefit? I guess it tries to help the coaches who are still playing so they can focus on the games? but it just benefits coaches who will break the rules.
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You said you are not sure what else we want him to say. Really? How about anything that shows excitement or hope about the season? Tell us for once how the last 2 seasons have been bad and u see why we should be frustrated, and u are also frustrated and know as a coach u need to do better. And tell us you will do better. Just show an ounce of emotion for once.
 
sman said:
are we a mid-level A10 team?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2039777392151925122
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Right now, we most definitely are a mid-level A10 team if we’re being generous and more likely a bottom-level A10 team if we’re being truly honest. $550K for a freshman who averages 15 ppg is actually a pretty reasonable offer assuming they can also play defense. Still impressive and a lot of upside to be averaging those kinds of numbers in their first year, even if it’s on a mediocre team.
 
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I can’t imagine how great of a feeling it would be to be a VCU basketball fan the past 15 years. Made the final four. Capitalized that success joining the A10 and making 10 A10 finals in 13 season and several NCAA tournament appearances. Despite coaching changes still remaining at the top of the A10. Playing in top MTE tournaments every year and getting home and home with P4 teams. Having several players play in the NBA. Have an institutional commitment of being a power conference team. I just want a fraction of that for us.
 
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