Game thread - @ Fordham - Sunday 1/4 noon ESPN+

MDSpider8 said:
Don’t think I saw AP play for like the last 15 minutes of the second half. Mooney really starting to shorten the rotation.
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AP is really bad on offense. He's a poor shooter, he takes forever to line up shots so even if he does it as a fake the entire defense has time to recover, and he can't get to the rim. His best attribute is being legitimately 6'8" so his length is occasionally an asset on rebounding or deflecting passes. But on offense he is a guy who brings next to nothing, opens no space, is a dead-end on ball movement, etc.

The closing rotation today was the best offensive lineups that UR can put out there, and is consistent with the fact that UR will have to outscore teams to win. We are fairly awful defensively - regularly late on rotations, pretty poor on ball 1v1 defenders and zero rim protection (and I mean absolute zero, -273 Celsius.) So Moon should stop with the half measures of pretending to play his defensive guys, which I imagine he thinks of as AP, Tyne, Tanner. I would keep Thomas in the mix since he is a good 3 point shooter and okay on defense, but the final 8m of every game should be mostly:

Argabright
Johnston (Thomas)
Lopez
Daughtry (Harper)
Walz (Beagle)

Jury is obvs out on Harper as yet, but give him a chance. You could even argue that is the best primary 8 man rotation for a whole game. Keep Robinson in mix to give him some chances - he can be a Daughtry clone IMO. Again, have to outscore teams to win. Hope that teams don't go GW on you and shoot 70% plus eFG, if they do that's a loss. But overall just have to keep the offense going and in flow - these are the players to do that.

But we know Moon will give his upperclassmen more minutes, even tho today AP and Tyne combined for zero points.

How Johnston only got 1 shot over 2 games is a question that Moon should have to answer for, but never will.
 
brooklyn brownstone said:
AP is really bad on offense. He's a poor shooter, he takes forever to line up shots so even if he does it as a fake the entire defense has time to recover, and he can't get to the rim. His best attribute is being legitimately 6'8" so his length is occasionally an asset on rebounding or deflecting passes. But on offense he is a guy who brings next to nothing, opens no space, is a dead-end on ball movement, etc.

The closing rotation today was the best offensive lineups that UR can put out there, and is consistent with the fact that UR will have to outscore teams to win. We are fairly awful defensively - regularly late on rotations, pretty poor on ball 1v1 defenders and zero rim protection (and I mean absolute zero, -273 Celsius.) So Moon should stop with the half measures of pretending to play his defensive guys, which I imagine he thinks of as AP, Tyne, Tanner. I would keep Thomas in the mix since he is a good 3 point shooter and okay on defense, but the final 8m of every game should be mostly:

Argabright
Johnston (Thomas)
Lopez
Daughtry (Harper)
Walz (Beagle)

Jury is obvs out on Harper as yet, but give him a chance. You could even argue that is the best primary 8 man rotation for a whole game. Keep Robinson in mix to give him some chances - he can be a Daughtry clone IMO. Again, have to outscore teams to win. Hope that teams don't go GW on you and shoot 70% plus eFG, if they do that's a loss. But overall just have to keep the offense going and in flow - these are the players to do that.

But we know Moon will give his upperclassmen more minutes, even tho today AP and Tyne combined for zero points.

How Johnston only got 1 shot over 2 games is a question that Moon should have to answer for, but never will.
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Problem is our offense is actually very good and our defense is abysmal, in conference play at least. We have so many weapons offensively that having AP out there being a non-factor usually isn't that big of a deal offensively, but he does seem to provide a lot on teh defensive end in terms of rebounding, steals, and generally just being a better defender than our other options.

Despite playing for 44 minutes, Daughtry hasn't recorded a rebound so far in conference play....
 
fan2011 said:
Problem is our offense is actually very good and our defense is abysmal, in conference play at least. We have so many weapons offensively that having AP out there being a non-factor usually isn't that big of a deal offensively, but he does seem to provide a lot on teh defensive end in terms of rebounding, steals, and generally just being a better defender than our other options.

Despite playing for 44 minutes, Daughtry hasn't recorded a rebound so far in conference play....
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my opinion is that the minor upgrade on defense is not worth the significant downgrade on the other end. Play him 4-5m per half, sure, maybe he can make some positive plays. But he's a spot sub, not a guy who should get extended run.

That play in the endgame where Daughtry got the ball and took it to the rack for a lay in - what would AP have done? (hint: not score is the answer.) Same on the corner 3 Daughtry made in the 2nd half - AP never makes that, and it's probably a run out for FU after he misses.

With this team being a relative sieve defensively all over the court, it makes no sense to play one mediocre defensive player. Just try to outscore them. AP is not Tony Dobbins, Darius Garrett or someone who is lockdown on that end, who makes a huge difference all over the court.

Fordham had no trouble scoring today, especially inside. They were only 5-21 from 3 because they are bad shooters (around 30% for the year.) IMO AP does not remotely solve the fact that we will give up lots of points this year.
 
Looked like a Mooney team of the past (all of the past). Got absolutely annihilated on the boards, didn't bother to defend much, ran the weave nicely, gave up a shit ton of free throws (see: terrible defense) and didn't turn it over. All it took to get a win against a dregs of the league opponent was 70% from three for the game! Yeah, we should stick with this formula - - - sure it will work again!
 
I enjoyed today’s game. You could tell how much we wanted it. Passing and offense impressive. I know we will get rebounding corrected.

next!!!!
 
PhillySpider said:
Looked like a Mooney team of the past (all of the past). Got absolutely annihilated on the boards, didn't bother to defend much, ran the weave nicely, gave up a shit ton of free throws (see: terrible defense) and didn't turn it over. All it took to get a win against a dregs of the league opponent was 70% from three for the game! Yeah, we should stick with this formula - - - sure it will work again!
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I think you copied my notes 😀

Outscoring teams is the answer this year. At least it is fun to watch on one end of the court.
 
brooklyn brownstone said:
AP is really bad on offense. He's a poor shooter, he takes forever to line up shots so even if he does it as a fake the entire defense has time to recover, and he can't get to the rim. His best attribute is being legitimately 6'8" so his length is occasionally an asset on rebounding or deflecting passes. But on offense he is a guy who brings next to nothing, opens no space, is a dead-end on ball movement, etc.

The closing rotation today was the best offensive lineups that UR can put out there, and is consistent with the fact that UR will have to outscore teams to win. We are fairly awful defensively - regularly late on rotations, pretty poor on ball 1v1 defenders and zero rim protection (and I mean absolute zero, -273 Celsius.) So Moon should stop with the half measures of pretending to play his defensive guys, which I imagine he thinks of as AP, Tyne, Tanner. I would keep Thomas in the mix since he is a good 3 point shooter and okay on defense, but the final 8m of every game should be mostly:

Argabright
Johnston (Thomas)
Lopez
Daughtry (Harper)
Walz (Beagle)

Jury is obvs out on Harper as yet, but give him a chance. You could even argue that is the best primary 8 man rotation for a whole game. Keep Robinson in mix to give him some chances - he can be a Daughtry clone IMO. Again, have to outscore teams to win. Hope that teams don't go GW on you and shoot 70% plus eFG, if they do that's a loss. But overall just have to keep the offense going and in flow - these are the players to do that.

But we know Moon will give his upperclassmen more minutes, even tho today AP and Tyne combined for zero points.

How Johnston only got 1 shot over 2 games is a question that Moon should have to answer for, but never will.
Click to expand...
AP shoots best when going off the dribble and creating his own shot (yesterday's bricked runner in the lane not withstanding). I watched him a lot at UConn and he's a guy who gets into his own head. When he moves naturally and isn't overthinking, he's much faster and has a smoother, more accurate shot. When he was with us, believe it or not, coach Hurley said it was his defense that kept him out of the rotation.

Playing him on the wing doesn't suit his strengths. He's a competent ball handler most of the time (sloppy TO yesterday on a pass to nobody) but he can play the point well enough when you want a real size mismatch.

Defensively, I'd like to see him down low. He's a good rebounder with great timing as a shot blocker. When going with a small lineup, he's a good 5 man. He could be useful in offense/defense subbing situations when Walz and/or Beagle is in foul trouble.

As long as he's camping out on the perimeter though, I wish he'd shoot more straight-on, top of the key threes. The corner baseline jumper is not his friend.

Maybe I'm just strainin' to do some explainin', but for two years at UConn I was always itching to see him get real minutes. He's one of those Swiss Army Knife players almost like a Niels Giffey/Isaiah Whaley hybrid. and I hope he can get things clicking offensively and soon. He definitely has many good seasons ahead of him overseas, should he choose to delay his entry into the engineering field.
 
He's 38-149 from 3 in two years at UR. That is a sample size I'm willing to say is large enough. He's 35-61 from 2. But as long as three pointers are 70% of his shot selection, I'm going to go with my opinion - he's not good on offense. In fact every 3 he takes actively hurts the team since he is nowhere near the 33% baseline needed. Last year he caught a bunch of passes while standing out of bounds, or stepped out while dribbling.

Hurley is 10x the coach that Moon is so it is unsurprising that a player looked better at UConn. UR has a broken offensive system and this year UR is much better on offense in transition or secondary transition than in the halfcourt. But AP plays the big forward spot when he's in the game, and will never get post touches in UR's offense.

Not sure what to tell you but I remain unconvinced that he has a good offensive game.

(I hold in reserve that Nathan Cayo was making 3s before and after his 5 years at UR under Moon, as potential proof that I'm wrong.)
 
play a couple of big pieces of meat together, and you'll get rebounds and inside baskets. almost enough to beat us.
but Fordham coaching was a head scratcher. how can you scout Richmond and leave Walz 10 feet of room at the 3 point line? get within arms length and he won't take it ... and it's not like he's looking to blow by anyone out there. they even left AJ open by 10 feet. that won't work.

good, necessary win. couple games made us question him, but Johnston is a scorer. and Lopez is good. Daughtry is a better shooter than I expected, and his inside offensive game is tough. we'll still have games where others step up, but ride those 3 offensively.

end of the day, though ... it was an expected win against Fordham which doesn't prove anything. if we lose @ SBU, we're still a sub .500 A10 team.
 
brooklyn brownstone said:
He's 38-149 from 3 in two years at UR. That is a sample size I'm willing to say is large enough. He's 35-61 from 2. But as long as three pointers are 70% of his shot selection, I'm going to go with my opinion - he's not good on offense. In fact every 3 he takes actively hurts the team since he is nowhere near the 33% baseline needed. Last year he caught a bunch of passes while standing out of bounds, or stepped out while dribbling.

Hurley is 10x the coach that Moon is so it is unsurprising that a player looked better at UConn. UR has a broken offensive system and this year UR is much better on offense in transition or secondary transition than in the halfcourt. But AP plays the big forward spot when he's in the game, and will never get post touches in UR's offense.

Not sure what to tell you but I remain unconvinced that he has a good offensive game.

(I hold in reserve that Nathan Cayo was making 3s before and after his 5 years at UR under Moon, as potential proof that I'm wrong.)
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I agree with you that he's not doing well in UR's offensive scheme and wish the baseline/wing 3s would stop. I think he went 0-12 to start the season from 3 and he's gone 10-29 since, just barely passing the 33% mark.

AP has a good handle/body control and I'd like to see him drive the lane and attack the rim, but Mooney seems determined to have him just be a 3 point specialist. 3 FT attempts by this point in the season by a guy averaging 16 mpg is absurd. Like I said, I'm only 2 years in to my Richmond fandom experience, but Mooney's planning and execution already seem flawed to me on many levels.
 
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