I truly believe you could give Mooney a 10 mil Nil budget and the results

[MrTbone]

Agree with sman, unfortunately if we are able to buy better players Mooney can win. I just dont think he will win commiserate with whatever the talent level will be. And "winning" will include a bad schedule. But it will allow Hardt to just smirk and keep doing nothing.

4 years ago we had a team full of super seniors who were well-versed in the offensive and defensive systems we run. They went 9-4 ooc, 10-8 ic, 19-12 overall and earned a 6 seed to the A10 tournament. Sure, they got on a heater and won a few games in the A10 tournament, but it looked pretty bad going into that tournament.

That's like the peak. It's fool's gold to think we are going to go out, sign a bunch of better players who suddenly outperform the ridiculous coaching and game management nonsense that is forced on these guys. We couldn't do it for 31 regular season games with a bunch of 5th/6th year seniors, why would it work with guys who will be here for 1, maybe 2 years if we're fortunate.

This shit is maddening.

 

[sman]

I'm not going to sit here and assume the worst for the next 8 months. that's not a good life.

so hope springs eternal, right? I love the video if Simmons. let's say he and AA are our Gilyard and Francis.
we for sure have to add a TJ Cline / Grant Golden / Neal Quinn type in the portal.
add a Tyler Burton wing forward and a Justin Harper type as big forward and to back up Cline.

that's 3 guys for say $2M total.

Cline
Harper
Burton
AA
Simmons

Tyne
Daughtry
Tanner
Thomas
JRob
Harper
Cook
Caldwell
Richardson
Homenick

heck, I could win with that lineup.

 

[Spider17]

We're going to go to $5 million just as SLU goes to $8 million in order to try to keep Schertz, and watch VCU and Dayton follow them.

I’m not saying this directly in response to you but more towards our administration/Mooney who we know will use NIL as an excuse.

This is why more NIL does not equal better results. It depends on 1) the coach and 2) the programs expectations. So for SLU, who has a coach produce great results and they have program expectations of being a top 25 team or in the big east, they are continuing to elevate their program and not be content with the results they have with the money given so far. So they will give more. A program like Navy is content with doing well in patriot league with no NIL but has a great coach who can produce those results without NIL.

Richmond is in this weird in between situation. We don’t have a coach who can produce good results and our solution isn’t to go to the Patriot league or find a new coach who produces with the NIL we have. Instead, it’s to keep giving more money up to the point where Mooney doesn’t look that bad in A10 play and overall record.

I don’t think if we had Josh Schertz as coach and he produced the results he had this year with the NIL he was given. Had he met with Hardt and explained his vision for our program to be the next Gonzaga but that would requirement more investment from the university, that we would do that. We’d tell him that he’s producing well enough for the money he’s given.

 

[Gallipoli]

I read this last week and thought about posting it, but didn’t get around to it. There is no doubt that the current situation is not sustainable. The football programs are the major issue and UR long ago took itself out of that race by sticking to FCS football. The same thing is coming for basketball in my opinion. There will be 2 levels of D1 competition and UR will be in the second level. Mooney has already commented on this very thing recently. I don’t want to spend the time looking for the video, listening and marking it. This is one reason why I have to laugh at the “infusion of cash” plan that is be bantered about for next year. I suppose it comes down to it is easy to spend other people’s money. All I know is there won’t be any of my money involved in this fiasco. Good luck to all buying tickets for the MooneyBall lottery.

And yet we say we have a $2M budget for NIL and paying players, which could go to 5M. Except for a handful of Alums, who wants to spend that kind of money to send money down the drain? This is not sustainable for any school. This system may work for the Big 10 and the SEC, but not for the rest of us.

 

[vt4700]

I'm not going to sit here and assume the worst for the next 8 months. that's not a good life.

so hope springs eternal, right? I love the video if Simmons. let's say he and AA are our Gilyard and Francis.
we for sure have to add a TJ Cline / Grant Golden / Neal Quinn type in the portal.
add a Tyler Burton wing forward and a Justin Harper type as big forward and to back up Cline.

that's 3 guys for say $2M total.

Cline
Harper
Burton
AA
Simmons

Tyne
Daughtry
Tanner
Thomas
JRob
Harper
Cook
Caldwell
Richardson
Homenick

heck, I could win with that lineup.

Add an A-10 POY, an early NBA 2nd round pick, and a guy who is tearing up the G League right now? 3 guys who would all be playing for majors in the NIL era? LOL. Maybe we can find a way to add SGA, Ant, and Wemby while we are at it.

 

[sman]

Add an A-10 POY, an early NBA 2nd round pick, and a guy who is tearing up the G League right now? 3 guys who would all be playing for majors in the NIL era? LOL. Maybe we can find a way to add SGA, Ant, and Wemby while we are at it.

? I thought I was being quite reasonable!
those 3 all chose UR already. it's not like we were a national power when they did.

 

[RichmondNative]

I’m not donating a dime, but if I were to be convinced the first question I would have is who are the players that UR was unable to sign in the last 2 years because there was not enough money. Maybe the big donors already know who those players are. I also wonder what the academic requirements are for these potential high dollar players.

 

[*23*]

I know I know sman, there are budgets. But with the opt in, it says schools can pay 20 million. And let's say PQ and company pay 2 million again. School has money. They can kick in 4 million. That should be enough.

 

[vt4700]

? I thought I was being quite reasonable!
those 3 all chose UR already. it's not like we were a national power when they did.

But, if u talking about adding them when they chose us, then we would be adding 2 high school recruits and a Niagara transfer. Adding them in their later college years? No chance. Even Tyler with this year's NIL, would be making way more at a power school as a 5th year guy than he did a few years ago at Nova. Did VCU and Dayton add 3 guys like this with their 5 million? Nowhere close.

 

[SpiderBob79]

Does it matter how much talent is on the team? I think not. Imagine having Cameron Boozer on the team, standing 25 feet from the basket so he can distribute the ball, and set picks all night. Oh, and forget any offensive rebounding. Although this year, the Spiders rank 332 in team offensive rebounding-that's better than 359 in '24-'25, 362 (last place) in '23-'24 and 340 in '22-'23. I could go on. It's not that we lack players who can score inside and get boards and put-backs- it's the system- the same system, the same offense that never changes. I thought we saw a change in the first games this year when players played free and rebounded. But all that changed.

 

[sman]

But, if u talking about adding them when they chose us, then we would be adding 2 high school recruits and a Niagara transfer. Adding them in their later college years? No chance. Even Tyler with this year's NIL, would be making way more at a power school as a 5th year guy than he did a few years ago at Nova. Did VCU and Dayton add 3 guys like this with their 5 million? Nowhere close.

work with me here, vt. it's just a dream.
I'm not saying add these players after their peak seasons.
if all 3 of those former great Spiders hit the portal from wherever in this dream scenario after their freshman years, they could each be had for way less than $700k. Burton might get expensive after his sophomore season, but the others still wouldn't.
now Mooney just has to find those future studs.

 

[Spider17]

Sman, that’s the problem now. Our staff are trying to find diamond in the rough players on a budget hoping they turn out to be the next TJ cline. Instead, way more often than not, they’ve turned out to be guys who transfer after their 1st or 2nd year to lower programs.

What we need are proven studs. Guys that other top mid majors and P4 programs go after. We can’t have a roster full of those guys but operating with a $4 million funds next year, we can absolutely be able to bring in 1 or 2 of them.

 

[sman]

Sman, that’s the problem now. Our staff are trying to find diamond in the rough players on a budget hoping they turn out to be the next TJ cline. Instead, way more often than not, they’ve turned out to be guys who transfer after their 1st or 2nd year to lower programs.

What we need are proven studs. Guys that other top mid majors and P4 programs go after. We can’t have a roster full of those guys but operating with a $4 million funds next year, we can absolutely be able to bring in 1 or 2 of them.

I'm allocating $700k each for the 3 hypothetical players I mentioned!
$700k doesn't get you a diamond in the ruff. that's already all-league level. I doubt many in the A10 were getting $700k this season.

 

[Eight Legger]

When you throw enough stuff at the wall, occasionally something sticks. We have pretty much signed the same kind of NIL transfer guy for the past 4 years, but we only hit it big on Jordan King. The other guys basically were who we thought they'd be. I will give Lopez some respect though; I like his game and his attitude. Too bad he's stuck with Mooney as his coach.

But banking on one of these guys turning into a diamond in the rough like King did is definitely not a path forward. Although it seems to be the one Mooney has taken.

 

[Eight Legger]

Does it matter how much talent is on the team? I think not. Imagine having Cameron Boozer on the team, standing 25 feet from the basket so he can distribute the ball, and set picks all night. Oh, and forget any offensive rebounding. Although this year, the Spiders rank 332 in team offensive rebounding-that's better than 359 in '24-'25, 362 (last place) in '23-'24 and 340 in '22-'23. I could go on. It's not that we lack players who can score inside and get boards and put-backs- it's the system- the same system, the same offense that never changes. I thought we saw a change in the first games this year when players played free and rebounded. But all that changed.

Amen to all of this. We've been saying it here for years: Once Mooney gets talented players in his system, he turns most of them into robots. It's like Mooneycamp for new recruits. Instead of shaving their heads, he wipes out their basketball instincts and replaces them with his nonsense.

 

[sman]

When you throw enough stuff at the wall, occasionally something sticks. We have pretty much signed the same kind of NIL transfer guy for the past 4 years, but we only hit it big on Jordan King. The other guys basically were who we thought they'd be. I will give Lopez some respect though; I like his game and his attitude. Too bad he's stuck with Mooney as his coach.

But banking on one of these guys turning into a diamond in the rough like King did is definitely not a path forward. Although it seems to be the one Mooney has taken.

say for argument's sake we were offering transfers $100k.
say now we're able to offer $500k+.

that gets you in the door with a different level of transfer.

 

[Spider17]

I'm allocating $700k each for the 3 hypothetical players I mentioned!
$700k doesn't get you a diamond in the ruff. that's already all-league level. I doubt many in the A10 were getting $700k this season.

Oh sorry, misunderstood. Now I’ll still a disagree with you lol because at the time we got TJ and Burton, they were not sought after enough to be worth $700K. By the end of their careers, absolutely. I have no problem trying to find the next TJ or Burton on a budget before they blowup and become stars by the end of their careers. As long as we are allocating the appropriate funds for the level of demand they are garnering and not having an entire roster filled with trying to develop diamond in the rough players.

 

[sman]

man this is tougher than I expected. ok, to further clarify my dream:
we find guys comparable to but not necessarily the same as Cline, Harper and Burton ... not at their peak and not when they're raw ... but at the specific time in each of their careers when they're so good the world is willing to offer them $600k ... and we offer them $700k.

 

[Spider17]

man this is tougher than I expected. ok, to further clarify my dream:
we find guys comparable to but not necessarily the same as Cline, Harper and Burton ... not at their peak and not when they're raw ... but at the specific time in each of their careers when they're so good the world is willing to offer them $600k ... and we offer them $700k.

Ok then we agree and also what I’ve been saying, which is this program, with a budget of $4 million, should absolutely be able to go and get 1-2 proven studs (who are proven very good players) in the transfer portal that are garnering that much money and outcompete other top mid majors and P4 teams for them.

We’re not going to outcompete P4s for the elite 5 star caliber players. But there are definitely very good players of TJ and Burton quality that many P4s would offer $600K like you said to be a back-up on their team that we can outcompete and pay $700K to be a starter here.

 

[Spiderguy]

Does it matter how much talent is on the team? I think not. Imagine having Cameron Boozer on the team, standing 25 feet from the basket so he can distribute the ball, and set picks all night. Oh, and forget any offensive rebounding. Although this year, the Spiders rank 332 in team offensive rebounding-that's better than 359 in '24-'25, 362 (last place) in '23-'24 and 340 in '22-'23. I could go on. It's not that we lack players who can score inside and get boards and put-backs- it's the system- the same system, the same offense that never changes. I thought we saw a change in the first games this year when players played free and rebounded. But all that changed.

I've been saying this all along but in different words. Bottom line - it's Moon, Moon, Moon and his coaching system & philosophy. He would take the wind out of the sails of Cameron Boozer to use your example.

I don't care how much we spend, players have to play under him, and at this stage, Moon is a liability for Spider basketball moving forward. We've seen the long term results, & we've seen the recent results of 2 years of A10 12th & 11th place. Add more money, and it's a relative thing compared to other teams. Who here thinks with more money and 3 years left on his most recent extension Moon can get us to top 4 in conference 2 out of 3 years & into another NCAA Tourney at least once? And please...no more he just needs more time.