Spiders Soundoff
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Section9_RowD
All A-10 player
Watched earlier this morning .. great questions and candid responses from Coach realizing you can tell he like the many of us were struggling after the URI last minute debacle. To me, he sure seems "pained" by the current state of college basketball in the latter portion of the interview.
I was super impressed by his candor, and as I have said on the message board before, both coaches have been supportive of the pod and given us access to the programs.
*23*
All A-10 player
Good stuff, thanks as always for your guys efforts.
I get it, maybe you caught him at a bad time - but he is not someone who exudes confidence. I watch some other coaches and even if they are full of crap, they are talking about fixing things and have confidence in the next game and next practice. He seems pained. I hope that is not the energy he brings to practice.
I get it, maybe you caught him at a bad time - but he is not someone who exudes confidence. I watch some other coaches and even if they are full of crap, they are talking about fixing things and have confidence in the next game and next practice. He seems pained. I hope that is not the energy he brings to practice.
I kind of feel like his tone was more frustrated but committed to trying to make this team better. 5 of our 7 losses were by a total of 12 points combined. We have 1 great win (Belmont) and 2 Beat Downs (GW and STL). And we have a new emerging weapon in Harper.
There is a ton of data to support this team being good, a byproduct of playing so many guys. I told coach and said it on the intro....the ingredients are here, getting the recipe right is the key.
*23*
All A-10 player
I was more confident early in the season (knowing in the back of my head the weak competition was masking things) that we might be able to just out shoot and out score teams. As we have progressed into A10 play, I just think we are lacking a lot of players. No stud wing that can impact the game on D, get to the hoop, rebound and just do a lot of little things. Our top teams had that kind of guy - Smith/Martel, Burton, Dji/Bigs were all that guy. No one like that. Harper and Lopez I like, but they play much more like big guards - they cannot impact at forward. And our inside guys - Walz and Beagle - can look very good at times. But other times both have very limited impact. And other than Argabright, we are really lacking defenders. No rim protecters (which is normal for us), and just below average across the board. I do like this team more than last seasons, but still lacking critical basketball pieces.
*23*
All A-10 player
This is why I was very hopeful that Bryson would be that guy at the wing, with his length and hops seemed like he could provide some of that wing presence and impact on D and O. I am very curious to see what type of lateral foot speed he has. As many attributes he has, if he lacks the foot speed it will limit his impact.
I did not see him lacking foot speed. I feel like it was taking a bit longer for him to learn the system. My opinion was that he was a player that had not progressed from July to Sept when I saw the 2 practices. I still believe he could be a special player fwiw.
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brooklyn brownstone
Bench player
yes, agree on defense, across the board it is mostly average or worse, and glaring in a few instances. no rim protection - AP is probably our best guy at actually blocking shots.
which is why I thought we would play with pace and tempo all year and really press and look to break in transition all game and generally just try to say that our offense is good enough across the board to outlast another team's offense. like the belmont game. you'll score on us but with enough possessions, we'll still win (and off. rebounding creating more possessions for UR helping that a bunch.)
but no, come conference it became a lot more of the same, run the weave and only break on turnovers. forgo offensive rebounding. slow the tempo. beginning of year many guys were shooting the first good look. that has gone by the wayside. now we're getting crushed on the boards again.
as of a few games ago, UR had 4 of the top 12 guys in the A10 in terms of 3 Pt FG % - why are we not just bombing with those guys nonstop?
which is why I thought we would play with pace and tempo all year and really press and look to break in transition all game and generally just try to say that our offense is good enough across the board to outlast another team's offense. like the belmont game. you'll score on us but with enough possessions, we'll still win (and off. rebounding creating more possessions for UR helping that a bunch.)
but no, come conference it became a lot more of the same, run the weave and only break on turnovers. forgo offensive rebounding. slow the tempo. beginning of year many guys were shooting the first good look. that has gone by the wayside. now we're getting crushed on the boards again.
as of a few games ago, UR had 4 of the top 12 guys in the A10 in terms of 3 Pt FG % - why are we not just bombing with those guys nonstop?
Spider17
All A-10 player
Looking forward to listening and can comment my thoughts afterwards but there are some tangible things I want us to do and work on now. We have good players on this team and we’ve all seen the potential of this team when we put it together like at Belmont and Bonnie’s. But as it has been discussed plenty of times, teams with height and when they go in zone presents problems for us. This is what I want to see from us.
1. Start the players who are going to make the most impact in our game and give them meaningful minutes barring injuries, foul troubles, etc. This looks to be Argabright, Johnston, Lopez, Daughtry, and either Beagle or Walz.
2. When facing the zone we have to attack the space given to us. Normally that isn’t our strength but we have the personnel to do so this year with Argabright, Daughtry, and Lopez great at doing that. Right now we’re focused too on meaningless perimeter passes that drains the shot clock. Our off ball movement has become predictable.
3. We overcommit on defense which opens up the 3s and our flying Dutchmen defense.
4. I want to see us do more full court press. If we have the depth of players, why not use that to our advantage more. It can tire out our opponents more, disrupt their offensive plan, and give them a shorter shock clock to work with. Plus there’s the mental fatigue of dealing with this all game and can generate more turnovers.
1. Start the players who are going to make the most impact in our game and give them meaningful minutes barring injuries, foul troubles, etc. This looks to be Argabright, Johnston, Lopez, Daughtry, and either Beagle or Walz.
2. When facing the zone we have to attack the space given to us. Normally that isn’t our strength but we have the personnel to do so this year with Argabright, Daughtry, and Lopez great at doing that. Right now we’re focused too on meaningless perimeter passes that drains the shot clock. Our off ball movement has become predictable.
3. We overcommit on defense which opens up the 3s and our flying Dutchmen defense.
4. I want to see us do more full court press. If we have the depth of players, why not use that to our advantage more. It can tire out our opponents more, disrupt their offensive plan, and give them a shorter shock clock to work with. Plus there’s the mental fatigue of dealing with this all game and can generate more turnovers.
*23*
All A-10 player
Good observation - exactly what I have seen too - just seem to revert to the old ways once conference play began. Again, some of the comp in OOC was so bad that you could basically play any style and win. I feel like Moon is afraid to play that way in conference because we could be on the wrong end of any ugly outcome.
Fan2 - I hear you on Bryson. I am still holding out a little hope. But taking 2 years to learn the offense I don't quite buy. We have been hearing that forever that Mooney needs guys in the system 2-3 years to master the system. THIS IS BASKETBALL. I don't care how complicated the system is, it should take 2-3 weeks, not years. Didn't take Dlo and King any time to master.
I don't disagree on Bryson, my opinion/guess is he might have taken a hit to his confidence. Sometimes confidence can return quickly. So I hold out hope the confidence and the abilities combine to make the player I believe he can be.
97spiderfan
Starter
The game is as much mental as it is physical. We can look at Tanner right now and see a player that has lost all confidence and is in his head.
*23*
All A-10 player
I think that is a best case scenario - mostly a confidence issue. Probably too late in the season to expect much opportunity. If he is a high potential player, I can't really understand why Mooney has not played him just a little in some of our bigger spread games, etc.
*23*
All A-10 player
If that's the case, then in year two of practicing, its most likely a talent and ability issue.
Well Tom looks like YouTube likes Mooney better than you. CM wins the grin award (although not as wide as yours typically is).
Kudos on getting Coach Mooney on the show. Glad he gave you guys some time. He definitely looked like someone who isn’t getting much sleep. Can’t say I learned anything new from the interview, but it did cement that UR is all about retention and that is the strategy. So the problem is getting a full complement of players that can excel at the A10 level. Also not surprising to hear that redshirting is going to be a key element as that is what we have seen for the last few years. Of course, there have been no positive outcomes to date. I really thought that JRob might be the first success story, but did not happen this season.
Looking forward to the next out of season interview to see if you can get further understanding of roster construction, use of analytics, etc as Porter mentioned wanting to do.
Kudos on getting Coach Mooney on the show. Glad he gave you guys some time. He definitely looked like someone who isn’t getting much sleep. Can’t say I learned anything new from the interview, but it did cement that UR is all about retention and that is the strategy. So the problem is getting a full complement of players that can excel at the A10 level. Also not surprising to hear that redshirting is going to be a key element as that is what we have seen for the last few years. Of course, there have been no positive outcomes to date. I really thought that JRob might be the first success story, but did not happen this season.
Looking forward to the next out of season interview to see if you can get further understanding of roster construction, use of analytics, etc as Porter mentioned wanting to do.
I expected Harper to get time, and I have not given up on Bryson at this point. I will acknowledge my confidence in Bryson has been shaken.
Spider17
All A-10 player
Got around to finishing the podcast. Great job guys! Also nice of Mooney to go on this time of year, especially after a tough loss. He definitely looked tired about the current landscape of college recruiting.
I get it’s not the time nor place for you all to be asking Mooney tough questions but one thing I would’ve loved to discuss more about is his philosophy on recruiting. He shares that he wants to build our program on recruits who stay and develop here over their career.
That’s fine and I can see his perspective but my question to Mooney or thing I would have pointed out is that it seems we’re neither recruiting A10 caliber high schoolers nor developing them into A10 caliber players. How many of our freshmen have transferred in recent years and have gone to lower level programs where they don’t have much production? How many have recently produced here meaningfully to the point you feel confident about their upcoming years. Argabright is the only one I can think of in a while. How about development? Walz, Tyne, and Tanner are all upper classmen and saying this as respectfully as possible, they are not up to the standards we’d expect of Richmond basketball. Robinson and McGlothin are 2nd years and neither are showing much promise of being a main contributor in years to come either.
Recruiting and developing of players is at the core of what a college coach does. If Mooney wants that and going against the grain of how college landscape is operating today then fine, but then he needs to back that up. I think would be something Porter would enjoy looking into the analytics of and discussing in the off season. Would be a great episode.
I get it’s not the time nor place for you all to be asking Mooney tough questions but one thing I would’ve loved to discuss more about is his philosophy on recruiting. He shares that he wants to build our program on recruits who stay and develop here over their career.
That’s fine and I can see his perspective but my question to Mooney or thing I would have pointed out is that it seems we’re neither recruiting A10 caliber high schoolers nor developing them into A10 caliber players. How many of our freshmen have transferred in recent years and have gone to lower level programs where they don’t have much production? How many have recently produced here meaningfully to the point you feel confident about their upcoming years. Argabright is the only one I can think of in a while. How about development? Walz, Tyne, and Tanner are all upper classmen and saying this as respectfully as possible, they are not up to the standards we’d expect of Richmond basketball. Robinson and McGlothin are 2nd years and neither are showing much promise of being a main contributor in years to come either.
Recruiting and developing of players is at the core of what a college coach does. If Mooney wants that and going against the grain of how college landscape is operating today then fine, but then he needs to back that up. I think would be something Porter would enjoy looking into the analytics of and discussing in the off season. Would be a great episode.
carolinaspider
Bench player
One thing that stood to me was Mooney tactfully saying the transfer portal and NIL are basically
the wild Wild West as there is little control. Why in the world has a group of colleges or conferences
not banded together and sued the NCAA for destroying amateur athletics. There are lots of people
who have lost interest in college sports and want nothing to do with it.
the wild Wild West as there is little control. Why in the world has a group of colleges or conferences
not banded together and sued the NCAA for destroying amateur athletics. There are lots of people
who have lost interest in college sports and want nothing to do with it.
