Just felt like we needed a neutral thread in here. Discuss.
Don't extend OR fire Mooney!
- Thread starter Eight Legger
- Start date
The issue with this idea is - next year I just don't realistically see how we can be better than this year. We lose the likely POY in Cline and we have no big man in sight behind him. We lose SDJ, who is probably a 2nd team all A10 performer. Now we do have people behind him like Buckingham, Sherod, Fore - so I think filling his shoes will be easier - but what we will miss is his ballhandling. I don't see Fore, Sherod, or Buckingham as PG's we can say - give them the ball and let them handle the pressure, so that will be an adjustment next season - but one I think we can handle. We also lose 2 bench players in Wood and Kwesi. Not big pieces, but Mooney doesn't play many guys to begin with - so it hurts.
Point being - if you keep Mooney past this season, I think you are really hoping for the NCAA run in 2019, so if you keep him for next season - you are really saying to yourself - keep him until 2019 as well.
Point being - if you keep Mooney past this season, I think you are really hoping for the NCAA run in 2019, so if you keep him for next season - you are really saying to yourself - keep him until 2019 as well.
All valid points, but a large contingent of this chat board had pegged us as being worse this year than last. Assuming we eke out one more win, that prediction will be incorrect.
It's never quite as dire as it looks I think. We do lose two key cogs but guys have a way of filling the void. Of course, it's reasonable to assume we won't be scads better either.
So much CM discussion here. He can't beat GM presently. Doesn't bother me with so many other GOOD things happening this year ..... and a win Friday and this game is forgotten. Not a full coach supporter but so happy team on most nights is performing above my expectations.
Point taken, however Cline & SDJ account for somewhere around (approximately) 35 or 40 points a game, and not sure where those points will be filled. No doubt players will step up, but those are big shoes to fill.
The offense runs through Cline, and we see what happens when he leaves a game due to foul problems. We have been really lucky to have a leader like him and SDJ has had many big big games lighting up the scoreboard.
I started this thread in jest, obviously, but it actually does fairly represent my current view. I'm waiting to see how we end up before passing judgment either way. We can win the rest of our games this year, though I would bet on 4-1. Still, 13-5 would be pretty damn good.
I know everyone has different expectations but 2-6 vs RPI top 100 and 7-9 vs RPI top 150 is pretty poor. I'm not a big believer in RPI on its own, but your record against RPI Top 50, 100, 150 are a decent measurement on the quality of your wins and losses. We have one decent win this year. The 9-4 conference record is largely a result of the very weak A10 this year. We should beat the teams we have beaten. The only pleasant surprise this year has been our slight improvement in road record, but again we should win just about every game against sub 100 RPI teams. It's not some great accomplishment.
I've always felt this is both a strength and weakness. Like our match up -- you have to have more than one trick to be successful.
Agree there are some big shoes to fill in SDJ and TJ but I'm not concerned about the above at all. If you talk to Mooney about his PG coming in next year, he is VERY excited...and for reason.
I am unable to be excited about Hanca not being excited about CM being excited.
I'm excited about our prospects for next year. But let's support our team as they do their best this year.
I get Mooney is excited about his PG coming in, but the other 4 recruits don't excite me. We are dangerously low on big men.
Bottom line, I don't think with losing SDJ and TJ that anyone would see us as anything more than a mid-pack A-10 team next year. Certainly not an NCAA team and that would be what 7 straight years with no NCAA. That pretty much defines Mooney, not bad enough to get fired, not good enough to actually take the program where we want it to go.
Again, we have to play this out this year, we could win the tourney and Mooney would get this monkey off the back and that would largely eliminate this is a discussion point for many. What is our record again in the past 5 years in the A-10 tourney?
This team is good enough to win the A-10 tournament, but things have to break right. I don't think we could beat Dayton, Rhody and VCU in any order on three straight days, for example.
Assuming we get the double bye, I want to be on the opposite side of the bracket from Rhody and Dayton. I also want to avoid seeing Mason again in our first game, for obvious reasons. I'll take my chances with the other matchups.
Assuming we get the double bye, I want to be on the opposite side of the bracket from Rhody and Dayton. I also want to avoid seeing Mason again in our first game, for obvious reasons. I'll take my chances with the other matchups.
Agree. This team COULD win the A-10 tournament THIS YEAR if everything breaks just right. Odds are still against it, but if there ever was a year for the magic run, this is it.
I can understand that the jury is out on next year's class with maybe the exception of Gilyard, but the other guys coming in are 6-5/6-7/6-7/6-8, so as a team, our size/length is going to be much better next year. We clearly have a major gap at the 5, I'm very perplexed at how that will be filled given how little Paul has played this year.
Think it is pretty clear by Paul's time this year, that Paul is not the answer. Kwesi is just not a good basketball player in any capacity, he is particularly terrible on offense and Paul is not pushing him for time. That says all you need to know about Paul.
If GG is as good as advertised don't expect too much of a drop off considering NS, JJ, and Buck will be a year older. Add Solly to the equation and the size issue isn't as glaring as it was this season. Bench should be deeper to. We'll have our problems replacing TJ but replacing him with size won't be a problem. I feel confident in replacing SDJ even as good as he is since getting guards has rarely been a problem with Mooney.
I'm very worried about replacing TJ. As we've repeatedly seen, he's the cog that makes the whole offense work. I'm excited about Grant's potential, but he understandably still had quite a ways to go when he was in there, and now he's completely off the court.
Grant may be good but to think he is TJ good is probably really optimistic since TJ is probably going to POY in the league.
We've had only one POY during our time in the A10, obviously we won't be replacing TJ's production. So yes, it will not be the same with Grant, even if he ends up being quite good.
I am willing to give coach the next four years with his new batch of recruits to get us back to the promised land. All I want to see is him become a better in game coach. I think he has shown he can develop good talent. My biggest issues with him is how he manages games. He has lost his composure a few times and cost us chances to win games. Great coaches don't do that. If he can continue to recruit and changes the way he uses timeouts, manages player rotation and responds to adversity I think he would be a MUCH better coach in my eyes
We will definitely struggle without TJ next year. But solid performances from grant and solly could make up for it significantly. They both need to be good for us to have a shot.
Wow, four years, another decade, new President and I will be in a nursing home.
It is obvious that TJ will not be easy to replace. However, if you remember two years ago, some on this Board questioned why we wanted him as he got off to a rather slow start for us.He was inconsistent playing well in some games (15 vs ODU; 17 vs NC State; 22 vs Wake) and sort of disappearing in others (0 vs UNI; 5 vs JMU; 2 vs Northeastern; 2 vs LaSalle). Golden has a very good chance of growing into the TJ mold. Not next year certainly, but over the next two or three. If we can have another two years of the kind of recruiting that we have seen last year and next, we will be fine. As far as next years frosh, I am not only high on Gilyard, but also on Cayo. Plus, I think one of the other freshmen has a chance to contribute. Of course, only time will tell.
And if we lose the first game of the A10 tourney to a poor GMU team, you would be happy with the season?
I would normally agree with that, but I will give Mooney credit for being able to spot above average guards.
Agreed, Grant is going to be a TJ style player, however it will take him a couple years to get to TJ's current level. Grant does have a much nicer shooting stroke than TJ at the arc and ft line. I haven't seen anybody better at using the glass inside than TJ in 40 years. Hopefully he leaves Grant with his basics and work ethic.
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