Surprised it took this long.He’s been looking for a new home since 1/21.

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spiderstudent17 said:

I’ve spoken at length before how NCAA isn’t the only barometer our administration uses for success and that there were several seasons that were deemed “successful” enough that warranted him staying. The time to fire him was in 2018. Since then he’s done pretty well overall. If we continue to have seasons like this for 1-2 more years, then there should be pressure for him to be let go. Next year will be a very big year in terms of showing whether Mooney can lead this program in today’s era of college basketball or not.

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NCAA Tournament should be the gold standard and primary barometer of how we gage success. Other criteria should be considered secondary and fillers. Unfortunately UR has flipped the scale. What’s up is down, and what’s down is up. And that’s a big reason why mediocrity is perpetuated. Good for anyone associated with the program that buys into and accepts that.

I’ve spoken at length before how NCAA isn’t the only barometer our administration uses for success and that there were several seasons that were deemed “successful” enough that warranted him staying. The time to fire him was in 2018. Since then he’s done pretty well overall. If we continue to have seasons like this for 1-2 more years, then there should be pressure for him to be let go. Next year will be a very big year in terms of showing whether Mooney can lead this program in today’s era of college basketball or not.

McConnell leads the conference in scoring, assists, and steals, and is 9th in rebounding. I can see the tendency to want to give it to her. But she didn't elevate her team the way Doogan and Ziegler did. She's simply the star of a very average team.

I agree that I don't think the fact she only plays 29 minutes a game gets enough attention. Our style of play and the other pieces we have means she doesn't always have to be the one player we go to. But given the minutes she does play, she absolutely fills up the stat sheet in almost every category and makes everyone around her better.

GKiller said:

Nah but u went right to national championship quickly there student17. That’s quite a leap from increased expectations. We have 3 NCAAs in 20 years. 1 in 14. Has that met any expectations? Nor should a team be in our position from a 20-year coach.

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The 1 in 14 is beyond believable in that the coach is still hanging around AND for more years. Our “leaders” truly don’t care. They’re comfortable with us not being a March Madness team. If they weren’t, then we’d be talking about 1 and 14 as in the past with a previous coach.

spiderstudent17 said:

I really, really hope that with this new NCAA house settlement, we give a good amount to the women’s team. If we can give Roussell the resources of a P5 WBB program and he sees that we can have top 25 success here, I am hopeful he stays for the long term.

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Obviously he seems to know how to run a program, get to the top, and stay there. Admirable.

spiderstudent17 said:

I'll try and address these in one post rather than replying to each comment. If Mooney wants to stick the course and ride with 4-5 year guys and not either bring in the right players for his system or adapt his system, then he will have results like this every year and should retire, or rightfully, be fired. In my eyes, Mooney deserves another chance this year to see if 2 years ago was a fluke or not. Another abysmal season like this one then I think he should be let go or after 2 mediocre (but not as abysmal seasons).

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U were 1 of the biggest champions of Mooney’s extension just months ago. The 1 that put him out 5 more years after a losing season & a 1st rd blowout NIT loss. & when we knew where this stuff was headed. He’s not getting fired in another year. Under any circumstances imo. Any real bball program would but not us. 2 minimum more likely 3 more years. We r stuck due to said contract. Hope that’s not another albatross but fear it is.

We’ve had lot more resources to succeed the last 20 years than we’ve actually produced. The excuses will be the same. everyone else is doing it, it’s hard & who else could we get better than Mooney lol.

GKiller said:

McConnell is a great player but probably gets elevated by her last name a bit here

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Yeah, I'm sure that's true.... also... and being a 76ers fan, i'm a big fan of TJ as well.... and I like her quite a bit... as I already mentioned... so no shade being thrown her away at all. Again, all of that said, this just isn't an apples to apples comparison with her and Maggie.

Nah but u went right to national championship quickly there student17. That’s quite a leap from increased expectations. We have 3 NCAAs in 20 years. 1 in 14. Has that met any expectations? Nor should a team be in our position from a 20-year coach.

McConnell is a great player but probably gets elevated by her last name a bit here

And FWIW, im in agreement that Ally should be third team+, but i'm more (too) focused on making sure they all get recognized in some way.... and she should be a landslide winner for most improved.... just considering her total playing time last year.... to the starting PG on the conference's best team and her level of play.

I said it, i think... about ten games in.... but we absoultely wouldn't have had the year that we had (in spite of the amazing contributions elsewhere) without her improvement this year.... and Roussell said specifically this in a pre-game presser around the same time. She's been absolutely tremendous the entire year.

It's a further testament to Faith's improvement over the course of the season and getting back to the level that she was at previously.... that Roussell has leaned on her in end of game situations based on her experience more the last month... and her poise has really helped us close out games in the odd moment when Ally has struggled even a little bit.... which hasn't been much.

I have no inside knowledge but here goes for players returning who have had significant time.

Walz - Back - he loves Richmond and wants to be a UR grad and will be the clear leader of the team next year and he won't mind Dusan headed to Euro bball. And no one questions when he sneaks onto the CCV Westhampton course to play and he is welcome to join me at any time.

Tyne - Back - Needs as others have said to not be a primary scorer but will continue to improve.

Soulis - Back for one more year. Realizes he won't start since per Mooney law #234, we can't play two players on the court > 6'9 at a time but he sees good chance of 15 minutes of game and then knows as a junior either here or elsewhere can get good NIL $$$.

Tanner - Will transfer to Southern, Big South, Atlantic Sun, or MEAC and start for his final 2 years,

Beagle - Not sure quite what happened here - but have to think he is on his way out .. headed to Missouri Valley, Ohio Valley, or MAC.

AP - Wildcard - hope he returns after he and coach both go to off-season emotional control sessions realizing AP's had one bad techncal and Coach has had 2.

This is all absurd, lol (not your comments, but the recap). I've written about this previously, but Doogan is CLEAR POY, and it's not close. I think Ullstrom deserves first team as well. Roussell COY and Sweeney most improved. I don't think Katie or Addie should be left off either... but i can understand why they wouldn't get the attention they deserve given a pure statistical look.... but I think Addie should be 2nd team and Katie 3rd.... and I don't think it should be completely unreasonable based on our results and the level of talent from our starting lineup that they're all recognized in some way. I also think Katie and Alyssa should get some consideration for first team all-defense.... but again perhaps this is too microscopic in terms of looking at their contribution to our team and not the league as a whole.

I've seen some pretty insane things in my years following college basketball in general... and specifically women's basketball because unfortunately, the women's basketball pundits tend to be the ones that need to find a niche to be experts about but don't tend to be adequately knowledgeable. Certainly, there are some really good ones out there, so please understand i'm generalizing. That being said (and I like her quite a bit) but McConnell being ahead of Maggie on anyone's A-10 POY list should relegate whoever created the list to literally NEVER writing a single article on basketball of any kind at any point.... EVER again. I'm just saying.

SFspidur said:

If everybody including walk-ons comes back, we are already at the limit of 15 roster spots.

Frosh: Argabright, Harper, Richardson
R-Frosh: McGlothin, Mooney, Robinson
R-Soph: Soulis
Junior: Graham, Tanner, Tyne, Washington
Senior: Beagle, Roumoglou, Walz
R-Senior: Weaver

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Can we use the NIL money to pay other schools to take a few off our hands?

RichmondNative said:

The Women’s program is a different story and I think Rousell will be around next year. The year after that I am not so sure. So looks like I will be a in the stands Lady Spider fan for at least a year.

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I really, really hope that with this new NCAA house settlement, we give a good amount to the women’s team. If we can give Roussell the resources of a P5 WBB program and he sees that we can have top 25 success here, I am hopeful he stays for the long term.

SpiderRick said:

What's the record for most overtime losses in a season without winning one? That might be a reachable goal I'm ok with that.

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hah -my first breakdown on this forum was when I was at the Charleston game in Nov/Dec of '22 when we disintegrated in OT after coming back from 20 or so in regulation - had to delete some posts the next morning and still recall in a grumpy mood talking to Will Gipe's very nice dad at the hotel bar after the game.

Ferrum Spider said:

Don't really care at this point, likely opting out of season tickets….

If we keep Rousell this offseason, will opt in to a program that actually produces results and start going to those games.

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Right there with you @Ferrum Spider. It is sad, but it simply isn’t fun to watch the Men’s team play. There isn’t going to be any portal magic that suddenly makes the Spiders a top team in the A10. It is going to be a rebuilding year and I already went through that process with Moon at the helm and it wasn’t any fun. Based on recruiting history, CM and staff aren’t going to have a high hit rate. Plus, if the odds are defied, there are new outside threats. I just don’t see it happening.

The Women’s program is a different story and I think Rousell will be around next year. The year after that I am not so sure. So looks like I will be a in the stands Lady Spider fan for at least a year.

What's the record for most overtime losses in a season without winning one? That might be a reachable goal I'm ok with that.

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72Spider said:

In one of his more recent interviews Mooney mentioned the college game becoming pro basketball. His demeanor suggested that he absolutely hates where the game is headed. I think he knows he is on the clock.

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There was an ESPN+ article a week or so ago about coaching landscape, current openings, likely openings, 5050s, and then some potential retirements. Mooney and Anthony Grant were in that section.

Im not buying it, and he still seems pretty engaged on game day, albeit also still awful. Id be shocked if he gave up the money on the table too, but just saying it was there.

urfan1 said:

Is thar more prediction, or hope?

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prediction - another hole in one coming

GKiller said:

if u really want a new mentality u need a new coach. Mooney has told us his mentality over and over. More NIL to guys that stay. Back to 4-5 year players. Good guys. Stay the course, don't adapt schematically.

Believe him

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More than telling us his mentality, Mooney has showed us his mentality, and look at the results. Sorry but after a pathetic basketball year my frustration is showing. The thing is how can anyone other than enablers and those who slice and dice data really have long term confidence in this program? JC, it’s been 20 years, and look at where we are and look at the discussion points.

8legs1dream said:

Well let's take a quick look around shall we, I will never pass up an opportunity to go digging around basketball reference. I will try to ignore the seasons from smaller schools before they hit the bigtime and focus on their main time at their main school or schools.

John Wooden, 20th season -- 29-1, National Championship
Coach K, 20th season -- 29-5, Sweet 16
Jim Boeheim, 20th season -- 29-9, lost in National Championship game
Dean Smith, 20th season -- 29-8, lost in National Championship game
Jim Calhoun, 20th season -- 30-4, Elite Eight
Roy Williams, 20th season -- 36-3, Final Four

So as you can plainly see, it is actually quite normal for a coach to experience a lull in......wait a second, the 20s are on the WRONG SIDE!

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You’re comparing Mooney with hall of famers and coaches for teams that have the expectation of winning a national championship as success. A more accurate comparison in my opinion is Greg Kampe at Oakland like others brought up, James Jones at Yale, or even more so Bob McKillop with Davidson

GKiller said:

for some reason we don't have increased expectations for a 20-year coach or so I've been told

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Not sure, but your comment may have referred to me saying that the expectations for Mooney remain the same. Like I reference above, McKillop, is the best comparison to make with us. He consistently had NCAA level success with one deep run. I am sure Davidson was ecstatic about those results and didn’t expect him to win a national championship just because he was there longer. Same thing with Kampe at Oakland to a lesser extent. It’s all relative to the school’s expectation. If McKillop had those exact results at UNC, he would’ve never made it there for 20 years. Comparing Mooney and McKillop directly, I do think McKillop produced more than Mooney over his stretch and was overall a better coach than Mooney too.

Section9.RowD said:

So last year, I went to the @ GMU game which was the last game of the season - Miserable cold and rainy day and the game was even worse and sadly was the first of our final 3 losses.

I think we come together and win on Saturday after making progress at times the last two games. Spiders 73-Patriots 68.

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Is thar more prediction, or hope?

Leafy colleges, with difficult admissions and academic standards aren't for everyone.