He'll "end the war" by pulling US support to Ukraine and then telling his butt-buddy Putin we support Russia keeping the territory it has already captured. Captain Appeasement.

RichmondNative said:

Everyone knows the path to the NCAAs for the Spiders is to win the A10 tournament. That goal is still achievable. I can't see how anyone would think there is another way for the Spiders to dance, especially this year.

I see a bunch of raw talent that has never played together before and needs all the OOC games to get into form for A10 play.

It is really quite similar to last year. An inexperienced Mooney coached team is not going to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Last year in the second game, the Spiders played a horrendous Siena team (also in the MAAC) that won 4 games all year. This Marist team is going to win more than 4 games.

I agree with @Section9.RowD that I saw some positive signs on defense. Yes there were players left wide open on some rotations and Walz needs to close out, but there were some intensive defensive stands that ended with a desperation make by the Red Foxes. I especially liked the play of White and expect to see more of him and Hunt than Hunt and Tyne.

What I totally do not get is the lack of trying to do anything in the post on offense. I guess that wasn't the "focus" of the week /s. As @spider23 said, I think that Soulis is going to be key. I was hoping to see him get some more minutes, but instead he was a DNP. I hope he can get into game shape and master whatever he needs to know to get time.

Let's see what next week brings. Go Spiders!

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clearly the Marist coach saw the 28 points, 27 rebounds from the bigs in game/exhibition 1 and game planned to stop our bigs. We played directly into his game plan. Also our bigs were atrocious at guarding the 3 point line and on pick / switch situations.

SpiderLaw said:

I agree

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I disagree here.

One thing (of several) I thought was terrible was the inability of the team and coaches to involve Dusan in the game on offense. As Sec. 9 noted, 16 minutes played and very quiet. He's a guy who can score, has that track record, but needs to actually touch the ball. This team needs guys who can put the ball in the hoop and generate offense on their own. There was a 21m stretch where UR scored 22 poionts. Get him touches, allow him to get to the line on drives.

He played about the first 5-6 minutes last night and I don't recall him getting much in the way of touches. This is the problem with the Moonball offense that we've seen for years - it takes what the defense offers and assumes that all of those shots are equal. They're not - sometimes you need to get the ball to your best offensive players, not your 5th best. Part of the issue is that Moon does not want to play both Dusan and AP together. So Roche, Tanner and even B. Artis were at the other wing spot and after the middle of the first half, none did much on offense. AP had some decent time on the court, rebounded, blocked a shot, looked to score, so I understand keeping him in there a bit.

Marist coach tried stuff - he went zone, we carved it up a couple possessions in a row and he called timeout and adjusted. And his adjustments worked, as they cut the lead back down before half. I don't recall Moon calling timeout to readjust until UR was down at the 5m mark (I don't recall this bc it did not happen - which is the point.) I do recall Moon almost immediately removing AP and Roche after that timeout, and thinking it was an odd substitution if they were going to keep zoning us. Let the 2 best gunners cook.

But I don't think putting a freshman (Robinson) who may possess a raw offensive game (assuming here, otherwise he would have forced Moon's hand in preseason) into the mix would have solved anything. If anything I think he would have been in "run the offense" mode, which we had plenty of last night.

Everyone knows the path to the NCAAs for the Spiders is to win the A10 tournament. That goal is still achievable. I can't see how anyone would think there is another way for the Spiders to dance, especially this year.

I see a bunch of raw talent that has never played together before and needs all the OOC games to get into form for A10 play.

It is really quite similar to last year. An inexperienced Mooney coached team is not going to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Last year in the second game, the Spiders played a horrendous Siena team (also in the MAAC) that won 4 games all year. This Marist team is going to win more than 4 games.

I agree with @Section9.RowD that I saw some positive signs on defense. Yes there were players left wide open on some rotations and Walz needs to close out, but there were some intensive defensive stands that ended with a desperation make by the Red Foxes. I especially liked the play of White and expect to see more of him and Hunt than Hunt and Tyne.

What I totally do not get is the lack of trying to do anything in the post on offense. I guess that wasn't the "focus" of the week /s. As @spider23 said, I think that Soulis is going to be key. I was hoping to see him get some more minutes, but instead he was a DNP. I hope he can get into game shape and master whatever he needs to know to get time.

Let's see what next week brings. Go Spiders!

Oof. Jason Nelson. That point to turnover ratio is….not good. It’s not good.

spider23 said:

This I found very concerning. They were longer and more athletic and shot right over our diminutive guards. I have beat the drums about our wings not being athletic enough, but didn't think it would be so obvious vs Marist.

Burn JROB's redshirt. NOW. Section 9's eyes don't lie. We need dudes that can compete.

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I agree

Well, following a Chris Mooney team throughout a season is typically an exercise in frustration and futility, ending mostly is disappointment. Yesterday was really a blessing because it will be a very quick death this year. Marist? At home? Lol. Could be a Mooney new low, which is saying a lot.

Agree that the center position was very poor last night. Honestly I have not liked what I’ve seen from Walz defensively in either of the games. Maybe it’s conditioning but I haven’t liked his effort on that end. Beagle has been sloppy as well but I think he offers more offensively and gives more consistent effort.

AP to me feels like a high energy guy who hasn’t played much college ball (which he hasn’t). He played with a lot of fire all night, I think he just needs more time to figure out how to stay under control on the court.

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Win one of remaining 2 we will make the playoffs . Win out we will have a much better path to success, especially if we make the top 8 and allow our wounds to heal.

Auburn's 4 games before us could our "Pearl" Harbor Day matchup could be Iowa State #5, UNC #9, UConn #3, Duke #7.

Saturday recap:

Jason Nelson - started 28 minutes as Youngstown State beat Chi State by 20. 1 point, 6 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4 assists, 5 rebounds
Isaiah Wilson - 7 minutes and 0 points in Winthrop's win over Little Rock. Wonder if he is healthy. Really expected him to start for them when he transferred.
Andre Weir - Started for KSU that lost to CA Baptists by 4. 15 minutes, 7 rebounds, 9 points
Curtis Blair Jr - Didn't play.

Spiders4ever said:

Beat Auburn and at large chances improve exponentially

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hahahahahalololololooozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Beat Auburn and at large chances improve exponentially

We will still lose by 50 to them

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2 comments worth noting on the post game presser: 1) Hoping to have Alston back this week. Would be great to have her play on Tuesday against a very good Fairfield team and 2) We will have a return trip to Texas next year

Good observations sec9.

If Ryan can be fully healthy think our best line up could be with him out there 20 plus minutes.
Incredible the drastic difference in production from a d2 opponent to a decent low league d1 at the center spot. This game needs to be an aberration. Loke Beagle as an energy guy but so far his offensive game seems limited to getting to the hoop.
I think we went with the three guard lineup late because 3 of our best offensive players and defensive quickness. But it is way too small for normal circumstances.
Feel like we are back to seeing fat and happy Mooney. Check back in 3 years and hopefully there is urgency.

Also wanted to mention i loved White's defensive intensity.

gospidersgo said:

I haven't read this thread, couldn't bear to after the game last night. My initial thoughts on the game:

• Zero production from the 5 spot, if we can't even bully around Marist a little, this season is going to be much worse than we anticipated
• Hunt is going to be very good, may need to take over at times to keep us in games this season
• We lack a Dji type of "do a little bit of everything" guy right now, who can/will step into that role?
• Not sure what happened that made Roumoglou react the way he did late in the game, but that was not good, and especially given the score and time remaining, beyond that though he has a pretty sweet looking shot

Much more to discuss too, but what a disappointing start to our real schedule. I still think we have the talent to put together a good season, but we better start to meld as a team fast or it could get ugly.

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Think we were both writing summaries at the same time and quite similar ...

Wow last night was rough. and disappointing .. thoughts in no particular order. Trying not to make more out of our first D1 game than I should but hard not to.

• DeLo did everything he could, but we’ll be a better team when he’s not our leading scorer—or at least when he doesn’t have to score a ton for us to have a chance to win.
• It felt like DeLo was out from about minutes 11 to 7 in the second half, during a couple of timeouts. Momentum completely shifted, and he, like GilyarD was , isn’t a guy who needs much rest.
• AP’s technical – Coach was understandably hard on him post-game (probably even harder in the locker room). Obviously, it can’t happen again, but I loved his game up until that point and hope it doesn’t impact his minutes on Wednesday. The last Spider with a similar mental error was GG during the @Drake game, which was just as costly as AP’s last night and I honestly think a kid's mistake in his first game of career with good minutes is more forgivable in the moment.
• Dusan played 19 uneventful minutes… felt like he was on the court less than that, honestly. He has to be a double digit scorer for us or we are a double digit seed in A10 tourney,
• Mike Walz – love the guy, but it was a real rough game for him. Twice late in the game, he seemed glued to protecting the basket versus attempt to intercepted passes when they were trying to break our press.
• Beagle had some nice passes but seemed uncomfortable on defense most of the game.
• Like a lot of us have said, we’ve got to try having Walz and Beagle on the court together to see how it works. Right now, it seems like the only option Coach has is giving Ryan S. some backup minutes to make that happen. Still think, if Robinson hadn’t redshirted, he might’ve made this rotation easier to pull off.
• Tanner is smooth at the line and can hit threes, but his ball handling continues to looks shaky to me.
• Despite all the threes Marist hit in the first half, I actually liked our defensive intensity for the most part and felt we got unlucky with a few loose balls.
• Weird lineup in at least two of the last three minutes, with Delo, Tyne, and White all in together. Really missing our Big Guard in moments like that.
• Right now, it looks like GW 3 is the last scholarship, non-redshirt player off the bench. Didn’t expect that.

I haven't read this thread, couldn't bear to after the game last night. My initial thoughts on the game:

• Zero production from the 5 spot, if we can't even bully around Marist a little, this season is going to be much worse than we anticipated
• Hunt is going to be very good, may need to take over at times to keep us in games this season
• We lack a Dji type of "do a little bit of everything" guy right now, who can/will step into that role?
• Not sure what happened that made Roumoglou react the way he did late in the game, but that was not good, and especially given the score and time remaining, beyond that though he has a pretty sweet looking shot

Much more to discuss too, but what a disappointing start to our real schedule. I still think we have the talent to put together a good season, but we better start to meld as a team fast or it could get ugly.

brooklyn brownstone said:

1 at large bid.

3 NCAA tournament appearances.

There are no other goalposts, as far as I'm concerned. Other things are nice and all but they're all a shortening of the real goal to justify the fact that 3 NCAAs is what we got in 2 decades.

Hardt is probably already pregaming in Lewisboro.

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Hardt is too busy looking over design ideas for the Mooney statue that will go out in front of the Robins Center. Personally, if a statue doesn’t incorporate his little drink cup it’s just wasted effort.