The future is bright.

6'9" PF out of Trenton, NJ playing at Archbishop Ryan in Philly. Has also received offers from Georgetown and La Salle over the past week.

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6'7" SG/SF out of Creedmoor, NC and Wayne Country Day, so Spiderdad might have some insight on this guy. Looks like only lower-level offers so far...Columbia, Brown (so, academics are good!), High Point, Coastal, UNCG, and Campbell. Campbell offered almost a year ago, so the smart money says Peter Thomas must have gotten onto him for us. Or maybe it was Boyden, as UNCG just offered him a month ago. Probably doesn't hurt that both coaches were familiar with him.


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To support a new academic support center in Boatwright....public speaking, writing, peer tutoring, and other resources.

“…Le Moyne’s men’s lacrosse team is ranked No. 1 nationally and is a favorite for the NCAA championship. The women’s team is ranked No. 6 nationally and is in the 12-team NCAA tournament field…”

“…Le Moyne is the sixth lacrosse-playing Division II school to transition to Division I in the last three years, joining Lindenwood (2023), Queens (N.C.) (2023), Stonehill (2023) LIU (2020) and Merrimack (2020)...”


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Many references on here have been made to the rapper Lil Dicky and how he is a UR alum. Side note, if you haven't listened to Lil Dicky, highly recommend, he is very good, sort of a comedic rapper/actor.

At any rate, in his bio, it mentioned that he attended UR with another rapper by the name of Dave East. Now, I've never heard of Dave East, but I had time to kill as my Sixer's were slaughtering the Celtics and it turns out that Dave East is one of Mooney's first recruits at UR, David Brewster. Brewster only played one year and then transferred to Towson.

Can't seem to find the competition thread, so thought would keep track how rest of the A10 is doing in the portal.

Umass with a big pick up:
Josh Cohen - Conference POY, courted by PSU, Iowa, and Florida

Just got an email from Richmond Athletics that is entitled: Spider Men's Lacrosse Adavces to A-10 Final

Obviously didn't have Dr. Guthrie for freshman English because one misspelled word on an essay resulted in a grade of zero.

Biggest one is that the line between a block and a charge would be the planting of the foot to take off instead of needing to actually be airborne, so the balance would shift toward more close calls being blocks rather than charges.

Sits at #1 spot after RD1 Wexford

Team - Wexford Intercollegiate - 2023-02-20

6'4" guard/wing out of Fordham Prep in the Bronx. League MVP, averaged 20 points, 12 boards, 3 assists.

He's Stephanie Gaitley's son.

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A 6-7 forward from Canisius High School in Buffalo, named WNY Player of the Year. He'll play at a New England prep school next year, as he skipped a grade as a kid and is young for a high school senior. UR women's player Siobhan Ryan is his older sister.

I'm sure he's on our radar.

OK, figured may as well rip the band aid off on this one, as I know there will probably be a lot of opinions and varying opinions at that

Pros
Defense - While I do notice some lapses and a few flaws, on our team I think he is a very good defender. Can guard multiple positions, good length to go along with his quickness at the guard position. Rebounds from the guard spot, which is an important part of defense. Willing to help and then finish plays battling for rebounds.
Versatility - Can play PG To SF effectively, and guard all three spots.

Areas of Improvement
Staying Healthy - Not much you can do about this one. I think it was mentioned that our guards are hitting the weight room hard. That could help. Staying up right as well. Like 97's guy Embiid, if you stay up and don't end up on the floor so much that tends to keep you in one piece more often. Dji does tend to end up getting knocked over driving to the hoop and fighting for loose balls. Which I do want him to continue to do (driving and battling that is). Every time he seems to be establishing himself in the lineup, there is an injury that knocks him out for extended time it seems. That makes it hard to have consistency as well as establish himself with the coaches. I think more than anything with Dji, remaining healthy will improve his opportunity and effectiveness. You can say that for any player, but Dji has been hit hardest last couple season.
Turnovers - I think Dji is a good decision maker and takes care of the ball 95% of the time on the floor. It's the other 5% that seem to come at inopportune or glaring times. Again, staying healthy and on the floor more may help this. Also, I think dribbling against smaller traditional 1's is tougher for a 6'5/6'6 guard. I would like to see Dji use more of a "Magic Johnson" type approach when he is in this situation - i.e. use his body and length to keep the smaller guard away, as opposed to try to dribble by him. I have seen him do this, and it is effective. When he has a big guard on him, he has more ability to beat off the dribble straight up.
Offensive Aggression: Way too many times, he was more interested in looking to "run the play" than use the play to look at the basket. This could be somewhat system driven, but in any case want to see him look to score or drive and make plays. We saw good things happen when he drove the ball in - particularly finding Quinn for point blank finishes. Would love to see him catch it an go a little more on the wing. And as I noted, I think with his size and ability to get in the lane - mid range jumper could be very effective. I know it is not love by the metrics of the game, but I saw a ton of guys in the NCAA's make a living off mid range.

Next Season
Dji really has a great opportunity to insert himself in the lineup. Have not mentioned 3 point shooting. This could be critical next season. If Bigs doesn't find his stroke from 3, I think it is harder to keep Dji in the game together with Bigs. UNLESS Dji can replicate that 40% from three on a few more attempts per game. If he can do that, then I think he is a heavy minutes guy. When we say position less basketball, Dji is that guy IMO. I don't see him as a pure point, shooting guard or a three. More of a hybrid that can do a lot of things on the court and contribute to winning, but not be that guy on offense that you run plays for - or give the ball to and say get us a basket. I think Dji can control his own destiny, but if he struggles with turnovers and consistency - could be a guy impacted if we bring in another proven guard.

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Breaking protocol here, and giving his own thread.

With the pick up of King, I think adding Darius could really be a huge boost and solidify the roster. Especially if Burton is coming back. If Burton is not back , we will need one more guy that can rebound, score and do some work on the interior, or at the very least defend and rebound.

From what I have read, it sounds like Brown is a defensive oriented, team first, offensively skilled player. He does appear to have handles and can get to the basket and/or kick it out. I think would really compliment King well, and give us a very legit back court. Kind of like the Gilly/Francis - but he is less scorer and bigger than Francis. And oh yeah, DPOY in his conference.

Hope his visit is going well and the coaches can also sell him on this vision.


Per one of the posts, he is supposed to be on campus yesterday and today, then off to Minnesota for two days, then on to Utah State. Utah State obviously should be very worrisome. They just hired his current coach, who he went to the NCAA's with and obviously very familiar.

If we can pull this one off this really gives us a strong roster for next season.

Scrimmages

1/21 v Delaware(Springfield,Va)

1/28 v Loyola(@UR)

2/10 v W&L(@UR)

JOC is doing a three-part series looking back at the launch of the varsity MLAX program. Part one covers Jim Miller talking about the decision to add lax while dropping soccer and T&F. Part two will be Chemotti, and part three will be one of the early star players, Brendan Hynes.

No, this is not about the players getting caught gambling!

So here's the premise. In poker, generally you have a 5 card hand and you keep some and redraw some. Let's say you can keep up to 5 or as few as none. When you discard cards, you can draw new ones.

So, apply this to our players. Pick up to 5 players who are still eligible to keep for next year. Or you can keep less and draw from the portal to fill the remaining 5.