Andre Weir

[97spiderfan]

Very strange - but sounds like kid was not a good fit. I wonder if with his mother involved so much, did he think he should be playing more or was he not getting the "star" treatment he expected. Either way - end result is he no longer a Spider and we now have a hole to fill in that spot.
Considering next year is likely to be a rebuilding year - I would like to look for a good HS recruit if possible. Maybe someone who can play behind Sal and Grace as they are seniors next year - get some minutes and experience and be ready to take over as a starter their Sophmore year.
Assuming no one comes back to roll it back next season - we are rebuilding next year. I am okay with that as long as the rebuild is short. We can't be rebuilding for 8 years. Its okay to take a step back when a lot of key players graduate, but the pipeline behind should be ready to step in - get experience that first year and then 2nd year we should be competing again at the top of the league.

Think Mooney needs to get a transfer who can play more immediately. HS big man recruits are crap shoots, particularly with Mooney doing the recruiting. So, we really can't just take a "hall pass" next year, in the hope that the high schooler Mooney lands is gonna be ready to take the reigns the following year and then not have that be yet another rebuilding year.

This is how the Mooney rebuilds get strung out. No, Moondog, go find you a college big man who can step in next year at a high level.

And yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the chorus of well everyone will be after college big man transfers. This is Mooney's job, we are paying him handsomely to do it. He has to get 1 player next year, just get it done. No one needs any excuses. We've got 3 highly paid assistant coaches, plus Mooney, that brand new practice facility, a top 25ish team this year. If we can't go out and reload on one critical spot this year.....

 

[plydogg]

Maybe Kwesi Abakah has a brother we can get

 

[spiderman]

Sal is not a 5. Mooney best get busy on the transfer, grad transfer market right now.

it does seem to me that the 5 has been Sal's best position. he's given us strong minutes especially defensively there.

whether a 4 or a 5, he won't be a Golden or Cayo offensively. neither will Grace. and I'm going to guess neither will the guy we immediately replace Weir with. our offense will have to adjust.

assuming no seniors return I expect next year we'll have Burton and a fully recovered Crabtree playing together at the forward spots with Sal/Grace at the 5 rounding out the frontcourt and Goose at a guard spot. the last starting spot will be a battle between a lot of talented young guards.

as for Weir, he's a big loss. it's hard to find legitimate big men that slip through the cracks.

 

[Spider B]

Come on. Sal isn't big enough to play starters mins @ the 5. We don't have an A10 level 5 once GG leaves.

 

[urmite]

it does seem to me that the 5 has been Sal's best position. he's given us strong minutes especially defensively there.

whether a 4 or a 5, he won't be a Golden or Cayo offensively. neither will Grace. and I'm going to guess neither will the guy we immediately replace Weir with. our offense will have to adjust.

assuming no seniors return I expect next year we'll have Burton and a fully recovered Crabtree playing together at the forward spots with Sal/Grace at the 5 rounding out the frontcourt and Goose at a guard spot. the last starting spot will be a battle between a lot of talented young guards.

as for Weir, he's a big loss. it's hard to find legitimate big men that slip through the cracks.

So we haven't found the next Frank Kaminsky yet? I guess Ethan Happ will have to do...

 

[Ranger1tex]

It’d be nice if our athletic department could fill us in on some details..

If grades were any part of it I would suspect that is off limits. Seems like Mom was a big part of his life and I wish she was living in Richmond and able to watch him if it was grade related.

 

[spiderman]

well, someone has to play the 5 next year and I'm doubtful we'll land a substantially better 5 than Sal via transfer. I hope to be proven wrong.

 

[spider fan]

Left to wonder how good Weir would have been. Unless I missed something don't think he ever played a single minute as a Spider. We have his high school videos and will have to wait and see where he ends up for his college videos. And highly unlikely but theoretically possible he could change his mind - if the decision to leave was his in the first place? - and ala Gonzo remain as a Spider.

 

[spider23]

Left to wonder how good Weir would have been. Unless I missed something don't think he ever played a single minute as a Spider. We have his high school videos and will have to wait and see where he ends up for his college videos. And highly unlikely but theoretically possible he could change his mind - if the decision to leave was his in the first place? - and ala Gonzo remain as a Spider.

Hoping and wondering the same thing. As one poster noted, big adjustment to class, basketball, fitting in as a D1 college basketball player in general, and things very well could have been a lot tougher on him due to Covid. Ship has probably sailed, but would love to leave the door open. Maybe he never becomes the player some of us thought, but hard to find that type of size and agility.

I do agree with 97 - new practice facility, well paid coach, Mooney needs to cut the excuses and go find two big guys who can play immediately. Go mine an Ivy league guy.

No thanks on Kwesi 2.0, I think we can find someone to bang out the national anthem. Seemed like a great guy and probably will be very successful in life, but could not guard Noah Goldberg with a torn ACL.

 

[97spiderfan]

well, someone has to play the 5 next year and I'm doubtful we'll land a substantially better 5 than Sal via transfer. I hope to be proven wrong.

We're gonna have to find a 5 in the transfer market and/or spring HS signee because we can't physically go into a season with only 2 front court players on the roster. What if Sal or Grace were to get hurt at some point next year. It would be complete negligence to leave a roster that thin at one spot.

 

[8legs1dream]

Sal is seriously talented but I would hate to see his effectiveness be limited by shoehorning him into a spot that isn't a good fit for his skills but just because we need a body in that spot

 

[8legs1dream]

we can't physically go into a season with only 2 front court players on the roster. What if Sal or Grace were to get hurt at some point next year. It would be complete negligence to leave a roster that thin at one spot.

oh god, yes. that would be an unmitigated disaster

 

[VT4700]

some of you need to get this crazy idea out of your head that all the seniors are going to "run it back" for one more shot at glory next season. Most players at this level don't dream of playing college ball until the end of time. They are going to be ready soon to end this chapter of their lives and move on to the next whether that be playing pro overseas or starting a non basketball related career.

Have the mindset going into this offseason that NONE are coming back.

I don't think it is a crazy idea. Maybe unlikely, but I would not call it crazy, especially when it has happened before with good basketball players returning for a 6th year because of 2 injury years. And, we have no idea what these guys are thinking, or how much they love college. Maybe one of them wants to come back and be more of a main guy next year after the others leave. Who knows?

 

[Eight Legger]

The main issue with Weir leaving is that Mooney's offense demands a big man who can pass. It's sort of what the whole offense is built around. No matter how you slice it next year, we're going to have a big who is not accustomed to the system or one who just isn't close to the level we've been used to. So that hurts.

I suppose one option is to just change things up a bit, run the offense through Burton and figure out how to fill in with the others. But if ever there was a time to make strong pitch to a talented big, seems like this is it.

 

[gcarter52]

Hmm, this sounds way too familiar. Failing to recruit well to replace players that are leaving, recruits leaving the program leaving us really thin at certain positions, and then we try to fill a gap with an immediately eligible big man that has no business playing in the A10. Sounds like same old Mooney is coming back....

C’mon man, this is not the coach fault. Letsc

The main issue with Weir leaving is that Mooney's offense demands a big man who can pass. It's sort of what the whole offense is built around. No matter how you slice it next year, we're going to have a big who is not accustomed to the system or one who just isn't close to the level we've been used to. So that hurts.

I suppose one option is to just change things up a bit, run the offense through Burton and figure out how to fill in with the others. But if ever there was a time to make strong pitch to a talented big, seems like this is it.

I agree we will need to run the offense through T-Burt. Honestly all our players have to buy in.

 

[VT4700]

it does seem to me that the 5 has been Sal's best position. he's given us strong minutes especially defensively there.

whether a 4 or a 5, he won't be a Golden or Cayo offensively. neither will Grace. and I'm going to guess neither will the guy we immediately replace Weir with. our offense will have to adjust.

assuming no seniors return I expect next year we'll have Burton and a fully recovered Crabtree playing together at the forward spots with Sal/Grace at the 5 rounding out the frontcourt and Goose at a guard spot. the last starting spot will be a battle between a lot of talented young guards.

as for Weir, he's a big loss. it's hard to find legitimate big men that slip through the cracks.

If Crabtree is healthy, we will probably be okay with 3 guards and Crabtree and Burton on the court for a lot of minutes in a lot of games. Not all teams in the A-10 have a quality big out there, and lots of teams often go to small lineups. And, we still have Grace and Sal, who keep improving each year. I don't think this the disaster many of you think it is. Maybe it hurts more if Weir would have been a future all A-10 player, but, who knows? Maybe he would have been more like Kwasi or PF and had a hard time getting good playing time anyway. Bigs dominate in high school because they play against so few guys even close to their size. Not all of them can find the same success at the college level.

 

[VT4700]

We've been spoiled with TJ and Grant the last several years. It is hard at this level to get one of those over a 7 or 8 year span and we have had 2. Sure, it would be nice to have one of those every year, but I don't expect it, and if it doesn't happen, I still think you can have success.

 

[plydogg]

VT from two posts up I think we are all hoping for more than our outlook “probably being ok”

I don’t think we can compete for the A10 title if we’re looking at a “probably being ok” at two positions. Especially when some of our opponents have some stellar options there.

 

[spiderman]

We're gonna have to find a 5 in the transfer market and/or spring HS signee because we can't physically go into a season with only 2 front court players on the roster. What if Sal or Grace were to get hurt at some point next year. It would be complete negligence to leave a roster that thin at one spot.

no, I agree. we'll absolutely add a 5. I just feel any really good transfer 5 has a ton of options and most go P5 for that big college experience. we do offer a ton for the right guy who wants a small school at the A10 level. we'll definitely add a 5 though. no question.

 

[spiderman]

If Crabtree is healthy, we will probably be okay with 3 guards and Crabtree and Burton on the court for a lot of minutes in a lot of games.

that's a no go for me. we're finally rebounding ok this year. that would be the worst rebounding lineup we've ever had. you can't ask Burton to do it all.

 

[VT4700]

VT from two posts up I think we are all hoping for more than our outlook “probably being ok”

I don’t think we can compete for the A10 title if we’re looking at a “probably being ok” at two positions. Especially when some of our opponents have some stellar options there.

I agree. I was mainly talking about next year, thinking we could still have success without Weir. We would all like to have a big like TJ or Grant, but give me another Burton and we can win an awful lot of games. So, my point is we should not expect a quality big every year, and could still have a good year without one. But, sure, we need to recruit the good bigs and go after them, and of course, we would be better with a guy like TJ or Grant out there. But, back to Weir, he never played a minute for us, so that is why I was saying we had no idea what type of player he would have been.

 

[VT4700]

that's a no go for me. we're finally rebounding ok this year. that would be the worst rebounding lineup we've ever had. you can't ask Burton to do it all.

I hear you, but I am only talking when the matchups dictate that, which might be more often than you think.

 

[plydogg]

I agree. I was mainly talking about next year, thinking we could still have success without Weir. We would all like to have a big like TJ or Grant, but give me another Burton and we can win an awful lot of games. So, my point is we should not expect a quality big every year, and could still have a good year without one. But, sure, we need to recruit the good bigs and go after them, and of course, we would be better with a guy like TJ or Grant out there. But, back to Weir, he never played a minute for us, so that is why I was saying we had no idea what type of player he would have been.

Feels to me like you’re severely overrating us here. I think next season, even if we magically added a duplicate of Burton, would be a sub-500 team without serious reinforcements at forward

 

[SpiderTrap]

Next year is a rebuild - just look at the roster. We have 3 role players returning and one guy who can be all A10 material in Burton.
But this is no different than Mooney's past at UR. His teams are good when they are loaded with Juniors/Seniors. His back to back NCAA teams were loaded with Juniors and Seniors - when they graduated, we fell into a rebuild mode. Then 4 years later - we come close to making it back - being a 1 seed in the NIT, and then 5 years - was last year, we had a team of basically Juniors and likely an NCAA team without COVID. They return - we are on track this year - but when everyone graduates, prepare yourself for at least 4 years until we sniff NCAA again.
And based on the decisions the school has made in the past - I think they are okay with this.

 

[SFspidur]

 

[spider23]

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Saw that. Good to see. Hopefully things get back to normal next year and Andre is a big part of the team. Would be great to get him back this year to keep getting acclimated. No idea here, but my money would be more on Mooney re-recruiting Weir, than being able to beat out a bunch of other teams for a transfer or what is left in 2021.

 

[Spider2020]

Mooney also said they would help him and his mom find a new school, so don’t think Weir is coming back. But sounds like it truly was Weir’s decision and not a school decision (ala Buckingham)

 

[SFspidur]

 

[SpiderGuy]

The main issue with Weir leaving is that Mooney's offense demands a big man who can pass. It's sort of what the whole offense is built around. No matter how you slice it next year, we're going to have a big who is not accustomed to the system or one who just isn't close to the level we've been used to. So that hurts.

I suppose one option is to just change things up a bit, run the offense through Burton and figure out how to fill in with the others. But if ever there was a time to make strong pitch to a talented big, seems like this is it.

Wait...I had to read your post twice. You said "change things up a bit". You do know you're asking for an awful lot. What's the probability of "change" with Mooney?

 

[SpiderGuy]

Did I hear the TV announcer say that the big guy for Hofstra was a transfer. He looked really impressive. How come we can't get a big body transfer with skills like him?

 

[Spiders4ever]

Did I hear the TV announcer say that the big guy for Hofstra was a transfer. He looked really impressive. How come we can't get a big body transfer with skills like him?

I think he was from UGA.

 

[SpiderGuy]

I think he was from UGA.

He really could have made a mark here. He's game ready.

 

[SFspidur]

Yeah, he originally headed to Georgia over offers from St. John’s, Georgetown, Bona, ODU, and Kansas State. He’s a load.

 

[Gospiders06]

Well I was wondering what happened to him.

The main issue with Weir leaving is that Mooney's offense demands a big man who can pass. It's sort of what the whole offense is built around. No matter how you slice it next year, we're going to have a big who is not accustomed to the system or one who just isn't close to the level we've been used to. So that hurts.

I suppose one option is to just change things up a bit, run the offense through Burton and figure out how to fill in with the others. But if ever there was a time to make strong pitch to a talented big, seems like this is it.

 

[CarolinaSpider]

Maybe Kwesi Abakah has a brother we can get

Don’t need choral superstar!

 

[AnnapSpider]

Trivia question- has a player ever left a program like Weir just did, and then changed his mind and,
if invited, come back?

 

[urfan1]

Yes -- Gonzo, went on to have a great career

 

[8legs1dream]

 

[urmite]

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But is that only based on JOC article from Monday?

 

[Gallipoli]

I didn’t see him in Indianapolis.Knew something was up..Adjustment to 1st semester college,especially UR,is a big deal especially when it comes to the discipline of academics.

School and grades. One does not have these things given to them.