Connor Crabtree

[Spider2020]

Grace is fine for 10ish minutes a game. Plays decent defense, but isn’t an offensive threat (whereas Grant is a dual threat, passer and scorer). Agree he’s a serviceable backup and improved last year. His freshman year I worried when he was out there; last year, not so much.

Back to the redshirting talk: no one is gonna willingly take a developmental redshirt. If Sal/Woj did that, they may as well transfer and get a fresh start since they’d be sitting anyway. We have high expectations for next year: best players get the minutes, period. All of the players will have opportunities to contribute to the teams success, whether in games or in practice. If we have the type of success that seems attainable next year, all 16 (13+3 walk ons) on the team will deserve a lot of praise.

 

[spiderman]

I'm very pleased with Grace's development on both ends of the court. I think we'll be even happier with him next year as I believe he's a very good perimeter shooter who didn't really have much success out there this season.
if we're expecting stats, he won't put up much in this backup role and Weir is legitimate contender for his time. plus if Sal gets even bigger, he's in the discussion at the 5. I don't think we can get Sal any more time at the 4. Burton has to get all the minutes behind Nathan with Crabtree likely earning most or all of the minutes behind Nick at the 3.

 

[97spiderfan]

I am unsure why Grace is held to a different standard than all of other bench players. Grace just has to be "serviceable, basically his bar is to not mess up.

Whereas, no one would say that about Burton when he comes in for Cayo or Goose/Woj, when they come in for Sherod or Blake. They are expected to make impact plays when they come in. We demand them to contribute on both ends of the court. We want also want them to bring energy and hustle into the game, I hardly think anyone describes Grace as an energy guy.

I feel like some fans and the coaches and announcers treat Grace like the "Little Engine that Could" out there. To me that is patronizing to him and disrespectful to our other bench players who are all held to higher standards.

Can you imagine giving Goose, Burton, or Woj a player of the game status for scoring 3 points and grabbing a couple boards? No, that would never happen because we expect more of them. But we did that for Grace.

 

[spider23]

Burton has to get all the minutes behind Nathan with Crabtree likely earning most or all of the minutes behind Nick at the 3.

I get this, based on our roster make up and the 3 point shooting of Nick (and I believe Conor) , but I do think this is a disservice to Burton's development a bit, and our ability to compete physically with P6 teams. It's a tough spot next year, Nick played really well and hit 43% from 3 - need to keep him on the floor. But ideally (for Burton's pro prospects) and our ability to match up with the Auburn types - Burton is a wing). Not sure the answer, and it will be interesting to see how Crabtree is used precisely. As we saw with Blake, it was known he would replace Woj before practice began.

 

[CarolinaSpider]

Matt Grace improved throughout to year to point he started shooting the ball and has a nice shot from outside, and he played good positional defense. But he was not a strong rebounder and got overpowered by bigger centers for the rebounds. Matt also was not a bad passer, but I can see Cayo moving to the 5 giving Grant a break with Burton and Connor coming in. I agree that Matt had improved from frosh year but he still made me nervous against strong centers.

 

[64Spider]

Better players deeper in the bench will demand better coaching. Both have to happen for us to achieve expectations.

 

[spiderman]

97, I don't think anyone is comparing Matt as a backup to Burton as a backup. if Weir or Sal are better options next season, they play. no argument. you can try to put Cayo at the 5 to get others on the floor more, but he's very small there.
right now Matt's our best backup at the 5. we'll see if that's still the case in November.

 

[Gallipoli]

I thought the behind the head pass by Gilyard to Grace for Grace's layup was one of the best of the season. Grace showed tremendous court awareness and acumen. His ability to anticipate is one area of his game that has really improved.

 

[SpiderK]

I thought the behind the head pass by Gilyard to Grace for Grace's layup was one of the best of the season. Grace showed tremendous court awareness and acumen. His ability to anticipate is one area of his game that has really improved.

Grace may have taken a few of those passes in the face in practice. He was ready for it. Lol

 

[97spiderfan]

Grace has improved this year, no doubt about that. There were still games (the VCU game is one I remember) that when Grant went out and Grace came in, that VCU in particular MSS was able to exert himself and keep them in that game, longer than they should have.

If Grace can work on one thing in the off season it would be interior toughness. It is a man game down though and Grant this year was finally able to exert that on both ends of the court. Biggest difference between this year and last year was our post defense. It went from being our biggest weakness last year to an area of strength this year. With our shooters, if we can control the inside, we have shown just how tough of an out we can be.

 

[spider23]

https://www.richmond.com/sports/col...cle_b3c61df2-fd92-5879-8a84-4bb2d7b2270b.html

Good stuff, saying all the right things: came to make an impact, but not expecting to be the man. Likes to play defense.

I knew he had some type of injury, but was not aware the extent. Hope he is healthy and ready to go and ready to push guys for playing time.

 

[SpiderTrap]

Bench behind Grant is where our weakness is. Sal and Grace did not show much this season in my opinion and if Weir can come in and show some toughness, I could see him stealing minutes from 1 of them to the point where 1 of them barely plays. With the departure of Wojcik (who likely saw the writing on the wall that he wasn't going to play next season) - Crabtree steps into a reserve role off the bench to hopefully provide some shooting.

 

[Not-A-Homer]

I think Crabtree is going to be better and more impactful than some on here think. He obviously must get minutes among all the returnees, but any freshman who puts up the numbers he did (against more than respectable opponents) can play. I like what I see in his highlight tape. Find a place for him now, because I think the Spiders will rely heavily on him in the immediate future.

 

[spider23]

Homer (not), I tend to agree with your views on both Crabtree and Weir, BUT we all know Mooney's tendencies, and with everyone returning, and returning with unprecedented levels of production it is going to be hard for Conor to carve out some time. But classic Mooney, he is never prepared or ahead of the curve for NEXT. I can even understand now after not making the tourney for so long, he needs to stick with what is working. But, in the past 8 years we have always been 2-3 players short, and the pipleline has not been filled.
But if he was forward thinking (Not this is my chance finally to make the dance every 10 years), he would get Weir, Crabtree, and even Wilson some minutes where feasible. Watching SDSU have an unbelievable season, I was always amazed at Dutcher's willingness to play his bench early and often. Mooney seems to have come around on this a little this season. Hopefully the improvements we have seen from him continue.

 

[coach fezz]

I think Crabtree is going to be better and more impactful than some on here think. He obviously must get minutes among all the returnees, but any freshman who puts up the numbers he did (against more than respectable opponents) can play. I like what I see in his highlight tape. Find a place for him now, because I think the Spiders will rely heavily on him in the immediate future.

yes

 

[SpiderK]

Homer (not), I tend to agree with your views on both Crabtree and Weir, BUT we all know Mooney's tendencies, and with everyone returning, and returning with unprecedented levels of production it is going to be hard for Conor to carve out some time. But classic Mooney, he is never prepared or ahead of the curve for NEXT. I can even understand now after not making the tourney for so long, he needs to stick with what is working. But, in the past 8 years we have always been 2-3 players short, and the pipleline has not been filled.
But if he was forward thinking (Not this is my chance finally to make the dance every 10 years), he would get Weir, Crabtree, and even Wilson some minutes where feasible. Watching SDSU have an unbelievable season, I was always amazed at Dutcher's willingness to play his bench early and often. Mooney seems to have come around on this a little this season. Hopefully the improvements we have seen from him continue.

Mooney would still be playing Deion Taylor if he was there.

 

[gcarter52]

Mooney would still be playing Dione Taylor if he was there.

I guess you haven't changed either. Maybe it is time that we all change our ways too. Oh, his name is Dion Taylor without the e..lol...ijs.

 

[spider23]

Oh, his name is Dion Taylor without the e..lol...ijs.

Some may even say it is Deion Taylor
https://richmondspiders.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/deion-taylor/1811

 

[Spiders05]

watching SDSU have an unbelievable season, I was always amazed at Dutcher's willingness to play his bench early and often.

Interesting observation. Especially since the bench at UR earned about 5% more minutes than SDSU's this season. Doesn't appear as though perception matches reality in this case.

 

[gcarter52]

Some may even say it is Deion Taylor
https://richmondspiders.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/deion-taylor/1811

True!!

 

[SpiderK]

Some may even say it is Deion Taylor
https://richmondspiders.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/deion-taylor/1811

Lol true. Sorry all I could remember about him was that ugly shot spinning left to right and clanging off the rim time after time.

 

[MrTbone]

CM deserves some credit for this year's roster and bench management. Depth was there for the first time in a long time and he used it, and we were not one-dimensional when a guy was out/off/injured.

We won't be in a critical position barring one of those injures/outages this year, so I think Crabtree, Weir and Wilson will all get worked in, but I personally wouldn't expect major changes in usage. This is a win this year scenario, so it's going to be what worked last year for the most part. I think Crabtree will likely get some of Nick's time, and I do think Weir will probably take minutes from Sal, and possibly Grace.

 

[spider23]

Interesting observation. Especially since the bench at UR earned about 5% more minutes than SDSU's this season. Doesn't appear as though perception matches reality in this case.

RIght, Im sure you could pull a lot of statistics to disprove me. Dutcher did clamp down on his bench quite a bit towards the end - they had quite a few more injuries as the year wore on to key rotational players. They lost there best big man for most of the season, and a top 7 Burton/Cayo type for long stretches too. Hey Dutcher and Mooney are worlds apart when it comes to expectations. SDSU lost a ton this year, but Dutcher is all in and setting the expectation that they can be a top 25/NCAA team. I'm sure after next season Mooney will be lowering expectations.

 

[spider23]

Lol true. Sorry all I could remember about him was that ugly shot spinning left to right and clanging off the rim time after time.

I will say DT looked like he might become a big time player following his freshman season. It's really too bad it seemed like his back injury really impacted his game, and really seemed to hurt his shot.

 

[spider23]

And I do think Mooney got a lot better at using the bench this year, at least in regards to load sharing with Golden. Hopefully Gilly and Francis can stay healthy entire year. Those are the two he should do some load sharing when we have a big lead, as SF's statistics showed was often. Should be more often this year unless someone can get some good OOC's sheduled.

 

[coach fezz]

I will say DT looked like he might become a big time player following his freshman season. It's really too bad it seemed like his back injury really impacted his game, and really seemed to hurt his shot.

squats