ADVERTISEMENT

Could this be one of the best 3 point shooting team in the school history?

UR80sfan

Star
Jan 28, 2018
1,344
2,265
113
This year's team has very strong depth of talents with significant competition at most positions. I can hardly wait to see who wins out at each position, although it might change game to game depending on who we are playing.

There are a lot of unknowns on this team, which make any forecast not very accurate, but one scenario I could see is relying more on 3 point shooting than in the past. This might include a lineup of Nelson at point, Quinn at center and rotating the other 3 positions with 6-4 to 6-7 3 point sharp shooters including Burton, Noyes and Roche with the potential to shoot over 40% with Bigelow not far behind and 3 to 4 other players with potential in the mid 30s. Normally a team does not want to live and die by the 3, but that changes if you have a lot of high quality shooters. It obviously also opens the floor up for more drives to the basket. It will be interesting to see what this team's 3 point shooting average ends up compare to previous teams.
 
I'm actually still a little concerned about the 3. I expect us to be better than last year, and Roche and Bigelow are huge additions for us, but we still need a lot to happen to be really good from 3. Tyler needs to be better than the 31% he was the last 32 games last year, Grace and Goose need to improve a little, and Nelson needs to show he can make some volume 3s, especially considering he is replacing one of the few guys, and sometimes the only guy, who knocked them down consistently for us last year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spiderman
I don’t know what our best three-point shooting team was, but I don’t think this will be it. Roche and Burton are really the only proven high-volume three-point shooters we have, and Burton was not super remarkable from there overall last year. I think we have a lot of potential from three, but I wouldn’t expect everything to go right.
 
  • Like
Reactions: plydogg and VT4700
I am with VT on this one. Not sure we will even be a good 3 point team much less best ever. Describing some of our guys as "sharpshooters" seems really optimistic to me.

I'd say we are closer to having zero proven three point shooters. Burtons 31% over most of the season is the only thing we have that's proven in my mind. And thats not really a good number and we need him to take a decent step forward on that number. Bigelow shot under 30% last year. Goose wasn't good. Nelson is a total wildcard. Noyes even more so. Grace shot 28% last year. That leaves Roche. His numbers were obviously good, but even he comes with some questions given he did it at a lower level and its unsure how much he might even play. He'll play, but his minutes and usage figure to be down and his competition better.

I'd say we have some potential, but I certainly don't think we want to be a team that relies on 3 pointers too much. I will be happy if we are average and keep our 2 pt % up high as its been.
 
It was a very optimistic thought based on even more optimist projections. Burton, during the first part of last season was shooting about 45% from 3, which I am hoping he can back to. Roche was near 40% on heavy volume, which might go up if he shots less, Noyes was 47% in high school and just single out by Mooney, although not necessarily for his 3s. Bigelow was close to 40% his freshman year before he got injured.

So there is a chance we could be a very good 3 point shooting team.
 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
we don't know for sure who's playing a lot yet.
Roche and Noyes might be two of our best shooters, but it's possible both are coming off the bench and in Noyes' case maybe in a very limited role.

some are projecting a starting lineup of Quinn, Grace, Burton, Goose and Nelson. unless all improve from outside, that 5 might project as one of our worst 3 point shooting teams.
 
we don't know for sure who's playing a lot yet.
Roche and Noyes might be two of our best shooters, but it's possible both are coming off the bench and in Noyes' case maybe in a very limited role.

some are projecting a starting lineup of Quinn, Grace, Burton, Goose and Nelson. unless all improve from outside, that 5 might project as one of our worst 3 point shooting teams.
I think it possible that Mooney chooses this as the starting team for first couple games. But, I am willing to bet Ulla's farm that this will not be the starting 5 at the end, nor even for the majority of the season.
 
I think Roche will get 20+ minutes a game, but his playing time could depend on how well Nelson shoots it from 3. We kind of already have a good idea of what our other guys can do from 3. Nelson is the unknown. If Nelson doesn't show he can consistently make them and force the defense to respect him from 3, we will need a lot of minutes from Roche because we have to have multiple guys who can knock them down out there. I also see more minutes from Dji at PG if Nelson is not making threes.
 
Last edited:
I think it possible that Mooney chooses this as the starting team for first couple games. But, I am willing to bet Ulla's farm that this will not be the starting 5 at the end, nor even for the majority of the season.
There's just not enough quality shooting with that lineup. I am hoping Goose and Grace shoot the 3 better this year, but I still don't think they would be enough of a threat to have the defense worry about them too much from out there. I want Goose starting and playing a lot, so Bigelow, with his size, shooting, and versatility, starting instead of Grace makes a lot of sense to me. It would not matter who our opponents start because Bigelow could guard a variety of players. I still think Grace will get good minutes if he doesn't start.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Not-A-Homer
A lot of new pieces this year. It’s going to take a full year to understand the Mooney system. Even TJ Cline wasn’t very effective his first year here.
 
A lot of new pieces this year. It’s going to take a full year to understand the Mooney system. Even TJ Cline wasn’t very effective his first year here.
Wasn't effective? TJ shot 39% from 3, over 60% from 2, and averaged about 12 a game in 23 minutes his 1st year here, all while Kendall and ANO were still here.
 
Wasn't effective? TJ shot 39% from 3, over 60% from 2, and averaged about 12 a game in 23 minutes his 1st year here, all while Kendall and ANO were still here.
Lol, he played 23 minutes per game and his primary competition was ANO. That has got to be one of the all time bad beats on minutes in the Mooney era.
 
I thought ANO was a good player. Good size and blocked some shots. Never developed the solid offensive game, but he was a key piece TJ's first year here, and we just missed making the dance that year. Once TJ started, his minutes picked up, and I think it was usually foul trouble, and not ANO, that kept TJ from averaging a few more minutes a game.
 
Last edited:
Playing TJ 23 mins a game is totally ridiculous. The only thing I can agree on this board.
Some of the things you guys get bothered by amaze me. He played 20 minutes a game his year at Niagara. Did they mess that up too? TJ had minutes played games of 27, 26, 27, 28, 40, 26, 34, 26, 35, 27, 30, and 30 his first year here. He also had 3 fouls or more 17 times. I remember several games where he got in early foul trouble and had to sit, and he wasn't close to our best defender that year.

So, which is it? You earlier said "Even TJ Cline wasn’t very effective his first year here". Now, you say he should have played more. LOL.
 
Last edited:
he certainly wasn't in the same kind of condition sophomore year as he was as a senior, either.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VT4700
Some of the things you guys get bothered by amaze me. He played 20 minutes a game his year at Niagara. Did they mess that up too? TJ had minutes played games of 27, 26, 27, 28, 40, 26, 34, 26, 35, 27, 30, and 30 his first year here. He also had 3 fouls or more 17 times. I remember several games where he got in early foul trouble and had to sit, and he wasn't close to our best defender that year.

So, which is it? You earlier said "Even TJ Cline wasn’t very effective his first year here". Now, you say he should have played more. LOL.
A. I don't care how many minutes he played at Niagara, but yeah apparently since he transferred. B. It was abundantly clear by like the 3rd game of the season that TJ was a stud, but yet he didn't get starters minutes until well into the well into January of that year.

Why? Cause Mooney couldn't fit his new toy into this prearranged toybox. See, also SDJ his freshman year.

This would be my worry about Roche this year too. Great player, who it takes Mooney half a season to figure out how to best get him minutes.
 
I think the goal was to have sophomore TJ coexist with ANO, not replace him. it didn't work as we lost ANO anyway. but that would have been ideal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VT4700
So, who did you want ShawnDre taking a lot of minutes from early his freshman year? Kendall or Ced?
 
TJ will be the first to admit he wasn't in shape when he started at UR and in fact cued Mooney to take him out of the game when he got gassed.

When I arrived on campus in 2013, I weighed 245 pounds and was in terrible shape. So the first order of business was turning my slobbish habits into healthy ones. I spent the majority of my redshirt year watching my diet, getting extra shots up and going on long runs.

Though I had lost 10 pounds by the following season, I was still chubby. I got gassed so easily, in fact, that I even had a secret sign where I’d tug at my jersey to let Coach Mooney know that I needed a break. If you look at the film from my first year at Richmond, my shirt’s untucked allllll the time because I was pulling at it so often.

Because of that, I became the butt of a lot of jokes in practice. One time we ran this drill where I was supposed to set a pick and then roll to the basket, but instead I’d just pop out to the perimeter for a shot. It happened like three times before Coach Mooney blew his whistle, got everyone to quiet down and said, “Hey, T.J. … I know you like rolls, so how come you don’t like to roll to the hoop?”

Dudes were on the floor laughing, myself included.

As funny as it was, it made me realize that if I really wanted to average 35 to 40 minutes per game some day — if I really wanted to leave Richmond without any regrets — I was going to have to get into incredible shape.

 
Nice find, but I don't know.....should we believe TJ or 97 here? It is possible 97 knows more about TJ than TJ, and certainly he knows all about the 2015 team because he was at every practice, right?
 
lol. coaching youth ball, I told my team go hard. don't save anything. if you're gassed make a fist and I'll get you a quick break. you'll get back in.

3 minutes into the 1st quarter of the 1st game my kid gives me the fist.

I turn away and look at my assistant. he starts to look for a sub, looks back at me, sees my expression and busts out laughing.
 
That was a pretty good line by Mooney about the rolls!

Back on this thread title, I think the offseason is the time we oversell the 3 point shooting expectations every year. I know I tend to buy in. We do have some good potential but I think to be in the discussion with Harp/Butler/gonzo/KA etc teams - will need a couple guys to really exceed previous years production, so a Quinn, Bigelow, Goose to really improve, and either Dji or Nelson to be solid to good.
 
That was a pretty good line by Mooney about the rolls!

Back on this thread title, I think the offseason is the time we oversell the 3 point shooting expectations every year. I know I tend to buy in. We do have some good potential but I think to be in the discussion with Harp/Butler/gonzo/KA etc teams - will need a couple guys to really exceed previous years production, so a Quinn, Bigelow, Goose to really improve, and either Dji or Nelson to be solid to good.
I don't think we will be close to that team's 39% mark. Give me 35-36% with at least 3 volume guys at 35 or better, and we will win a lot of games.
 
  • Like
Reactions: plydogg and urfan1
TJ will be the first to admit he wasn't in shape when he started at UR and in fact cued Mooney to take him out of the game when he got gassed.




Funny line for sure doesn't bother me but could you still do that in 2022? I know it wasn't that long ago, but now you'd get canceled for fat shaming. Mooney has said much worse to players, but if the players respect you and understand its coming from the right place you can say that stuff imo. Just don't let the blue hairs near the bench hear it. When Mooney cups the mouth we'll know he's all the way back.

But can you imagine coach Roussell saying the same thing to a womens player...he wouldn't last the rest of the day.
 
I thought ANO was a good player. Good size and blocked some shots. Never developed the solid offensive game, but he was a key piece TJ's first year here, and we just missed making the dance that year. Once TJ started, his minutes picked up, and I think it was usually foul trouble, and not ANO, that kept TJ from averaging a few more minutes a game.
ANO was alright, he transferred to Pitt and couldn't get off their bench whereas TJ was A-10 player of the year a couple years later. Maybe it was his sister you remember, she was a player.
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT