ADVERTISEMENT

Davidson game observations

Wilson should be getting 6-8 minutes per game. Mooney was fine in the first half, getting Wilson in for some brief rests for both Gilly and Blake, but then forgot about him in the second....
Wilson played 4 minutes, with 1 foul, 2 turnovers, and 1 missed shot. It's no wonder Coach accidentally "forgot" about him.
 
To me, that may have been Gran't best offensive game. Nailed two threes, very timely baskets. A couple of just incredible reverses inside, one on which it appeared he was hammered, but he just got up and ran back to his credit. Blake and Burton were spectacular too - and just when I was asking where Cayo was he had strong finishes.

I do want to see Dji and Wilson get some more minutes. Wilson did have two pretty ugly turnovers and Mooney yanked him out, I can understand his reluctance in this game.

Next season he really needs a couple competent bigs - really should be looking for guys with 2+ years transfer eligibility if we want to challenge next year.

Good news on the competition front, Dayton is depleted now and looking shaky, I though A10 was stacked this year but several teams not really living up to expectations yet.
It will be interesting to see if Weaver or Amzil become a big part of the Dayton rotation.
 
he's trying to win basketball games. this is one of the reason's guys love playing for Mooney. he won't say "I didn't put him back in there because he was turning the ball over". he puts the blame on himself.
Are there coaches who aren't trying to win basketball games? Also in his post game with Bob Black (2:13:00 mark in audio stream), CM mentioned Wilson's turnover (and subsequent removal from the game) and said it was bad luck for Wilson because right when he entered the game Davidson switched to zone. I agree that CM is definitely not overtly negative, nor should he be at least in the public eye.

a solid Davidson team with a supposedly great coach on the road
Last I checked McKillop is a win away from 600 wins as a D1 coach, all with Davidson. I think that is the sign of a great coach.

The difference in the Davidson game was that McKillop kept his redshirt freshman in at the end of the game even though he was having trouble getting the ball in-bounds on the press. He was letting his player get in-game experience and to play through adversity. Mooney is focused on winning now and is going to go as far as the starters can take him this year- it is that simple. Every game is like a tournament game. That is a hard way to play a season and is probably why the bench is so quiet. It simply isn't fun.
 
Without any depth or bench being used we are only one stater injury away from the season going into the tank.
 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
Without any depth or bench being used we are only one stater injury away from the season going into the tank.
? We already lost a starter. Nick. Then, last night we played without 2 others. Yet, here we are 7-2 and 1-0. Now, you ask what happens if we lost another starter? Duh, it would probably affect us. Just wondering, how many teams do you think would not go into the tank if they lost more than 1 starter?
 
Are there coaches who aren't trying to win basketball games? Also in his post game with Bob Black (2:13:00 mark in audio stream), CM mentioned Wilson's turnover (and subsequent removal from the game) and said it was bad luck for Wilson because right when he entered the game Davidson switched to zone. I agree that CM is definitely not overtly negative, nor should he be at least in the public eye.


Last I checked McKillop is a win away from 600 wins as a D1 coach, all with Davidson. I think that is the sign of a great coach.

The difference in the Davidson game was that McKillop kept his redshirt freshman in at the end of the game even though he was having trouble getting the ball in-bounds on the press. He was letting his player get in-game experience and to play through adversity. Mooney is focused on winning now and is going to go as far as the starters can take him this year- it is that simple. Every game is like a tournament game. That is a hard way to play a season and is probably why the bench is so quiet. It simply isn't fun.
Yep, who cares about last night's game? Who cares about these seniors who have busted their butts for four or more years and suffered through a lot of losing their first two seasons. Now, when everything's set up for them, we should make sure we get those youngsters in, right? Tight game second half? Sorry, Jacob and Blake, you guys are on the bench. We need to let Bailey and Wilson work through their inexperience down the stretch. Who cares about winning now when we have to plan for the future, right?

And, where is this bench is quiet talk coming from? I haven't noticed that at all. I've seen a lot of support from the bench. Did you see everyone after Blake hit that three last night? Looked like guys were having fun to me.
 
Great gritty win. I thought Davidson played really well (and is a really solid team), and I think this was our most complete game of the year. We got a little soft on defense in the second half and the observation by the announcer that sometimes you need to foul a guy hard to make them think twice was spot on. A couple observations.
Hey 97 - Only included your first paragraph of your opening in this thread. Really well written & accurate post. Agree with everything you said and all the observations. Keep writing...good stuff!
 
? We already lost a starter. Nick. Then, last night we played without 2 others. Yet, here we are 7-2 and 1-0. Now, you ask what happens if we lost another starter? Duh, it would probably affect us. Just wondering, how many teams do you think would not go into the tank if they lost more than 1 starter?
Wouldn't you want to develop some of your bench guys to get them game ready?
 
  • Like
Reactions: SpiderDad75
Wouldn't you want to develop some of your bench guys to get them game ready?
Sure, when they are ready, but even then, if they were not part of our top 9, now top 8 without Crabtree, then I wouldn't be too worried about it in tight games. 1st goal is win the game with your best rotation guys. Next game, if playing Goose 20 minutes and Wilson 0 gives us a better chance of winning than playing Goose 12 and Wilson 8, I'm playing Goose 20. I don't understand all this game experience talk. If Wilson and Bailey are good players, they will be fine next year when more minutes come calling, whether they get a lot of minutes this year or not. But, you can't as a coach, go into a game this year and say they have to give these guys x amount of minutes every game. It just doesn't work that way, and I can't believe it's even an issue on here.
 
Sure, when they are ready, but even then, if they were not part of our top 9, now top 8 without Crabtree, then I wouldn't be too worried about it in tight games. 1st goal is win the game with your best rotation guys. Next game, if playing Goose 20 minutes and Wilson 0 gives us a better chance of winning than playing Goose 12 and Wilson 8, I'm playing Goose 20. I don't understand all this game experience talk. If Wilson and Bailey are good players, they will be fine next year when more minutes come calling, whether they get a lot of minutes this year or not. But, you can't as a coach, go into a game this year and say they have to give these guys x amount of minutes every game. It just doesn't work that way, and I can't believe it's even an issue on here.
I agree with you mostly...as a dad I want to see my guy out there. But I’m not stupid either and whether you play my son or Zay, play them early...as a former coach I would play those Srs. They have been there and are why we are who we are. Both of the Freshman are def good enough and the biggest difference right now is experience....period. I personally think those guys should get some time but we been here before and it will work out! We played behind and with Coby White for 2 years and I have no doubt that Dji and Zay will be ready if and when there number is called, but you got to go with the experience. If you can get young guys in there early and it doesn’t hurt you..go for it but you still have to dance with the ones that got us here.
 
As the season wears on the wear and tear has a tendency to set in on players - even those in the best of condition. It's beneficial to have starters get minimal breathers. It's a long season - some can endure 35 plus mins a game but others may not do so well with the physical & even mental stress. Going with a rotation where subs are getting minimal minutes (example - Wilson & Grace each 4 mins last night) really doesn't give much of a break to starters. I realize that Goose was out last night and is getting practical minutes. And plenty has been said already of game experience benefit for younger players. Maybe we got snake bit by injuries again, but depth is important, and if we go primarily with starters and minimal minutes from the bench, hopefully we can pull this off. Let's revisit this as this season progresses for impact.
 
As legit players coming off bench, right now I see Gus, Wilson and Sal. Diji needs to be played some and Grace
has looked overmatched the last two games. No.1 we need Andre back healthy.
 
It is not as if it is either or - stick with starters to win or give the subs some minutes. Believe we can do both with a better mix than we have seen to date.

Not a coach, may be full of it, but seems you can't build a sustained program without playing underclassmen. Trusting the goal is a sustained winning program versus a spike every 5 or 10 years, but sometimes I ain't sure.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spider23
It is not as if it is either or - stick with starters to win or give the subs some minutes. Believe we can do both with a better mix than we have seen to date.

Not a coach, may be full of it, but seems you can't build a sustained program without playing underclassmen. Trusting the goal is a sustained winning program versus a spike every 5 or 10 years, but sometimes I ain't sure.
Well certainly it’s not binary and to be fair, we are getting the younger guys some minutes but it’s way lower than it should be given our experience level. We aren’t a drastic anomaly in this regard, but it probably feels more painful given the sense that we are staring at 1-2 years rebuilding after this one.
 
I agree with you mostly...as a dad I want to see my guy out there. But I’m not stupid either and whether you play my son or Zay, play them early...as a former coach I would play those Srs. They have been there and are why we are who we are. Both of the Freshman are def good enough and the biggest difference right now is experience....period. I personally think those guys should get some time but we been here before and it will work out! We played behind and with Coby White for 2 years and I have no doubt that Dji and Zay will be ready if and when there number is called, but you got to go with the experience. If you can get young guys in there early and it doesn’t hurt you..go for it but you still have to dance with the ones that got us here.
Love your comments and thanks for sharing. I am looking very forward to seeing both guys next year, and if we see them more this year, that's great too. They both have exciting skills that should really help us, and I think their talent will show next year whether they get a lot of time or not this year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SpiderDad75
The difference in the Davidson game was that McKillop kept his redshirt freshman in at the end of the game even though he was having trouble getting the ball in-bounds on the press. He was letting his player get in-game experience and to play through adversity.
... and it cost them the game. Probably down the road when Mennenga learns how to inbound, he can look back and say that last night helped him. But it didn’t help last night. It cost his team the game.

I don’t want Mooney throwing out freshmen in there to make game-altering mistakes in crunch time, but I would like a few more minutes here and there if possible.
 
... and it cost them the game. Probably down the road when Mennenga learns how to inbound, he can look back and say that last night helped him. But it didn’t help last night. It cost his team the game.
That’s right, it did. One regular season conference loss. I suppose that may be meaningful if there isn’t an A-10 tournament. But if there is one, I don’t want to see the Spiders versus Davidson.

Just to be painfully clear, I don’t expect the freshman to be in the game over the seniors in crunch time. My
point was specific to coaching. We saw two different coaching tactics in the game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Spiders4ever
? Trophies for players to get game experience? If you think we are going to roll through the season with all 5 starters playing over 35 minutes a game you are wrong.
Only 3 played 35 or more minutes, and we didn't even have Andre last night.
 
That’s right, it did. One regular season conference loss. I suppose that may be meaningful if there isn’t an A-10 tournament. But if there is one, I don’t want to see the Spiders versus Davidson.

Just to be painfully clear, I don’t expect the freshman to be in the game over the seniors in crunch time. My
point was specific to coaching. We saw two different coaching tactics in the game.
Maybe in this game, but how can this be a good comparison when both coaches have played freshman plenty in their careers and both have also not played freshman. You can't just cherry pick McKillop playing a feeshman last night as a tell all. What about the freshman he isn't playing right now? And, as far as we are concerned, what about Burton last year? Didn't he get meaningful minutes? And same with 2, 3, and 4 years ago when we played plenty of freshman.
 
I guess the other difference is that Mennenga plays a lot for them anyway. It wasn’t like he was just put in here and there to get experience — they count on him to win now.

We don’t count on any of our freshmen.
 
We don’t count on any of our freshmen.
Which is good. We spent what, 3 years relying on freshmen starters beginning with Grant and Nick, then Jacob, then with Wojcik/Gus. We will be again next year and probably the year after that. It’d be good not to have such a heavy dependence on freshmen each year. Some of it is expected, but we have been very unbalanced the last five years.
 
Yes, he should have used more of his 8 timeouts. Good call. Very knowledgeable post.

You are so right, thank you for pointing out that I am not knowledgeable. I'm just a fan for the past 60 years and I still don't know shit. Thanks again for pointing this out. Have a happy new year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Spiders4ever
Oh, and by the way, I would love to know the meaning behind your moniker. I've tried to figure it out but all I can come up with is something sexual (as you well know I'm not very knowledgeable)
 
  • Like
Reactions: SpiderGuy
Oh, and by the way, I would love to know the meaning behind your moniker. I've tried to figure it out but all I can come up with is something sexual (as you well know I'm not very knowledgeable)
Just curious, did you see Jason McKinney play for the spiders Oct 1994 to Mar 1996?

Although we‘d all like to forget our won/loss record those two seasons...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GKiller
Ahh, THAT McKinney, well now it makes sense. And yes I have seen every Spider play since the early 60's and he still is entertaining!
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT