Something else to consider about Mooney: Other than Burton, who has improved this year? I think Gilyard has regressed, Gus can’t get on the court, and Cayo started strong then disappeared. We get nothing from our bench. Maybe you can say Sol is better, but his impact is too minimal to count. Why aren’t these guys improving?
Fire Mooney
- Thread starter URWilk110
- Start date
I agree Moon is not going to bust out a pure zone or anything like that, he hasn't in 16 years. But a couple things he could & I don't get why he doesn't. 1. Goose average is 15 mins. This should be 25. His mismanagement of Goose minutes is ridiculous especially with a short bench. 2. He hasn't recognized that we're better on D with the press or 3/4 court press, b/c we get beat so often in half court. He uses it so rarely. I'm not asking him to use it all game or anything, but it's something we've proven we can do yet we bust out too infrequently. If using Goose more u could press a bit more they are related a bit.
Moon is just Philly soft on D. How can we have 5 plus defenders individually on D - Goose, Cayo, Burton, Gilyard, Francis - yet be so bad defensively as a team. Coaches would love to have 5 plus defenders like that. But Moon can't figure it out, that has been the most aggravating to me.
Moon is just Philly soft on D. How can we have 5 plus defenders individually on D - Goose, Cayo, Burton, Gilyard, Francis - yet be so bad defensively as a team. Coaches would love to have 5 plus defenders like that. But Moon can't figure it out, that has been the most aggravating to me.
Guys only improve under Mooney and his staff (cause I think assistants are very responsible for making sure Bench guys progress and are ready when their turn is called) if they play significant minutes, especially early in their careers as frosh/soph.
But in reality - this thread is pointless. There is absolute 0% chance Mooney gets fired this year or even next year. This year - simply because we will finish with a good record and either make the NCAA or just miss it. And with COVID and the school even admitting the additional costs they needed to raise to keep the program going and other sports as well - the storyline will be how well the team did even with the COVID protocols and guidelines.
Next year - the team will struggle, and hopefully finish around .500. But the storyline there will be this is a rebuilding year, so nothing happens then.
So I think we can put this thread to bed. You can bring it back up in 3 years. That is really the next chance the school considers making a switch.
But in reality - this thread is pointless. There is absolute 0% chance Mooney gets fired this year or even next year. This year - simply because we will finish with a good record and either make the NCAA or just miss it. And with COVID and the school even admitting the additional costs they needed to raise to keep the program going and other sports as well - the storyline will be how well the team did even with the COVID protocols and guidelines.
Next year - the team will struggle, and hopefully finish around .500. But the storyline there will be this is a rebuilding year, so nothing happens then.
So I think we can put this thread to bed. You can bring it back up in 3 years. That is really the next chance the school considers making a switch.
the assumption had to be that Francis and Gilyard are substantially better at guard than Goose and Burton's the real deal at the 3. so how many more minutes could you give Goose?
now in reality, Francis and Gilyard haven't been so good that they can't sit more. but then Goose got hurt. as a game time decision Saturday coming off a groin, I'm fine with his limited minutes this past game. I don't expect much more than that tonight either. ease him back.
I agree I'd like us to press more, even if just a token press. but with our short bench that's tough. and with the layoff even tougher. and a problem with a press is that it can lead to guys getting to the rim against Golden. he's not a rim protector, and we can't afford him to take fouls.
Fwiw, I wouldn't advocate changing the defense at all, my criticism is we just don't seem to be executing what we are doing that well. There are little things that can be done. For example, I saw one series where LaSalle missed a shot, got their own rebound, took another shot from deep, the ball bounced pretty hard off the rim, and we had either 3 or 4 guys all just standing around looking at it. LaSalle player pounced and grabbed it, kicked it out and they hit a 3. That's just maddening small detail stuff where your guys are all looking around at each other I guess hoping someone else is going to secure the ball. The rebounding mentality there has to be wired so differently that you are almost instinctually going after the loose ball, full bore, no hesitation.
So it's those kinds of small things that the coaches do need to notice and adjust for. I suppose their mentality is that it may not matter, but the results indicate otherwise.
Burton obviously has.
I'd argue Golden and Cayo have. both are shooting 60% from the floor.
so it's just Gilyard and Francis who had better seasons last year so far.
sometimes the ball bounces the wrong way. we took 3 threes in one possession. supposedly we never rebound offensively, but the ball bounced our way. we missed all 3 though.
I wish we had more rebound-minded guys too. Burton's been a monster. I don't think we coached that as much as we recruited that. we need to recruit more of that.
Take it from Gilly Francis maybe Cayo. Not hard to get him to 25. I wasn't talking about just lasalle game obviously. He wasn't even playing much pre-groin injury. Tho it was reported per UR that he had no restrictions vs lasalle. & he looked good, could have played a few more that game.
I disagree, Golden could take more fouls. How many games has he been in foul trouble? 1? He has 30 fouls in 13 games at the 5 spot. And he thinks it's only half that. Yes we definitely need him on O for sure he's elite there but we can afford to be a little more aggressive. Plus you press when he's out of game, he plays 28 mins a game. Run it when he's out and only 10-20% time when he's in perhaps I don't know. If Goose is playing a lot more off the bench it makes the press a little more viable.
Anyway maybe you feel the status quo is working. I do not.
So I get that, but in this particular case, it had nothing to do with it bouncing the wrong way, rebound positioning/boxing out, or even size. It literally hit the floor in the middle of 3-4 well spaced UR players and no one went for it. Notably, no one from LaSalle was near it, the guy that got it was actually behind one of our guys and went around him to secure the ball. That's just mental, that's thinking that it's someone else's job to get the ball.
This falls in the exact same trap as the Moon man himself. Looks only at offense. Golden and Gilyard are positively having bad years defensively and have regressed, not improved on that side of the ball. Gilyard clearly seems steals obsessed to the detriment of his overall defense and GG has taken avoiding foul trouble to a new level too. Burton has been a bit disappointing defensively to me (I had high expectations) but hard to say he's advanced or regressed since the minutes and the responsibility are very different this year. Cayo is really struggling (like everyone) to stop dribble penetration. As a team, defense is the problem and the real regression, so we can't look and assess players or the coach and talk only about offense!!
I think Burton's defense has improved dramatically during this season. he feet are moving much better.
I don't see the regression defensively from Grant that you see. he's not a leaper and he's not quick laterally. that's hasn't changed and isn't going to change this season. I just brought up the press issue because I don't think it'll go well with him protecting the rim in a spread out situation like that. yes, you can press with Grace in there instead. the foul problem goes away but we'll still have the same problem at the rim. Sal's not a rim protector either. I'd love to have one for pressing situations.
I don't see the regression defensively from Grant that you see. he's not a leaper and he's not quick laterally. that's hasn't changed and isn't going to change this season. I just brought up the press issue because I don't think it'll go well with him protecting the rim in a spread out situation like that. yes, you can press with Grace in there instead. the foul problem goes away but we'll still have the same problem at the rim. Sal's not a rim protector either. I'd love to have one for pressing situations.
I am in the its time for Mooney to go camp because I don't think he maximizes his talent, but I don't think you can say he has 5 plus individual defenders. Of that group, I'd say Goose is a plus defender, The rest are not. Gilyard is certainly plus at steals and so good at that its easy to overlook other aspects of defense, but he gets 4 steals a game and there are probably 60+ defensive possessions a game and what he is doing on the other 56 quite frankly isn't very good right now. Francis probably could be a plus defender if he was able to guard PGsall the time but he struggles with strength and height in many of his match-ups. I will say that I don't think he's really a big part of the problem though.
You can make an argument that Francis and Gilyard have not played as well this year as last year, but the difference statistically is very minimal. But the flip side is you would have to say Burton has stepped up nicely and Grant at times is looking better than last year. Cayo at the beginning of the year looked really good - but has cooled off lately. And there is no bench.
UR is going to be in top 4 of the A10 this year. They will sell last year as an NCAA year and even if we miss NCAA this year - we will likely be on the bubble or a high seed in the NIT (if there is one) - meaning we were close. Add that to the last 7 years of frustration - and you have an argument to fire Mooney. IF - the school cared about Athletics. Which we all know they don't. Which means - he has 0% chance to get fired after this season. And not even next season in my opinion because our team will be so inexperienced - it will be looked at as a rebuild.
If this was a school who invested and cared about athletics, especially basketball (and football) - this would be a different coversation, but I just don't see it happening.
UR is going to be in top 4 of the A10 this year. They will sell last year as an NCAA year and even if we miss NCAA this year - we will likely be on the bubble or a high seed in the NIT (if there is one) - meaning we were close. Add that to the last 7 years of frustration - and you have an argument to fire Mooney. IF - the school cared about Athletics. Which we all know they don't. Which means - he has 0% chance to get fired after this season. And not even next season in my opinion because our team will be so inexperienced - it will be looked at as a rebuild.
If this was a school who invested and cared about athletics, especially basketball (and football) - this would be a different coversation, but I just don't see it happening.
Gilyard's totals are comparable but his percentages are down substantially.
36.7% to 32.5% from 3.
59.7% to 51.8% from 2.
Blake's only dropped off from 3.
36.3% to 32.6% from 3.
47.0% to 47.4% from 2.
Like I said, Cayo played well at the outset, now you wouldn’t even know he’s on the court. In what area did Golden show real improvement over last year?
whats your level of confidence of 17-18 IC games now? Tried to warn u no chance of 18. How I wish that was wrong. Unfortunately think the same irrational overconfidence is prevalent in AD & bball program. Lack of urgency easy to see.
we’re still 7-2. Bad losses don’t mean as much this year. We still have all these games. It’s regatta time!
Lot of big hat no cattle.
Can we get a new update on the conference game quantity and makeup confidence? Just like VT4700 I know Mooney was very confident of getting all in besides 1 or 2 too.
How we have handled this pandemic season is as good evidence as any to fire Mooney. He has a team loaded with upperclassmen, but so far has not lived up to expectations, in a season where experience matters more than ever before. And now this will be our third covid pause while Mooney whines about not being able to practice. Quit whining and get control of the situation
You know no coach in America will be fired for covid reasons, unless he injects his entire team or an opponent with it. It's a built-in excuse for every coach.
I'm going on official record saying that I am ready and willing to donate $100 to the next Billboard Fund.
This is correct. It also begs the question why any Athletic Director would give a coach an exten$ion now.
Do we get 2 billboards (one each for Mooney & Hardt) or do we combine them together?
Both together, maybe photoshop them holding hands and looking into each other's eyes...
Yes and it's not hindsight to question the 2 year extension, that was all questioned by many in September and leading up to it. It's at least a $2.5 million mistake by Hardt. Maybe Queally will eat it, or maybe we'll just ride the status quo for a few more years putting us further behind as a program, losing more fans and then be less desirable as a job. In either case if I'm Hardt I might start to worry that PQ eventually puts those things ahead of their daughters friendship.
Queally is more focused on whether one of his investments is about to be squeezed by the Redditors.
G, been beating this drum for a few years now, so often that I got tired of it this year. As Phillyspider actually will say, Mooney only concentrates on one thing, his offense. Defense and rebounding are afterthoughts. There is no reason you cannot instill the mindset. Defense travels and persists. Saw this on twitter today talking about Dutcher and SDSU:
No reason we can't aspire to have a coach that coaches and teams excell on multiple facets, or at least be good on D every year.
Yep, I am thankful for the donation to build the practice facility - years after everyone else had one - but have said - based on what I know of his net worth, he could make that in 1 small trade. He may very well have got squeezed. It's going to be interesting b/c it seems super obvious the hedge fund guys were blatantly breaking rules and pupeteering Robinhood.
Now I have to go read up on the $SLV squeeze coming
can Moon man give us an update on the conference game confidence meter? Preferably Moon the face of the program can reshare his wildly incorrect thoughts. But if not maybe VT4700. Given our #ThirdRichmond covid pause - I stole that new hashtag from UR Twitter where we r understandably getting beat up by SLU & VCU fans - Moon might be stuck binge watching Cobra Kai these days.
I bet he skips the parts on the Miyagi dojo. Not into defense.
Fordham just beat Lasalle today. I am tired of the excuses. no great class would ever choke against Lasalle. tired of it.
Adding Drexel to this list now. The list is way too long. Only best buddies and coworkers support this dumpster fire.
8legs1dream
Graduate Assistant
you don't support the program either you only support MoonPie 🤣
And no decent coach would have a team so unmotivated and unprepared.
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