Game Thread: VMI 11/7
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8legs1dream
Graduate Assistant
hard to look totally dominant for 40 minutes in any 20 point win. Could have been much, much worse.
Excited from what I saw tonight, in my professional opinion. Roche, Bigalow, and Quinn fit seemlessly. Nelson looks like Gilly 2.0 and Dji brings great energy.
I expect we may see a larger than usual number of zones this year with Quinn in the middle. Going to have to shoot the 3 ball better if that happens. VMI was quick to double him every time he touched it.
Thought Spiders did a better job off the dribble in second half, made more concerted effort to get to the rim.
Thought Spiders did a better job off the dribble in second half, made more concerted effort to get to the rim.
This was embarrassing. The whole in-game Robins Center experience was like this was a scrimmage and not the first game of the season.
Agreed and the microphone woman to get the crowd going needs real help or at least a new sound system … painful to the my ears … miss our old guy with longish hair from pre Covid years
Totally agree. Matt doesn’t really seem like a player that needs or wants lots of minutes either. Mooney should start him in the plethora of low quality non-conference games if he really wants to be loyal to the guy for past efforts and then quickly move him back to his off the bench role for the majority of the A10 season.
I agree. I said PG would be the key for us, and I like what I saw from Nelson and Dji. They combined for 20 points and they each hit a 3 in 45 minutes. If we get that from them, or even close to it, every night, we will win a lot of games. Solid solid 1st game for Nelson. I don't want to compare anyone to Jacob though. Not yet anyway.
I thought we had some good spots and I def like some lineups better than others bc of an athleticism standpoint. Clean up FTs, knock down open shots, and I love when Neal can seal his guy on the block but he has to be down there to do it. Loved our guards getting into the paint but that needs to be more. The one thing I’ll say is that every single guy busted their butts when on the floor and was no let down.
Really loved our length, athleticism and aggressiveness defensively. Shots will fall, and if we keep up the energy on defense, we’re going to be a real solid team again this year!
Got me so excited I went and booked flights and tickets for the Loyola Chicago game!
Got me so excited I went and booked flights and tickets for the Loyola Chicago game!
Bigelow showed some strong flashes and deserves a spot in the starting 5. Nelson had some good plays but made some mistakes and missed too many free throws, but if he cleans that up, he'll be at the top consistently. Burton largely struggled but made up some gap with his Double Double via the boards, time to get him aggressive. Quinn was efficient, though needs to take more chances.
Overall, much more positive start than previous years, bench looks deeper than years past as well
Overall, much more positive start than previous years, bench looks deeper than years past as well
I could have picked any comment to respond to, but this one seemed comical enough...
Unfortunately, I saw very little to be excited about. Yes, it was the first game but we're bad and I don't see much upside. If Quinn could do anything as well as Grant (anything!) we might be OK but his lack of strength effects everything he does negatively. Total downgrade from GG. Michael Walz in clean up minutes has a better body and presents more upside than Quinn.
I watched the players shoot for about 30 minutes - particularly Roche. I believe him to be the best shooter on the team but his lack of athleticism make him completely one dimensional.
Bigelow was a bright spot as he did a little bit of everything.
And no disrespect to MFG who didn't do anything outstandingly bad (or outstandingly good) but it will be tough to keep him off the floor. That's a bad thing because he just isn't a quality starter in the A10 - period...but we don't have a ton of choice at the 4/5.
This team is offensively challenged to put it mildly. Goose can't shoot and we need offense. And Burton is Burton...extremely inconsistent form yielding inconsistent results - just bad stuff from him on the shooting end tonite.
A few other players had a few brief bright spots (Dji, Randolph, Nelson) but even then they had more negatives than positives.
First game - yes, I understand. Will they improve? Yes, there is a ton of room to improve but the quality of the players I saw tonite make it a low ceiling.
This team is long, not super athletic, and on the slow side comparatively. We have zero inside scoring. If teams want to take our inside game away from us it can easily be done, and we don't have the shooters to make them pay.
This is the type of team that will get absolutely man handled by Dayton, Vcu, Loyola, etc.
I'm not trying to be negative - honestly. But there was absolutely nothing we did tonite to make me excited for this year.
Yecch! By the end of the year it will be apparent that last year's team saved CMs job for sure!
Geez…tell us how you really feel. “This team is long, not super athletic, and on the slow side comparatively”
Not sure about this…there are couple of lineups that were out when this simply isn’t true. This team is way more athletic than the team has been in last 2 yrs. Jaynel, Dji TB, Zay, and Goose, & Marcus are are athletic guys and when we had a big lineup on the floor. Our bigs are who they are but to say we aren’t athletic is crazy to me. Jmo 🕷️🏀
Not sure about this…there are couple of lineups that were out when this simply isn’t true. This team is way more athletic than the team has been in last 2 yrs. Jaynel, Dji TB, Zay, and Goose, & Marcus are are athletic guys and when we had a big lineup on the floor. Our bigs are who they are but to say we aren’t athletic is crazy to me. Jmo 🕷️🏀
Much better second half. Guards and Quinn played well. Defense was better than it has been in years. Burton had a bad game and still had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Point guard has to make his free throws or none of this matters. Grace still did nothing. We won by 20, but VMI only had one D1 player. We will get better, but they have to improve fast to get over .500 this year.
Just realized the men and women both won by identical 69–48 scores…nice.
I disagree with nearly everything on here.
1. I saw a lot to be excited about.
2. We are good, with a lot of upside.
3. Quinn was 3-3 with 7 Reb, 3 assists, and a block in 19 minutes.
4. "One dimensional" Roche had 3 rebounds, drew a charge, and blocked a shot.
5. I agree with your Bigelow comments, and I think this is the only thing I agree with, but then, in your criticism of Grace, you said Grace would start only because we had no one else. ?? Uh, this was right after you mentioned Bigelow.
6. I don't see us being offensively challenged at all.
7. I'm not worried about Goose and Tyler.
8. How did Dji, Randolph, and Nelson have more negatives than positives? I mean, my goodness, what game were you watching? Dji was 3-5, made a 3, and had 8 rebounds. His lone negative was 3 turnovers, which looking at how they were committed, he can clean up. Randolph made a 3, hit both his FTs, and had 0 turnovers out there. And Nelson played 28 minutes with 13 points, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers in his first game. His negative would be 2-8 at the line, which there is no doubt in my mind he can clean up. Nelson and Dji passed the PG test big time tonight, and it looks like we are in good shape at such an important position. More negatives than positives? All you are doing is showing your hate with that silly comment.
9. I agree with SDad with countering your "we are non athletic" talk.
10. We should be able to score enough inside this year, and we did some tonight. I think you are overreacting to one game as far as that is concerned.
11. I don't think Dayton, VCU, Loyola, will manhandle us. Far from it.
12. You are not trying to be negative? Seriously? Sure looks like you went out of your way to be negative, especially with your "Dji, Randolph, and Nelson had more negatives than positives" comment.
I can’t find a single thing in this entire post that I agree with. I’m wondering if we were even watching the same game?
For not knowing what we’d see I thought this was a really enjoyable game of Richmond basketball, especially in the second half.
I am a really big fan of the Dji-Randolph-Roche-Bigelow-Quinn lineup. It was only for a short time but I thought it was really fun to watch
I am a really big fan of the Dji-Randolph-Roche-Bigelow-Quinn lineup. It was only for a short time but I thought it was really fun to watch
Ok guys. Bad start
Lol @ your 12th point. How can he possibly have claimed he wasn’t trying to be negative?!
Have you ever watched basketball before? It will take time for this team to learn to play together. There is a reason most teams schedule layups to start the season — nearly everybody has growing pains early. This isn’t last years team where they played together for a ridiculously long time; this team will learn to play together and we will watch them get better throughout the season.
I’m not trying to sugarcoat last night’s performance — I certainly don’t feel more optimistic after watching it. But I’ll save ridiculous judgements until we are further along in the season.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by Roche's game. Preseason my biggest worry was he would be one dimensional, and maybe he could still end up being that way.
But I'm not sure how you could make that argument based on what we actually saw in last night's game. His hustle plays and intensity show me that he intends to be more than just a shooter for us (3 rebounds, a charge, that block on a play most guys would've given up on, deflected passes, diving on the floor for loose balls).
Point guard was our biggest unknown entering the year and although it was only against VMI, I feel much better about that position after last night. Bailey and Nelson have different styles but I think we are in good hands here.
Quinn's game worries me a little. I still think he can be a solid player for us but last night was probably one of the easier/least athletic front courts he will face this season -- he should have demanded the ball a little more and done something with it when he got it. He did seem to pass pretty well and protected the ball, which I think will serve him well.
Some rust and learning to play together but ultimately I left last night's game more excited about watching how this team progresses this year.
Please please please practice free throws this week!
A few of my observations from last night.
The crowd was great, especially for a Monday night. Good student attendance.
Really bad officiating but I didn't think it was too one-sided.
As was already mentioned, facilities staff was seriously lacking (which was a big surprise, usually we run very smooth events except for our scoreboard malfunctions). Scoreboards were not even on in the beginning and then were not working consistently. The ads and lights showed up at random times. The ball-blaster couldn't reach the top of the lower half of seats. Something was up with the sound system because I couldn't hear the announcer, the music, or the timeout lady well at all (and yes, previous poster, we do miss Melissa and Tyler).
I wasn't sure what to expect on the court, and that pretty much was the way it was. It was very strange to see so many new players on the floor at once. Horrible free throw shooting, some poor three point defense (new guys picking up some previous players' weaknesses). I feel like there was a lot of experimenting with lineups to see who could do what. The chemistry will come in time and there were already moments you could see it.
Nelson and Bigelow played well for their first game. Particularly with some of Nelson's plays, you could see just who he learned from. 😁. Thought Bailey did well too--like someone else said, a different look than Nelson but I think that will help us.
It wasn't pretty, but we won the game by a lot, which is what we were supposed to do.
Oh, and Mooney's T. I didn't see it. But my immediate reaction was "a lot of the board posters have spent time calling for him to be more emotional and more like the 'old Mooney.' So I guess they will be happy."
edited to add: I forgot to comment on the defense, which I think will be a pleasant surprise this year. Lots of effort, hustle plays, and we outrebounded them.
The crowd was great, especially for a Monday night. Good student attendance.
Really bad officiating but I didn't think it was too one-sided.
As was already mentioned, facilities staff was seriously lacking (which was a big surprise, usually we run very smooth events except for our scoreboard malfunctions). Scoreboards were not even on in the beginning and then were not working consistently. The ads and lights showed up at random times. The ball-blaster couldn't reach the top of the lower half of seats. Something was up with the sound system because I couldn't hear the announcer, the music, or the timeout lady well at all (and yes, previous poster, we do miss Melissa and Tyler).
I wasn't sure what to expect on the court, and that pretty much was the way it was. It was very strange to see so many new players on the floor at once. Horrible free throw shooting, some poor three point defense (new guys picking up some previous players' weaknesses). I feel like there was a lot of experimenting with lineups to see who could do what. The chemistry will come in time and there were already moments you could see it.
Nelson and Bigelow played well for their first game. Particularly with some of Nelson's plays, you could see just who he learned from. 😁. Thought Bailey did well too--like someone else said, a different look than Nelson but I think that will help us.
It wasn't pretty, but we won the game by a lot, which is what we were supposed to do.
Oh, and Mooney's T. I didn't see it. But my immediate reaction was "a lot of the board posters have spent time calling for him to be more emotional and more like the 'old Mooney.' So I guess they will be happy."
edited to add: I forgot to comment on the defense, which I think will be a pleasant surprise this year. Lots of effort, hustle plays, and we outrebounded them.
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Now this is a good take. Well said, palm tree — you’ve earned yourself a well-earned vacation with lots of palm trees.A few of my observations from last night.
The crowd was great, especially for a Monday night. Good student attendance.
Really bad officiating but I didn't think it was too one-sided.
As was already mentioned, facilities staff was seriously lacking (which was a big surprise, usually we run very smooth events except for our scoreboard malfunctions). Scoreboards were not even on in the beginning and then were not working consistently. The ads and lights showed up at random times. The ball-blaster couldn't reach the top of the lower half of seats. Something was up with the sound system because I couldn't hear the announcer, the music, or the timeout lady well at all (and yes, previous poster, we do miss Melissa and Tyler).
I wasn't sure what to expect on the court, and that pretty much was the way it was. It was very strange to see so many new players on the floor at once. Horrible free throw shooting, some poor three point defense (new guys picking up some previous players' weaknesses). I feel like there was a lot of experimenting with lineups to see who could do what. The chemistry will come in time and there were already moments you could see it.
Nelson and Bigelow played well for their first game. Particularly with some of Nelson's plays, you could see just who he learned from. 😁. Thought Bailey did well too--like someone else said, a different look than Nelson but I think that will help us.
It wasn't pretty, but we won the game by a lot, which is what we were supposed to do.
Oh, and Mooney's T. I didn't see it. But my immediate reaction was "a lot of the board posters have spent time calling for him to be more emotional and more like the 'old Mooney.' So I guess they will be happy."
I know I could not understand half of what she nearly screeched
Thanks, I could sure use it!Now this is a good take. Well said, palm tree — you’ve earned yourself a well-earned vacation with lots of palm trees.
I thought we came out tight lat night, but once we settled down we looked much better, bad team, less tha 500 FOOLISH. I am excited to see the growth of this tewm.
Couple things. Spiders looked much better in second half and did what they should have done against VMI. Quinn can score in the post. Agree we need him on the block more. Nelson looked good, hopefully he's a better shooter than he showed last night. I'll cut him a break in his first college game. If he is a repespectable shooter, he's going to be a great player. Lots of quality depth. I'd slide Grace back into his roll from last year and start Bigelow. He has way more upside. Also, we have to rebound!
VT, it would be helpful for me if you can make 2 or 3 sub-points for each of the 12 primary points above. I think it will really drive home your argument when you have some time.
JK, I like in-season VT much more than offseason VT.
Nice post @PalmTreeSpidUR. You saw many of the same things as me.
1) It was a typical first game with lots of early game nerves. This is to be expected since nearly all the players had not played in a full Robins Center.
2) Crowd was good, but I was most impressed by the student section. They had energy and organization that I haven’t seen for quite some time. I also got to meet SpiderDad briefly at halftime, so that was nice.
3) As I mentioned earlier, the event staff did a terrible job. Maybe they want to look extra good for Friday’s big celebration - one can hope.
4) Nelson looked like he learned quite a bit from his mentor. Obviously, free throw shooting is the glaring weakness at the moment, but I am sure part of that was nerves.
5) Bigelow was impressive and there is no way that he doesn’t get a lions share of minutes.
6) Roache showed lots of hustle and energy and I expect him to be able to dial it in like he did elsewhere last year.
7) As impressed as I was with the players early in this list, I was underwhelmed by Quinn. Definitely seems like he is going to need more time in the Mooney system. At the moment, he looks like a larger version of Cayo.
8) Burton had one of his quiet double doubles. His strength is definitely rebounding. I didn’t notice any improvements at this point and I definitely could tell that he is adjusting to the other players around him.
9) MFG can run the Mooney offense, but like others I think he is best used in his previous backup role. The problem is that Quinn can’t run the offense, so we will see more of Matt.
10) As far as Goose goes, I think we know what we have there. With a one game sample size, I think it is fair to say that his shooting is exactly what is has been. The good news is we have plenty of options at guard.
11) Dji made his first 3 and looked good doing it. Liked his efforts on offense, but he had some head scratching turnovers. Thinking he may have been pressing a little and hopefully he is able to reign that in.
12) Overall, I came out of the game thinking that there is lots of room for improvement, but that this team has lots of options and energy. Even though there were lots of different lineups out on the floor, I didn’t see any that totally didn’t work like I did last year. Looking forward to Friday and to seeing what adjustments are made. Go Spiders!!
1) It was a typical first game with lots of early game nerves. This is to be expected since nearly all the players had not played in a full Robins Center.
2) Crowd was good, but I was most impressed by the student section. They had energy and organization that I haven’t seen for quite some time. I also got to meet SpiderDad briefly at halftime, so that was nice.
3) As I mentioned earlier, the event staff did a terrible job. Maybe they want to look extra good for Friday’s big celebration - one can hope.
4) Nelson looked like he learned quite a bit from his mentor. Obviously, free throw shooting is the glaring weakness at the moment, but I am sure part of that was nerves.
5) Bigelow was impressive and there is no way that he doesn’t get a lions share of minutes.
6) Roache showed lots of hustle and energy and I expect him to be able to dial it in like he did elsewhere last year.
7) As impressed as I was with the players early in this list, I was underwhelmed by Quinn. Definitely seems like he is going to need more time in the Mooney system. At the moment, he looks like a larger version of Cayo.
8) Burton had one of his quiet double doubles. His strength is definitely rebounding. I didn’t notice any improvements at this point and I definitely could tell that he is adjusting to the other players around him.
9) MFG can run the Mooney offense, but like others I think he is best used in his previous backup role. The problem is that Quinn can’t run the offense, so we will see more of Matt.
10) As far as Goose goes, I think we know what we have there. With a one game sample size, I think it is fair to say that his shooting is exactly what is has been. The good news is we have plenty of options at guard.
11) Dji made his first 3 and looked good doing it. Liked his efforts on offense, but he had some head scratching turnovers. Thinking he may have been pressing a little and hopefully he is able to reign that in.
12) Overall, I came out of the game thinking that there is lots of room for improvement, but that this team has lots of options and energy. Even though there were lots of different lineups out on the floor, I didn’t see any that totally didn’t work like I did last year. Looking forward to Friday and to seeing what adjustments are made. Go Spiders!!
Hilarious - I fully appreciated VT's well structured and factual response .. Keep it up.VT, it would be helpful for me if you can make 2 or 3 sub-points for each of the 12 primary points above. I think it will really drive home your argument when you have some time.
JK, I like in-season VT much more than offseason VT.
Solid assessment and great meeting you...I really like Neal but I personally think he's more of a benefit to us on block or at least early until he feels really comfortable in this system. Yeah Dji had 3 TOs - through that one away, another was when he got the rebound guy took it from him(fouled or not he's got to hang on to that) I missed the other one they said he had. He also has to be more aggressive, when he is he can get wherever he wants. I'm go back and try re-watch the game tonight. All the guys effort was clear to me as it has been throughout the preseason. Lots of room for improvement but the sky isn't falling.
Bigelow should definitely be starting. Our best five probably has Bailey in for Gustavson as well:
Nelson
Bailey
Bigelow
Burton
Quinn
Grace should rarely see minutes outside of backing up the 5.
Nelson
Bailey
Bigelow
Burton
Quinn
Grace should rarely see minutes outside of backing up the 5.
I thought there was a lot to be excited about if you focus on the 2nd half after the team got in their groove. We shot 58.3% from the field, out scored them 41 to 27, held them to 29.4% shooting, got Waltz (he looked strong) and Noyes in the game with a few minutes left. This team has a lot of depth and we will see major changes in playing time as the season progresses.
In the 2nd half Quinn played very well on both sides of the court which helped him to tie the highest +/- points for the game with 18.
In the 2nd half Quinn played very well on both sides of the court which helped him to tie the highest +/- points for the game with 18.
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To me it was a little underwhelming. Not surprising given our historical struggles 1st game and a lot of new pieces out there. But given opponent still underwhelming. VMI is bad that’s a 300+ team. We’ll know lot more next 2 games & get better assessment.
we can’t shoot like that. 3 pt % and FT % won’t get it done. Carrying over our 3 pt shooting from last year is my biggest concern. FTs more likely an anomaly we’ll see but we’ll need our guards to make them.
we can’t shoot like that. 3 pt % and FT % won’t get it done. Carrying over our 3 pt shooting from last year is my biggest concern. FTs more likely an anomaly we’ll see but we’ll need our guards to make them.
Thought it was interesting seeing Burton used as a guard bringing the ball up some. He’s not the best handler, but his size was helpful for going over the top to break the press. Seemed to mostly fill the role when Roche was in the game. He too appears to not be the best ball handler, hence his usual role as a catch and shoot guy.
First game against a bad opponent, so you can't conclude much from this. My concern right now - we had a lot of open looks and good shots, and shot very poorly, especially from 3. I know Burton will shoot better - but I also expect his shots to be more difficult to come by against better competition.
We should know a lot more about this team after the next 3 games, before we head to play Syracuse.
We should know a lot more about this team after the next 3 games, before we head to play Syracuse.
Can't remember but someone said Burton may play some guard...😎
