I didn’t get to watch or listen to the game, so it’s good to learn from this thread that we are completely horrid/full of potential/off to a great start/beyond hopeless. I am really looking forward to/dreading beyond belief watching Friday’s game!
Game Thread: VMI 11/7
- Thread starter CH_Spider
- Start date
Are you referring to our basketball team or our forum community?
It was a mixed bag game, thus the varying perspectives.
Many of the criticisms - not all - have some validity. Quinn could have been more aggressive vs constant double-teams, especially in finding the open shooter rather than the simple pass back to the entry passer, which was his default. VMI got too many second chances. UR didn't shoot 3s/FTs well at all. Dji had a couple shaky moments at halfcourt against the press.
That said, the individual parts show promise, they just need to gel for longer stretches. Against an inferior opponent, when they finally got to the rim, all was well. May be a sign of how UR should look to play - inside out to open up the 3s with early buckets at the rim to open up shooters outside. Moon still has to find more creative ways to crack a zone so UR doesn't become a passive 3 point only team and get lulled into complacent shot selection.
Burton/Roche's 3s will fall, Nelson's FTs will fall, Dji will be more comfortable vs pressure with reps. Turnovers were low, defense contested shots (Tyler had two fly-bys in first 4m tho, he seemed to be pressing a bit.) I liked the way Dji attacked the rim off the dribble and Bigelow's ability to play in transition. Randolph brought energy and wasn't afraid to hunt shots, I liked his aggression.
I am glad that VMI pressed after makes so we got our guards game experience vs pressure.
Lots to work on, but a good amount to like as well.
Many of the criticisms - not all - have some validity. Quinn could have been more aggressive vs constant double-teams, especially in finding the open shooter rather than the simple pass back to the entry passer, which was his default. VMI got too many second chances. UR didn't shoot 3s/FTs well at all. Dji had a couple shaky moments at halfcourt against the press.
That said, the individual parts show promise, they just need to gel for longer stretches. Against an inferior opponent, when they finally got to the rim, all was well. May be a sign of how UR should look to play - inside out to open up the 3s with early buckets at the rim to open up shooters outside. Moon still has to find more creative ways to crack a zone so UR doesn't become a passive 3 point only team and get lulled into complacent shot selection.
Burton/Roche's 3s will fall, Nelson's FTs will fall, Dji will be more comfortable vs pressure with reps. Turnovers were low, defense contested shots (Tyler had two fly-bys in first 4m tho, he seemed to be pressing a bit.) I liked the way Dji attacked the rim off the dribble and Bigelow's ability to play in transition. Randolph brought energy and wasn't afraid to hunt shots, I liked his aggression.
I am glad that VMI pressed after makes so we got our guards game experience vs pressure.
Lots to work on, but a good amount to like as well.
Some of the things that would be helpful:
If Quinn shoots 100% from 2 for the season and has 3 assists every 19 minutes.
If we shoot 70% from 2 for the season and our opponent shoots 29%...
What would not be helpful is if Quinn & Nelson shoot 25% from the line for the season, and we shoot 25% from three as a team for the season.
If last night is an indication, then for now this team seems to try to analyze the opponent's game flow early on.
That could mean Grace as a stabilizing factor until the first media timeout, by then we have figured out our opponent, bring in Bigelow and speed up tempo...
If Quinn shoots 100% from 2 for the season and has 3 assists every 19 minutes.
If we shoot 70% from 2 for the season and our opponent shoots 29%...
What would not be helpful is if Quinn & Nelson shoot 25% from the line for the season, and we shoot 25% from three as a team for the season.
If last night is an indication, then for now this team seems to try to analyze the opponent's game flow early on.
That could mean Grace as a stabilizing factor until the first media timeout, by then we have figured out our opponent, bring in Bigelow and speed up tempo...
Here's a stat, and probably the only one that matters: the players responsible for 84% of the VMI minutes have 82 games of college experience (54 games by their lone senior! ). VMI probably wouldnt win the city high school basketball title, and you want to quote statistics?? I think we might be OK defensively but we're not good enough to hold many teams under 60 points - we have to score.
Don't hand me individual player statistics just tell me how we're going to score this year... Inside, outside, fast break? I saw absolutely nothing - save a few drives to the basket by JayNel and Dji - that will translate to easy baskets when we play a college team...even looked bad on our out of bounds plays (which might be the most fixable of our offensive problems).
Starting five must have Bigelow. Grace and Quinn on floor together is not going to get it done. Bigelow and Burton and Grace/Quinn is the only frontline that has any potential. And we're absolutely desperate for quality outside shooting!! Take the drop in athleticism and let Roche shoot em up. It's still ugly offensively any way you look at it.
Here is my best line up:
Nelson, Dji, Burton, Bigelow, Grace. Bigelow needs to on the court A LOT and Dji and Nelson need to play together.
If you want to go a little smaller, sub Goose in for Grace, move Goose to the 3, Burton to the 4 and Bigelow inside. That is out most athletic line-up, designed to run the floor and play great defense.
I don’t know if anyone brought this up. But we got outrebounded by VMI. I wouldn’t feel too great about this.
No one brought it up because it's not true.
Spiders 44, Keydets 39.
And that's with VMI outrebounding us 8–1 in the first few minutes. We got it straightened out.
They did have more offensive rebounds than we did (15–9), but of course they had a lot more opportunities than we did too...they missed 48 shots while we missed 28.
I like that lineup a lot. I really like when Dji and JayNel play together. I totally agree about Zay and really is someone that reminds me of diamond in the ruff. I think that is probably our most athletic lineup as well.
I mentioned this early in the outlook thread but If Dji can give a little more scoring like around 10-12 and 8 rbs and some quality assists off the bench will def help us rebounding wise. He had 8 last night and for 17 min and being a guard is solid. Neal had 7, Matt needs to grab around 7-8 and Zay to get a few more and I think we can be a good rebounding team.No one brought it up because it's not true.
Spiders 44, Keydets 39.
And that's with VMI outrebounding us 8–1 in the first few minutes. We got it straightened out.
I don't want to be down on Quinn after just 1 game. But yes. I came away not impressed. I just don't think he is strong/athletic/quick enough to give us what we need in the A-10. I hope I am wrong because we really need Quinn to be able to be a force in this league.
MFG is kind of in there by default, but also became MFG understands Mooney's systems and is kind of the glue that is able to bind these new players and line-ups together.
Agreed, but Quinn is going to have much less of an impact than I think a lot of us anticipated.
Was reminded when he was first mentioned last night that we were Asher Woods' first offer. Never picked up another offer on our level and things quickly went quiet with him so I assume we backed off, and he ended up at VMI. Saw a few flashes of potential from him last night, but overall he shot poorly and often.
richmond.forums.rivals.com
Asher Woods - 2022 Offer
6'3" combo guard out of the Atlanta area. I'm not spotting any other offers for him yet, just a pair of tweets from July mentioning schools that were contacting him.
richmond.forums.rivals.com
I think Quinn will be fine...I def think we can make the adjustments with Matt if he is struggling.
then some anticipated too much. I expect 10 ppg, 7 rpg, 4 apg. he's not a Grant Golden or TJ Cline running the floor, but he's a very good passing big man. his game at Lafayette is perfectly suited for our offense. he's not a low post dominant big. he predominantly plays the top of the key and handles the ball a lot making good decisions. and he's a lane clogger defensively.
I still think Quinn is he long term answer at the 5 and will have a lot more impact than people are expecting based on the 1s game. He led the team in defensive rebounding %, assist rate, and FG%. He needs to get the ball down low more, and the team needs to gel a bit more for the assists to start rolling in, but Quinn will be a big part of the offense as a passer and interior scoring threat.
I hope you are right. I should be more hesitant in making proclamations after 1 game, I just thought he was going to be more athletic than he is. I do like his height and length and maybe he can be a better rim protector than we had with Grant.
Yea I figured it was something like that. Unfortunately I missed the game thanks to an outpatient procedure so I wasn’t sure but the highlights his athleticism looked kinda similar to TJ his first year he redshirted here.
It was good to see 11 players for us with 9 of them getting significant minutes. That will help as season progresses to give us depth and to identify game time strengths and weaknesses.
I do think we should look to post him a little more on the block. I think we tried that a little more in the 2nd. But it is one game and looking at Neal, he is athletically what we saw last night. I do think once he gets more comfortable with the system he will be better and has to be. We can't compare him to others just let him be who he is. He can pass, he can rebound, we know he can score around the rim. I thought we missed him a couple times when he had a much smaller guy on him...If the pass did go into him it was late and allowed the help to come. Our guards have to see that much sooner. But again, one game is all it is. I'm just happy my guy was happy and healthy and played well minus the 3 TOs😞. 🕷️ 🏀 ✊
I liked Nelson and Dji on the court together. Brings a different pace that will help us against better teams. With that being said, the 2 of them combined for 4 assists and 3 turnovers. If these guys are our point guards (which they are) more play making and less turnovers.
Def agree the 3 TOs are on Dji for sure one bad pass the other was stolen off a rebound not sure about the other one but totally agree. Protect the basketball at cost. I think we will see improvement moving forward.
Overall, I think we will shoot better. Some say our PG play is going to determine how well we do but I think our bench is going to be just as important and last night 6, 7, and 8 looked pretty good! VMI is not very good and also missed a ton of open looks. But our defense looked suffocating at times which led to some good things on the offensive end. Friday will be a better test and easier to analyze. First game nerves are out of the way and UR is 1-0 to start the year!!!
not a bad turnover count considering our own announcers still say we only have one true point guard on the roster!
The other one was when he drove and stepped on the baseline. That one and the one after the rebound happen sometimes. I don't see those happening often and don't think they will be an issue. The lobbed backcourt pass was the one I look at and say that shouldn't happen. But, overall I thought he looked good out there.
don't get me started 😂not a bad turnover count considering our own announcers still say we only have one true point guard on the roster!
Thats right...couldn't think of it. Agree about the lob...and we he came out to see us he already knew I was going to talk about it.😀 Appreciate it!
Sorry I was looking at the wrong stat. We got beat at the offensive rebounds. But not total reboundsNo one brought it up because it's not true.
Spiders 44, Keydets 39.
And that's with VMI outrebounding us 8–1 in the first few minutes. We got it straightened out.
They did have more offensive rebounds than we did (15–9), but of course they had a lot more opportunities than we did too...they missed 48 shots while we missed 28.
How could you not watch the first game? Your posting privileges have been revoked until you watch a game.
