I miss 4700

[spider23]

For the title of this thread: I miss that lil rascal too. I am hoping he is working behind the scenes to get a new coach. Heck, I have seen 4700 question mooney moves a bunch this season.

Yes 97, very ironic that Annap thinks it is the message board's role to find solutions (which we have plenty ) but not the guy making 1.5 million with lots of perks. Just like a lot of jobs, businesses, processes, etc - its adapt or die. But moon has no accountability - so no adaptation. I wish I could find an article, and this may be my memory being bad (like the oop to K Smitty coming after a TO but feel like Mooney finally changed the match up zone (albeit 4-5 years after it lost its effectiveness) - following a discussion with Hardt. see I am giving Hardt some credit.

 

[Anachnid]

For the title of this thread: I miss that lil rascal too. I am hoping he is working behind the scenes to get a new coach. Heck, I have seen 4700 question mooney moves a bunch this season.

Yes 97, very ironic that Annap thinks it is the message board's role to find solutions (which we have plenty ) but not the guy making 1.5 million with lots of perks. Just like a lot of jobs, businesses, processes, etc - its adapt or die. But moon has no accountability - so no adaptation. I wish I could find an article, and this may be my memory being bad (like the oop to K Smitty coming after a TO but feel like Mooney finally changed the match up zone (albeit 4-5 years after it lost its effectiveness) - following a discussion with Hardt. see I am giving Hardt some credit.

How would you describe what our players do now at our end of the court when the opponents have the ball?

 

[spider23]

I honestly struggle to watch this team, except when GW3 is in, which is rare. It does sound like we are back to match up zone, is that right? I know someone advised that we switch everything. Which of course is why we end up with a small guard on Avila at end game. I guess Boyden's defensive mindset and emphasis has worn off.

 

[MrTbone]

agreed he's not killing it ... but you're pointing out that only 3 current A10 teams have been to more ncaa's. that's not the crushing stat I was expecting.

I'm more concerned with just how bad we currently are, and that our top 2 players are done after this season.

It continues to amaze me that this is the takeaway to things like this. The fact that some of these programs have been in the A10 for less time than CM or are no longer in the A10 but amassed more ncaa berths while competing against him is the story.

We should have by now been among the class of the A10 with the departure of Xavier or Temple or over newcomers like VCU or Davidson.

Stop rationalizing the lack of production.

 

[spiderman]

It continues to amaze me that this is the takeaway to things like this. The fact that some of these programs have been in the A10 for less time than CM or are no longer in the A10 but amassed more ncaa berths while competing against him is the story.

We should have by now been among the class of the A10 with the departure of Xavier or Temple or over newcomers like VCU or Davidson.

Stop rationalizing the lack of production.

VCU and Dayton have clearly been much better than us. and that sucks. SLU has been better by 1 bid. nobody else still in the A10 has done better. just stating facts.

I want to go every year too. but reading this board would lead one to believe we've been one of the worst teams in the league for the last 20 years. we haven't been. but we are this year.

 

[97spiderfan]

VCU and Dayton have clearly been much better than us. and that sucks. SLU has been better by 1 bid. nobody else still in the A10 has done better. just stating facts.

I want to go every year too. but reading this board would lead one to believe we've been one of the worst teams in the league for the last 20 years. we haven't been. but we are this year.

Agreed but we have a lot of advantages over many of our league brethren that automatically give us a leg up.

Problems:
St. Bonnies: Location, outdated facilities
LaSalle: High school level Facilities, school is basically broke, little interest in program
Duquesne: Except last year have been putrid for a generation
UMass: Leaving for the MAC, sacrificed their hoops team for FB
GW: Facilities, very little interest in program
Davidson: Made a nepotism hire, only a college so cant' take grad/keep transfers
Mason: Commuter school, unappealing facilities, lack of any success last 20 years.

The schools on par with our facilities, financial commitment, fan base, track record to be successful are VCU, SLU, Dayton. Those are our peer group. The A-10 needs us to be one of the stronger members because of all this. We aren't. Part of the leagues downfall from being a 3-4 bid league to a 1-2 bid league has been schools like us, Rhode Island, St. Joes, Loyola not being consistently upper tier. Rhody, St. Joes, us also all have suspect coaches not able to get us over the hump.

 

[Eight Legger]

Since 2011, we've invested $17 million in the Robins Center, $15M in the practice facility and at least about $19 million in Mooney's salary. That's about $52M or more in 14 years before you factor in all the other program costs (assistant coaches, support staff, recruiting trips, chartered flights, day-to-day costs, etc.). It's probably more like $62M+ when you include the rest of that stuff.

What do we have to show for it? One NCAA appearance, four NITs, four top-4 finishes in the regular season, five 20-win seasons, three losing seasons, two .500 seasons. Critically (to me), we're about to have our fourth losing season in eight years.

 

[spiderman]

Agreed but we have a lot of advantages over many of our league brethren that automatically give us a leg up.

Problems:
St. Bonnies: Location, outdated facilities
LaSalle: High school level Facilities, school is basically broke, little interest in program
Duquesne: Except last year have been putrid for a generation
UMass: Leaving for the MAC, sacrificed their hoops team for FB
GW: Facilities, very little interest in program
Davidson: Made a nepotism hire, only a college so cant' take grad/keep transfers
Mason: Commuter school, unappealing facilities, lack of any success last 20 years.

The schools on par with our facilities, financial commitment, fan base, track record to be successful are VCU, SLU, Dayton. Those are our peer group. The A-10 needs us to be one of the stronger members because of all this. We aren't. Part of the leagues downfall from being a 3-4 bid league to a 1-2 bid league has been schools like us, Rhode Island, St. Joes, Loyola not being consistently upper tier. Rhody, St. Joes, us also all have suspect coaches not able to get us over the hump.

regarding advantages:
Bonnies I agree. not sure how they're ever good. but they usually are. more with less.
LaSalle I agree. but they can recruit Philly and have ease of admission. they somehow had some big years back in time.
not sure why Fordham can't be better ... but they can't.

the others:
Duquesne ... no real reason they can't be good like us.
UMass leaving now, but no reason they weren't good. they did it before with NIL pre-NIL.
GW: can't see a reason they can't be as good as us.
Davidson: they were somehow very good with dad. tough admissions but same boat as us.
Mason: what's wrong with their facilities? other than their colors, it's a great arena. they've had success.
URI: absolutely should be good.
SJU: a better LaSalle. has great basketball history.
Loyola is good.

I just don't see this huge advantage you think UR has over these others. UR may have an advantage with some suburban kids. I was attracted to it's beauty. but not every kid wants "leafy".

 

[ur2K]

If we look at Davidson NCAA berths in the time frame from 2005-now which is a better comparison than just when they've been in the a10, they have 8 NCAAs.

X is 14, Temple 8, Butler 10, VCU 12.

UR has 3.

 

[spiderstudent17]

VCU and Dayton have clearly been much better than us. and that sucks. SLU has been better by 1 bid. nobody else still in the A10 has done better. just stating facts.

I want to go every year too. but reading this board would lead one to believe we've been one of the worst teams in the league for the last 20 years. we haven't been. but we are this year.

Agree here. That's why I don't understand why people have commented in other threads how there is a belief among the administration that the A10 isn't the right fit for our goals, institutionally, etc. and we will willingly drop down a league. Looks like we are in a league with mainly similar universities (lot of smaller to medium size, private, basketball centric, school). Even the Rhode Island's and GMU's are similar in that they don't have top level football or football at all. On top of that, we have had better success than most of these other schools in basketball and all our other sports overall. We also are more dedicated financially to basketball than the average A10 school. Like mentioned above, we have spent 60+ million dollars in basketball, not including our NIL which is top 4 or 5 in A10. We are also in a better place financially than most other A10 schools too regarding future of NIL and payment through university.

So why on earth people even entertain the idea that we would willingly drop down a conference in which we are part of many other similar universities (in a multitude of ways), have had above average success compared to others in A10 basketball, and have shown more commitment financially, is beyond me. If anyone leaves realistically, I imagine it will be a VCU and/or Dayton moving up in conference. If there is a University that should drop to a lower level (not that it will happen) it would be a La Salle, Fordham, or Duquesne.

 

[spiderstudent17]

Yes we stink this year, but people here make it seem like we are a bottom feeder A10 team. We have finished top 5 in the league 9 times under Mooney. I know the arguments people will say is that NCAA appearances and winning A10 tournament is the only thing that matters, but in this context compare it to a bunch of other A10 schools. Other than Dayton, VCU, who are clearly above the rest in terms of A10 success, I would say we are in the next tier with the likes of SLU, Bonnies, and Davidson (under Bob McKillop) as success. We are a top half A10 team and are in a much better position than many of our fellow conference members to remain that way.

Now in this new era of NIL & transfer portal, whether Mooney will be able to adjust to that and keep us competitive is remained to be seen. Last year was a success with transfers. This year was not. That is a 1-1 record. Next year will be huge in restoring some confidence that we can remain a top-half A10 program. If its not the case, and we continue to be lousy like this for 1-2 more years, then I would say that Mooney and staff are not equipped to handle this era of college basketball and should not coach us any further.

 

[GKiller]

Yes we stink this year, but people here make it seem like we are a bottom feeder A10 team. We have finished top 5 in the league 9 times under Mooney.

we are not a bottom feeder. we r every once in a while, but overall not close. But I don't get that impression from this board. who is calling us that besides this season? However we do underperform relative to our resources, expectations, history of program, the players, going to NCAA, beating VCU, the A10 tournament, and much more. that is without dispute.

Also I would say top 5 only 6 times not 9. Don't just go by wikipedia student17. wiki wiki wiki. (Look up that song btw...Jam on)

I say u go by seeds. u have to use tiebreakers. easier to tie with so many teams, and tiebreakers matter in sports. that's how qualification to postseason works. 3 of those years I believe we ended up 7th 7th and 8th. Doesn't UR call us regular season champs last season and never co-champs? I think fair because we were 1 seed. But by your eval we are always co champs and we should use that in all UR language.

6 times. which sucks. top 2 on average once every 10 years. and 40% of all his season are .500 or below overall. And he loses by an average of 16 points at VCU. I could go on. Insane.

 

[Eight Legger]

Four losing seasons in the past eight years. 50% of the time, we stink.

A "program" would have five 20-win seasons in eight and three other winning seasons. We're about to lose 20+ games for the third time in eight years.

 

[GKiller]

Four losing seasons in the past eight years. 50% of the time, we stink.

A "program" would have five 20-win seasons in eight and three other winning seasons. We're about to lose 20+ games for the third time in eight years.

and with a 20 year Dean of the A10 coach. why are we a catch lightning in a bottle program.