Is it time to extend Mooney?

[UR80sfan]

OK so what is an acceptable record against vcu? We're at 24% now, is that OK, should it be 30%, 40%, 50%, or more?

That is a good questions. Our winning percentage historically over 84 games verses VCU has been 35%. In years when VCU is winning approximately 73% of the games 1979 to 1985 and 2006 through 2020 we should have won 25% to 30% of our games, which is close to where we have been in the Mooney years and not where we were back in 79-85. In years where VCU is mediocre we probably should have won 60% of our games.
Going forward our winning percentage should be higher due to PQ as head of the board and making basketball a higher priority, although VCU will always have a recruiting advantage relative to taking players that would not get into Richmond. We should win 2 of our next 3 games with VCU.
VCU Years Coach Seasons Overall Record Conference Record
2017–present Mike Rhoades 1 43-23 (0.652) A-10: 25-11 (.694)
2015–2017 Will Wade 2 51–20 (.718) A-10: 28–8 (.778)
2009–2015 Shaka Smart 6 163–56 (.744) CAA/A-10: 74–30 (.712)
2006–2009 Anthony Grant 3 76–25 (.752) CAA: 45–9 (.833)
2002–2006 Jeff Capel 4 79–41 (.658) CAA: 50–22 (.694)
1998–2002 Mack McCarthy 4 66–55 (.545) CAA: 35–31 (.530)
1989–1998 Sonny Smith 9 136–127 (.517) Sun Belt/Metro/CAA: 59–65 (.476)
1985–1989 Mike Pollio 4 65–57 (.533) Sun Belt: 32–24 (.571)
1979–1985 J. D. Barnett 6 132–48 (.733) Sun Belt: 59–19 (.756)

 

[urfan1]

so I take your answer to be 35%, is that your answer?

I believe we should do better.

 

[VT4700]

I do too, ur1. If not 50%, close to it. I never feel like they should sweep us, no matter what team they have or what team we have.

 

[UR80sfan]

so I take your answer to be 35%, is that your answer?

I believe we should do better.

No, I said that has historically been our winning percentage, which is a fact. I also said
"Going forward our winning percentage should be higher due to PQ as head of the board and making basketball a higher priority, although VCU will always have a recruiting advantage relative to taking players that would not get into Richmond. We should win 2 of our next 3 games with VCU."

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Here we go again with the admissions excuse.
UR Fan 2, you knew this thread was going to go off the rails.

Here is what is most likely to happen:

• Mooney will get an extension, even if we lose the rest of our games this year.
• In a week or two, we will be mathematically eliminated from contention for the Atlantic 10 regular season Championship.

This will mark 15 years - out of 15 - that our team has not been competing for the Championship in the last few games of the season.
And our Athletic Department - whose explicit #1 goal is to "Compete for Championships" - will reward him with more time and money.

 

[urmite]

so I take your answer to be 35%, is that your answer?

I believe we should do better.

Would you say the same if the series was with Cincinnati?

 

[wr70beh]

Here we go again with the admissions excuse.
UR Fan 2, you knew this thread was going to go off the rails.

Here is what is most likely to happen:

• Mooney will get an extension, even if we lose the rest of our games this year.
• In a week or two, we will be mathematically eliminated from contention for the Atlantic 10 regular season Championship.

This will mark 15 years - out of 15 - that our team has not been competing for the Championship in the last few games of the season.
And our Athletic Department - whose explicit #1 goal is to "Compete for Championships" - will reward him with more time and money.

And it will be 9 straight without an NCAA tournament berth in a month or so. There's no excuse to keep Mooney around after this year. None.

 

[urfan1]

Would you say the same if the series was with Cincinnati?

If they were our cross town rival and played in the same conference, yes

 

[urfan1]

No, I said that has historically been our winning percentage, which is a fact. I also said
"Going forward our winning percentage should be higher due to PQ as head of the board and making basketball a higher priority, although VCU will always have a recruiting advantage relative to taking players that would not get into Richmond. We should win 2 of our next 3 games with VCU."

OK so it was not intended to be an answer to the original question of what winning percentage is acceptable

 

[SpiderRick]

No

 

[Wood Hall]

This will mark 15 years - out of 15 - that our team has not been competing for the Championship in the last few games of the season.

Not so.
In 2010 we finished one game behind Temple and Xavier.
In 2011 we finished two games behind Xavier.
In 2015 we finished 1.5 games behind Davidson.
In 2017 we finished two games behind Dayton.

This would indicate to me we were in the title hunt until the final one, two or three games of the season. We win, someone else loses, and there's a two-game swing. Other's mileage may vary.

 

[SpiderRick]

Mooney is doing now what he should have been doing all along. He set the bar so low for himself that now he seems like a miracle worker. I'm not ready to anoint him Pope for that.

But he is trending up...

 

[MrTbone]

I thought the play was exceptional tonight and the coaching quite good.

 

[32counter]

2 key additional ingredients to Mooney’s success this season which were missing previously are :

Blake Francis

Tyler Burton

I’ll give Mooney an ovation for convincing these kids to decide to come to UR.Without them our results would look a lot like previous seasons.

 

[urfan1]

2 key additional ingredients to Mooney’s success this season which were missing previously are :

Blake Francis

Tyler Burton

I’ll give Mooney an ovation for convincing these kids to decide to come to UR.Without them our results would look a lot like previous seasons.

I agree with accolades for the 2 new pieces, but no way I don't think we're better than last 2 years due to the change of the defense to m to m

 

[spider23]

2 key additional ingredients to Mooney’s success this season which were missing previously are :

Blake Francis

Tyler Burton

I’ll give Mooney an ovation for convincing these kids to decide to come to UR.Without them our results would look a lot like previous seasons.

Agree with your here, these guys are big difference makers this year. I really really really can't live with the excuse mongering that admissions, the school, academics, AD, the president, etc has severely hampered Mooney's recruiting. Look back 10 years and he had similar players in K Smitty and David Gonzalvez, NBA player in Harp, etc. etc. He recruited back then, just got GD effing lazy for 6-8 years. But is apparently back now, we hope since he is the CFL. Let's hope it sticks. Looks positive for next year with Crabtree coming on. Let's hope not lazy for our upcoming big 5 man class.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

This will mark 15 years - out of 15 - that our team has not been competing for the Championship in the last few games of the season.

Not so.
In 2010 we finished one game behind Temple and Xavier.
In 2011 we finished two games behind Xavier.
In 2015 we finished 1.5 games behind Davidson.
In 2017 we finished two games behind Dayton.

This would indicate to me we were in the title hunt until the final one, two or three games of the season. We win, someone else loses, and there's a two-game swing. Other's mileage may vary.

I am enjoying yesterday's victory. But, it is so. We finished all four of those seasons strong (which is in no way a bad thing), so there was no "swing" to be had from our end - we had to catch fire just to finish where we did in the standings - no better than third. A case could be made that we were still in it in 2010 and 2011, but not in 2015 or 2017.

2010 was the closest call. We entered our showdown with Xavier in a 3-way tie at 11-2. We had already beaten Temple that season. We lost in 2OT. Great game. That was our shot. We entered the final stretch in third place, and won our remaining 2 games. Xavier scored easy wins against 0-16 Fordham and 7-9 St. Bonaventure, while Temple dispatched 11-5 St. Louis and 6-10 GW. Theoretically, a co-championship was still possible, I will grant that. Nonetheless, we finished third.

In 2011, we won our last 4. Entering March, Xavier was 13-1, Temple was 12-2, and we were 11-3. We were 0-2 against those two. Sure, it was possible for Xavier to drop its last two to 6-10 SLU and 2-14 Charlotte, and for Temple to drop at least one to 7-9 UMass and 6-10 La Salle, so that we could get a share of a co-championship. H2H tiebreakers don't apply in that case, so OK. Once Xavier beat Charlotte by 20, it was moot. We finished third.

In 2015, we won our last 6! Entering March, Davidson was 12-4, Dayton was 12-4, URI was 12-4, VCU was 11-5, we were 10-6, and UMass was 10-6. There were some head-to-heads in there, so we couldn't pass them all. We were mathematically eliminated prior to that. We finished T-4th with VCU (2 games behind Davidson, not 1.5).

In 2017, we won our last 4. Entering March, Dayton was 14-2, VCU was 13-3, URI was 11-5, and we were 11-5. Dayton and VCU still had a game against each other. We were mathematically out a week prior. We finished T-3 with URI.

Look, I hope Mooney breaks his streak of never finishing first or second this season. I'm over the moon (no pun intended) with what I saw yesterday. We have a 0.1% chance of winning the A10 title this season, so it will probably have to be 2nd. We're on the brink of winning 20 regular season games for only the 3rd time in his career (and the other 2 times, we made the tourney).

Given what he did with the last big extension, I believe we're in a "fool me twice" scenario. Hardt is in a tough spot; I don't envy him. If this big jump is enough to get him hired elsewhere, I say congratulations and thank you.

 

[spider23]

Given what he did with the last big extension, I believe we're in a "fool me twice" scenario. Hardt is in a tough spot; I don't envy him. If this big jump is enough to get him hired elsewhere, I say congratulations and thank you.

If you listen to that interview right after the trip to Barclays, you would know Hardt is on team triumvirate and Mooney is golden. Basically called him a great coach, and gushed about observing him in action for a few days. Not being salty. Just calling it as I hear it. I accept it most of the time. Key is how he does with the next six players we sign. That will tell the tale, I would bet someone a good chunk that moon is here through 2023.

 

[spider23]

"Going forward our winning percentage should be higher due to PQ as head of the board and making basketball a higher priority

80's - what has changed - I am not really up on the workings of the school. Did PQ just become head of the BOT, OR are you saying that he did not prioritize hoops previously.