Is this the best basketball team in the past 50 year for U of R?

[UR80sfan]

There are a lot of ways of measuring the quality of a basketball team including wins, post season tournaments and computer ranking. I personally like commuter rankings, because wins can be inflated with a week schedule and there is some luck involved in getting to the NCAA. Many of you will have strong views on the subject.

If you focus on only this computer SRS ranking https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/richmond/2004.html you can see where we ranked each year going back decades. We currently rank 41st out of 355 (top 11.6% of teams). The 3 other teams with the highest ranking were the:

2010-2011 team at 29-8, 55th out of 345 (top 15.9%)
2003-2004 team at 20-13, 49th out of 326 (top 15%)
1985-1986 team at 23-7, 55th out of 283 (top 19.43%).

If we had 5 healthy starters our ranking probably would be the highest in the history of the school by season end with out having any seniors on the team.

With that said, I expect our ranking may drop with 2 starters out of the lineup.

Another interesting thing to see is how our ranking has actually been pretty good over the past decade where we ranked in the top 102 teams 8 out of 10 years. We are no longer a Cinderella team.

 

[Eight Legger]

I mean, we've played eight games.

 

[ur2K]

We should probably hang a banner

 

[URWilk110]

This is a joke, right? We have played one top 100 team and had to go to overtime to win against two cupcakes. After 8 games you are going to compare this team to 2010-2011 team that won the A10, went to the sweet 16, and had 8 top 100 wins? Come on.

 

[Gospiders06]

If we somehow win 20 or more games this season and make it to the dance I will be completely shocked. However, I see us just missing the NCAA tournament. So prove me wrong.

 

[VT4700]

This is a joke, right? We have played one top 100 team and had to go to overtime to win against two cupcakes. After 8 games you are going to compare this team to 2010-2011 team that won the A10, went to the sweet 16, and had 8 top 100 wins? Come on.

I hear you, but that team was 6-2 after 8 games with also only 1 top 100 win and losses to Iona and ODU. A long way to go, but we should enjoy our start and early high praise, not be critical of it.

 

[nathanw19]

There are a lot of ways of measuring the quality of a basketball team including wins, post season tournaments and computer ranking. I personally like commuter rankings, because wins can be inflated with a week schedule and there is some luck involved in getting to the NCAA. Many of you will have strong views on the subject.

If you focus on only this computer SRS ranking https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/richmond/2004.html you can see where we ranked each year going back decades. We currently rank 58th out of 355 (top 16.34% of teams). The 3 other teams with the highest ranking were the:

2010-2011 team at 29-8, 55th out of 345 (top 15.9%)
2003-2004 team at 20-13, 49th out of 326 (top 15%)
1985-1986 team at 23-7, 55th out of 283 (top 19.43%).

If we had 5 healthy starters our ranking probably would be the highest in the history of the school by season end with out having any seniors on the team.

With that said, I expect our ranking may drop with 2 starters out of the lineup.

Another interesting thing to see is how our ranking has actually been pretty good over the past decade where we ranked in the top 102 teams 8 out of 10 years. We are no longer a Cinderella team.

Love the positivity, but think we need to pump the breaks a little here. Hopefully we can have this discussion at the end of the season. Excited to see how it unfolds!!

 

[spiderjpo]

Winning is better than losing. Just keep winning.

 

[Eight Legger]

I hear you, but that team was 6-2 after 8 games with also only 1 top 100 win and losses to Iona and ODU. A long way to go, but we should enjoy our start and early high praise, not be critical of it.

He's not being critical of the team, he's being critical of the proclamation after eight games that it's the best team in school history, which of course is a ridiculous declaration to make or question to ask at this point.

 

[SpiderRick]

After the last couple of years, I think we are back on the Cinderella list...

 

[VT4700]

He's not being critical of the team, he's being critical of the proclamation after eight games that it's the best team in school history, which of course is a ridiculous declaration to make or question to ask at this point.

We can just disagree on what being critical means. No worries.

 

[urmite]

We should probably hang a banner

If this year’s team performs better in March than the 3 teams listed, we just might...

Would that be ok?

On the other hand, it is not March...

 

[Eight Legger]

We can just disagree on what being critical means. No worries.

He's pointing out facts, which is much different from saying we suck.

 

[fan2011]

No.

 

[urmite]

No.

No evaluation of the methodology of SRS?

 

[Spiders4ever]

No doubt. Best team ever!

 

[spider fan]

This discussion is very premature -
That said any discussion of best UR team ever has to include 1934-35 under Coach Mac Pitt....................can't do any better than that team - undefeated..................20-0 .............acknowledge travel distance limited schedule and there was no postseason, but when you win every game you play, you have done the best you possibly could............

(H: 8-0 A: 11-0 N: 1-0) HEAD COACH: Malcolm U. Pitt CAPTAIN: Roger Leverton
Dec.22 #Virginia..............................W 25-16
Jan.5 Medical College..................W 45-22
Jan.7 at Virginia............................W 50-28
Jan.9 Randolph-Macon ................W 36-13
Jan.12 Hampden-Sydney...............W 52-28
Jan.17 at Virginia Tech....................W 37-17
Jan.18 at Emory & Henry* ..............W 38-31
Jan.19 at Roanoke ..........................W 43-29
Feb.2 at Hampden-Sydney...........W 47-30
Feb.6 at Medical College ..............W 40-29
Feb.8 at William & Mary...............W 46-20
Feb.9 at Maryland.........................W 56-26
Feb.11 Roanoke..............................W 53-22
Feb.13 Emory & Henry....................W 28-25
Feb.15 Virginia Tech........................W 40-20
Feb.16 at VMI..................................W 53-37
Feb.19 at Washington & Lee...........W 25-21
Feb.21 at Randolph-Macon ............W 45-14
Feb.23 VMI......................................W 50-30
Feb.26 William & Mary...................W 58-39

NOTE: The 1934-35 team placed all five Starters on the All-State team. Over three seasons the squad won 24 consecutive games which is the longest winning streak in Richmond basketball history. The 1934-35 team is also the only Richmond squad to ever record a perfect season.

https://richmondspiders.com/documents/2019/10/24/MBB_Record_Book_2019_20_Final.pdf

 

[fan2011]

If we somehow win 20 or more games this season and make it to the dance I will be completely shocked. However, I see us just missing the NCAA tournament. So prove me wrong.

Winning 20 games will be relatively easy compared to making the NCAAs. It is very possible that we win 23+ games this year and miss the dance.

 

[Marley13]

Good to see UVA still playing the same offense.

 

[spider fan]

Good to see UVA still playing the same offense.

Yes - we beat the prevailing National Champs of 2019 - twice that season................as we played "shutdown" defense.....................

 

[fatherspider]

This discussion is very premature -
That said any discussion of best UR team ever has to include 1934-35 under Coach Mac Pitt....................can't do any better than that team - undefeated..................20-0 .............acknowledge travel distance limited schedule and there was no postseason, but when you win every game you play, you have done the best you possibly could............

(H: 8-0 A: 11-0 N: 1-0) HEAD COACH: Malcolm U. Pitt CAPTAIN: Roger Leverton
Dec.22 #Virginia..............................W 25-16
Jan.5 Medical College..................W 45-22
Jan.7 at Virginia............................W 50-28
Jan.9 Randolph-Macon ................W 36-13
Jan.12 Hampden-Sydney...............W 52-28
Jan.17 at Virginia Tech....................W 37-17
Jan.18 at Emory & Henry* ..............W 38-31
Jan.19 at Roanoke ..........................W 43-29
Feb.2 at Hampden-Sydney...........W 47-30
Feb.6 at Medical College ..............W 40-29
Feb.8 at William & Mary...............W 46-20
Feb.9 at Maryland.........................W 56-26
Feb.11 Roanoke..............................W 53-22
Feb.13 Emory & Henry....................W 28-25
Feb.15 Virginia Tech........................W 40-20
Feb.16 at VMI..................................W 53-37
Feb.19 at Washington & Lee...........W 25-21
Feb.21 at Randolph-Macon ............W 45-14
Feb.23 VMI......................................W 50-30
Feb.26 William & Mary...................W 58-39

NOTE: The 1934-35 team placed all five Starters on the All-State team. Over three seasons the squad won 24 consecutive games which is the longest winning streak in Richmond basketball history. The 1934-35 team is also the only Richmond squad to ever record a perfect season.

https://richmondspiders.com/documents/2019/10/24/MBB_Record_Book_2019_20_Final.pdf

Never gave up more than 40 points. Wow have times changed w UR bb.

 

[fan2011]

Never gave up more than 40 points. Wow have times changed w UR bb.

It is called the shot clock.

 

[whampas]

It is called the shot clock.

The jump ball after each made basket was eliminated in 1937.

 

[URWilk110]

He's not being critical of the team, he's being critical of the proclamation after eight games that it's the best team in school history, which of course is a ridiculous declaration to make or question to ask at this point.

Thank you for saving me from having to explain.

 

[KWeaver]

There are a lot of ways of measuring the quality of a basketball team including wins, post season tournaments and computer ranking. I personally like commuter rankings, because wins can be inflated with a week schedule and there is some luck involved in getting to the NCAA. Many of you will have strong views on the subject.

If you focus on only this computer SRS ranking https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/richmond/2004.html you can see where we ranked each year going back decades. We currently rank 58th out of 355 (top 16.34% of teams). The 3 other teams with the highest ranking were the:

2010-2011 team at 29-8, 55th out of 345 (top 15.9%)
2003-2004 team at 20-13, 49th out of 326 (top 15%)
1985-1986 team at 23-7, 55th out of 283 (top 19.43%).

If we had 5 healthy starters our ranking probably would be the highest in the history of the school by season end with out having any seniors on the team.

With that said, I expect our ranking may drop with 2 starters out of the lineup.

Another interesting thing to see is how our ranking has actually been pretty good over the past decade where we ranked in the top 102 teams 8 out of 10 years. We are no longer a Cinderella team.

So as to clarify that this comment is not critical of the TEAM, which I think is quite WONDERFUL, I just want to be clear that this is very bad methodology with such a small sample size.

 

[Eight Legger]

So as to clarify that this comment is not critical of the TEAM, which I think is quite WONDERFUL, I just want to be clear that this is very bad methodology with such a small sample size.

Why do you hate our team so much, hater??

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Why do you hate our team so much, hater??

I hear you, but we can just agree to disagree about what being a hater is. No worries.

 

[SpiderK]

We can’t keep this team on the floor.

 

[GKiller]

So UR80sfan starts a thread asking if this is the best basketball team in the history of UR and he's not even picking us to make the NCAA tourney.

Ok cool hook em.

NCAA or bust.

 

[SpiderK]

This isn’t the best team since 2011 yet, but it could be. Time will tell.

 

[UR80sfan]

It is interesting that a lot of people criticized the coach for saying this is “the best class ever” before we even played a game, but I point data which shows through 9 games we have a higher SOR ranking than any previous year end ranking over the past 50 years (I am changing the subject line), which so far confirms Mooney's statement and I get criticized.

There are a lot of different ways of comparing the relative quality of teams over time and this is obviously just one of them. Our current team is terrific and should be even better next year. Yes, we still have a long way to go, but things are off to a great start.

The ranking also counters those who have complained about the difficulty of our schedule since the ranking takes into consideration the SOS.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

The SRS is meant to be a predictive system. According to the folks that publish it, it is a lousy retrodictive system, which is how you are attempting to use it.

 

[97spiderfan]

We are off to a fantastic start, better than any of us would have predicted and I really like how this team is playing. But lets pump the breaks on best team in the last 50 years. We have a storied history of NCAA bids, Top 25 ranked teams, Sweet 16 teams, Cinderalla upsets and it frankly is insulting to those teams to proclaim this team better in early December than all of the storied accomplishments of those teams.

It is a long college basketball season a lot can and will happen. This team will be judged like all others by where it at in March and what it does in March.

 

[CarolinaSpider]

I agree with 97 but what to me is bigger question is the bench. Will players 6-10 provide
the consistency to make this team the best in history? Andre G is definitely a strong 6th
man but we need 2-3 more to hit that next level.

 

[MountainSpider]

Pfft... next year's team would kick this team's butt.

 

[97spiderfan]

I agree with 97 but what to me is bigger question is the bench. Will players 6-10 provide
the consistency to make this team the best in history? Andre G is definitely a strong 6th
man but we need 2-3 more to hit that next level.

I think Burton has already shown himself a valuable bench player and he is just settling in as a freshman, so I like his upside. Sal has had some good moments but also has been invisible at times. Need him to step up in his consistency.

Grace and Woj are giving us typical Mooney bench minutes, meaning they are on the court providing a player rest but aren't contributing much to the game.

 

[spiderman]

best team in 50 years might be a reach after only 9 games, but it anyone still mocking the proclamation that the current juniors might be the best class ever? that's a really strong group.

 

[SouthJerseySpiderFan]

Best group of players, ok yes, but to say best class, a big * needs to be inserted.

 

[spiderman]

Best group of players, ok yes, but to say best class, a big * needs to be inserted.

yeah, but that that was what he was saying. he never claimed it was one recruiting class. he was talking about the current junior class. and people here went nuts for some reason.

 

[97spiderfan]

yeah, but that that was what he was saying. he never claimed it was one recruiting class. he was talking about the current junior class. and people here went nuts for some reason.

Cause it took him about 8 year to assemble said class and then he wants a damn cookie for assembling it.