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

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Yes, but good teams find a way to win tough or close games. This is a sign of a good team.

Exactly. And SRS doesn't measure that. That's the point. I would rather have a team that wins a bunch of close games than a team with a few blowouts that loses close games. SRS would say the second team is "better."

I think it would be fairly easy to establish that the 2011 squad, and probably a couple more, had a higher SRS after 9 games than our current team. That's not a commentary on which team is "better."

 

[urmite]

Exactly. And SRS doesn't measure that. That's the point. I would rather have a team that wins a bunch of close games than a team with a few blowouts that loses close games. SRS would say the second team is "better."

I think it would be fairly easy to establish that the 2011 squad, and probably a couple more, had a higher SRS after 9 games than our current team. That's not a commentary on which team is "better."

That reminds me of a tale of my sports glory...

Middle School Bowling League Championship...

You play 3 games, each game counts as a win, Highest total score counts as a win...and the tie breaker.

We won 1 of 3 by 1 point more than we lost the other 2 combined.
Guess who was league champ?

 

[UR80sfan]

Exactly. And SRS doesn't measure that. That's the point. I would rather have a team that wins a bunch of close games than a team with a few blowouts that loses close games. SRS would say the second team is "better."

I think it would be fairly easy to establish that the 2011 squad, and probably a couple more, had a higher SRS after 9 games than our current team. That's not a commentary on which team is "better."

Not sure how much better RPI is, but our current RPI is 31
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/rpi/
at the end of our 29 win season in 2011 our RPI was 41. I could not find an RPI for 1985 86 season. With the best start to a season since 1985, we are on the right tract. This team is going to be great this year and should be a preseason top 25 for next year.

 

[fan2011]

Not sure how much better RPI is, but our current RPI is 31
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/rpi/
at the end of our 29 win season in 2011 our RPI was 41. I could not find an RPI for 1985 86 season. With the best start to a season since 1985, we are on the right tract. This team is going to be great this year and should be a preseason top 25 for next year.

RPI is about the worst you can get in terms of ratings.

 

[urmite]

RPI is about the worst you can get in terms of ratings.

What did you think of NET by the end of last season? Even if the details weren’t revealed...

 

[fan2011]

What did you think of NET by the end of last season? Even if the details weren’t revealed...

It was middle of the road in predictive accuracy last year out of the 60+ systems in the Massey composite. That is much better than the RPI, which is always at the bottom, but still there are a bunch of much better systems at rating team's actual basketball ability.

 

[coach fezz]

best thing I like for this team is Andre and Burton go after the ball and go after the ball and jump and move and jump and move and BLOCK THE SHOT Ha! They are difference makers. Keep the FIGHT!

 

[spiderman]

I always thought you hated block the shot?

 

[coach fezz]

I always thought you hated block the shot?

ha yes only when it was not to play TJ which was meaning no scoring. Today basketball is scoring scoring and team effort TEAM effort TEAM effort . this is what will win

 

[DukeDenver]

Really looking forward to conference play. National rankings are fun, but winning the A10 regular season and tourney are the real prize. Has Richmond ever won?

 

[MrTbone]

Really looking forward to conference play. National rankings are fun, but winning the A10 regular season and tourney are the real prize. Has Richmond ever won?

We have won the A10 tournament once.

 

[urmite]

We have won the A10 tournament once.

I think the last regular season and Tournament was 1987-1988...

 

[Stork3]

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

1 - I am happy for the team and for the coaches and fans for the good start to the season.
2 - This team is not as good as the '88 team.
3 - Why in the world is this being called one of the greatest teams WHEN WE HAVE NOT EVEN STARTED OUR CONFERENCE SEASON YET?

Sorry - the declaration of our excellence is just so ludicrous right now.

 

[Spider B]

Keep winning.

 

[UR80sfan]

The Spiders were not at their best against ODU, however ODU is better than must people are giving them credit. Kenpom has them at 179 after the loss, but that doesn't take into account the Clemson transfer. With that said, many of us are judging U of R as "one of" the best teams ever and based on that criteria their performance was below expectations. After the win we took a pretty big drop in our RPI rankings, down 12 places to 38. Is there reason to worry and will we do poorly against teams with larger guards?

In order to judge you need to take a step back and examine Gilyard and Sherod who have had 2 off games in a row from a shooting perspective. It was not because defenses have learned how to shut down our 3 point shooting. It might be because they were exhausted from studying for exams. They both seem like they are great students who care about their grades. Who knows? What I do know is that history shows both of them can light it up regardless of the competition. Gilyard lead the A10 in scoring during conference play last year and Sherod was one of the top scorers the year before. These guys will be on most games and when they are we can beat any team in the country. We will lose some games, but overall this team is going to have a terrific season.

 

[gcarter52]

1 - I am happy for the team and for the coaches and fans for the good start to the season.
2 - This team is not as good as the '88 team.
3 - Why in the world is this being called one of the greatest teams WHEN WE HAVE NOT EVEN STARTED OUR CONFERENCE SEASON YET?

Sorry - the declaration of our excellence is just so ludicrous right now.

I was always told that you have to dream of something in order to turn it into reality. To achieve anything life, you first must believe it....Keep on with the dream..Go Spiders!!

 

[KWeaver]

Guys, I am going to declare the 2053 iteration of UR men’s basketball to be the best ever! Think big!

 

[KWeaver]

The Spiders were not at their best against ODU, however ODU is better than must people are giving them credit. Kenpom has them at 179 after the loss, but that doesn't take into account the Clemson transfer. With that said, many of us are judging U of R as "one of" the best teams ever and based on that criteria their performance was below expectations. After the win we took a pretty big drop in our RPI rankings, down 12 places to 38. Is there reason to worry and will we do poorly against teams with larger guards?

In order to judge you need to take a step back and examine Gilyard and Sherod who have had 2 off games in a row from a shooting perspective. It was not because defenses have learned how to shut down our 3 point shooting. It might be because they were exhausted from studying for exams. They both seem like they are great students who care about their grades. Who knows? What I do know is that history shows both of them can light it up regardless of the competition. Gilyard lead the A10 in scoring during conference play last year and Sherod was one of the top scorers the year before. These guys will be on most games and when they are we can beat any team in the country. We will lose some games, but overall this team is going to have a terrific season.

I appreciate the optimism and the analysis here.

 

[SpiderRick]

Guys, I am going to declare the 2053 iteration of UR men’s basketball to be the best ever! Think big!

Weave I'm not ready to go there (yet). We've been so bad for so long that I am truly stunned by this whole 10-1 thing....

 

[wr70beh]

I've blocked the AD staffer who posted this thread because he's so over the top towing the company line. He must get paid by the word.

 

[UR80sfan]

I've blocked the AD staffer who posted this thread because he's so over the top towing the company line. He must get paid by the word.

One of the problems with this board being anonymous is that it brings out a person's true personality.

The truth is I have never worked for the University or its AD department, although I would have been honored to do so. I have had a very successful 30+ year career on Wall Street. My wife and I have donated millions of dollar to non-profit organization that benefit children and I personally have donated well over a 1000 hours to non-profit organizations by serving on boards or helping in other ways. I have a wonderful wife and family and believe that my University of Richmond education greatly helped me achieve these things.

I love U of R and will always be loyal to the University, however that does not mean blindly supporting it's staff. I was very involved in getting Cooper replaced. I fully support coach Mooney and think he is going to do great things for our program over the next 2 years.

 

[VT4700]

One of the problems with this board being anonymous is that it brings out a person's true personality.

The truth is I have never worked for the University or its AD department, although I would have been honored to do so. I have had a very successful 30+ year career on Wall Street. My wife and I have donated millions of dollar to non-profit organization that benefit children and I personally have donated well over a 1000 hours to non-profit organizations by serving on boards or helping in other ways. I have a wonderful wife and family and believe that my University of Richmond education greatly helped me achieve these things.

I love U of R and will always be loyal to the University, however that does not mean blindly supporting it's staff. I was very involved in getting Cooper replaced. I fully support coach Mooney and think he is going to do great things for our program over the next 2 years.

I like and support our coach as well, and so do a whole lot of other Spider fans out there, but for some reason, if you show support on here, some think it means you must know him and work at the university.

 

[Gallipoli]

One of the problems with this board being anonymous is that it brings out a person's true personality.

The truth is I have never worked for the University or its AD department, although I would have been honored to do so. I have had a very successful 30+ year career on Wall Street. My wife and I have donated millions of dollar to non-profit organization that benefit children and I personally have donated well over a 1000 hours to non-profit organizations by serving on boards or helping in other ways. I have a wonderful wife and family and believe that my University of Richmond education greatly helped me achieve these things.

I love U of R and will always be loyal to the University, however that does not mean blindly supporting it's staff. I was very involved in getting Cooper replaced. I fully support coach Mooney and think he is going to do great things for our program over the next 2 years.

Yes, the future is bright. Good things happen with hard work. All of the work, the practice and the study show the strength of this team. Character counts.

 

[SpiderRick]

I like and support our coach as well, and so do a whole lot of other Spider fans out there, but for some reason, if you show support on here, some think it means you must know him and work at the university.

For some reason, if you dare criticize Coach Mooney, some think it means that you are a Negative Nancy who hates the program, hope it fails, and hates the university.

I do like the fact that Mooney has made significant coaching changes and is much better on the sidelines with his game time coaching. I also think that our outside pressure and negative publicity (billboard), helped get him out of his complacency and to realize that he needed to make changes. As far as I'm concerned, these acts also show support for our university. We are ALL Spiders!

 

[whampas]

For some reason, if you dare criticize Coach Mooney, some think it means that you are a Negative Nancy who hates the program, hope it fails, and hates the university.

I do like the fact that Mooney has made significant coaching changes and is much better on the sidelines with his game time coaching. I also think that our outside pressure and negative publicity (billboard), helped get him out of his complacency and to realize that he needed to make changes. As far as I'm concerned, these acts also show support for our university. We are ALL Spiders!

Well said. Captures my feelings exactly.

 

[SouthJerseySpiderFan]

Well said. Captures my feelings exactly.

Can't ever be a made man Spider but hits the spot for me too.

 

[spider23]

Agree with Rick. And as much as others hate to admit, whoever did that billboard gave Mooney a spark. Now we are OneRichmond (as long as we keep winning).

 

[BillyWayne]

Agree with Rick. And as much as others hate to admit, whoever did that billboard gave Mooney a spark. Now we are OneRichmond (as long as we keep winning).

I'd agree to the extent that CM began feeling pressure and kicked his game up a notch. I disagree that the billboard had anything to do with it. It was tacky and counterproductive in my opinion.

 

[Gospiders06]

If we win 20 plus games and make it to the sweet 16 the answer is yes.

 

[URWilk110]

Best team in 50 years doesn't lose to a 3-7 Big South team. This thread can be shut down.

 

[SpiderAlways]

No!

 

[AnnapSpider]

Best team in 50 years doesn't lose to a 3-7 Big South team. This thread can be shut down.

Shut her down

 

[plydogg]

This may have been our only team the past 50 years to lose to Radford in such embarrassing fashion. So we've got that going for us which is nice.

 

[Spiders4ever]

This may have been our only team the past 50 years to lose to Radford in such embarrassing fashion. So we've got that going for us which is nice.

I see your back.

 

[Spiders4ever]

You're.

 

[URWilk110]

Bump

 

[spider23]

I'd agree to the extent that CM began feeling pressure and kicked his game up a notch. I disagree that the billboard had anything to do with it. It was tacky and counterproductive in my opinion.

Au contraire mon frere, it seemed that the only pressure Mooney ever felt was after the billboard.

 

[UR80sfan]

It is too early to tell how this team will rank among our all-time great teams. For this year they might end up in the top 10 over the past 50 years. Next year I still think they have a shot at being the highest ranked team in the program history.

Last night was a difficult game to watch. We came back a number of times, despite terrible 3 point shooting, but couldn't get stops when we needed them. The Key to winning is making sure Gilly is fully engaged and is either our 1st or 2nd option scoring. Frances needs to be scaled back. Bottom line on the game is that we were expected to lose, but not by as large a margin as we did.

Forecast rest of the season is 3-5 to start conference play and finishing 11-7 with a chance of making the NCAA if we win the tournament.

 

[SpiderRick]

How is that any different than any other season? We ALWAYS have a chance of making the NCAA if we win the A10 tournament. Most of Mooney's seasons, it's the ONLY chance we have to make the NCAA, that's the frekkin problem!!!

 

[KWeaver]