La Salle Explorers - 2:30 PM Saturday

[Eight Legger]

The reality is that a team like Lasalle has no business being close with us this year. I don't care if we play them at our place, at their place or on the moon. We should always win by 10-15 points. Always. But our problem this year, as it seems to be every year, is that we basically play down to the level of most inferior opponents. I won't say that we play up to better opponents because we really haven't done that. We won the games we should have won, lost the one we should have lost and lost three we should not have lost.

I thought this could be the one year under Mooney when we knew we were better than almost every opponent, we took the court knowing it and then we methodically proved it by our play. Not to the level Dayton did that last year, but in that same way at a one-off level. Instead, it's just been more of the same uninspired, lackadaisical let-the-other-team-hang-around nonsense that has been the hallmark of more Mooney teams than not over the years.

I can't figure out if softness is inherent in our style and therefore our mentality, or if our style prevents us from really just blitzing the teams we should blitz or what. Maybe we're just not that good, who knows.

 

[GKiller]

I agree for the most part. No question Jacob and Blake need to make more shots. They are getting some good looks, but not always. I think we can give them a few more good looks a game. And, I think Tyler and Nate need to do better attacking the zone. Nate is great taking his man one-on-one, but we need to get better production inside the arc against zones. I don't think it's nearly as dramatic or bad as some people are making it, but I do think we can do better. But, I think you definitely hit the main point. We need to shoot better from outside. That is by far the best way to beat a zone, and below average 3 point shooting was my biggest fear coming into the season.

Jacob and Blake r better shooters than they've shown, I agree they have to pick it up. But our 3 pt % is not far off last year, nor is the # of 3s we make a game. It is close enough, and our 2 pt % is higher negating those small differences. Defense is what has easily declined the most and why we are losing these games.

 

[urmite]

Jacob and Blake r better shooters than they've shown, I agree they have to pick it up. But our 3 pt % is not far off last year, nor is the # of 3s we make a game. It is close enough, and our 2 pt % is higher negating those small differences. Defense is what has easily declined the most and why we are losing these games.

Last season's efficiency 95.3 Overall 92.9 A-10 games
This season 98.9 Overall 104.4 A-10
Lower is better...
And yes different number of games between the two years.

 

[VT4700]

The reality is that a team like Lasalle has no business being close with us this year. I don't care if we play them at our place, at their place or on the moon. We should always win by 10-15 points. Always. But our problem this year, as it seems to be every year, is that we basically play down to the level of most inferior opponents. I won't say that we play up to better opponents because we really haven't done that. We won the games we should have won, lost the one we should have lost and lost three we should not have lost.

I thought this could be the one year under Mooney when we knew we were better than almost every opponent, we took the court knowing it and then we methodically proved it by our play. Not to the level Dayton did that last year, but in that same way at a one-off level. Instead, it's just been more of the same uninspired, lackadaisical let-the-other-team-hang-around nonsense that has been the hallmark of more Mooney teams than not over the years.

I can't figure out if softness is inherent in our style and therefore our mentality, or if our style prevents us from really just blitzing the teams we should blitz or what. Maybe we're just not that good, who knows.

Let me help you out. We lost Nick, the country's 10th best three-point shooter last year. Not an excuse, a fact. Losing a top three point shooter matters. As a result, we aren't going to blow many teams out. As a result, this is not the best class ever. As a result, this is a different team than last year. It just is. Look no further than our three-point shooting last year and this year. Now, that being said, should we have won Saturday? Yes, but I wouldn't expect too many blowouts this year. Other teams have good players too, and we are missing a great one from last year. But, can we still win a lot more than we lose and get to 1st or 2nd IC? Yes. We can. Will we? Time will tell.

 

[VT4700]

Jacob and Blake r better shooters than they've shown, I agree they have to pick it up. But our 3 pt % is not far off last year, nor is the # of 3s we make a game. It is close enough, and our 2 pt % is higher negating those small differences. Defense is what has easily declined the most and why we are losing these games.

But, what you are missing is the fact that we could have been even better offensively than last year with good outside shooting. Not every team will be equal offensively and defensively. Looking at our roster, we should be better offensively than defensively. And we are. But, there is room for improvement offensively, and it starts with better shooting, especially from outside. And, there is a big difference when you have a guy like Nick on the floor shooting so well from three, and from so deep, that teams need to respect that. It makes everyone else better. No matter what the stats say, we don't have that right now. But, that being said, we need to improve defensively as well. No question about it.

 

[plydogg]

Let me help you out. We lost Nick, the country's 10th best three-point shooter last year. Not an excuse, a fact.

Those things are not mutually exclusive. It’s a fact but it is also absolutely being used as an excuse. You’d think Mooney would know how to adjust the roster with Sherod going down with a torn ACL since, you know, it’s not even the first season that has happened.

 

[Spider B]

The staff has had ample time to prepare for games without NS. There is still plenty of talent to beat LaSalle and Hofstra. Tired of the excuses year after year. Plenty of teams make the tournament every year that lose players off the previous years roster to graduation, transfer, and YES injury. This team is not playing up to expectations even with the loss of NS. There are a decade worth of excuses in this program.

 

[VT4700]

Those things are not mutually exclusive. It’s a fact but it is also absolutely being used as an excuse. You’d think Mooney would know how to adjust the roster with Sherod going down with a torn ACL since, you know, it’s not even the first season that has happened.

He has adjusted. Are we supposed to be just as good without Nick than with him? Serious question. Are we? Whenever a guy goes down, is it not supposed to affect a team?

 

[VT4700]

The staff has had ample time to prepare for games without NS. There is still plenty of talent to beat LaSalle and Hofstra. Tired of the excuses year after year. Plenty of teams make the tournament every year that lose players off the previous years roster to graduation, transfer, and YES injury. This team is not playing up to expectations even with the loss of NS. There are a decade worth of excuses in this program.

I agree that we should have beaten Hofstra and LaSalle. I'm not sure how many more times I need to say that. My point was we are not the same team as last year. So, I don't expect to blow teams out.

 

[plydogg]

I suppose myself and many others here have a higher expectation and a higher standard. We aren’t ok with losing every year and being the punchline of every VCU joke.

They expect better because they’ve seen better. I haven’t seen better but I’ve seen a lot of teams that have disappointed year after year. It took me 8 years to pull the plug on Mooney, but god does it feel good to no longer make excuses for mediocrity and say “well these other schools are mediocre so we should be fine with it too”. Never again for me.

 

[Eight Legger]

Losing Nick sucked, but it also allowed Burton and Cayo to play more prominent roles. Burton has been our best player this year. I'd say that makes up for a lot of the loss of Nick. Burton is also a better rebounder and better defender than Nick, so it has been a net plus on defense too. Cayo has regressed lately after a very hot start. But generally speaking, I think it's probably a net wash overall at worst, with the caveat that we do miss the ability to sub out one talented guy for another. It's obviously impacted our quality of depth.

 

[SpiderGuy]

Let me help you out. We lost Nick, the country's 10th best three-point shooter last year. Not an excuse, a fact. Losing a top three point shooter matters. As a result, we aren't going to blow many teams out. As a result, this is not the best class ever. As a result, this is a different team than last year. It just is. Look no further than our three-point shooting last year and this year. Now, that being said, should we have won Saturday? Yes, but I wouldn't expect too many blowouts this year. Other teams have good players too, and we are missing a great one from last year. But, can we still win a lot more than we lose and get to 1st or 2nd IC? Yes. We can. Will we? Time will tell.

Not that the lines mean anything, but the line was 14 or 15...so the expectation was there should have been a blowout or at least a double digit win. Throwing away the lines - we are supposed to be able to handle weaker teams in the conference. LaSalle is not any great team that we should struggle with, but we did. I would have settled for a one point win, but that didn't happen. The thing is coaches have learned how to exploit our weaknesses. Even a weaker team with the proper game plan can play even with us or beat us.

 

[whampas]

Guys, love all this in depth analysis and the efficiency stats are great. Our losing games we shouldn't and under achieving rests clearly on the shoulders of coach Mooney and the administration who continue to buy into his nice guy image. His record speaks for itself. If you think things are going to change under his leadership you're just blind.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Losing Nick sucked, but it also allowed Burton and Cayo to play more prominent roles. Burton has been our best player this year. I'd say that makes up for a lot of the loss of Nick. Burton is also a better rebounder and better defender than Nick, so it has been a net plus on defense too. Cayo has regressed lately after a very hot start. But generally speaking, I think it's probably a net wash overall at worst, with the caveat that we do miss the ability to sub out one talented guy for another. It's obviously impacted our quality of depth.

Teams are letting us shoot from deep a bit more, as they're not as afraid of our shooters without Nick.

However, (and to his credit, Mooney said this postgame) offense is not the issue. "78 should be enough."

 

[DTSpider]

Guys, love all this in depth analysis and the efficiency stats are great. Our losing games we shouldn't and under achieving rests clearly on the shoulders of coach Mooney and the administration who continue to buy into his nice guy image. His record speaks for itself. If you think things are going to change under his leadership you're just blind.

He’s won more games than anyone else at UR...he’s the best!!!

 

[Spiders4ever]

Let me help you out. We lost Nick, the country's 10th best three-point shooter last year. Not an excuse, a fact. Losing a top three point shooter matters. As a result, we aren't going to blow many teams out. As a result, this is not the best class ever. As a result, this is a different team than last year. It just is. Look no further than our three-point shooting last year and this year. Now, that being said, should we have won Saturday? Yes, but I wouldn't expect too many blowouts this year. Other teams have good players too, and we are missing a great one from last year. But, can we still win a lot more than we lose and get to 1st or 2nd IC? Yes. We can. Will we? Time will tell.

Second best class ever?

 

[SpiderVol]

Nick was a very good player and a great shooter. No doubt it was a loss to the team. Leadership and shooting are tough to replace. I'm not saying we should be a better team, but maybe a different team that is equally as good. We lost a guy who can absolutely light it up and do it quickly. Drop 30 for us on occasion. But we didn't lose an all-league player.

While Nick is know for his shooting, defense and lateral quickness is not his strength. He was replaced in the line-up by a better defensive in Tyler Burton. While that hurts our depth for sure, it should have helped our overall defense, yet we have been much worse this year than last.

Last season the core players (10) defensive rating per 100 possessions was between 91.6 (Burton) and 101.9 (Francis) with the other guys falling in the 94-98 range. Sherod was on the higher end at 97.3.

This year the teams defense is much worse overall. The core players (8) is falling between 98.4 (Gilyard) and 107.7 (Grace). Burton is 2nd at 100.1 and the rest of the squad is in the 103-106 range. While the loss of Sherod hurt it should not be the cause of our terrible defensive play.

This probably computes to about 5 points per game. That probably puts them on the other side of 3 of the 4 loses.

Plus Sherod averaged 12.7 pts on 0.474 / 0.438 / 0.805 shooting, plus 5.4 rebs, 1.6 assts, 0.9 stls, and 0.1 blks in 29.5 mins. Burton is putting up almost identical numbers at 12.9 pts on 0.528 / 0.417 / 0.795 shooting, plus 8.5 rebs, 0.4 assts, 1.0 stls, and 0.6 blks in 32.2 mins.

The team is putting up more point this year (76.1 vs 75.3) on nearly identical shooting (2pt up a little and 3 pt down a little). But the defense is giving up much more (71.4 vs 66.8). Opponent shooting percentages are up drastically (0.557 vs 0.491 for 2 pt and 0.328 vs 0.305 for 3 pt).

 

[SpiderRick]

Why are they playing so poorly at home, we're supposed to have an advantage. Yeah I know, there's no fans. But your at home for God's sake! You're not traveling, you're sleeping in your own bed (wink), you're playing in the same gym you've been shooting baskets in every day for the past 3, 4, 5 years! You can't tell me thats not some sort of an advantage. Actually I'm glad I haven't been there in person to witness the train coming off the tracks.

 

[MrTbone]

I agree for the most part. No question Jacob and Blake need to make more shots. They are getting some good looks, but not always. I think we can give them a few more good looks a game. And, I think Tyler and Nate need to do better attacking the zone. Nate is great taking his man one-on-one, but we need to get better production inside the arc against zones. I don't think it's nearly as dramatic or bad as some people are making it, but I do think we can do better. But, I think you definitely hit the main point. We need to shoot better from outside. That is by far the best way to beat a zone, and below average 3 point shooting was my biggest fear coming into the season.

Overall I think the looks have been consistently good. I do think we pull the trigger on the deep three too often rather than find an extra pass to get a closer look. This is where Blake in particular fails, he loves the deep shot but isn’t particularly good at it, he’s probably very average to below average given the number of takes.

I still think it’s about defense though. Threeball woes aside, if we get stops the offense is adequately good to win. We just don’t get enough stops and give up too many easy buckets

 

[VT4700]

Overall I think the looks have been consistently good. I do think we pull the trigger on the deep three too often rather than find an extra pass to get a closer look. This is where Blake in particular fails, he loves the deep shot but isn’t particularly good at it, he’s probably very average to below average given the number of takes.

I still think it’s about defense though. Threeball woes aside, if we get stops the offense is adequately good to win. We just don’t get enough stops and give up too many easy buckets

I hear you, T. And thanks for that type of reply. Kind of rare to get that these days.

 

[MrTbone]

Let me help you out. We lost Nick, the country's 10th best three-point shooter last year. Not an excuse, a fact. Losing a top three point shooter matters. As a result, we aren't going to blow many teams out. As a result, this is not the best class ever. As a result, this is a different team than last year. It just is. Look no further than our three-point shooting last year and this year. Now, that being said, should we have won Saturday? Yes, but I wouldn't expect too many blowouts this year. Other teams have good players too, and we are missing a great one from last year. But, can we still win a lot more than we lose and get to 1st or 2nd IC? Yes. We can. Will we? Time will tell.

Tyler is shooting 41.7%. Not 10th in country but more than respectable enough to keep defenses honest. I don’t think that’s as big a factor as you do but of course it has an impact.

 

[VT4700]

Tyler is shooting 41.7%. Not 10th in country but more than respectable enough to keep defenses honest. I don’t think that’s as big a factor as you do but of course it has an impact.

He is, and I am pleasantly surprised by that. He might improve on that also. But, to me it's just not the same. Nick was a volume 3 point shooter who not only made defenses know where he was at all times, but could absolutely carry us from three point land at times.

 

[kneepadmckinney]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd actually like Grant to look for his 3 point shot more, especially early in the game to draw out the defense. He just looks like he's staying with his shot and finishing forward, and so all of the balls that were front rim last year are going in.

 

[MrTbone]

He is, and I am pleasantly surprised by that. He might improve on that also. But, to me it's just not the same. Nick was a volume 3 point shooter who not only made defenses know where he was at all times, but could absolutely carry us from three point land at times.

Fair, clearly the volume and make rate by nick were significant last year. I guess I just don’t see that being the issue when the defense has looked sloppy and our other shooters are in the crapper. At some point all of these things are intertwined to a degree.

 

[97spiderfan]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd actually like Grant to look for his 3 point shot more, especially early in the game to draw out the defense. He just looks like he's staying with his shot and finishing forward, and so all of the balls that were front rim last year are going in.

Yeah, me either. But he does seem to be hitting those shots with more frequently this year.

To me the number one thing that needs to change is Jacob needs to get more involved in our offense. He had 2 points last night on 1-4 shooting, 5 points against LaSalle. Yeah, he is still getting assists on our offense but he is also a big scoring weapon for us and has pretty much been in a season long slump.

Like all players in slump, Mooney needs to make some adjustments to give Jacob opportunities to get his confidence back on offense.

We aren't beating good teams with Jacob scoring 5 points and not looking for his shot.

 

[SFspidur]

Grant had one horrendous-looking three attempt last night. Quickly came back and hit a long two, but man, that three was ugly.

Gilly has long been a guy who looks to get others involved first and then asserts himself if he needs to. Last night we didn't need him to, but he's also struggled when we've needed him this year, so I agree he and Mooney need to figure out a way to get the shots falling again, even if it means changing his approach a bit.

 

[spiderman]

lol, I rewound and called my kid to come watch that 3!
I love Grant. huge fan. and I like him shooting from 3 when open. he's been very good this year. but I've never seen an open 3 hit the backboard that hard in my life!

 

[Eight Legger]

That was the most bizarre three attempt I've seen in some time. It honestly looked like someone had come up from behind him and swatted the ball toward the basket just as he released it, except obviously that didn't happen. Must have just lost the grip or something. It looked like he was trying to injure the backboard.

 

[97spiderfan]

Grant had one horrendous-looking three attempt last night. Quickly came back and hit a long two, but man, that three was ugly.

Gilly has long been a guy who looks to get others involved first and then asserts himself if he needs to. Last night we didn't need him to, but he's also struggled when we've needed him this year, so I agree he and Mooney need to figure out a way to get the shots falling again, even if it means changing his approach a bit.

Yeah, Gilly is. But last night was the perfect game for him and Mooney to try and get him back on track. He had 4 shots. His confidence is shot right now in terms of shooting.

 

[MrTbone]

lol, I rewound and called my kid to come watch that 3!
I love Grant. huge fan. and I like him shooting from 3 when open. he's been very good this year. but I've never seen an open 3 hit the backboard that hard in my life!

Better or worse than this?

 

[spider23]

He is, and I am pleasantly surprised by that. He might improve on that also. But, to me it's just not the same. Nick was a volume 3 point shooter who not only made defenses know where he was at all times, but could absolutely carry us from three point land at times.

Seems like Burton knocking down every open 3, wish we had both, but the way moon uses players he would not have increased Burtons minutes if Nick could play.

 

[Eight Legger]

Better or worse than this?

View embedded media

Just different. It looked like Grant was trying to send the backboard to the hospital for some reason.

 

[MrTbone]

Just different. It looked like Grant was trying to send the backboard to the hospital for some reason.

It really was an incredible shot. I don't recall ever seeing a UR player fire one up quite like that.

 

[urmite]

Obviously, you guys have never seen me in a pickup game. When I shoot a 27 footer, all players on both teams look like they are in a 1950s classroom safety drill...

At one point I could make 25% from half court, but would use the same force from 18 feet, 22 feet, 26 feet...

It seemed I could get my own rebound off the backboard, not the rim from 15 feet without moving closer...

 

[whampas]

Where was Burton on that play? Could it have been a pass to Burton for a dunk? If it was a shot, it was unlike anything he's ever done before. Laughable.

 

[RichmondNative]

It was the shot heard around the world.

 

[SpiderRick]

For all you experts that have been saying all season long that VCU is a bunch of pansies, they just beat Lasalle by double digits. For comparison...

 

[Spiders4ever]

For all you experts that have been saying all season long that VCU is a bunch of pansies, they just beat Lasalle by double digits. For comparison...

Yeah, the Rams showed us how to get it done. Had 2 players out as well.

 

[8legs1dream]

For all you experts that have been saying all season long that VCU is a bunch of pansies, they just beat Lasalle by double digits. For comparison...

but did they cover the spread?? 🤢

 

[VT4700]

Yep, they are definitely showing us how it's done, like losing to Rhode Island by 15 and St Bonaventure by 16. I mean, wow, that's so much better than us. I wonder why we didn't see posts like these after those games.