Sounds good 17, we will have a full swag bag of #FMM gear sent out, just private message 97 the details for delivery.
Looking into next season - women's basketball
- Thread starter spiderstudent17
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From reading the Wisconsin boards, it sounds like we outdrew them pretty significantly in women's basketball this year.
Have to say that was some pretty sweet swag. 17, I think you will look great in it.
Yeah, interesting, kind of wild reading a bit about the Wisconsin program. Sounds like the coach who resigned was a bit of a dumpster fire, all these emotional abuse allegations, etc.
From our site:
The University of Richmond women's basketball team unveiled its 2025 signing class on Friday with four Spiders joining the roster for the 2025-26 season in Rayne Wright, Aneisha Scott, Shaneka Campbell and Ava Persichetti.
"We knew 2025 was going to be a very important class for us and our staff really hit this one out of the park," Head Coach Aaron Roussell said. "Each of these student-athletes complement each other well and will make a huge impact on our program. In addition to their on-court potential, I am equally excited about them as young women and what they and their incredible families will bring to Richmond women's basketball."
Wright, a Midlothian, Va. native, joins Richmond as a First Team All-Reigon, All-State and All-Metro honoree and plays for Team Durant. Most recently, she helped lead the Manchester High School to the program's first VHSL Class 6 State Championship in 2024.
"Rayne is an exceptional local talent that I have seen numerous times over the last several years," Roussell said. "Her IQ and skill set are a perfect match for our system and she will blossom and reach even greater heights playing with us."
Scott, a product of Minnesota, is a 2021-22 Tri-Metro All-Conference Honorable Mention in addition to being named to the 2022-23 3A Girls State All-Tournament Team, 2022-23 Tri-Metro All-Conference Team, 2022-23 2023 Tri-Metro All-Defensive Team, 2023-24 3A Girls State All-Tournament Team and 2023-24 MGBCA 3A All-State team. She was also named the 2023-24 Tri-Metro Player of the Year and has surpassed 1,000 points in her high school career.
"Aneisha has great point guard skills but can also score the ball in many ways as well," Roussell said. "She has an elite court sense and handle that not only creates her own scoring but makes others better as well. Her future teammates will love playing with her and will love the opportunities she creates for them."
Campbell joins the Spiders from The Bronx, N.Y. as she was named Harry S. Truman Pre Holiday Tournament MVP in 2022, Rose Classic Super Jam MVP in 2023 and holds a PSAL Championship title after being the league leader in total rebounds (2022-23). Most recently, she was named the Rose Classic Super Jam MVP in 2024.
"Neka is an unbelievable talent," Roussell continued. "She is relatively new to the game of basketball but has already showed an ability to dominate at the highest of levels. Her athleticism will impact the program from day one as her game continues to grow and will make her a high-impact player for us on both ends of the floor."
Persichetti hails from Blairsville, Pa. and is a 2x First-Team All-State selection in addition to being named All-Gazette and Renda Media Player of the Year. Persichetti has 1,737 total points for River Valley HS through three seasons and averaged 20.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game in 2023-24.
"Ava is a lights-out shooter and can also create her own shot at a high level," Roussell said. "We are very excited about how she complements the rest of the signing class as well as our current roster and what that will mean for us next year at multiple positions."
I actually think Moon would oppose increasing women's funding and would get Queely in his camp too. Exposes Moon too much for how doable it might be for men - - and Moon wants no expectations etc.
No doubt. Already outperformed the Men’s team this year. Can you imagine if it continued for multiple years? Seems like there is at least one person who wouldn’t be sad if Roussell decided to move on.
Doogan averaged 28.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists in two NCAA games against power-conference teams. For her NCAA career, three games against power-conference schools, she is averaging 24.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
She should be a preseason All-American next year. Hopefully with us.
She should be a preseason All-American next year. Hopefully with us.
From the article in the RTD this morning about Roussel, it reads as if he is coming back next year.
If Roussell and Doogan both return next year, we are probably preseason Top 25 with a potential All American on our roster. The men's team will not be the focus during hoops season next year at UR. That is a statement I never thought I would write.
I certainly hope that ends up being the case. Budnik leaves big shoes to fill, even more than just her numbers. Trying to replace her makes me a bit nervous, but we should still have a ton of talent.
Hill is a bit of the same boat...there's a reason she started every game but one over the past three seasons even though she wasn't filling up the bucket. Her role was hugely important to our success.
Hill is a bit of the same boat...there's a reason she started every game but one over the past three seasons even though she wasn't filling up the bucket. Her role was hugely important to our success.
97 - do you have a link? The latest article I see is from yesterday. The RTD is pretty much a disorganized jumble so it might be one I somehow missed.
Article this AM, but I agree with 97 assessment, more work to be done.
Spiders women haven't reached 'Apex Mountain,' believes coach Aaron Roussell
“I think we can build off of that ... We’ve gotten better every year that we’ve been here.”
Pretty much all comments from the postgame presser after UCLA.
Thanks for the link. I read this yesterday so the "this morning" part made me think I'd missed something.
No problem. If you had the "paperboy" I had you would have switched to digital by now.
Would be sick!
Wisconsin hired Missouri's women's bball coach so that job is off the table.
I am feeling more optimistic about not having Roussell leave for a P5 this year. He came from smaller more academic focused schools, so I don’t see him leaving for a Wisconsin or Missouri or Auburn kind of openings. Plus we have a great returning core next year. I will be very worried about 2025-2026. I can see school like Wake Forest, BC, Syracuse firing their coach next year for underperformance. Plus Northwestern’s coach will retire after next season. Roussell started his head coaching career at University of Chicago. Let’s hope we have tremendous success next year as well and he can see that Richmond is the place where he can achieve all his coaching goals and for the other numerous reasons already discussed!
I know Roussell likes building programs, but Northwestern is an awfully tough place to win at. In 18 years, McKeown has finished with a winning Big Ten record three times. His one outstanding season with a share of the regular season championship got cut short by COVID.
He obviously had great success at GW prior to getting the Northwestern job, so Roussell might look closely at that history. Of course, McKeown will have been at NW for 19 seasons even without winning, so...I guess it worked?
He obviously had great success at GW prior to getting the Northwestern job, so Roussell might look closely at that history. Of course, McKeown will have been at NW for 19 seasons even without winning, so...I guess it worked?
The question is how much does Roussell want to build this program and see its ceiling vs. other P5 schools. Going along what SF said, Northwestern just because it’s in the Big10 doesn’t necessarily mean it will have a higher/significantly higher ceiling than a USC or Iowa even that it’s worth starting over for and leaving what he’s established here. The ceiling at Richmond is definitely higher than Bucknell. At Richmond, we got AP votes throughout several weeks this year, play in elite OOC tournaments and tough non-conference schedule, have a chance at at-large in multi bid conference, and advance in NCAA tournament. I don’t think Bucknell will have allowed him to reach these heights. The question is how much further can we push the envelope. I am optimistic and think we continue to reach new heights and we have not reached our Apex like Roussell said. Next year, I think we can be ranked, beat more power teams, and advance to R32 again and beyond.
There’s not as much parity in women’s basketball as there is in men’s. Realistically only a handful of like 6-7 schools will win the national championship any given year (this year the contenders are all the 1 seeds + UConn + LSU). There is a ton more to continue to build with UR and that can be enticing enough to stay here, versus at Bucknell he felt he reached the peak of what could be achieved.
There’s not as much parity in women’s basketball as there is in men’s. Realistically only a handful of like 6-7 schools will win the national championship any given year (this year the contenders are all the 1 seeds + UConn + LSU). There is a ton more to continue to build with UR and that can be enticing enough to stay here, versus at Bucknell he felt he reached the peak of what could be achieved.
He can be the Mark Few of women's basketball.
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Big 18 coaches everywhere, especially on the West Coast, are bitching about the unreasonable travel. Let's hope they keep complaining.
The Rutgers baseball team was out here last week, playing at OSU on Tuesday and at that team down the road over the weekend. I talked to a fundraiser who accompanied them and he told me their travel schedule.
They took a redeye from JFK to PDX on Sunday night, came to Corvallis on Monday (90 minutes), played Tuesday, went down to Eugene (45 minutes) on Thursday, played Friday, Saturday and Sunday and flew home Sunday night out of PDX, just over two hours from Eugene. He thought they'd get back to campus sometime late morning/early afternoon on Monday.
That's crazy.
The Rutgers baseball team was out here last week, playing at OSU on Tuesday and at that team down the road over the weekend. I talked to a fundraiser who accompanied them and he told me their travel schedule.
They took a redeye from JFK to PDX on Sunday night, came to Corvallis on Monday (90 minutes), played Tuesday, went down to Eugene (45 minutes) on Thursday, played Friday, Saturday and Sunday and flew home Sunday night out of PDX, just over two hours from Eugene. He thought they'd get back to campus sometime late morning/early afternoon on Monday.
That's crazy.
I noticed that, too, EightLegger. Coach sounded ready for more too. Let's give him what he needs to grow this program. I think he wants to stay here - we just have to show him the support he needs.
We would have made it to the Elite 8 this year if we were a 6 or 7 seed. Beating the highest ranked team in the nation on their home court proved to be too much but not by much.
I would have liked our chances against UCLA in Spokane on a neutral court. This team is special. With the right matchups, Elite 8 was not at all out of the question. Even Final 4 was within reach. Do not sell us short.
If I were a kid being recruited, that kind of stuff would cause me to look elsewhere fast. I guess most kids might be excited about traveling all over the country, so maybe it's a selling point. But I would be miserable with that kind of travel.
Second semester of my senior year, I took 9 grad school visits including 5 trips to the West Coast. It was brutal and I missed absurd amounts of class time.
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