Mason Thread - A-10 Opener

[Eight Legger]

You're right, nothing matters at all except wins and losses. And we are not doing too well there. Mooney can come out dressed like a clown and spend 10 minutes talking about alien abductions after every game if he wants, as long as we are winning. But when we lose and he talks about how well we played, can you see why it might frustrate fans who watched the game and saw that we didn't actually play well? Maybe you can't. But plenty of other coaches are not afraid to call a spade a spade after they lose or have a bad game.

I'm a big fan of Purdue, despite the fact that they can't beat Rutgers for some reason, and Alabama. I expect Arkansas to be a handful by the end of the year.

 

[fan2011]

a few New Year's thoughts:

I like the talent Mooney brought in but we're no where near as talented as we've been the past few years. we do play better defense, but we're miles behind offensively.

Nelson at this point in his career is no where near Gilly. not a knock. he'll get better. but tough to understand high expectations when the PG play is down.

Quinn is no where near Grant, who to me was one of the more underappreciated Spiders ever for his level of production. and I like Quinn. but it's a dropoff.

how many games do we go into the first break with like 5 points? I know there have been some exceptions, but it seems too often. I think we need to shake up the starting 5 for more offense.

our offense does historically get us good shots. we know Roche is more than a spot up shooter, but that's what he's become. he definitely has less freedom than he had at the Citadel but he can fit in this offense. he does cut hard but to no avail. he needs to add drives. and yes, I'd like a perimate screen of some sort for him added to the offense.

Bigelow ... we're going to have to live with an inconsistent shot I think. but man, he was a difference maker again on the boards. I watch him and Burton and I feel it's not truly a Mooney philosophy to avoid offense boards. Mooney just usually doesn't land these types of athlete. Bigs himself drew at least 3 fouls on boards. I'd start him, but just like with Goose we don't know what we're getting offensively.

I'd love to scrap playing Quinn with Grace. Grace is finally shooting a bit better so start him at the 5. but use Burton more at the 4 or with Bigelow. and get Randolph more consistant time. he's a gamer.

Quinn has been very efficient, but he hasn't been able to score at Grant's volume. Long way to go offensively to get that scoring volume with decent efficiency like Grant or Cline. Quinn right now ranks 75th in the country in assist rate, and 100th in 2FG% (shooting 66%), Both of these stats are higher than any season performance from Grant, though Quinn has only played half a season so far and the competition hasn't been great.

We would essentially need Quinn to shoot twice as often and maintain a similar efficiency to get on Grant's scoring level. I think Grant and Cline made very quick decisions on offense and had great court awareness that allowed them to score within milliseconds of catching a pass. They would seem to catch the ball in the low block with their backs to the basket and in the same motion turn around and get a layup with no gathering or anything. Tough skill to develop, but it would get Quinn more scoring opportunities.

TJ was assisted on ~70% of his FGA at the rim, Grant ~60%, Quinn ~50%.

 

[97spiderfan]

Your dig b4 coppin game & subsequent discussion was related to defense. his defense was again good vs goo moos. he mainly guarded Bailey who didn't do much, Polite was primarily beating Burton from what I saw. I said in another post I don't get why Mooney didn't switch them, it made too much sense. Personally I think it would have won us the game even after struggling so much on O. But Goose didn't contribute at all offensively, & we're better as a team when he does, the putrid goo moo game may be best example.

Yes, defense was the focus of the post because he needs to be elite on defense to justify his major minutes because he often gives us so little on offense.

 

[RichmondNative]

I think we need to shake up the starting 5 for more offense……

I'd love to scrap playing Quinn with Grace. Grace is finally shooting a bit better so start him at the 5. but use Burton more at the 4 or with Bigelow.

The starting five definitely does not seem to be the best starting lineup. One problem is having both Grace and Quinn in the game together. They just don’t seem to mesh well. There could be an opponent that requires the Spiders to “go big”, but that definitely doesn’t seem like a requirement in all games.

Replacing Quinn with Bigelow doesn’t bring more scoring, which you are hoping for, but does bring more athleticism.

I still haven’t been able to figure out which 5 have the best chemistry, but it definitely isn’t the de facto five.

 

[SouthJerseySpiderFan]

Yes, defense was the focus of the post because he needs to be elite on defense to justify his major minutes because he often gives us so little on offense.

I agree to a lesser degree than you about Goose's defensive abilities in helping team being overvalued. Little reasoning having a player in there for 36 minutes that attempted/produced nothing offensively. So Roche was 0-3, I still feel every time he shoots a 3 it's money. Mooney needed buckets and he only gets 13 minutes?

Go back in time some years and find a Spider most of us felt shouldn't be starting or at least way less minutes for his close to nothing offensive production. Have to look up stats but probably along the level of Goose's and was the so called good defender. I keep thinking more scoring potential in him? One shot in 36 minutes! Maybe Mooney keeps hearing the "Gooose Goooose" in the stands.

 

[97spiderfan]

I agree to a lesser degree than you about Goose's defensive abilities in helping team being overvalued. Little reasoning having a player in there for 36 minutes that attempted/produced nothing offensively. So Roche was 0-3, I still feel every time he shoots a 3 it's money. Mooney needed buckets and he only gets 13 minutes?

Go back in time some years and find a Spider most of us felt shouldn't be starting or at least way less minutes for his close to nothing offensive production. Have to look up stats but probably along the level of Goose's and was the so called good defender. I keep thinking more scoring potential in him? One shot in 36 minutes! Maybe Mooney keeps hearing the "Gooose Goooose" in the stands.

Too bad, Roche doesn't have a last name like Moustakos or something, so he could have a catchy fan nickname.

Our entire offense is based on flow and finding the open guy to hit a shot. Well, if the defense knows, that one of the 5 guys on offense isn't going to shoot or look to score, they are gonna slide off of him and concentrate on the other 4, which pretty much defeats our whole offensive philosophy.

Loss was not on Goose, not at all, but clearly we need more than 1 shot, 0 points from him in 36 minutes. That is not sustainable.

 

[VT4700]

Goose is 11-25 from 3 so far. Shoot the ball, Goose! Randolph is 8-15 from 3, so they are 19-40 combined. Add Roche's 30-67, and we are 49-107 (45.8%) from the off guard spot. This is another reason why I still have hope with this team. Our defense and 3 point shooting have been good. I said all along those two things and PG play would be the key. If Nelson can find some consistency in A-10 play, we could make something happen. That might seem like a lot of pressure for a freshman, but PG play is the key to most teams out there, and no doubt has been the key to ours most years. We don't need greatness from him every game. We don't need all A-10 play. Just be good most nights. Be a factor out there with many more positives than negatives.

 

[MrTbone]

how many games do we go into the first break with like 5 points? I know there have been some exceptions, but it seems too often. I think we need to shake up the starting 5 for more offense.

This

I'd love to scrap playing Quinn with Grace. Grace is finally shooting a bit better so start him at the 5. but use Burton more at the 4 or with Bigelow. and get Randolph more consistant time. he's a gamer.

And this.

Our two big lineup isn’t super effective. We either haven’t adjusted our system to fit the players or gotten the right players to fit the system. Or both.

 

[SpiderGuy]

This

And this.

Our two big lineup isn’t super effective. We either haven’t adjusted our system to fit the players or gotten the right players to fit the system. Or both.

The system is a constant. Players with different skill sets will come and go. Regardless of their fit to the system, the system will prevail. It is embedded in stone. Long live the system and 18 years of 55/45.