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Matt Grace - 2018 Commit

I stand by all of my original projections from Grace 3 years ago. Maybe Mooney should hire me instead of whomever he sent up to Canada and said hey take a look at this guy, I think we need to sign him. I might not be in any better but on the flip side, not sure I would be a downgrade either.

Grace would have had a hell of a career at St. Mary's. Probably would be in their hall of fame some day.
 
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Welp, Amazing has his opportunity on Wednesday. This season has been very blahh for me. Last year was most excited I have been about college hoops in a long time with Spiders having an opportunity in Brookly, SDSU and Dayton in the top 5 and possible to make deep runs. I was excited to watch that game last night, and really pumped for the game Wed. Grace and Sal are going to have to show something Wed for us to win I think.

Over / Under on Grace 1.5 threes made. What do you have. I'm taking over.
 
We need Grace to do something pretty well for 15 minutes a game. Doesn't matter what. If it's good interior defense, great. If it's making the most out of his five fouls, awesome. If it's draining a couple threes and opening up the floor a little for our other guys, tremendous. He's shooting the ball nicely from deep, so maybe that is his thing the rest of the way. I'll take it.
 
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GMU/SJU/"SMU" 6 of 9 from 3
Rest of the games 2 of 11

Here is hoping it is a trend...
 
spiderman said:
no idea why you'd stand by your original projections. he's not Gant, but he helps us. he's playing fine.
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Before the St. Joes game, he was pretty much buried on the bench by Mooney for lack of contributions on the court. In the 11 games, prior to St. Joes, he scored 7 points (total) and was scoreless in 9 of those 11 and was averaging about 5 minutes a game.
 
97spiderfan said:
Before the St. Joes game, he was pretty much buried on the bench by Mooney for lack of contributions on the court. In the 11 games, prior to St. Joes, he scored 7 points (total) and was scoreless in 9 of those 11 and was averaging about 5 minutes a game.
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Yes, it’s called progression and Grace is showing it. Better late than never in his case but he looks so much better now than he did to start the season. That doesn’t mean we think he’s some star, but he has grown into his role.

You’re acting like he’s Paul Friendshuh, when instead he has taken the step that Paul never could in being a capable backup
 
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plydogg said:
Yes, it’s called progression and Grace is showing it. Better late than never in his case but he looks so much better now than he did to start the season. That doesn’t mean we think he’s some star, but he has grown into his role.

You’re acting like he’s Paul Friendshuh, when instead he has taken the step that Paul never could in being a capable backup
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St. Joes was our last game. Are you saying, he taken the progression off of his last 1 game performance. Seems a stretch to call 1 games worth of data a progression.
 
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97spiderfan said:
St. Joes was our last game. Are you saying, he taken the progression off of his last 1 game performance. Seems a stretch to call 1 games worth of data a progression.
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No I didn’t say that at all. You’re using the 4700 argument style now of arguing against claims I never made. Grace looks significantly more improved now than his freshman year. You have every right to stand by your original projection, I’m just saying I think it is incorrect. I don’t recall your original thoughts being that Grace would be a serviceable A-10 backup.
 
it's like it's more important to be right about a projection 3 years ago than it is to see the improvement. he's a backup behind Grant playing 8 mpg and he's fine out there.
 
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spiderman said:
it's like it's more important to be right about a projection 3 years ago than it is to see the improvement. he's a backup behind Grant playing 8 mpg and he's fine out there.
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Again, he has basically lost his back-up role to Grant in January to Sal, who isn't even a 5, but because Grace wasn't even looking at the rim on offense. This maybe your opinion that he is a fine back-up behind Grant, but based on recent times and substitution patterns, it is not the coaching staff's.
 
97spiderfan said:
Again, he has basically lost his back-up role to Grant in January to Sal, who isn't even a 5, but because Grace wasn't even looking at the rim on offense. This maybe your opinion that he is a fine back-up behind Grant, but based on recent times and substitution patterns, it is not the coaching staff's.
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now you're just making stuff up.

Grace gets just about ALL of the backup minutes for Grant.
Sal subs for Nathan. when Goose was injured, Sal picked up a lot of minutes backing up Tyler too.
 
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Grace is in a perfect role right now for himself. Play about 8 minutes a night. We are not expecting him to do anything amazing when he enters the game, not even expecting a spark. Just really asking him to maintain, eat minutes, and use his fouls if needed until Grant gets back in the game. This is not a bad role when you have a good player in front like Grant and even Cayo and Burton on the wings.

The issue would be next season - when by all accounts at this point, we have no one else and I would think Grace is the starter. I would not expect him to be all A10 next season. But if UR is going to be somewhat successful next season - we would be looking at him playing 25+ minutes and probably getting 8 points a night and that is a big jump I think for not only him, but anyone - especially under Mooney and staff when those types of jumps typically do not occur.

I wonder what people would think if Grace this season was only a frosh, or a soph who didn't play much his frosh season. I might be a little more optimistic on his potential but I almost think he has plateaued and peaked in a way. That is not to say he is a bad player. Just given our lack of experience next year - it points to next year being more of a rebuild.
 
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spiderman said:
now you're just making stuff up.

Grace gets just about ALL of the backup minutes for Grant.
Sal subs for Nathan. when Goose was injured, Sal picked up a lot of minutes backing up Tyler too.
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Fine, I will bring my receipts. In the 10 games, prior to St. Joes, Grant averaged 29.8 minutes per game. In those same games, Grace averaged 7.4 minutes per game (with nearly a 3rd of his minutes coming in just 2 games, Mason which was a blow out and ironically enough the Hofstra game).

So unless, college basketball games are only 37 minutes in length, Grace is not getting ALL of Grant's minutes. And for the vast majority of those games, Grace was only getting about half of Grant's bench minutes.
 
SpiderTrap said:
Grace is in a perfect role right now for himself. Play about 8 minutes a night. We are not expecting him to do anything amazing when he enters the game, not even expecting a spark. Just really asking him to maintain, eat minutes, and use his fouls if needed until Grant gets back in the game. This is not a bad role when you have a good player in front like Grant and even Cayo and Burton on the wings.

The issue would be next season - when by all accounts at this point, we have no one else and I would think Grace is the starter. I would not expect him to be all A10 next season. But if UR is going to be somewhat successful next season - we would be looking at him playing 25+ minutes and probably getting 8 points a night and that is a big jump I think for not only him, but anyone - especially under Mooney and staff when those types of jumps typically do not occur.

I wonder what people would think if Grace this season was only a frosh, or a soph who didn't play much his frosh season. I might be a little more optimistic on his potential but I almost think he has plateaued and peaked in a way. That is not to say he is a bad player. Just given our lack of experience next year - it points to next year being more of a rebuild.
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I don't expect Grace to start next year. He's not a starter at this level, and we won't just make him one by default. More likely is that we go with a smaller starting lineup or add a transfer who is a big.

The most likely starters from our current roster are Burton, Sal, Crabtree and Wilson. I expect Nelson to start, too. Bailey may become a starter at some point.
 
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97spiderfan said:
So unless, college basketball games are only 37 minutes in length, Grace is not getting ALL of Grant's minutes. And for the vast majority of those games, Grace was only getting about half of Grant's bench minutes.
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2021 minutes played by Grant and Matt...
1/26 @ St Joes: Grant 26, Matt 13 ... total 39
1/23 LaSalle: Grant 34, Matt 6 ... total 40
1/9 @ GMU: Grant 27, Matt 13 ... total 40
1/6 URU: Grant 34, Matt 6 ... total 40
1/2 SBU: Grant 34, Matt 6 ... total 40
 
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In the month of January, Grace subbed in for Golden every single time he came out of the game...18 times over 5 games.
 
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Eight Legger said:
I don't expect Grace to start next year. He's not a starter at this level, and we won't just make him one by default. More likely is that we go with a smaller starting lineup or add a transfer who is a big.

The most likely starters from our current roster are Burton, Sal, Crabtree and Wilson. I expect Nelson to start, too. Bailey may become a starter at some point.
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Goose?
 
SFspidur said:
In the month of January, Grace subbed in for Golden every single time he came out of the game...18 times over 5 games.
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Yeah, but did Grant sub back in for Grace or was Grace yanked for someone else. Because again, the numbers don't lie that Grace is playing 7 minutes per game and Grant playing a bit under 30 over the past 10.
 
97spiderfan said:
Yeah, but did Grant sub back in for Grace or was Grace yanked for someone else. Because again, the numbers don't lie that Grace is playing 7 minutes per game and Grant playing a bit under 30 over the past 10.
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Every time but the 31 seconds when Kulju came in for him.

Look at conference-only stats, which is easy since UR breaks them out. Covers everything since December 30 Davidson game except St. Mary's...Golden is averaging 31.2 and Grace is averaging 8.0. That leaves a fraction of a minute for anyone else. Sal subbed in for Golden exactly once, in the Davidson game for 4 minutes, and the rest of the non-Grace time at the 5 was the Kulju guest appearance.

Sal came in a few more times for Golden towards the end of non-conference play, which is where you are picking up some data in your "10 games prior to St. Joe's" metric. Goose also came in for Grant a few times in offense-defense subs at the end of games.

But the evidence clearly shows that Grace didn't lose his backup role by January...he in fact solidified it. His minutes have dropped a little bit in conference play, but they're going to Grant, not another backup.
 
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Eight Legger said:
I don't expect Grace to start next year. He's not a starter at this level, and we won't just make him one by default. More likely is that we go with a smaller starting lineup or add a transfer who is a big.

The most likely starters from our current roster are Burton, Sal, Crabtree and Wilson. I expect Nelson to start, too. Bailey may become a starter at some point.
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you say Grace isn't a starter at this level ... but you think Sal is? I like Sal as much as the next guy but I don't see where he's earned that.

we offer a great opportunity for an immediately eligible big man transfer next season. but if we don't get one, it's going to be Grace in the middle.

and mark me down as thinking he'll be good in that extended role offensively. not Grant good, but good.

that said, I'm about 90% confident we'll add a 5 before next season. I'm only 25% confident he'll be better than and start over Grace though.
 
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The resurrection of this thread just feels vindictive at this particular point in time. The dude has come off of two games where he played nicely, shot great, and built confidence. I am fully aware of the quality of the competition. But a confident Grace is better than a not confident Grace, and if the dude can stretch the floor while he's in there, that's all the better for Cayo and Burton.
 
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SpiderDogg said:
I want a thunderous Matt Grace dunk in this game. Go ahead and get T’d up after for punting the ball into the bleachers. Give em Hell Matt!
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But I’d be ok if we win on a Grace (of God) 50 footer..l
 
Eight Legger said:
I don't expect Grace to start next year. He's not a starter at this level, and we won't just make him one by default. More likely is that we go with a smaller starting lineup or add a transfer who is a big.

The most likely starters from our current roster are Burton, Sal, Crabtree and Wilson. I expect Nelson to start, too. Bailey may become a starter at some point.
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Sal isn’t a starter either, brother.
 
Grace plays well for his role. There’s plenty of blame to throw at the players who are supposed to be the better players on this team.
 
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