ADVERTISEMENT

Mens: Marist Game Thread @ RC: Sat 11/9 6pm ESPN+

Some/most on this board will never learn. All the talk about running through this OOC schedule with the exception of Auburn was wishful thinking. Mooney is a Princeton grad. He knew what he had when the schedule was put together despite all the it's so hard talk. Keep drinking whatever is in Mooney's cup. LOL.
Some never learn, or maybe we should heed Nurse Ratched and just go about our daily routine. I think a good amount have already received the Richmond basketball lobotomy.
 
1 at large bid.

3 NCAA tournament appearances.

There are no other goalposts, as far as I'm concerned. Other things are nice and all but they're all a shortening of the real goal to justify the fact that 3 NCAAs is what we got in 2 decades.

Hardt is probably already pregaming in Lewisboro.

Hardt is too busy looking over design ideas for the Mooney statue that will go out in front of the Robins Center. Personally, if a statue doesn’t incorporate his little drink cup it’s just wasted effort.
 
I haven't read this thread, couldn't bear to after the game last night. My initial thoughts on the game:

  • Zero production from the 5 spot, if we can't even bully around Marist a little, this season is going to be much worse than we anticipated
  • Hunt is going to be very good, may need to take over at times to keep us in games this season
  • We lack a Dji type of "do a little bit of everything" guy right now, who can/will step into that role?
  • Not sure what happened that made Roumoglou react the way he did late in the game, but that was not good, and especially given the score and time remaining, beyond that though he has a pretty sweet looking shot
Much more to discuss too, but what a disappointing start to our real schedule. I still think we have the talent to put together a good season, but we better start to meld as a team fast or it could get ugly.
 
Wow last night was rough. and disappointing .. thoughts in no particular order. Trying not to make more out of our first D1 game than I should but hard not to.
  • DeLo did everything he could, but we’ll be a better team when he’s not our leading scorer—or at least when he doesn’t have to score a ton for us to have a chance to win.
  • It felt like DeLo was out from about minutes 11 to 7 in the second half, during a couple of timeouts. Momentum completely shifted, and he, like GilyarD was , isn’t a guy who needs much rest.
  • AP’s technical – Coach was understandably hard on him post-game (probably even harder in the locker room). Obviously, it can’t happen again, but I loved his game up until that point and hope it doesn’t impact his minutes on Wednesday. The last Spider with a similar mental error was GG during the @Drake game, which was just as costly as AP’s last night and I honestly think a kid's mistake in his first game of career with good minutes is more forgivable in the moment.
  • Dusan played 19 uneventful minutes… felt like he was on the court less than that, honestly. He has to be a double digit scorer for us or we are a double digit seed in A10 tourney,
  • Mike Walz – love the guy, but it was a real rough game for him. Twice late in the game, he seemed glued to protecting the basket versus attempt to intercepted passes when they were trying to break our press.
  • Beagle had some nice passes but seemed uncomfortable on defense most of the game.
  • Like a lot of us have said, we’ve got to try having Walz and Beagle on the court together to see how it works. Right now, it seems like the only option Coach has is giving Ryan S. some backup minutes to make that happen. Still think, if Robinson hadn’t redshirted, he might’ve made this rotation easier to pull off.
  • Tanner is smooth at the line and can hit threes, but his ball handling continues to looks shaky to me.
  • Despite all the threes Marist hit in the first half, I actually liked our defensive intensity for the most part and felt we got unlucky with a few loose balls.
  • Weird lineup in at least two of the last three minutes, with Delo, Tyne, and White all in together. Really missing our Big Guard in moments like that.
  • Right now, it looks like GW 3 is the last scholarship, non-redshirt player off the bench. Didn’t expect that.
 
Last edited:
I haven't read this thread, couldn't bear to after the game last night. My initial thoughts on the game:

  • Zero production from the 5 spot, if we can't even bully around Marist a little, this season is going to be much worse than we anticipated
  • Hunt is going to be very good, may need to take over at times to keep us in games this season
  • We lack a Dji type of "do a little bit of everything" guy right now, who can/will step into that role?
  • Not sure what happened that made Roumoglou react the way he did late in the game, but that was not good, and especially given the score and time remaining, beyond that though he has a pretty sweet looking shot
Much more to discuss too, but what a disappointing start to our real schedule. I still think we have the talent to put together a good season, but we better start to meld as a team fast or it could get ugly.
Think we were both writing summaries at the same time and quite similar ...
 
Good observations sec9.

If Ryan can be fully healthy think our best line up could be with him out there 20 plus minutes.
Incredible the drastic difference in production from a d2 opponent to a decent low league d1 at the center spot. This game needs to be an aberration. Loke Beagle as an energy guy but so far his offensive game seems limited to getting to the hoop.
I think we went with the three guard lineup late because 3 of our best offensive players and defensive quickness. But it is way too small for normal circumstances.
Feel like we are back to seeing fat and happy Mooney. Check back in 3 years and hopefully there is urgency.
 
Agree that the center position was very poor last night. Honestly I have not liked what I’ve seen from Walz defensively in either of the games. Maybe it’s conditioning but I haven’t liked his effort on that end. Beagle has been sloppy as well but I think he offers more offensively and gives more consistent effort.

AP to me feels like a high energy guy who hasn’t played much college ball (which he hasn’t). He played with a lot of fire all night, I think he just needs more time to figure out how to stay under control on the court.
 
Well, following a Chris Mooney team throughout a season is typically an exercise in frustration and futility, ending mostly is disappointment. Yesterday was really a blessing because it will be a very quick death this year. Marist? At home? Lol. Could be a Mooney new low, which is saying a lot.
 
Last edited:
This I found very concerning. They were longer and more athletic and shot right over our diminutive guards. I have beat the drums about our wings not being athletic enough, but didn't think it would be so obvious vs Marist.

Burn JROB's redshirt. NOW. Section 9's eyes don't lie. We need dudes that can compete.
I agree
 
Everyone knows the path to the NCAAs for the Spiders is to win the A10 tournament. That goal is still achievable. I can't see how anyone would think there is another way for the Spiders to dance, especially this year.

I see a bunch of raw talent that has never played together before and needs all the OOC games to get into form for A10 play.

It is really quite similar to last year. An inexperienced Mooney coached team is not going to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Last year in the second game, the Spiders played a horrendous Siena team (also in the MAAC) that won 4 games all year. This Marist team is going to win more than 4 games.

I agree with @Section9.RowD that I saw some positive signs on defense. Yes there were players left wide open on some rotations and Walz needs to close out, but there were some intensive defensive stands that ended with a desperation make by the Red Foxes. I especially liked the play of White and expect to see more of him and Hunt than Hunt and Tyne.

What I totally do not get is the lack of trying to do anything in the post on offense. I guess that wasn't the "focus" of the week /s. As @spider23 said, I think that Soulis is going to be key. I was hoping to see him get some more minutes, but instead he was a DNP. I hope he can get into game shape and master whatever he needs to know to get time.

Let's see what next week brings. Go Spiders!
 
I disagree here.

One thing (of several) I thought was terrible was the inability of the team and coaches to involve Dusan in the game on offense. As Sec. 9 noted, 16 minutes played and very quiet. He's a guy who can score, has that track record, but needs to actually touch the ball. This team needs guys who can put the ball in the hoop and generate offense on their own. There was a 21m stretch where UR scored 22 poionts. Get him touches, allow him to get to the line on drives.

He played about the first 5-6 minutes last night and I don't recall him getting much in the way of touches. This is the problem with the Moonball offense that we've seen for years - it takes what the defense offers and assumes that all of those shots are equal. They're not - sometimes you need to get the ball to your best offensive players, not your 5th best. Part of the issue is that Moon does not want to play both Dusan and AP together. So Roche, Tanner and even B. Artis were at the other wing spot and after the middle of the first half, none did much on offense. AP had some decent time on the court, rebounded, blocked a shot, looked to score, so I understand keeping him in there a bit.

Marist coach tried stuff - he went zone, we carved it up a couple possessions in a row and he called timeout and adjusted. And his adjustments worked, as they cut the lead back down before half. I don't recall Moon calling timeout to readjust until UR was down at the 5m mark (I don't recall this bc it did not happen - which is the point.) I do recall Moon almost immediately removing AP and Roche after that timeout, and thinking it was an odd substitution if they were going to keep zoning us. Let the 2 best gunners cook.

But I don't think putting a freshman (Robinson) who may possess a raw offensive game (assuming here, otherwise he would have forced Moon's hand in preseason) into the mix would have solved anything. If anything I think he would have been in "run the offense" mode, which we had plenty of last night.
 
Everyone knows the path to the NCAAs for the Spiders is to win the A10 tournament. That goal is still achievable. I can't see how anyone would think there is another way for the Spiders to dance, especially this year.

I see a bunch of raw talent that has never played together before and needs all the OOC games to get into form for A10 play.

It is really quite similar to last year. An inexperienced Mooney coached team is not going to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Last year in the second game, the Spiders played a horrendous Siena team (also in the MAAC) that won 4 games all year. This Marist team is going to win more than 4 games.

I agree with @Section9.RowD that I saw some positive signs on defense. Yes there were players left wide open on some rotations and Walz needs to close out, but there were some intensive defensive stands that ended with a desperation make by the Red Foxes. I especially liked the play of White and expect to see more of him and Hunt than Hunt and Tyne.

What I totally do not get is the lack of trying to do anything in the post on offense. I guess that wasn't the "focus" of the week /s. As @spider23 said, I think that Soulis is going to be key. I was hoping to see him get some more minutes, but instead he was a DNP. I hope he can get into game shape and master whatever he needs to know to get time.

Let's see what next week brings. Go Spiders!
clearly the Marist coach saw the 28 points, 27 rebounds from the bigs in game/exhibition 1 and game planned to stop our bigs. We played directly into his game plan. Also our bigs were atrocious at guarding the 3 point line and on pick / switch situations.
 
One thing (of several) I thought was terrible was the inability of the team and coaches to involve Dusan in the game on offense. As Sec. 9 noted, 16 minutes played and very quiet. He's a guy who can score, has that track record, but needs to actually touch the ball. This team needs guys who can put the ball in the hoop and generate offense on their own. There was a 21m stretch where UR scored 22 poionts. Get him touches, allow him to get to the line on drives.
I didn't understand the Dusan situation either. Big contrast from game 1 to game 2. Almost seems like the plan was explicitly to ask Dusan to NOT generate offense on his own.

Also, it is so sad to watch other coaches use timeouts effectively. Thumbs up to that point as well.
 
Wow last night was rough. and disappointing .. thoughts in no particular order. Trying not to make more out of our first D1 game than I should but hard not to.
  • DeLo did everything he could, but we’ll be a better team when he’s not our leading scorer—or at least when he doesn’t have to score a ton for us to have a chance to win.
  • It felt like DeLo was out from about minutes 11 to 7 in the second half, during a couple of timeouts. Momentum completely shifted, and he, like GilyarD was , isn’t a guy who needs much rest.
Wasn't sure what happened to DeLo. When he went out of the game in the second half he was being "tended to" by our medical staff. First thought it was the blood protocol because from where I sit it looked like his knee was being attended to. But then he was out of sight and came back and sat on the bench for the time you referenced. So don't know but apparently the time out of the game was some issue other than tiredness.
 
I was only able to watch the second half, but for most of it, it appeared that Hunt was the only guy who was interested in shooting. For a team with so much apparent firepower, that was surprising and disappointing.
 
Brooklyn, I understand your point about Dusan, and do think we need him to score the ball. However, my preseason assumption that we would need more defense and athleticism is very evident. In whatever capacity, he can help on that front. Even if raw, he can bring unique attributes that no one else on the team seems to have
 
Super disappointing game. It would be nice to come out in OOC and actually put something together to get excited about. Between the schedules and MTEs being not so interesting and then laying some turds each time, I keep being underwhelmed year in and year out.

There are few things in CBB more demotivating than losing at home to a team you clearly should beat.
 
I was at the game last night. From the start their center (#24) nailed 3 pointers & showed he was a good shooter. And like in many previous years, Mooney failed to adapt, and the guy kept shooting threes. Why wouldn't he as he wasn't covered by defense. He lit up 15 in the first half, and I think 5 in the second half. Good player.

On the other hand, one of my biggest concerns last year was Walz not shooting enough or even looking for shots. Everything I've read preseason indicated this season would be different, and maybe it will be. But last night it wasn't. He looked like his job was to distribute. He wasn't looking to shoot even when there were opportunities. He shot one time all night, and that's not going to cut it from the center position. We need points from him. It did look like Beagle was at least attempting to get to the goal. We def need more out of the center position.

I did see a stretch in the first half when our defense amped it up. That's needed. Also, I thought Marist was a lot better team than people give credit. They have athletes and certainly could shoot.

On to the next game.
 
Also, I thought Marist was a lot better team than people give credit. They have athletes and certainly could shoot.
Right, they actually looked to have better size and athleticism at most positions. And that is scary. My worst fears about this team have surfaced in preseason and regular season. Hoping I am wrong, or it's going to be a long A$$ season.

Hoping Glou can be a guy. Neskovic can be consistent offensive threat and solid on D. Soulis develops, and a second guard steps up next to Hunt. It can happen but I think between the schedule and Mooney's victory lap the motivation may not be at the level required.
 
Unless Marist goes on to win their league and get an NCAA bid - this is not a good loss or just a decent loss. Some things to be concerned about in our first real game (Mount Olive was basically an exhibition).

1) Defense - giving up 79 points is bad enough, but letting them shoot 50% from 3 is no good. Was Marist just hot that night - maybe? But I don't feel like we adjusted or made it difficult. I felt for the most part, they were able to get good open looks, and give credit to them - they knocked them down. To beat good teams on the road - you need to make shots, and the 3 point shot is a great equalizer. They hit their 3's - we shot

2) Scoring Drought - we experienced our classic scoring drought for 5 minutes in the 2nd half, this is where Marist took the lead and got too far ahead. What I take away from this is we have Hunt - but we need a viable and consistent 2nd and 3rd option - too early to tell who that will be, but something we need to figure out in these early games so roles can be established and players know what to expect.

3) Pressure Defense - Not sure about everyone else, but I didn't think we pressured Marist as much as we should have or could have. It was clear from some of their turnovers, they may have trouble with it. And if Mooney is going to play 9 guys - why not step up the pressure a bit. I felt like we pressed, but after 1 pass, we just fall back and it was more of token pressure than anything. Sure - this is good from time to time, but where was the full court pressure to try and cause turnovers and speed the game up? Again - only first game, so we may see it later - but something I think with our guard depth and big guys, we can have stretches - 2-3 minutes at a time, where we really force the pressure. Thought it might have helped with Marist as I thought they were weak handling the ball.
 
Well, following a Chris Mooney team throughout a season is typically an exercise in frustration and futility, ending mostly is disappointment. Yesterday was really a blessing because it will be a very quick death this year. Marist? At home? Lol. Could be a Mooney new low, which is saying a lot.

Oh, Mooney has gone much lower with early season debacles. Longwood and Delaware come to mind.
 
Yikes! I am more worried about our offense than defense after this game. Defensively, Marist going 14-28 against us from 3 was the difference, but we did show signs that we can play quality D. Several times, we guarded for 30 seconds and put them against the shot clock. They were only 12-32 (37.5%) from 2. We maybe could have used more full court pressure with traps, and forced a few more turnovers. But, unless we see other teams shoot like this from 3, I will give our D the benefit of the doubt for this one and see if we can have some better showings there. I guess on paper we look like a much better offensive team than defensive team, so I will be expecting more from our offense than defense this year.

Offensively, in the 2nd half, we stunk. I don't know what that was out there. We looked very uncomfortable at times, and the movement did not look consistent. I know we can use OOC to try to see what lineups might click, but it seemed like way too much shuffling of guys in and out, which didn't allow anyone except Hunt, who played 35 minutes, to get into a rhythm. It looks like we have a bench that could almost have everyone come in and play together. Maybe we should try bringing in 4 of 5 guys at a time, at least for a few games OOC, which would allow our starting 5 to play more together and get more comfortable. It just felt like we never found an offensive rhythm in the 2nd half, had too many turnovers, and only went 2-10 from 3 the last 20 minutes after going 6-12 from 3 in the 1st half.

How can Walz and Beagle play a combined 40 minutes and go 0-1? At least Beagle got to the line 6 times, making 4, but Walz didn't even do that. What the heck? This is from a position in our offense that always has the ball and we always expect to score double digit points. This is way concerning and simply cannot happen again.

Hunt was great offensively. We need everyone to match his aggressiveness. He kept attacking and made shots and drew fouls. But, he can't do it himself. I'm still not sure Tyne is the ideal guard to start with Hunt. It was nice to see him make a couple 3s, but overall he went 2-8 with 3 turnovers and only 1 assist. White showed a few positives and did not have a turnover in 26 minutes. Hopefully, we will see more scoring from him as he gets more comfortable. I think he and Hunt would be our best 2 starters, with Tyne providing some good energy off the bench.

Dusan was nonexistent at times. We are gonna need him to score. Be aggressive. Drive to the hoop, draw some fouls and shoot more 3s (0-1 from 3 is not helping us at all).

Tanner and Roche did okay. If neither is gonna get more than 21 minutes ( Tanner 21, Roche 17), then having them combine for 13 points and 5 rebounds doesn't hurt our chances to win. I don't think they played much together out there. If they did, we would want more scoring from them, but we can win with what they gave us.

AP showed a good stroke with his 3s, but whatever that was at the end of the game cannot happen again. It just can't. If it does, I don't know how we can even have him out there because a stupid technical like that can cost you a game. And, who knows how this one would have turned out had he kept his emotions in check. He also needs to be more patient with his shot. We need his 3s out there, but there were a couple ill advised shots he took.

Really interesting that Graham got a couple minutes and I guess is ahead of GW3 in the rotation. I think if GW3's shooting is as good as we heard all pre season, we need to find a way to get him some minutes.

This was a terrible loss, but on to the next one. All you can do is try to get better and hope to have some good rhythm and confidence going into A10 play. I think Hunt will use his leadership to get some of these guys more aggressive.
 
Really interesting that Graham got a couple minutes and I guess is ahead of GW3 in the rotation. I think if GW3's shooting is as good as we heard all pre season, we need to find a way to get him some minutes.
Yes to this. It makes no sense at all. We have heard what a lights-out shooter he is and can be, and then he gets ZERO minutes in a game when we had only one guy making shots in the second half? I don't get it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spider23
Yes to this. It makes no sense at all. We have heard what a lights-out shooter he is and can be, and then he gets ZERO minutes in a game when we had only one guy making shots in the second half? I don't get it.
I think the fact he got zero minutes, and no injury was shared - says something about what Mooney is thinking about him. And if we don't see him in a Marist game where we needed shooting - we may never see him.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: MDspider8
I'll say that I was not impressed with Graham's 2-3 minutes, which is hard to do in so little time. He again got completely shook on a crossover move (again, happened vs Mt. Olive too), and if you watch the conclusion of that play, because he has thoroughly lost his man, that guy runs in for an offensive rebound attempt before Graham had any idea where he is. I noticed this in real time as it was in the foreground of the screen (elbow extended on side of court opposite Spider bench.) So if Graham is not going to be a designated shooter, at this point he - in my opinion - should not be out there. He's getting shook on defense, has been a spotty ballhandler at best and is just in running the offense mode. Value add has been nothing.

4700 - a lot of your questions boil down to rotations and roles, and the fact that no one seems to know what they are yet. I'd have thought that Dusan was a go-to guy for points but he barely got touches. Walz said in an interview the day before the game that his role is to score and he gets up virtually nothing from the floor? What are we doing if there is such a giant contradiction? I'll say again that I thought UR played directly into Marist's game plan of limiting our bigs (including Dusan) from being effective. That's on coaching adjustments to be made if you see it happening but UR never made any adjustments.

I agree that batch substitutions to keep groups of guys together (generally alongside Hunt) seems smart at this point because it was so, so disjointed. I pointed this out in the game thread multiple times in real time, with the subs never allowing a unit to get a rhythm and then if they did (like first few possessions vs the zone) Moon took out the shooters.

I'd have thought summer and preseason was for figuring out units and roles and clarifying hierarchies, but what do I know?
 
Mooney had way too many substitutions at his disposal and what it led to was players not getting into the flow of the game with the other players on the court. It was my observation that every time a player made a good play or two, he was off getting subbed out.

He treated this as an early season game which we should have won by 20 with his rotations and when it became apparent that we were in a dog fight, he did not adjust and go with the players who gave us the best chance to win the game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eight Legger
I'm a big Walz fan but it was clear to me at least on Friday night that Beagle (who didn't have a good game either) is the type of center that Mooney needs to run his offense. And if the other team does not have a center who plays out of the low post, than Walz's time is also going to have to be limited. The guy lit his has @ss up from 3 over and over again and Mooney just let it happen and than brought Walz back to let it happen some more. Mooney is some type like a gift for opposing coaches to not make the damn obvious adjustment when a player gets hot. The Marist coach had to be like surely their not going to be leave my boy open at the top of the arc again are they. Exactly why other coaches all praise him so highly, they don't want him ever to stop coaching
 
Last edited:
I'm still not sure Tyne is the ideal guard to start with Hunt. It was nice to see him make a couple 3s, but overall he went 2-8 with 3 turnovers and only 1 assist. White showed a few positives and did not have a turnover in 26 minutes. Hopefully, we will see more scoring from him as he gets more comfortable. I think he and Hunt would be our best 2 starters, with Tyne providing some good energy off the bench.
The numbers agree with this take too - Tyne was a team worst -18 in his 20 minutes on Saturday, while B. Artis was a team best +6 (tied with AP) in his 26. I know +/- isn't all encompassing, but other metric sites like EvanMiya also have low grades on Tyne. One game definitely doesn't represent a trend, but something to keep an eye on.
 
Lastly AP technical. Yes, it was terrible timing and you can't do it at that point in the game. BUT, I love the emotion he showed not just on the play but other plays. It was cocky, it was demonstrative, it was emotive love that. He just need to be a tad bit more discretionary in how he employs it. Every team needs a guy who plays with an edge and maybe AP is that guy for us.

I hope Mooney's doesn't go overboard with how disappointed he was in the play that he tames that spirit. His comments in post game were really blunt, way more blunt than Mooney ever is in talking about a player performance.
 
Lastly AP technical. Yes, it was terrible timing and you can't do it at that point in the game. BUT, I love the emotion he showed not just on the play but other plays. It was cocky, it was demonstrative, it was emotive love that. He just need to be a tad bit more discretionary in how he employs it. Every team needs a guy who plays with an edge and maybe AP is that guy for us.

I hope Mooney's doesn't go overboard with how disappointed he was in the play that he tames that spirit. His comments in post game were really blunt, way more blunt than Mooney ever is in talking about a player performance.
Yep again similar in my mind as Grant's mental error with the T after a drunk at Drake game which was key to our meltdown. Tangent - that was the night I met Greg Beckwith as we were both upgraded and chatted with him for the full but short flight to Detroit. RIP.
 
The numbers agree with this take too - Tyne was a team worst -18 in his 20 minutes on Saturday, while B. Artis was a team best +6 (tied with AP) in his 26. I know +/- isn't all encompassing, but other metric sites like EvanMiya also have low grades on Tyne. One game definitely doesn't represent a trend, but something to keep an eye on.
I really like what B. Artis gave on Friday night, he was impressive and it showed that this is 5th year playing college ball. I don't know if I have ever said that about a Mooney player but can Tyne be a just a bit less aggressive. Their is a fine line between playing aggressive and playing out of control and recklessly. Tyne pushes that line too much.
 
The numbers agree with this take too - Tyne was a team worst -18 in his 20 minutes on Saturday, while B. Artis was a team best +6 (tied with AP) in his 26. I know +/- isn't all encompassing, but other metric sites like EvanMiya also have low grades on Tyne. One game definitely doesn't represent a trend, but something to keep an eye on.

Are the per game +/- publicly available on EvanMiya?

The over reliance on small guards is hard to overcome. 1 is fine when you have a shot maker like KA, King, even Gilly when he wanted. But Hunt to me is not a shot maker in same vein, he's a nice player he can drive but he's maybe your 3rd option on good team. I did think Mooney made a couple good points postgame. One was Hunt has too many other responsbilities to also put the bulk of scoring on him. His other was basically calling out AP tech as unacceptable.

too hard to distract shooters, other team shoots with confidence or we get the flying dutchman out of position stuff, & too hard to create your own shot unless elite. I like Tyne, he's not there yet and as said above, it was not his best game. And if u r going to go small, u better have stronger defenders on wing to supplement and that has been a concern of many of us whether we do.

I'm not drawing a straight line from this...I think spider23 has alluded to it...but we've sucked since we went victory lap with the net cutting.
 
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT