No surprise here. Mooney has never made game adjustments. This is the Mooney suck factor. Destroy confidence to imprint his system, tonight is just another wash, rinse, repeat. Obviously King had enough of this program,
NIT Round 1 Game Thread @Virginia Tech - Tonight/Tuesday 9pm - ESPN2/ESPN+
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… this wasn’t the same offense we’ve seen in the past. Defense was the best it’s been.. ever maybe? And the take about a similar talented team with a better coach winning every time… bad take
Sorry 8-5 and UNLV was a quad 3 until a month after we played them, until they beat Creighton
He tried to force it because he had very little clean looks. For a month now he was doubled and CM had no answers. The VCU game was the start and all teams followed suit and Mooney never changed anything.
Thank god for KA and JG or Mooney would be 0fer
Yep, opponents targeted King. Good coaches would counter to screen for open shots. Don’t confuse Mooney with good coaches
That was just hard to watch. I kept switching over to the UVA game and that was even harder to watch. I'll be damned if I tune in later this week to the JMU game. They're close enough to Northern VA to be considered out of state anyway. Go Longwood.
Hope Mooney gives them each some of his salary every year. Heard he’s a nice guy so that’s an actually possibility
Cory Alexander announcing was better than the Spiders. That’s how bad it was.
BTW Dji played a great game. Attacked the rim, excellent defense. The most consistent player. Too bad we can’t clone him. No surprise if he enter the portal.
I disagree. Have you been watching CM teams for many years? Give us a big game, with equal talent, and Id say he loses almost all of those games. Look at history. The 1 NCAA appearance hes had in 13 years was with the “most talented team in Richmond history” and he had to have a miracle occur. That team lost many games against less talented teams.
I can confidently say he has lost most games where his team was expected to lose. This year the Gods were on his side but name 1 game where he overachieved?? There arent any. Not 1.
"Virginia basketball is Iowa football."
T shirt worn by CSU fan tonight. Best thing I saw all night.
T shirt worn by CSU fan tonight. Best thing I saw all night.
They hurt but that ain’t what or who killed us. Should have actually fed him the ball more. They couldn’t guard him. But def will be an area of work along with the jumper. I’m still proud of this team and Dji. I’m just happy he was able to get at least those 10 mins a game.
Hope Dji plays.32 to 36 minutes a game for us next year!
Mooney never adjusted anything. Once teams figured out our undersized guards can’t score at the rim so guard the three point shot, we stunk. Wish we’d opted out. A horrible finish to a decent season.
Great A10 regular season. Issue was at the other critical junctures we could never get over the hump. The first pivot point to me was the BC game. They were a solid ACC team but definitely beatable. We had a lead, and couldn't hold it. Played Colorado and Florida close but couldn't spring the upset. As much as folks want to complain about the net and NCAA selection process those were the opportunities we couldn't cash in on. Then the thud at the end of the year. The GMU game was other pivot point as Gkiller points out. Then of course A10 tournament. Was hopeful for NIT run, but it was not to be. Some really fun times watching Spider Hoops this season, but ultimately no validation that moon can thrive in this new paradigm. I fear for some natural regression after his "victory" lap this year. Hopefully I am wrong.
By November I’ll have forgotten all about this and convinced myself of another sweet 16 run. Here’s to hoping Dji stays, the young kids flourish, and we bring in some impact transfers.
See you all next season!
I listened to the Spder broadcast during the game. Our guys were beaten up the entire game. Their guy Poteat constantly beat up Quinn. Their short guys under cut Quinn on jump shots. There was a huge discrepancy in fouls called and foul shots. They pointed out several times when fouls were not called on Tech, while 30 seconds later the called the same foul on us.
Re last night specifically, at the beginning of the game I thought the uneven fouls was a big factor in our defense, which started out pretty well despite what the refs thought. As the game went on it became apparent that whatever was going on with King the last two games still was, and I didn't think he should be shooting as much as he did. Bob and Greg kept saying "tired legs" but I don't buy that excuse. Our last game endeed Thursday at 1:30. And no one else seemd to have the same problems (on either team).
As a prior poster said I would have liked to have seen more of Walz. But really, him, Bailey, and Bigelow were the only three that I thought were consistently good last night.
As a prior poster said I would have liked to have seen more of Walz. But really, him, Bailey, and Bigelow were the only three that I thought were consistently good last night.
As for the season itself, at the beginning no one knew what to expect. So until the last two weeks I think we exceeded everyone's reasonable expectations. Hopefully over time we'll get over the disappointment of the last three games--not so much that we lost, but how terribly we played in all three of those losses. It is very uncharacteristic of us to play that poorly at the end of the season for that many games in a row, and is not something I care to repeat in the future.
Quinn was obviously affected by “tired legs” as he had no lift on his shot and moved
laterally slower than usual. Hunt was missing a lot of shots also after hitting big three
with our early run. Walz could be a stronger center than Quinn offensively with improved
passing.
laterally slower than usual. Hunt was missing a lot of shots also after hitting big three
with our early run. Walz could be a stronger center than Quinn offensively with improved
passing.
This year was in many ways symbolic of Mooney's tenure. He does accomplish some very legitimate, tangible things that you have to give him and his teams major credit for (A-10 regular season) but the overall performance always finds that 55% average. I've posted this before but he is incredibly consistent in most ways (including his abhorrence of offensive rebounding and reliance on small, quick guards). These philosophies present a major challenge when we face tall, physical power 5 competition (The kind of teams you have to beat in order to build your resume for March). This post is nothing more than therapeutic for me because we all know that Coach will retire here whenever he wants and we will just have to hope that every few years we have a team that will overcome and outperform his consistent philosophies. To be fair, his handling of last year's transfer portal was outstanding and maybe we are entering into an era where we are competing for the A-10 title every year but after 20 years of data I think it's much more likely that we will continue to hit that 55% mark and it's frustrating that so many of our decision makers think that's our ceiling. Just look at the broadcast last night....you can't tell me that we don't have one of the best venues in the state yet we act like we play in Rose Hill gym and should be lucky to ever make an NCAA tournament appearance.
8legs1dream
Team Manager
We had 5 days off, you'd think that would be enough rest right?
What a disappointing end to what was a really great year. Should have never cut the nets down after winning a share of the A-10 regular season. You don't celebrate team accomplishments that don't actually qualify for your postseason play.
Anyone have any idea what happened to King these last 3 games. A-10 POY and he basically no shows the last 3. He is going down a slot or two in my all time rankings. Sorry, big time players are at their in the biggest games, he wasn't at the end. I thought Dji really balled out last night, Bigs and Walz had some good moments, but when you A-10 POY and A-10 second teamer combine for 12 frickin points, you aren't going to win.
Also, Cattoor and Pedulla are whiny little bitches.
Anyone have any idea what happened to King these last 3 games. A-10 POY and he basically no shows the last 3. He is going down a slot or two in my all time rankings. Sorry, big time players are at their in the biggest games, he wasn't at the end. I thought Dji really balled out last night, Bigs and Walz had some good moments, but when you A-10 POY and A-10 second teamer combine for 12 frickin points, you aren't going to win.
Also, Cattoor and Pedulla are whiny little bitches.
This is a very good point, by going with the smaller guards we are building to win and beat A10 and lower competition, not play at highest level. Loved watching Kendall Anthony, but how many NCAA appearances did we have in the KA2 era? I do think we can have one smaller dynamic guard and be just fine. But it does seem like the few NCAA years had one big either strong or athletic guard that could at least guard another big guard: Gonzo, Brothers/Lindsay, and Goose. Defense matters. And our defense was pretty good this year - but again just not able to step up in competition level.
I think King just got gameplanned a bit. I think in the reqular season it is easier to "go off" against a URI, etc. But when you get to March it is harder, teams are more focused, a year of tape, and scheming to stop. I'm sure the other coaches had him as 1 and 1A on the game plan. And he was carrying a huge load all year. The tired legs definitely seems like an excuse - especially as noted the big rest coming into this game. BUT - I do think with a smaller player that has had to carry so much load all season, it is a concern.
97 I don’t agree with we shouldn’t have cut the nets down. These guys earned that but everyone have feelings in regards to that. No biggie though. I do agree with some of the other points. I thought Dji played great. But didn’t have enough help. Also thought we should have fed him more bc he was getting anything he wanted. Would have loved Bigs to have attacked the rim a little more. I thought when Neal was struggling a little bit we should have stayed with Mike longer. And YES those 2 are whiny 🐝otches😀🕷️🏀
I guess the net cutting wouldn't have not been such a big deal had we not then proceeded to lose our last 3 games in really lackluster fashion. I know it really wasn't the contributing factor of how the season ended but we also didn't play with the same fire/intensity after we did it. Correlation does not equal causation, I know.
Also, Dji missing the FT's as mentioned above was really the only misstep he did all night. D-Lo, King, and Quinn all never got going. Dji kept us in the game with his play. Had he gotten some help from those 3, maybe we are having a different conversation. As it stands now, if Dji makes those 2 FT's, we probably lose by 12 or 14, instead of 16.
GISELLE!!
Boom, finally. Sorry had to do it.
Dji had a fantastic season.
Tried to warn u guys about the nets before we did it. But I bet one of our nerds is going to tell me all about the drill sergeant paradox.
All or part true, however another game where we had a good lead & by halftime couldn't hold it. In the end & in spite of a 16 point loss, I say another game for the taking where we beat ourselves.
I get it 😂 well played. I do appreciate it though.
Yes, Dji was not the issue yesterday. He played well. He played defense. He attacked.
Last season, I made a point pre-season that we could really be a great team if we had our Killer Wings as our driving force - being Burton and Bigelow. Bigs started hot and then tailed off a bit. Burton had a bit of a down year, and offense was too reliant on him. Collectively they were OK but not as good as needed for us to be a successful team.
This season, the Killer Wings were really good. Dji was injury free and just did a little of everything, and Bigs came back and improved and brought the energy every night, was huge.
Next year we need one (or all) of Tanner, McGlothin and Robinson to be ready. And I think we need to get a guy in the portal. To go along with Dji.
Last season, I made a point pre-season that we could really be a great team if we had our Killer Wings as our driving force - being Burton and Bigelow. Bigs started hot and then tailed off a bit. Burton had a bit of a down year, and offense was too reliant on him. Collectively they were OK but not as good as needed for us to be a successful team.
This season, the Killer Wings were really good. Dji was injury free and just did a little of everything, and Bigs came back and improved and brought the energy every night, was huge.
Next year we need one (or all) of Tanner, McGlothin and Robinson to be ready. And I think we need to get a guy in the portal. To go along with Dji.
King most likely had some injury that slowed him considerably - most likely ankle or knee that was sustained or further injured in a recent game. Tried to play "through it"..........and no I do not have a medical report but thinking that is most likely for such a shortfall compared to prior games............
And yeah - Cory Alexander and his sidekick - like listenining to a conversation in a bar with a game playing in the background. Couldn't stop relating personal stories and egged on and encouraged by each other. No wonder ESPN is having issues..............
I'm glad I'm not the only one who found that annoying. I mean, your job is to call the game, not tell personal stories all game long. I know it is the NIT and ESPN is not sending their "A" team to that game but that was a brutal product put on the by them.
Particularly loved the early discussion about a great play by Quinn, except that it was Walz with the camera on him the whole time they were talking about Quinn.
But there were so many brilliant moments...
But there were so many brilliant moments...
