OOC Tracker - Lunardi Impact

[GKiller]

Why would say it is optimistic to call them tier 2? Missouri went 5-13 in the SEC and was a tier 2 home game for teams last year. To be a tier 2 road game, you need to finish 76-135, so Vandy probably needs to win 2 SEC games to get there.

Of course my very next sentence began with "Vandy I think possible". Out of those 3 I think Vandy has best chance at Tier 2. Their freshman class would have to be very good. They don't have too much returning on a bad team unless that guy Simi Shittu returns. Vanderbilt actually did pretty well non conf last year so I expect them to do worse this year with young team & a coach that has never been in college bball. So even if they win 2 SEC games which sure is probably likely I think its a wash with a worse non conf. We're playing them so I sure hope they improve. It's possible we'll see.

 

[VT4700]

These games are ok, certainly better than what we served up last year but how couldn't they be. I think wildly optimistic to project any as top 100 or tier 2. Vandy I think possible if that big man withdraws from draft, but he's no stud anyway. BC and CoC are projected to regress or stay status quo and neither would fit criteria. I don't mind the games when surrounded by the right other games. But right now EL is correct we are nowhere near the hardest OOC in conference. When you got Mooney saying that & you hire Joe FREAKIN Lunardi we need to deliver or its just more big hat no cattle.

We know a lot of the schedule....BC was set up a while ago btw when they backed out of football game. I believe we got a 2-1 from them. We played up there in 2017. So you have these 3, plus the Legends Classic (2 of Auburn, New Mex or Wisco) but that comes with two low major home games. Hopefully those 2 are decent but if they're bad cupcakes that's trouble. Expect 2 low majors and hopefully they aren't 250+ if really lucky.

Then can only assume ODU and Wake series are continuing. Both on road. But Wake hasn't helped much in a quite a while, we know they have issues. ODU I expect will be tough but I don't know. I suppose possible 1 of these has ended but historically they continue.

Also expect we have South Alabama. No way that was just a buy game on road. Maybe we can postpone or buy it out but more likely they are a home game. Then add in the home opener typically from a regional VA low major. Who knows but reasonable assumption. That's 11 games right there. 2 left. To be toughest OOC in A10 are we also playing 2 of Gonzaga, Villanova, Duke, or Kentucky? That won't happen but honestly at least 1 game like that then the last one a top 50 type team.

You don't think 2 of Auburn, Wisconsin or New Mexico, combined with Vandy, Wake, and BC, and adding ODU and Charleston would match up with the toughest schedules in the A-10?

 

[GKiller]

I kind of see your point, but I wouldn't make the return game necessary. Sure, try to get as many home and homes as possible (like we did with Texas Tech and Wake), but I would rather only play Vandy on the road this year than play a tier 4 team.

Me too but Richmond athletics basically explicitly said there would be very few Tier 4 so its not really an either/or. Could have gotten a better buy game if we're not trying to negotiate and secure a home return from a bottom tier P6 like Vandy. You have to plan ahead and have foresight for future schedules too. When we've gotten MN, Tx Tech, Wake, and Gtown in recent past we should get Vandy too.

 

[VT4700]

Of course my very next sentence began with "Vandy I think possible". Out of those 3 I think Vandy has best chance at Tier 2. Their freshman class would have to be very good. They don't have too much returning on a bad team unless that guy Simi Shittu returns. Vanderbilt actually did pretty well non conf last year so I expect them to do worse this year with young team & a coach that has never been in college bball. So even if they win 2 SEC games which sure is probably likely I think its a wash with a worse non conf. We're playing them so I sure hope they improve. It's possible we'll see.

Fair points. I think they were snakebit in some SEC games last year (lost to Tenn. in OT and played Ky. close), and expect them to do better. But, I see your points here. But, at least it is a possible 2, a name P5 team, and a tier 3 team at the worst.

 

[GKiller]

You don't think 2 of Auburn, Wisconsin or New Mexico, combined with Vandy, Wake, and BC, and adding ODU and Charleston would match up with the toughest schedules in the A-10?

No. And no way if the other 4 are bad games to schedule. Look it's a start. But have you seen URI and VCU schedules? Anyway we are due to have THE toughest schedule not be in the neighborhood of the top A10 ones.

 

[VT4700]

No. And no way if the other 4 are bad games to schedule. Look it's a start. But have you seen URI and VCU schedules? Anyway we are due to have THE toughest schedule not be in the neighborhood of the top A10 ones.

Which is impossible to guarantee because who knows how everyone will end up? So, in the neighborhood in the beginning is all you can ask for to give you a chance to have the toughest at the end. Who do VCU and URI have next year?

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

You don't think 2 of Auburn, Wisconsin or New Mexico, combined with Vandy, Wake, and BC, and adding ODU and Charleston would match up with the toughest schedules in the A-10?

No.

Georgetown was our only Q2 OOC game this season - and only because we played them on the road.
If we dropped Georgetown for Vanderbilt, that's regression.

VCU played 3 Quad 1 games and 4 Quad 2 games OOC. You think we can match up with that with a couple of "maybe Q2, if they improve significantly on last year" teams?

The tournament will help.

 

[GKiller]

Which is impossible to guarantee because who knows how everyone will end up? So, in the neighborhood in the beginning is all you can ask for to give you a chance to have the toughest at the end. Who do VCU and URI have next year?

LOL. U were the guy who once told me to look up Google.

Mooney statement sure sounded like a guarantee.

Some uri teams are on 1st post of thread, rothstein tweeted about it. Vcu also has odu & Charleston, are in a better tournament than us w Tn fla st & Purdue, and play LSU & Wichita St over our BC & Vandy. They had #2 non conf in country last year we know they can schedule. Dayton’s is regularly good and they are in Maui. Mortal lock we won’t have the toughest. But hey there was some real news today & I’m interested to see what we else we get.

 

[VT4700]

LOL. U were the guy who once told me to look up Google.

Mooney statement sure sounded like a guarantee.

Some uri teams are on 1st post of thread, rothstein tweeted about it. Vcu also has odu & Charleston, are in a better tournament than us w Tn fla st & Purdue, and play LSU & Wichita St over our BC & Vandy. They had #2 non conf in country last year we know they can schedule. Dayton’s is regularly good and they are in Maui. Mortal lock we won’t have the toughest. But hey there was some real news today & I’m interested to see what we else we get.

What exactly was his statement? I thought some people on here said he said "one of the hardest", which is exactly what I was talking about when saying we cannot know for sure until the season ends. We don't even know anyone's full schedule yet, so why would anyone be bothered right now anyway? I agree with you that today was good news.

 

[Eight Legger]

He said on his own radio show that we would play the toughest schedule in the league.

 

[GKiller]

He said on his own radio show that we would play the toughest schedule in the league.

True. He also projected the junior class as “the best class that Richmond’s ever had”. Did anyone notice how Hardt walked that back subtly but obviously in his letter today. Sorry Hardt that was a big hat no cattle move.

 

[MrTbone]

True. He also projected the junior class as “the best class that Richmond’s ever had”. Did anyone notice how Hardt walked that back subtly but obviously in his letter today. Sorry Hardt that was a big hat no cattle move.

I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed that. Then I remembered that this board has a number of superpredators continuously looking for fresh meat.

 

[SpiderDaMan]

hmmm, I would have thought we were shooting for something more than top 100-125 teams? Yep, that's the metric the selection committee is looking for wins vs top 125. I do like that these teams should be stronger than Jacksonville State and longwood. It's a start.

Might also be a season finisher if that were the case. Got to play decent games that can be won in the pre-season. Losing them all does nothing regardless of opponent strength.

 

[GKiller]

I was wondering if I was the only one who noticed that. Then I remembered that this board has a number of superpredators continuously looking for fresh meat.

meat AND potoatoes

 

[GKiller]

Andrew Wallace unimpressed

 

[97spiderfan]

I actually read Hardt's statement of the "Best class ever" as a positive that he was holding Mooney accountable for those words by reiterating them (plus they make for good PR). By definition if we have the best class ever, we should be a lock for the NCAA tournament because we've had plenty of NCAA bids in our past, so the best class ever should be able to deliver one of those.

Anything less than an NCAA bid this year would be not meeting expectations than. Right.

I know and understand that we loathe accountability and are very malleable in our expectations though here at UR, so I'm sure they will find a way to wiggle of that hook. In which, case as Tbone said, we can very rightly hang Hardt and Mooney by their owns words and failure to meet them.

 

[Eight Legger]

Bob says we probably aren't playing Wake but are playing ODU and one other NCAA team from last year.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

I actually read Hardt's statement of the "Best class ever" as a positive that he was holding Mooney accountable for those words by reiterating them (plus they make for good PR). By definition if we have the best class ever, we should be a lock for the NCAA tournament because we've had plenty of NCAA bids in our past, so the best class ever should be able to deliver one of those.

It is a bit of a walk-back, though, to change Mooney's statement from potentially "the best class ever" to "one of the best classes ever."

 

[Eight Legger]

It definitely will be one of the best classes of players currently on the team.

 

[urmite]

Bob says we probably aren't playing Wake but are playing ODU and one other NCAA team from last year.

Does anyone have a list of the years we didn't play Wake starting in December 1975? I feel like it is less than 10 but Wake seems to say it is more?

 

[FrontRoyalSpider]

Of course my very next sentence began with "Vandy I think possible". Out of those 3 I think Vandy has best chance at Tier 2. Their freshman class would have to be very good. They don't have too much returning on a bad team unless that guy Simi Shittu returns. Vanderbilt actually did pretty well non conf last year so I expect them to do worse this year with young team & a coach that has never been in college bball. So even if they win 2 SEC games which sure is probably likely I think its a wash with a worse non conf. We're playing them so I sure hope they improve. It's possible we'll see.

Just wish we could get The 'Dores as a FBS game!

 

[97spiderfan]

Bob says we probably aren't playing Wake but are playing ODU and one other NCAA team from last year.

I hope we continue our annual series with Wake, but as for next year, like us Wake is being steaming pile of crap. The Wake game last year was the one chance all year for the Truther crowd to bump their chests and say "see look we just we beat Wake Forest an ACC school, how dare you criticize Chris Mooney".

Of course, they didn't realize that Wake stinks and it was just two bad teams and programs playing each other. I see the same thing happening with Vandy/BC this year if we were to beat them.

There is a segment of our fanbase that really has little concept of the larger landscape of college basketball. The Dan Palooza's of the world, the people who sit in Section 5 behind Moondog, the little old ladies who constantly comment on every social media post, that we will get them next time, the 4700 and Ulla's of the world

 

[FrontRoyalSpider]

Bob says we probably aren't playing Wake but are playing ODU and one other NCAA team from last year.

Has our agreement to play Wake Forest come to an end? I hope not!

 

[FrontRoyalSpider]

Has our agreement to play Wake Forest come to an end? I hope not!

 

[spiderman]

I know we've gone over this before but he didn't say we have best roster ever. just the junior class.

he didn't say they've done the most. they certainly haven't. we've lost 20 games 2 years in a row. Blake hasn't even played. 3 of them didn't even start in this class. but by whatever fluke they're now together.

in this class, Grant will likely score 2,000 points. Jacob may come close to 2,000 too. Nick is on pace for 1,600. Nathan will be well over 1,000. Blake already has 750 points and I expect he'll be a scorer here too.

so yes, I'd agree this is the most talented group we've had in one class at UR. problem is there's nobody in the class before them. and the class after them seems solid but doesn't compare.

 

[Eight Legger]

There's enough talent for us not to have lost 40 games the last two years, that's evident.

 

[spiderman]

There's enough talent for us not to have lost 40 games the last two years, that's evident.

except Blake wasn't here, Nick missed the year, Nathan wasn't this Nathan until this past season. it's just coming together now.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

I know we've gone over this before but he didn't say we have best roster ever. just the junior class.

Has anyone claimed he did?

 

[spiderman]

Has anyone claimed he did?

how do you interpret posts that bash his statement about this class by pointing to our record?

 

[Eight Legger]

except Blake wasn't here, Nick missed the year, Nathan wasn't this Nathan until this past season. it's just coming together now.

We might have two 2,000-point scorers in this class who have already played half their careers here. Plenty of teams have gone a lot farther with less talent. It's college basketball; one or two dominant players is enough to get you to the promised land. Look what Ja Morant did at Murray State, for example.

 

[spiderman]

The Wake game last year was the one chance all year for the Truther crowd to bump their chests and say "see look we just we beat Wake Forest an ACC school, how dare you criticize Chris Mooney".

97, I didn't bump my chest but I did enjoy the Wake win.

you don't seem to look forward to the upcoming season at all. you have no hope that we'll be good. yet you're fully invested. I couldn't do that.

 

[urmite]

97, I didn't bump my chest but I did enjoy the Wake win.

you don't seem to look forward to the upcoming season at all. you have no hope that we'll be good. yet you're fully invested. I couldn't do that.

So you are saying that if you knew we were going to win a total of 25 games the next two seasons, at the end of which, Mooney was going to get a 10 year extension, you wouldn't be as invested?

As a hypothetical...

 

[spiderman]

So you are saying that if you knew we were going to win a total of 25 games the next two seasons, at the end of which, Mooney was going to get a 10 year extension, you wouldn't be as invested?

As a hypothetical...

correct. if I knew that.

 

[97spiderfan]

97, I didn't bump my chest but I did enjoy the Wake win.

you don't seem to look forward to the upcoming season at all. you have no hope that we'll be good. yet you're fully invested. I couldn't do that.

I didn't say you did. I don't see you as part of the "Truther crowd" who are so blinded by either loyality to Mooney or just plain don't understand college basketball or simply are fine with just going to games to have an enjoyable night out.

And yeah, it is very conflicting. I'm not excited about next year. I don't think we are going to be all that good, despite Mooney's proclamation.

I don't see this Junior class as the best ever. Grant is great offensive player who either can't or won't play defense, which as our only big man is a huge issue. Cayo has some great drives by also doesn't understand our defense all that well and can't hit a jump shot from outside of 6 feet. Sherod is a great offensive player as well but very slow defensively and coming off an ACL injury. Blake is an unknown. Gilyard is the one guy I see with a complete game, but he doesn't have Kevin Anderson like abilities which is what we would need him to have to get the rest of this great class to the NCAA.

So, I see this team as at its best an NIT team and at its worst probably a .slightly above 500 squad. They have a much higher floor than the past couple years, but because our defense, rebounding, FT shooting is substandard, not to mention our coaching, our ceiling isn't all that high either.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

how do you interpret posts that bash his statement about this class by pointing to our record?

I don't. The commentary in this thread has mainly been about Hardt's modification to his statement.

Hey, I hope it proves out. We won't know for another two years. It may well be correct, statistically. It probably will; heck, I can't remember another class that made up our entire starting five.

What's the point of making that one of his two key talking points? It's kind of a "so what" statement. If they do turn out to be the best class statistically, but never compete for an A10 title, what does it all mean? Should it be part of CM's job evaluation that through a series of flukes 3 Redshirt Juniors and 2 Juniors wound up together?

If he's saying "we should be really good, because we'll have the best class ever" (I think he is using it as a reason for optimism) then it is fair for others to point out that 3/5 of this starting five has been on the floor for 2 dreadful seasons, and 4/5 of them for 3 of our Quad 4 losses this season.

 

[VT4700]

I don't. The commentary in this thread has mainly been about Hardt's modification to his statement.

Hey, I hope it proves out. We won't know for another two years. It may well be correct, statistically. It probably will; heck, I can't remember another class that made up our entire starting five.

What's the point of making that one of his two key talking points? It's kind of a "so what" statement. If they do turn out to be the best class statistically, but never compete for an A10 title, what does it all mean? Should it be part of CM's job evaluation that through a series of flukes 3 Redshirt Juniors and 2 Juniors wound up together?

If he's saying "we should be really good, because we'll have the best class ever" (I think he is using it as a reason for optimism) then it is fair for others to point out that 3/5 of this starting five has been on the floor for 2 dreadful seasons, and 4/5 of them for 3 of our Quad 4 losses this season.

So, you don't think there is any difference in Nick and Blake starting or JJ and Wojcik, a true freshman? I'll save you the time of bashing Nick because I know it is coming. Yes, we lost a couple games early last year with Nick, but we also saw several games two years ago in the A-10 when he flat-out carried us with games of 32, 28, 26, and 25 to name a few. And, he is also our best 3 point shooter. No need to debate that one again. We can just disagree about how much he will help us this year.

 

[spiderman]

I agree he's using it for optimism. we need a little optimism. it's been a bleak two years.

whether Mooney calls it the best class or Hardt calls it one of the best classes to me is irrelevant. offensively, I think it is the best without question. on the other side of the court ... probably not. but the record books for individual players focus points scored so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

now they just have to win.

 

[kneepadmckinney]

I hope we continue our annual series with Wake, but as for next year, like us Wake is being steaming pile of crap. The Wake game last year was the one chance all year for the Truther crowd to bump their chests and say "see look we just we beat Wake Forest an ACC school, how dare you criticize Chris Mooney".

This did not actually happen. This is revisionist history to fit your narrative.

 

[Eight Legger]

I heard a bunch of casual fans bragging about how we beat Wake last year. They had no idea that Wake was horrible.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

So, you don't think there is any difference in Nick and Blake starting or JJ and Wojcik, a true freshman? I'll save you the time of bashing Nick because I know it is coming. Yes, we lost a couple games early last year with Nick, but we also saw several games two years ago in the A-10 when he flat-out carried us with games of 32, 28, 26, and 25 to name a few. And, he is also our best 3 point shooter. No need to debate that one again. We can just disagree about how much he will help us this year.

I never said that, and I don't bash Nick. I guess if we're comparing against 17/18, it would be how much of an upgrade are Nate and Blake over Buck and Khwan, though, right?

As Spiderman said, "Best Class Ever" is kind of irrelevant. We need to win.