Positives of the WVA game

[UR80sfan]

We did a great job identify all the negatives of the game on another post. If was very difficult to watch and disappointing, however I thought it was important to also point out the positives.

• Sol is gaining more confidence and playing well. He held his own against 2 very large and strong players
• We did a great job rebounding and only had 1 less than WVA
• We out scored them 41 to 35 in 2nd half
• We were only down by 3 with 7:15 left in the 1st half
• Cayo was 5 for 8 for 14 points
• Gilly had 6 assists and 4 steals
• WVA could potentially be a top 5 team by the end of the year
• Connor Crabtree looked good during his brief playing time

Bottom line is they shot the lights out hitting 57.1% from 3 and 58.1% over all, while we shot poorly. UR is a great team that has proven itself last year and the 1st 4 games of this year. We are going to be fine. Look forward to Wednesday.

 

[RichmondNative]

I like to look for the positives, but there was very little to like in this game.

Totally agree about Sal. His emergence is also impacting Grace’s minutes, which will make some on the board happy.

Glad Nathan had a good game after having rougher outings in the last two.

Perhaps the best news is the Spiders avoid the super hype train by losing. Hopefully they realize that it is going to be a tough season and it takes supreme effort to get back to where they were at the end of last season.

The other good news is we haven’t seen the best that the Spiders have yet. Hopefully they get it together by the time conference play starts.

 

[urfan1]

Gotta believe these guys are hurting over this loss and will work hard to see what they can change when they meet a similar team

 

[PalmTreeSpidUR]

Agree with the first post and I thought Tyler also played well.

 

[Gallipoli]

This was an old fashioned butt whopping, but yes there were positives. We will get the best that every team has. Today, we got the best of WVU. There is no way they play that well every time. I felt like Francis forced his game some. If he lets the game come to him, he will be fine.

 

[spider23]

Poor effort, or at least the appearance of the last 3 games , hopefully a wake up and not on The Mooney we are good guys and go to the dance every 10.5 year plan. Wva played good and think we bounce back.

 

[mr.spider]

We matched their physicality and nearly out-rebounded them. They edged us by 1 rebound and we led on rebounds until the final minutes. And they are one of the best rebounding teams in the country.

So, I would have expected to win if we could do that. We are typically a better shooting team over them by a wide margin, but not today. They shot 58% FGs and 57% 3 pointers. Crazy #s and it didn't appear to be bad defense causing it.

Other than just meeting a team on a great shooting day, the one area we failed was turnovers, which was frustrating. But in the end, they only edged us by 4 less turnovers.

I hope our team remains confident. Turnovers are something we are typically good at it, and matching a top rebounding team on toughness and rebounds should tell us a lot despite the score.

I watched them play Gonzaga close, and I knew they were a legit national champ contender. But we matched them on what I thought was their strength.

Hangin there, Spiders. We have a great team.

 

[spider23]

Will say, I HATE all this enthusiasm over a 20 point loss, don't think KA1, KA2 or Tarrant would be on board. Hopefully Gilyard and Fran are not either, I don't think they are.

 

[urmite]

Did Burton get another double double?

 

[urfan1]

yes, he's really coming into his own

 

[Eight Legger]

The positives were that the game wasn't 60 minutes long and that it was played during a bunch of 1 pm NFL games, so hopefully everyone was watching those instead.

 

[8legs]

TYLER BURTON CAN REBOUND!

 

[kneepadmckinney]

Will say, I HATE all this enthusiasm over a 20 point loss, don't think KA1, KA2 or Tarrant would be on board. Hopefully Gilyard and Fran are not either, I don't think they are.

Yes, posters saying, "relax, we'll be fine" after one loss to a top 10 team playing out of its ass on its home floor means that: (1) Mooney is coddled, (2) our players are complacent and may not want to win hard enough for your liking.

 

[Spider B]

Wvu shots lights out. Any team would be hard to beat shooting the way they did. But we didnt play (especially shooting) well. Frankly, we have not have played anywhere close to our potential yet. I think Blake will heat up, but he was not good today. If he misses out of the gate i would go to Crabtree early and give Wilson some more playing time. Not a good game for Grant either. On the other hand, Burton is quickly becoming our best all around player and is looking like an all conference player. I think he is averaging a double double now. Impressive.

 

[UR Fan 2]

Burton emerging as a STAR
Sal shows he will be an impact big man in time
Crabtree gives us a showing of a sliver of his ability

Those are the positives for me

 

[spider23]

Yes, posters saying, "relax, we'll be fine" after one loss to a top 10 team playing out of its ass on its home floor means that: (1) Mooney is coddled, (2) our players are complacent and may not want to win hard enough for your liking.

Yes I have stated my vision for the hoops program, it does not align with about 90 percent on this board. Dayton last year didn't back down from top teams. SDSU went out and beat Luke Garza and Iowa on the road and Creighton last year. That is the attitude I want. But that said, if that Wva team shoots like that, they will be tough, but man we should still be able to make it an 8 or 10 point game. Really hoping Crabtree can be healthy and knock down a couple of 3s and Gilly and Francis can pick it up from 3. Was hoping this would be there break out game.

 

[spider23]

Sal continues to give us solid minutes and play some tough defense. Really starting to get more comfortable.

 

[97spiderfan]

WVU played their asses off, sometimes you have to tip your hat to them and I will. And agree with above, Sal played some great minutes, Burton, and Cayo had good games.

Our three studs all did not rise to the occasion though. Francis was misfiring all of over the court with great abandon. Meanwhile, Gilly took 7 shots in 40 minutes and Grant took 4 shots in 30 minutes. I mean, my lord, these are two horses and combined they took 11 shots in nearly 70 minutes of game time.

If you are the man, as Grant and Gilly are, games like this require you to be front and center, instead they both took back seats to other players, who didn't deliver. The backdoor assists are nice, but need to be way more assertive on offense in these situations, particularly when the other team is punching you in the face.

Again, tip of the hat, to WVU, I'm not sure if even if Grant, Gilly, and Francis brought their A games we were beating them yesterday. But certainly, we wouldn't have gotten housed either.

 

[UR Fan 2]

I hope Sal repeats this year to give himself an extra year of NCAA eligibility. I truly believe he can be a 12 ppg 8 reb guy as the focal point inside. Crabtree and Wilson get going and we suddenly have a supporting cast to go around Burton and Goose next year.

 

[97spiderfan]

I hope Sol repeats this year to give himself an extra year of NCAA eligibility. I truly believe he can be a 12 ppg 8 reb guy as the focal point inside. Crabtree and Wilson get going and we suddenly have a supporting cast to go around Burton and Goose next year.

Not a bad idea. Sal was super impressive inside against WVU bigs. Last year, he was so tentative out there and made mistakes. He seems to playing with confidence this year.

 

[spiderman]

that's a national title contending team right there if they hit shots like that.

my concern, and it may end up being a positive, is that WVU just drew up the blueprint on how to defend our offense. don't let us just stroll into our pattern. extend on the wings, and pressure Grant in the high post. not every team will do it as well but I expect to see more of that. and we should get better against it.

Blake and Jacob haven't shot the ball well yet this year. our primary 3 point guys are shooting 29% and 24%. I wouldn't have expected us to be 4-1 with those percentages. we need those two to take and hit perimeter shots. Crabtree may help, but I don't know yet if he can play guard or if he's a forward. we ask our 2nd guard to handle a lot.

 

[mr.spider]

Yes I have stated my vision for the hoops program, it does not align with about 90 percent on this board. Dayton last year didn't back down from top teams. SDSU went out and beat Luke Garza and Iowa on the road and Creighton last year. That is the attitude I want. But that said, if that Wva team shoots like that, they will be tough, but man we should still be able to make it an 8 or 10 point game. Really hoping Crabtree can be healthy and knock down a couple of 3s and Gilly and Francis can pick it up from 3. Was hoping this would be there break out game.

No one is saying yay, moral victory we played wvu within 20 points. We are not happy about the loss. We are just recognizing that wvu seems to be a legit top 10 team that shot light out and that is hard to beat with any team especially a top 10. We didn't play our best game, which is actually a positive going forward, and we matched the physicality and rebounding of a top rebounding team. That is a major positive. It shows toughness, determination, and confidence. That is a big deal, given where we came from, before Mooney had a re-awakening experience last year.

 

[8legs1dream]

We are just recognizing that wvu seems to be a legit top 10 team

they are a legit top 10 team, what does that make us an illegit top 20 team?

 

[mr.spider]

Yes I have stated my vision for the hoops program, it does not align with about 90 percent on this board. Dayton last year didn't back down from top teams. SDSU went out and beat Luke Garza and Iowa on the road and Creighton last year. That is the attitude I want. But that said, if that Wva team shoots like that, they will be tough, but man we should still be able to make it an 8 or 10 point game. Really hoping Crabtree can be healthy and knock down a couple of 3s and Gilly and Francis can pick it up from 3. Was hoping this would be there break out game.

Also, I have a very high vision for this program. I see no reason, with the commitment we've shown, that we cannot be a consistent NCAA team (miss a year, here and there), with regular top 25 appearances. I quiver when I hear comments like "for a school like Richmond..." from coaches or announcers or players. Absolutely no reason we need to act like we are lucky to be in the top 25 or something. Claim it, Damn it.

 

[97spiderfan]

that's a national title contending team right there if they hit shots like that.

my concern, and it may end up being a positive, is that WVU just drew up the blueprint on how to defend our offense. don't let us just stroll into our pattern. extend on the wings, and pressure Grant in the high post. not every team will do it as well but I expect to see more of that. and we should get better against it.

As soon as WVU went to the 3 quarters pressure, mid way through the first half, we couldn't get into our offense. VCU also plays this way. WVU has great talent and length so other teams may try this against us and might just not have the manpower to do it.

 

[Eight Legger]

I would have liked to see us get the North Texas version of WVU, not the one we saw yesterday.

 

[spider fan]

Huge positive is Crabtree's five points................ instead of 87 - 71 we would have lost 87 - 66, which would have been that much worse obviously.......

And West Virginia - wow - what a game they played - eating our lunch all over the court! Much credit to them. Hopefully no other team this season plays as well as they did against us..................

Another positive is that we "should" have learned that we can be rattled by all out pressure and we will do something immediately to address that............

 

[GKiller]

• We out scored them 41 to 35 in 2nd half
• We were only down by 3 with 7:15 left in the 1st half

These are negatives actually. I think we have more pride than that. We were #19 with perhaps the most veteran team in the country and what can be our best team ever. Big spot national TV we got run out of gym. Not end of world but there are no team positives. Just individual player positives. We never made a 2nd half run at all. Outscoring by 6 when we were down 22 at half and closest we got was the final score is a negative when a 2nd half run or mini run was expected. WVU could coast 2nd half.

Yeah it was a game up until that point in 1st half, as it should be.

WVU played light outs no doubt, & I actually don't think we are too far away from clicking. We weren't going to go undefeated but we've played 10 halves of basketball, and at least 4-5 have been poor so there is some concern.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

My WVU National Championship futures bet gained a bit of value, so I guess that's a positive.

 

[32counter]

Don’t know this guy personally but me thinks Huggy has a funny side to him.His team made us look/play like a JV team.
We were defensed to death.Well scouted.

 

[SpiderRick]

No one is saying yay, moral victory we played wvu within 20 points. We are not happy about the loss. We are just recognizing that wvu seems to be a legit top 10 team that shot light out and that is hard to beat with any team especially a top 10. We didn't play our best game, which is actually a positive going forward, and we matched the physicality and rebounding of a top rebounding team. That is a major positive. It shows toughness, determination, and confidence. That is a big deal, given where we came from, before Mooney had a re-awakening experience last year.

Shouldn't a team that "this team can be a final four team" at least have made the game competitive?
And just because West Virginia shot lights out, doesn't mean we have to shoot like the lights were off...

 

[plydogg]

Shouldn't a team that "this team can be a final four team" at least have made the game competitive?
And just because West Virginia shot lights out, doesn't mean we have to shoot like the lights were off...

Last tournament we had, Auburn made the final four in a season where they lost by 27 to Kentucky and Ole Miss by 15. They still made the final four despite being run out of the gym twice. Sometimes it’s just not your night and you can’t let one blowout decide your entire season

 

[spider23]

I will say, we had an NCAA year one season when we lost to Alabama by 40 and another when we lost by 100 to JMU on Midnight madness on ESPN. Counting on SF to fact check me on
All accounts

 

[GKiller]

I will say, we had an NCAA year one season when we lost to Alabama by 40 and another when we lost by 100 to JMU on Midnight madness on ESPN. Counting on SF to fact check me on
All accounts

auto bid years 23. U can lose all u want & still have shot at auto bid.

But bama by 12 auburn by 14 & gasp Radford by 15 r all better examples. & they all came in the same year! And we were in good position for bid.

it happens. Hit a pothole in wild n wonderful West VA. But we r not trying to scoot into ncaa tourney either. That was 19-20’.

this is best team ever, top 25, win A10 reg title for 1st time, good seed. This is not just message board fan banter but within the program. It’s there for taking.

A bid is the barest of minimum expectations. Like 10 pieces of flair.

 

[spider23]

But bama by 12 auburn by 14 & gasp Radford by 15 r all better examples. & they all came in the same year! And we were in good position for bid.

True BUT we were outside of Joey brackets dance squad for 88.9% of the season, and 1 loss in the A10 tournament from being out. Good point about those auto bid years though.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

The year VCU went to the Final Four, we were whipping them by 30 when Mooney showed mercy.

It's true that one rout doesn't ruin a season. But we are claiming to be the class of the A10, and we sure don't look like this year's Dayton so far.

 

[plydogg]

The year VCU went to the Final Four, we were whipping them by 30 when Mooney showed mercy.

It's true that one rout doesn't ruin a season. But we are claiming to be the class of the A10, and we sure don't look like this year's Dayton so far.

I think the difference here is Dayton was the top of all of college, not just the A10. Very much agree with the sentiment though, but man they’re a hard act to follow

 

[spider23]

Tough act to follow, but there were two mid majors in the top 5 last year. And yes, the other one had an NBA draft pick, but not much higher than Harper.

 

[Spider B]

Our shooting will improve. And when it does, look out. Jake and Blake are both better shooters than they have shown so far this year. Also hopeful Crabtree will help 3 point shooting. He has the size to shoot over the defense and should not be bothered as much by length. I would also like to see a few more minutes for Wilson. That will help keep Blake fresh.

 

[KWeaver]

The only positive I saw was that it is a gut check for the rest of the season. It was not good, but hopefully it is a character test early enough to allow us to recover and really kick ass for the rest of the year.