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We need a center

SouthJerseySpiderFan said:
Don't believe we need a center having Grant next year. Needed is enough front court physical presence surrounding him. CM's teams for the most part have always lacked that during his tenure here.

Finesse has work for CM adequately in A10 play but it has it's limits especially when playing P5/6 schools. Still bothers me thinking about how the team was toyed with by St Mary's inside presence in that tourney game and if I remember right they didn't lose by that much.
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I think mooney has intentionally not recruited big bruisers if that's what you mean by physical presence. It's just not his style of basketball. We have had plenty of big guys though who were skilled (geriot, giddings, Harper, TA, Cline). We've had a couple of more physical guys like Garrett and DWill, so they aren't complete anomalies.

I would agree that since 2012 our front court has not had a really imposing front court player. DWill got hurt and then the next year really got placed on the perimeter which limited what he was good at.

I think TJ has been very good both ways this year, he just doesn't have a complementary F to play with him. Grant was going to be that guy until the TTU game.
 
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MrTbone said:
I think mooney has intentionally not recruited big bruisers if that's what you mean by physical presence. It's just not his style of basketball. We have had plenty of big guys though who were skilled (geriot, giddings, Harper, TA, Cline). We've had a couple of more physical guys like Garrett and DWill, so they aren't complete anomalies.

I would agree that since 2012 our front court has not had a really imposing front court player. DWill got hurt and then the next year really got placed on the perimeter which limited what he was good at.

I think TJ has been very good both ways this year, he just doesn't have a complementary F to play with him. Grant was going to be that guy until the TTU game.
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BTW- what was the final story about DWill?
 
I believe he got busted with pot in his car when he was home over winter break? I believe he voluntarily removed himself from the team, which in my parlance means he was asked to leave in exchange for avoiding the embarrassment of being dismissed.

At least that's my recollection, but I've been drinking cough syrup with sarsaparilla chasers all morning...
 
In my opinion, the last center, for the Spiders was Dan Geriot, who also worked with Justin Harper, a power forward. Among the better D1 teams, that is the norm, you have big men at 4,5, with a small forward or bigger guard. Because we have not had much success recruiting big men, we have had to use power forwards as centers. At least last year, we had Terry Allen to complement TJ. Maybe Grant could have played such a role this year. I hope we have two big men who can play the 4,5 positions in the future. We can certainly win games with one big and 4 guards, but it's very hard to do so, against the major programs.
 
MrTbone said:
I believe he got busted with pot in his car when he was home over winter break? I believe he voluntarily removed himself from the team, which in my parlance means he was asked to leave in exchange for avoiding the embarrassment of being dismissed.

At least that's my recollection, but I've been drinking cough syrup with sarsaparilla chasers all morning...
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Yeah, Mooney seems to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal behavior. Many other programs let this kind of stuff, and much, much worse (theft, sexual assault, etc), slide for the sake of basketball success.
 
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Whatever CM's recruiting strategy has been, just like to see less SOFT when it comes to the players. Maybe the SOFT is a result of CM's style of play? And as always it comes back to the rebounding issues. Defensive most important but seeing what athletic guys like Buck and KF can do no reason to waste that talent by not going for the offense board.

Possibly tweak playing not to lose where the entire team rushes back to play defense. Haven't seen as many games as posters here but believe I'm seeing less of the patented passive offense weave that occurred each possession down court. Don't know if anyone remembers but watching TA doing that silly spin on numerous occasions 35 feet from the basket aggravated me to no end. Not 1 second of the 30 should be wasted.
 
MrTbone said:
I believe he got busted with pot in his car when he was home over winter break? I believe he voluntarily removed himself from the team, which in my parlance means he was asked to leave in exchange for avoiding the embarrassment of being dismissed.

At least that's my recollection, but I've been drinking cough syrup with sarsaparilla chasers all morning...
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There was something worse than the pot. He had to go. I can't say and he is gone, so it doesn't matter now. I would like to know what he is doing now. Hopefully, he got his degree and did something with it.

The current trend in CBB is pushing big men out of the game. It could eventually become a 6'5" and under league. A glorified run and gun Rec league. That is not necessarily bad. That is, until going big becomes trendy again.
 
Octapod said:
There was something worse than the pot. He had to go. I can't say and he is gone, so it doesn't matter now. I would like to know what he is doing now. Hopefully, he got his degree and did something with it.

The current trend in CBB is pushing big men out of the game. It could eventually become a 6'5" and under league. A glorified run and gun Rec league. That is not necessarily bad. That is, until going big becomes trendy again.
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NBA is doing same. 6'9" and under league. It's now dunk or 3.
 
Nothing 'soft' about this team. I love the heart of these guys. Just wish we had another big to play in the game.
 
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SpiderK said:
NBA is doing same. 6'9" and under league. It's now dunk or 3.
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The rules keep changing to promote driving to the basket and scoring. Not a bad thing. Go back and watch a NCAA championship from around 1983. The officiating is moving back that way.
 
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SpiderK said:
NBA is doing same. 6'9" and under league. It's now dunk or 3.
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The teams at the very top will always have 6'10 or 6'11+ players on their teams, there are some great players that tall and they will always end up on the top teams and be big contributors. What a lot of coaches are realizing is that there just aren't very many great players that tall and you are much better off with a great 6'7 or 6'8 (or even 6'6) player than just a decent 6'11 player. Height for the sake of height is not a good strategy.
 
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fan2011 said:
you are much better off with a great 6'7 or 6'8 (or even 6'6) player than just a decent 6'11 player. Height for the sake of height is not a good strategy.
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Unfortunately it seems so true with a player we hoped we give UR some quality minutes this year. Maybe next year he might be what Kwasi is this year.
 
If they keep extending the no charge circle out the big traditional center will go the way of the dinosaur. The driver can be more aggressive than ever. No more funneling the driver into a charge. You can try for a rejection or hold your ground. That will result in a foul too usually, though. You could swap out the big man in the middle of the defense for a support beam that stretches to the ceiling. If that support beam is inside the no charge circle, it will still be called for a foul. That's why the big man is disappearing. His value to the team has been diminished.
 
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There are certain match-ups where 15-20 minutes of a big man forcing outside shots or grabbing offensive boards is a great strategy.
 
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Octapod said:
If they keep extending the no charge circle out the big traditional center will go the way of the dinosaur. The driver can be more aggressive than ever. No more funneling the driver into a charge. You can try for a rejection or hold your ground. That will result in a foul too usually, though. You could swap out the big man in the middle of the defense for a support beam that stretches to the ceiling. If that support beam is inside the no charge circle, it will still be called for a foul. That's why the big man is disappearing. His value to the team has been diminished.
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Also the bounces from missed 3's are too long for the big men to get.
 
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In the 80s there were a lot of bad big men in the game. The old saying "you can't teach height" was the norm. Even in the last decade, after I saw Hansbrough just posterize that 7'8" guy from Asheville that one time, I think that was the last stiff 7 footer I've seen in the college or pro ranks. The days of Chuck Nevitt's 7'5" frame holding down one end of the bench and collecting a paycheck are over.
 
wr70beh said:
In the 80s there were a lot of bad big men in the game. The old saying "you can't teach height" was the norm. Even in the last decade, after I saw Hansbrough just posterize that 7'8" guy from Asheville that one time, I think that was the last stiff 7 footer I've seen in the college or pro ranks. The days of Chuck Nevitt's 7'5" frame holding down one end of the bench and collecting a paycheck are over.
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There weren't many 7'4" Ralph Sampsons to go around. Wish these young folks could have seen Ralph and David Robinson play. They have not seen anything like it. Especially playing all 4 years.
 
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There are two 7'6" players in NCAA Div. 1 this year. They even played against each other. One of them is Tacko Fall from UCF. The other is Mamadou N'diaye at UC Irvine.
 
Octapod said:
There are two 7'6" players in NCAA Div. 1 this year. They even played against each other. One of them is Tacko Fall from UCF. The other is Mamadou N'diaye at UC Irvine.
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Ralph was best player in the country for 3 years. Never heard of these guys. Lol
 
Octapod said:
I stood next to Ralph at the Richmond airport one time. He was definitely breathing some thinner air than me!
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Sat beside Ralph on a flight from Atlanta and played pinball with Tommy Burleson at a Myrtle Beach arcade. At 5' 11", I felt extremely vertically challenged.
 
Rich at 7 feet tall and 320 pounds is probably the biggest Spider basketball player we ever had. Don't recall any other players who were bigger. Have there been any? One of the advantages of having a player that is big who can be sent in to dish out a few fouls is to help alleviate the instances where a big on the opposing team is physical with our players and we have no one to even the score. The Broad Street game where in at least two instances Allie-Cox got away with fouls on TJ that were not called is an example.
 
Gary Rich was big, but I don't think he weighed 320 while he was here playing basketball. He purposely put on weight during his wrestling career. I'd like to know how big he was billed at during his wrestling days. I know that the Undertaker is billed as being 6'10" or 6'11", but I was on a plane with him about 15 years ago, and I would say he was closer to 6'6".

I'm pretty sure that Rich was our first and only legitimate seven-footer.
 
According to the Collegian's 1987 season preview article, Rich weighed 255 when he came in.

Link
 
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