What happened the last 3 games?

[SpiderTrap]

What happened the last 3 games for these Spiders? Won 6 games in a row following a loss to UMASS, which included wins over St. Joes and VCU, and then we lose to Mason by 18, lost to St. Joes in A10 tourney, and then lose in NIT to VA Tech. What happened these last 3 games.

Initially - I shrugged off the Mason loss, saying the team was coming down off their high of winning the A10 regular season title. Then we knew the St. Joes game would be tough, as they played us a tough recently with a limited roster, and had guys back from injury. Then we lay an egg vs in state ACC rival - VA Tech. I know the NIT can be a downer, but I thought when we drew VA Tech, that might be all the team needed to get up for this game - beat an in-state P6 team on their home court. But it never happened.

So what happened these last 3 games? Just bad games by King? Bad coaching? Team ran out of steam. Didn't want to play in NIT?

 

[spider fan]

Only answer to your question is speculation - opponents were more motivated than we were?

 

[WCUR11]

I think the common denominator here is that King had off nights ever since his birthday blowout over VCU, which is tough since he had been the star all season long. Shine just dimmed a bit, despite great efforts from other key contributors on the team.

It's a long season, and this team had grit, but hard to get out of a rut with limited one-and-done opportunities.

 

[Eight Legger]

We knew all season that the team would go as King went, for the most part. Sort of amazing that we kept it as close as we did for awhile last night without him scoring, and that the SJU game went right down to the wire without him having much of a game. Maybe he was hurt, maybe he wasn't. Maybe we needed to make adjustments and didn't, maybe the book on how to take him out of the game was finally out, who knows.

 

[8legs1dream]

 

[Spider-Law]

I do think teams go through hot streaks and slumps. Unfortunately, we were so hot most of the year, we were "due" for a slump at precisely the wrong time.

 

[Spiders4ever]

No wins

 

[Captain Anderson]

I do think teams go through hot streaks and slumps. Unfortunately, we were so hot most of the year, we were "due" for a slump at precisely the wrong time.

We were hot for the meat of the sandwich (A-10 play) but our two slices of bread were moldy.

 

[72Spider]

We knew all season that the team would go as King went, for the most part. Sort of amazing that we kept it as close as we did for awhile last night without him scoring, and that the SJU game went right down to the wire without him having much of a game. Maybe he was hurt, maybe he wasn't. Maybe we needed to make adjustments and didn't, maybe the book on how to take him out of the game was finally out, who knows.

One of the problems is that, other than dji and Zay, we had no one to bang inside. Thought we should have played more inside out rather than relying on the long ball. Only had Neil who was afraid of contact and threw up feather balls. When our outside shots weren't falling we had no plan b.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

One of the problems is that, other than dji and Zay, we had no one to bang inside. Thought we should have played more inside out rather than relying on the long ball. Only had Neil who was afraid of contact and threw up feather balls. When our outside shots weren't falling we had no plan b.

I really liked our small lineup with Dji at center. Wish we went with that more down the stretch when we were struggling.

 

[Spider-Law]

No wins

Booger McFarland level professional analysis right thar.

 

[Spiders4ever]

Booger McFarland level professional analysis right thar.

Thanks

Booger is getting paid.

 

[Gallipoli]

I listened to the Bob Black and Greg Beckwith broadcast during the game. Beckwith kept saying that King looked tired and that he was not getting the push with his legs. They also said it was a long season and that the team never got over the loss to Saint Joe's. Apparently, the team was walking around looking dejected after the A10 tournament. I would say their hearts weren't in it.

 

[spider23]

NIT is a total crapshoot for motivation. So hard to predict which teams will be motivated and which teams will be dejected. Great atmosphere and game with St. Joe's losing at Seton Hall in OT. Seton Hall played the game in there old gym. Both teams were all in.

 

[PalmTreeSpidUR]

As I said in another thread, I don't buy the "tired" excuse. I think we could have been and probably were motivated. We just didn't execute, and if we had been given the opportunity to host, I think it could have turned out differently. The atmosphere would have been much more like the prior poster described in the St. Joe's game.

 

[coach fezz]

If I am coaching I think now what I can do different as a leader of young men next time to make sure team is ready in thought especially after loss 1 of the last 3 games. it was missing i think but season was a very nice surprise but a bad finish. Everyone knows of maybe a big fall always waits after such a nice most of the season . Players wear down and my job is to keep them into mental focus but sometimes is very very hard to do as competition is good. But i think this years team was very good at winning games that in other years would be losing. Congrats to the team

 

[GKiller]

Took foot off gas pedal. It's not the first time. And that's Richmond athletics to some extent. But some of us have said it before...mindset. We reward and celebrate the occasional success too much. Why? Because it's little ol' Richmond and it's hard to expect more at a leafy campus like little ol' Richmond. Some don't want to hear that but it's true. There were some X and O's issues imo and probably some regression/variance that was due to hurt us, but #1 is let up (I don't think they viewed Goo Moo game as important), and I don't blame players because that is a culture thing primarily.

Now we go into another likely transition year with our substantial player losses. So 2 out of 3 years. Even tho in portal era a transition year is a thing of the past really,. But it will be defined in that way. In between a good year but no ncaa & a really bad flameout end of year.

I expect Mooney will get the extensiion this summer/fall, even though 3 years left and in portal era the contract length is way less important. Why because easier to slide in now and justify. After next season with 2 years left it gets into the iffy extend or not zone, and we could (I hope not) be coming off a mediocre year. It's just how we operate. 3 for 19 and 9-25 h2h vs VCU gets heavily rewarded.

 

[spiderman]

I don't buy the argument that we let up. we got beat, but we played hard.

nobody that plays significant minutes at this level is 100% healthy in March. it's a grind of a season. but King played a ridiculous number of minutes averaging over 35 mpg for 33 games. he's our best player who in the last 4 games shot 9-37 overall (24%) and 4-20 from 3 (20%). it's easy in hindsight, but stats in those last 4 games would indicate he was worn down.

when the goal is to be playing your best basketball in March, I think Coach needed to manage his playing time better. it's hard to sit King. we didn't blow many teams out. but playing him that much didn't work when we needed him most.

 

[97spiderfan]

NIT is a total crapshoot for motivation. So hard to predict which teams will be motivated and which teams will be dejected. Great atmosphere and game with St. Joe's losing at Seton Hall in OT. Seton Hall played the game in there old gym. Both teams were all in.

Yep, and then you had teams like Nova and Providence, who sat their POY player, whose heart was not in the game. It is a crapshoot. After watching a couple NIT games and seeing the fan atmosphere similar to that of a preseason game, certainly I think something needs to be done around this. The changes they made last year are equivalent to moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic. It's tough because there are some really good basketball teams playing in it but yet everyone knows they are playing to be the 69th best team in the country.