Where to, Ododa?

[TBSpyder]

Oh, I sometimes frustratingly post my criticism of CM, as he doesn't play my favorite players as much as I think he should, and the like. But at the end of the day, I suspect CM is a much better coach than anyone posting here. I don't believe CM pulls a player because they miss a shot. I think he pulls them because they didn't follow the system Maybe a player was more open. Pulling them immediately makes the feedback so much stronger, than waiting till later to address the issue. And I agree with Spinner, I don't think CM is damaging any frail confidences. He's helping them get better, so they can contribute to our program.

 

[97spiderfan]

ANO just had I think no offense game . Block the shot is not everything . How can a player who never plays the system offense transfer to the school and take your position ? So maybe he is not so good

Fezz, I agree and disagree with your statement. I agree because ANO relied far too much on the blocked shot (not as much as Garrett though). I think we saw when ANO went down our team interior defense actually improved because our front court guys just played good solid defense. I'm sure Fan will put up some weird statistic that shows it didn't not, but watching the game, it looked better to me for 2 reasons.

Our guys knew that our defensive enforcer was not a the rim behind them, so the impetitus was on them to d up there man and play good solid defense. Secondly, while I like the blocked shot from a fan perspective, it fires up the crowd and can intimidate the other team to not take it inside. The problem is if you miss the blocked shot or get pumped fake, you are both out of good rebounding position and/or allowing an easier shot.

As for ANO, he had some offensive skills. They didn't develop as quickly as many would have liked, but to say he had no offensive game is a tad overkill. Garrret had no offensive game.

 

[MrTbone]

I would agree with K on this, and he and I often clash in opinion. I'm not a CM basher by any stretch, I like him as our coach, but I do think this is an area he needs to work on. As noted in my last post on this, it's not purely on the coach, players are culpable for their own actions and reactions. But anyone familiar with behavioral psychology knows you can't always use the stick, sometimes you have to use a carrot. Negative reinforcement as a primary teaching method is overrated.

 

[SpiderK]

TBS and TBone, both brought up an excellent point about the player being responsible. As with any hand-eye coordinated activity, such as darts, bowling, golf or shooting a basketball, confidence is the Everything. Our players must have the mental fortitude to be able to block out the pretty girl on the next lane, the water hazard to the left and the coach not shaking my hand on the right. Some do it better than others.

 

[Not-A-Homer]

It certainly seems OK State is interested:

View embedded media

If it is true that the programs listed (all majors -Oklahoma State & Providence are pretty strong) are pining for ANO's services, then Mooney's plan for "utilization of his final year at Richmond" becomes a legitimate question.

Of course, if one of these big boys pick him up, he plays the same minutes, and puts up his previous career numbers, then Mooney's strategic decision will be vindicated. I suspect that there are 150-200 schools that would be very happy to add a defensive presence who could in all probability play 28 minutes per game, score 10 points, grab 5 rebounds, and make 2+ blocks on average.

I think that ANO's choice will reveal quite a lot about his motivation for leaving. This conversation could be red hot by the middle of next season.

 

[97spiderfan]

I just don't see ANO going and putting up a monster season at a BCS program. Too many flaws in his offensive game. These programs want him because he is a defensive enforcer big man. He will be a great role player, 20 minute guy at a BCS program in my opinion. Probably similar but to the role he was playing here.

I agree it will be great theater to follow his career next year.

 

[32counter]

Not-A-Homer

Your posts make a ton of sense.

 

[spiderman]

This kid decommitted from Princeton in the last few days.

Film is from 2 years ago:

View embedded media

funny ... I'm, looking at basketball camps for my kids today, and I come across a picture of Wyatt Walker at the Hoop Group camp. Fate?
http://hoopgroup.com/elite/academic-elite/

 

[Not-A-Homer]

I just don't see ANO going and putting up a monster season at a BCS program. Too many flaws in his offensive game. These programs want him because he is a defensive enforcer big man. He will be a great role player, 20 minute guy at a BCS program in my opinion. Probably similar but to the role he was playing here.

I agree it will be great theater to follow his career next year.

If you prove correct 97, then why would he leave for the same experience with a different team? Going home would be the only answer that did not indicate dissatisfaction.

 

[97spiderfan]

Because ANO thinks his skill set is better than what it is. Or maybe he doesn't have a good relationship with the coaching staff and or teammates.

 

[SpiderK]

Maybe he wants to gets his masters degree in American Indian pottery at OKlahoma State U.

 

[MrTbone]

If it is true that the programs listed (all majors -Oklahoma State & Providence are pretty strong) are pining for ANO's services, then Mooney's plan for "utilization of his final year at Richmond" becomes a legitimate question.

Of course, if one of these big boys pick him up, he plays the same minutes, and puts up his previous career numbers, then Mooney's strategic decision will be vindicated. I suspect that there are 150-200 schools that would be very happy to add a defensive presence who could in all probability play 28 minutes per game, score 10 points, grab 5 rebounds, and make 2+ blocks on average.

I think that ANO's choice will reveal quite a lot about his motivation for leaving. This conversation could be red hot by the middle of next season.

We would be one of the 150-200 schools that would be very happy with that. I think he would have met/exceeded all of those next year IF he was given 28 mpg.

 

[72Spider]

I'd rather we talk about the players we have in our program rather than those that have left.

 

[KWeaver]

Meh, there's not a whole lot more to talk about -- Richmond is currently trying to distract its non-message board fans by showing the world Jesse P's prom proposal. Meh!

 

[Spideroldie]

Wouldn't it be nice if Wyatt Walker, decomit from Princeton of a few days ago, would visit UR, and if things were to work out on both sides? I would love to see us start to fill some of those 4 front-court spots NOW that we were originally planning to fill next fall. A Princeton commit would be guaranteed to be strong academically, and we will need a few 6-8 players next year. Maybe our new assistant coach (with obvious Princeton connections) can help us to bring him to UR.

 

[coachfezz]

I did not mean ANO did not have offense but that Cline transferred to the school and learned how to score for the offense and ANO had 3 years and did not do score well. Everyone I think wants players to he best but sometimes they stop getting better but sometimes they have to understand what to do . I see TA and TJ posting y up with good moves but never saw these with ANO but not being mean sprit about this

 

[SpiderK]

Coach, I think I know what you mean. ANO never developed that quick first offensive move to the basket. As mentioned above, we will find out if he has anything else this year playing for someone else.
I am very eager to see if TA improves off his impressive second half of last season. He was developing some quick first moves and some nice double moves to the basket. I really think he can dominate the A-10 if he realizes how good he is.

 

[SpiderK]

Another thought, and I am sure I will be called out on this. I was wondering if maybe Friendshuh is really good and ANO saw that his playing time was going to be diminished more than we thought? I know, I am probably just being hopeful.

 

[Ulla1]

Another thought, and I am sure I will be called out on this. I was wondering if maybe Friendshuh is really good and ANO saw that his playing time was going to be diminished more than we thought? I know, I am probably just being hopeful.

K, good point. I have no idea if this was impetus for Zo's move, but PF is extremely agile, a good ballhandler and can score. Few on this board give him due credit.

 

[MolivaManiac]

Wouldn't it be nice if Wyatt Walker, decomit from Princeton of a few days ago, would visit UR, and if things were to work out on both sides? I would love to see us start to fill some of those 4 front-court spots NOW that we were originally planning to fill next fall. A Princeton commit would be guaranteed to be strong academically, and we will need a few 6-8 players next year. Maybe our new assistant coach (with obvious Princeton connections) can help us to bring him to UR.

Oldie, with all due respect, have you ever met a recruit you didn't like?

Do we really need to be fishing in the Ivy League pond for players? Oy.

 

[SpiderK]

We can do better than the sunfish & crappie the Ivy League catches. We won't catch the Blue Marlins that Kentucky, Duke and UNC get. We don't want the snakeheads, mud toads & catfish RPI catches. We want a couple of 9 lb citation Large Mouth at this point.

 

[TBSpyder]

K, good point. I have no idea if this was impetus for Zo's move, but PF is extremely agile, a good ballhandler and can score. Few on this board give him due credit.

I think everyone on the board, is hopeful and optimistic about Friendshuh, but how can you give him due credit when he has yet to set foot on the court as a Spider. I don't think he factored into Alonzo's decision. Paul was redshirted because he was very slender. Don't know how much muscle mass he will have added by November. If he is able to contribute right away, I think it will be primarily on the offensive side.

 

[SpiderK]

Probably so TBS, but I am still hoping Friendshuh is the second coming of Larry Bird.

 

[fan2011]

At Indiana they call the spring transfer season spring creaning since crean consistently over recruits and needs to force people out.

Friendshuh survived spring mooning this year, hopefully that means he is good.

 

[keefusb]

Recently saw TJ Cline, Josh Jones, and Paul Friendshuh at the Whole Foods . PF noticeably taller than TJC, long arms like Kevin McHale, and he looked like he had packed some muscle onto his upper body compared to earlier in the season. His hair was short, and he just looked a lot more athletic to me than he did during the season.

I don't think we need him to be the next coming of Larry Bird. But if he can be a Frank Kaminsky or a Sam Dekker, I will be delighted.

 

[fan2011]

Recently saw TJ Cline, Josh Jones, and Paul Friendshuh at the Whole Foods . PF noticeably taller than TJC, long arms like Kevin McHale, and he looked like he had packed some muscle onto his upper body compared to earlier in the season. His hair was short, and he just looked a lot more athletic to me than he did during the season.

I don't think we need him to be the next coming of Larry Bird. But if he can be a Frank Kaminsky or a Sam Dekker, I will be delighted.

I would love it if he were an NBA lottery pick too, he would be the best player on our team since Johnny Newman.

 

[SouthJerseySpiderFan]

If I was ANO possibly knowing he wasn't going to start for CM next year, I would rather be in the same off the bench position at a major program with a greater chance at getting to the tourny? Maybe no major route but starts for a mid major? Wonder if CM has second thoughts bout prioritizing DT over ANO?

And we can go back and forth comparing DT to ANO but even if ANO doesn't do much at his next school, for argument sake how many major programs would be reaching out (or poaching) to DT if he left? He probably have to settle for the W Sparrow route with no national pundits tweeting about his departure.

 

[TBSpyder]

If playing time was the only issue, I would have thought, Alonzo would have asked for a release much sooner. So, I suspect that something else happened, possibly not even involving UR. Playing time might be questionable. In competitive games, I expect Terry Allen to play about 36 minutes. Trey has generally been getting 30 minutes or better, mostly at the 3. That does not allow much time for the remaining front court players. I expect TJ to get quality minutes. So, what is left for Marshall, Deion, and Paul? That's a good problem to have we are not so vulnerable to becoming shorthanded due to injuries or foul problems.

So, if playing time was the big issue, I don't think it was as much DT, but the emergence of Terry as a likely first team A-10 player, who can do almost everything well. A lot of talent to vie for playing time alongside Terry.

 

[Ulla1]

Hope Paul will produce this kind of excitement as a Spider. I am VERY optimistic. Roll Spide!

 

[CarolinaSpider]

As a young big man there are some things Paul does that I like and that is he does not for the most part
get a ball and bring it back down below his shoulders. He also puts the ball back up quickly with little hesitation.
I would hope his skill level as a RS freshmen big man offensively is ahead of the curve.

 

[SpiderK]

Carolina, that is a good trait, TJ can get it up quick also. Kills me when the big guys get it and go right to the dribble and get it stolen from them. When they get to the NBA they don't have to worry about dribbling anywhere near the paint area.

 

[97spiderfan]

Hopefully, Paul was taking pointers from TJ and not ANO on how a big man handles the ball down low.

 

[MidloTrader]

A miss by CM and his staff, yes. But Zo isn't a kid anymore and IMO waiting this late to do this to his team is unprofessional. Also, he had years to cement his spot on the court and simply never did. Good D (not great) and inconsistent O. We'd only seen flashes of what we were promised and left with hoping he could put it together in a final season. I feel the team played well when he was out this season, mainly because everyone had to be better defenders. Will be interesting, though, to see who picks up on this opportunity and runs with it.

 

[72Spider]

We did better when he was out in significant way because we ran the offense thru TJ and not ANO

 

[SpiderK]

I would rather be playing with ANO this year than without him. It's going put more minutes where I didn't want them to go. However that is beside the point now.
Hopefully Woods and Friendshuh earn and deserve a lot of minutes this year. I think most of us on this board will have a good feel for what we have after seeing the first few games in November.

 

[fan2011]

We did better when he was out in significant way because we ran the offense thru TJ and not ANO

Our offense was significantly worse without ANO, we went from scoring ~1.1 points per possession to only 1.0 points per possession. This could be due to random chance, or it could be because our offense functioned better when ANO played. It is hard to tell without going back and looking at the tape. Either way, the reason we won games without ANO is because we played a significantly easier set of teams not because our offense was better.

There is a reason ANO is getting looked at by a ton of P5 teams, it is because he is a valuable player. I can't believe how many people on here think we aren't going to be worse without him.

 

[MrTbone]

Our offense was significantly worse without ANO, we went from scoring ~1.1 points per possession to only 1.0 points per possession. This could be due to random chance, or it could be because our offense functioned better when ANO played. It is hard to tell without going back and looking at the tape. Either way, the reason we won games without ANO is because we played a significantly easier set of teams not because our offense was better.

There is a reason ANO is getting looked at by a ton of P5 teams, it is because he is a valuable player. I can't believe how many people on here think we aren't going to be worse without him.

I wholeheartedly agree. I did an analysis of the five games preinjury vs post and his game was very good against strong competition whereas we won (and struggled at times) without him against weaker competition. I think we will really miss his contribution next year. Hopefully the gap gets filled but I'm already feeling like this puts us at quite a disadvantage going into next season.

 

[32counter]

Fan2011

Agree with your analysis re:ANO.Many of the posters seem to have rationalized that ANO had a negative effect in the program and that we won't miss him after he left such a heralded program as ours'.How dare he leave.CM took him for granted and the kid bolted.We missed the boat.Where do you find a 23 year old kid at 6-9,235 at the college level(who can read and write and received an undergraduate degree)and who is a defensive stalwart and can occasionally score?He ranks second all-time in Richmond history with 185 career blocks.We haven't found anyone comparable and we probably didn't spend too much time looking because there aren't any such players available.

 

[MrTbone]

I also think without ANO, we don't have any legitimate shot blocking threat. Deion was second in the team with 25 shots blocked, 20 fewer than Alonzo in 8 more games. It actually begs the question of who becomes our post presence on D. I guess Deion since CM will need to protect both TA and TJ from fouls.

I hope friendshuh has some game.

 

[Not-A-Homer]

The loss of ANO hurts the team and will make an NCAA run much more difficult.

I predict that we again see a conflicted coach, struggling against himself, frantically subbing offense for defense. I think it will be even worse next year than it was in 2014-15 because I agree with the sentiment expressed in the previous 4 posts.

Neither Fore, Woods, nor Friendshue have defensive prowess reputations. Don't know about Johnson & Pistokache's defensive skill.

I think that the season rises or falls depending upon the overall performance of the 5 newcomers. If one or more of them are very good defenders, they could get serious playing time. If the newbies end up buried on the bench, next season looks to me like another exercise in frustration.