ADVERTISEMENT

Will we make the tournament?

Will we make the NCAA tournament?

  • Yes - as an at large

    Votes: 8 11.0%

  • Yes - as an auto qualifier

    Votes: 4 5.5%

  • No

    Votes: 61 83.6%
  • Total voters
    73
In trying to predict the rest of the season, the question that keeps crossing my mind is, were one or more of our players still recovering, performance wise from COVID?

Doesn’t mean we will suddenly improve over all prior games, but does mean most of the rest of the season will be better than the last game.
 
urmite said:
In trying to predict the rest of the season, the question that keeps crossing my mind is, were one or more of our players still recovering, performance wise from COVID?

Doesn’t mean we will suddenly improve over all prior games, but does mean most of the rest of the season will be better than the last game.
Click to expand...
Very good question. I know quite a few college players at other schools, and all I can say is, this season sucks for them. It really does. Some of you guys can get on Mooney all you want, and I know you will, but you should really think about what these players are going through this year before criticizing them.

Getting tested often, needing to stay in their rooms, wearing masks, remote learning, etc. I know some freshman who couldn't wait to start their college careers this year and they have spent nearly as much time at home away from basketball than at school because of team covid outbreaks. And then, while at home, they need to stay in quarantine even if they have tested negative. Practice, no don't practice, get ready for a game, the game gets canceled, go home for Christmas, but don't go out. Stay in your room and quarantine. Finally get everyone healthy, don't be the one who gets covid. And the ones that got covid? It is not a breeze to get through it for everybody. Some kids take longer to recover. It just sucks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KWeaver
Probably not since the virus is only about a year old. Maybe you should learn a little more about it. But, I'm sure Kendall, Ced, TJ, ShawnDre, TA, and others, and all the guys now as well, really appreciate your saying that. Classy comment.
 
I think, or at least hope, that most of us understand that this season is an enormous sacrifice for all involved. There are some things beyond everyone's control. But at the same time, it's pretty much a level playing field. LaSalle and Hofstra have had to deal with the same things we have. They were still able to come into our arena and beat us.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KWeaver, Not-A-Homer, ChoppinBroccoli and 2 others
Yes, COVID sucks and it's certainly hard on our athletes. But as Eight Legger said, it's hard on all of the athletes. It's hard on all of us. Outside of specific timing of when things happen, it's a pretty level playing field.

If COVID was a huge impact on the last game then maybe our leadership should have postponed it further like SLU has done.

Considering how its impacting everyone, I don't see it as an excuse. I'm not saying we should criticize these kids. I'm just saying this isn't isolated to just our team. This is impacting everyone, that's what a global pandemic does.

Great teams overcome adversity and that is usually led by a great coach.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8legs1dream
Eight Legger said:
I think, or at least hope, that most of us understand that this season is an enormous sacrifice for all involved. There are some things beyond everyone's control. But at the same time, it's pretty much a level playing field. LaSalle and Hofstra have had to deal with the same things we have. They were still able to come into our arena and beat us.
Click to expand...
No doubt. I feel bad for their players as well. It sucks for everyone.
 
the impact of covid is not limited to schools only based in Richmond, in Virginia, in our conference, on the East Coast, it is every one and everywhere. I like what SpiderVol said a lot, if the program leadership felt that we were not ready to play a game due to a lay prolonged layoff then maybe they should have done something about it 🤷‍♂️
 
SpiderVol said:
Yes, COVID sucks and it's certainly hard on our athletes. But as Eight Legger said, it's hard on all of the athletes. It's hard on all of us. Outside of specific timing of when things happen, it's a pretty level playing field.

If COVID was a huge impact on the last game then maybe our leadership should have postponed it further like SLU has done.

Considering how its impacting everyone, I don't see it as an excuse. I'm not saying we should criticize these kids. I'm just saying this isn't isolated to just our team. This is impacting everyone, that's what a global pandemic does.

Great teams overcome adversity and that is usually led by a great coach.
Click to expand...
I agree it impacts everyone, and sucks for everyone, and I have never said otherwise. This is a sports message board, so I was saying it really sucks for college basketball players right now. I never said it only sucks for ours, and I never said anything about cancelling games.
 
I assume most of the above posts were in response to 4700 and not me.

But to be clear, I was not justifying the LaSalle game. I was saying if any player who averages 20 minutes or more a game, didn't play as well last game as they did the previous 5 games. It may have been because of lingering effects from COVID. If so it might continue tonight but I wouldn't expect it to continue for the entire rest of the season.
 
  • Like
Reactions: VT4700
Please lets not use the COVID break as an excuse for losing to LaSalle. All teams have to deal with this and frankly a 10 day lay off from activities shouldn't impact a senior laden team all of whom are highly trained athletes who have been running our offensive and defensive sets for 4 years now.

If COVID did in fact have a serious impact on our ability to play this game, that says more about the coaches ability to adapt to a known situation, that A. we've already experienced and B. should have had contingency plans to deal with because it is known and a widespread occurrence.

But of course, it goes up on Mooney's wall of excuses for his failures, which is enormous especially in comparison to Mooney's wall of personal accountability for the program.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SpiderVol, whampas and 8legs1dream
I don't think anyone's saying we forgot our offense or defense. but the layoff likely had some effect. Nathan never goes 3-10. Jacob had some uncharacteristic turnovers. and after a quick 4-6 start from 3, we dropped off a cliff from outside. maybe that wasn't due to the break, or maybe it was a little fatigue.

other teams have had breaks too. I don't know how well they've done coming off those breaks. we needed a win, and didn't overcome this adversity. put the blame for that wherever you want.
 
some of these excuses. 97 is right, lot of excuses for a decade and zero accountability. before us Lasalle was just recently beaten by the Goo Moos by 23 and Davidson by 24!! Come on.

We were told numerous times the lack of preseason practices, the pauses etc. was going to be an advantage for us, that a veteran team, 5th oldest in the country per a graphic last game, in same system with all our continuity would be an even bigger advantage this year than most.

Hoftra lost their coach to covid, Bonnies had played 3 games when they faced us. Wish they got the excuses memo.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SpiderVol, 97spiderfan, Eight Legger and 1 other person
If we come out tonight and beat St. Joe's by at least 50 while holding them under 30 points total like we should, all will be forgiven.
 
97spiderfan said:
Please lets not use the COVID break as an excuse for losing to LaSalle. All teams have to deal with this and frankly a 10 day lay off from activities shouldn't impact a senior laden team all of whom are highly trained athletes who have been running our offensive and defensive sets for 4 years now.

If COVID did in fact have a serious impact on our ability to play this game, that says more about the coaches ability to adapt to a known situation, that A. we've already experienced and B. should have had contingency plans to deal with because it is known and a widespread occurrence.

But of course, it goes up on Mooney's wall of excuses for his failures, which is enormous especially in comparison to Mooney's wall of personal accountability for the program.
Click to expand...
To be fair, JOC tried to serve up that softball to both Grant and Coach Mooney in the postgame, and they did not take a swing. Have to credit them for that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 97spiderfan
Having Nick would be huge. But even if Nick was in the lineup, it would be the same offensive system-one shot, no one goes to the basket for an offensive rebound. The ingredients are better but the recipe is the same. Would our record be the same? Probably not-probably better. But the recipe must be changed to achieve the level of success everyone wants.
 
kneepadmckinney said:
I picked "at large" because I agree that we don't have the depth to win 4 games in 4 days.

Here's my reasoning, for what it's worth:

While I don't have great confidence in anything changing from a coaching perspective, I do have confidence in this group of players. I agree with the general maxim that experience wins, and also believe that they still have a big pit in their stomach from not getting to play in the tourney last year.

Rewind to January 28 last year. We lost our second game in a row, this time to VCU by about 20 points, and we gave up 87 points for the second game in a row (Dayton was the previous game). It dropped us to 15-6 and 5-3 in conference. You better believe this board was losing its ever-loving mind. There was a large contingent posting the exact same messages as we are seeing on the other 6 active threads at the moment. There goes the at-large. We can't defend. Our players are soft. Et cetera and so forth. The players then focused on defense, and we ripped off 9 of the last 10.

I still believe in these players and that they can get on that same streak, with the one huge caveat that we don't have any more COVID pauses. If we can really get in the rhythm of game-practice-practice-game-practice-practice I think we'll get on a good streak. I also think they will improve defensively.

One other consideration: even with the inexcusable loss to LaSalle, all of our metrics are significantly better this year than last year at this juncture in the season. Better NET, better KenPom, better BPI, but most importantly, a way better NCSOS. And further, our remaining schedule in the A-10 provides a number of chances to significantly improve on those numbers, with games still with St. Louis, VCU, Dayton, and maybe another one against St. Bonnies. Last year, only Dayton offered that opportunity.

This is obviously an optimistic view, and I share the concerns regarding the quality of our defense. I just am keeping the faith that these players will get into another gear and rip of a good winning streak. If we win, the numbers will be there at the end, regardless of the LaSalle loss.
Click to expand...
I love your optimism. I really do. I sincerely hope this happens. If our players can go on a streak like this it's going to be a helluva memorable ride. We should enjoy it.

However, our NET is not better than it was last year. We were #55 a year ago today, and if you want to include the VCU loss at "this juncture" we only fell to #59.

Last year's team didn't have any Quad 4 losses. As bad as we felt the Radford loss was, it wasn't nearly as bad as Hofstra nor La Salle. Also, losing to VCU at that juncture was a Quad 1 - hardly comparable to losing to La Salle at home. Just look at the current Top 60 - the kinds of teams we will be competing with for at-large - all but two of the teams (UR and Pitt) have ZERO horrible losses. Pitt has one - they're #59. We have two - we're #60. Even if we pull off this amazing streak and finish near the top of the A10 regular season, I think these two horrible losses will probably kill our at-large chances. It's not impossible of course, but highly improbable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8legs1dream
Broc--thank you for the clarification on NET. I humbly amend that to say that we have a nearly identical, but slightly lower NET ranking than at this juncture last year, and many opportunities to improve it in the upcoming schedule.

I remain hopeful.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ChoppinBroccoli
Just saw UR is projected as the second team out of the bracket right now. If that’s the case than a few wins over St Louis, St Bona and vcu might actually get UR in.
 
The best way for Hofstra to move up is for us to move up. Which in turn helps us. And them.
 
I guess Lunardi wears those shades at night. Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Hostra and now Lasalle. Are killing the resume.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spider23
Good lord effing small businesses going out of business left and right, I went to a what used to be a very busy outlet mall near me last week, and and was shocked, about 2/3 empty. Yes sucks for college students, I have two. But omg lets make excuses when every team is dealing with it. 4700 is really the worst.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8legs1dream
Lunardi bumps us to first one out as Colorado State moves in thanks to their drubbing of Boise. They've been playing well.

 
doesn't seem reasonable but I guess a lot of team have flawed resumes. 10-4 feels disappointing but we're still in the game.
 
I think our two bad losses are being ignored right now for the most part, which I was thinking might happen this year. With cancellations, postponements, and teams playing a different amount of games, I think the good wins are going to be a whole lot more important than any bad losses. And the 2 losses, as bad as they were, are not the 200+ NET losses that really crush a resume. Our metrics are looking good, our SOS is good, and we have two Q1 and two Q2 wins right now, which is better than a whole lot of bubble type teams out there.
 
I am still hoping Kentucky wins at home vs Auburn, and Hofstra sweeps JMU.

Both of those could make those two games "technically" better...
 
This is an interesting topic that's kind of been brewing under the radar for a while...teams that are "locks" to make the tourney as an at-large could opt to sit out their conference tournaments, opening the door for bid stealers from teams that otherwise wouldn't have had a chance. Will be interesting to see what the NCAA has to say about this.

 
  • Like
Reactions: urfan1
Lunardi believed all the things he said during the St. Joe's game! 3 out of the 4 A-10 teams he said are good enough to be in - Bonnies, Billikens, Spiders or some other team on Broad Street - who would you chose as the 3rd A-10 team since he now predicts 2 - would you choose the Spiders (answer is yes) or that other team located on Broad Street (answer is no)? But we remain with work to do as he lists us close, but no cigar!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eight Legger
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
  • Poll

OOC Predictions

Replies
13
Views
825
UR Basketball Board
whampas
W
B

Best shooting lineup

Replies
8
Views
613
UR Basketball Board
urmite
urmite
Gallipoli

About William and Mary

Replies
1
Views
869
UR Football Board
SpiderAlways
SpiderAlways
Gallipoli

The Future is Bright

Replies
5
Views
744
UR Basketball Board
Gallipoli
Gallipoli
Gallipoli

The Trump Administration

Replies
79
Views
2K
Off Topic Posts
urfan1
urfan1
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT
Top Bottom
Back