20-21 Opponent Tracking

[HBK]

I didn't watch, but a couple thoughts based on the box score. 0/10 from 3, 20/33 from FT and 21 TOs isn't all from Richmond's defense. 21 matches their high from last year against a hapless st. Joe's, and 3% and fts are the two stats least impacted by an opponent, or put another way, Kentucky's offense has some serious flaws.

The flaws Kentucky has can be summed up in this word: FRESHMEN. The majority of Kentucky’s minutes are played by freshmen.

 

[HBK]

Life in 2020: Rhody has played 4 games already, while VCU and Mason have played 3 each. However, 5 teams in the A10 haven’t even played a single game yet.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

I didn't watch, but a couple thoughts based on the box score. 0/10 from 3, 20/33 from FT and 21 TOs isn't all from Richmond's defense. 21 matches their high from last year against a hapless st. Joe's, and 3% and fts are the two stats least impacted by an opponent, or put another way, Kentucky's offense has some serious flaws.

Kentucky beat themselves as much as anything yesterday. And fur didn't play this "flawless" game like some are insinuating. fur was 7-25 from the three point line. Kentucky out rebounded fur 54-31. Kentucky is young and had the "deer in the headlight" look a lot yesterday. At one point late in the game, Calipari had to yell at his team to huddle before shooting free throws. Right now this is not a very good Kentucky team and the rest of their OOC schedule, with the exception of Georgia Tech, is going to show how bad they are right now.

Regarding fur playing WVU, there is no way fur is going to be able to handle WVU's physicality with the short bench they are currently playing. fur got into foul trouble down low yesterday (Golden - 4; Grace - 5). WVU's bigs will flat out wear fur's bigs out. And WVU is not going to go 20-33 from the line.

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

Very true points but I just from the eye test, they looked really good.

Interesting that you thought fur looked really good yesterday while shooting 7-25 from the three point line and getting out rebounded 54-31.

 

[rammad90]

Richmond plays West Virginia in Morgantown in a couple of weeks, so we shall see.

Agreed.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

Life in 2020: Rhody has played 4 games already, while VCU and Mason have played 3 each. However, 5 teams in the A10 haven’t even played a single game yet.

Yep, Dayton, Duquesne, Fordham, UMass, and St. Bona haven't played a single game. Duquesne is scheduled to fix that today.

St. Bona doesn't play their first game until December 12th (hosting St. Francis [PA]).

 

[rammad90]

Very true points but I just from the eye test, they looked really good.

RamStrut. I am all in on VCU Bball. I am sure you are as well. Some of our fellow Ram fans just cannot bring themselves to admit that any odu, or ur team is ever worthy of any praise.

UR cannot beat WVU?, Kentucky beat themselves?, blah, blah, blah. Couldn't and didnt haters from ur say the same when we beat Kansas? Georgetown?, Purdue?, USC?

Regardless of whether UR beats WVU or not, it doesnt diminish their achievement, nor does it diminish the ability of this squad.

At the end fo the day, they are good and would have been MUCH better had Sherod not torn his ACL.

 

[TampaKAP]

Couple thoughts.

Kentucky looks like they may only have two wins going into January

This may be the best team Richmond has had in a while. They may only lose 1 game before Jan.

Gilyard, Golden, and Francis are as advertised but Cayo is not getting enough attention and respect. He has come a long way from his freshman year.

With 6 weeks until our first match up, I think we have a very good chance if we continue to progress.

I think SLU is better at this moment than Richmond. I think Richmond plays with a higher BB IQ but SLU is better equipped for the physicality.

I don’t believe in the transitive property as it relates to basketball but I am eager to see VCU/LSU and Rich/WVU

 

[Wolfpack Ram]

Couple thoughts.

Kentucky looks like they may only have two wins going into January

This may be the best team Richmond has had in a while. They may only lose 1 game before Jan.

Gilyard, Golden, and Francis are as advertised but Cayo is not getting enough attention and respect. He has come a long way from his freshman year.

With 6 weeks until our first match up, I think we have a very good chance if we continue to progress.

I think SLU is better at this moment than Richmond. I think Richmond plays with a higher BB IQ but SLU is better equipped for the physicality.

I don’t believe in the transitive property as it relates to basketball but I am eager to see VCU/LSU and Rich/WVU

Don't sleep on Burton for fur.

Regarding SLU, they beat LSU without Hasahn French and Fred Thatch. They are clearly the team to beat in the A-10.

 

[WillWeaverRVA]

Not again.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1333445941823725568

 

[zackry93]

Not again.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1333445941823725568

Anyway we can convince Fordham to just pause it for the rest of the season

 

[HBK]

Kentucky beat themselves as much as anything yesterday. And fur didn't play this "flawless" game like some are insinuating. fur was 7-25 from the three point line. Kentucky out rebounded fur 54-31. Kentucky is young and had the "deer in the headlight" look a lot yesterday. At one point late in the game, Calipari had to yell at his team to huddle before shooting free throws. Right now this is not a very good Kentucky team and the rest of their OOC schedule, with the exception of Georgia Tech, is going to show how bad they are right now.

Regarding fur playing WVU, there is no way fur is going to be able to handle WVU's physicality with the short bench they are currently playing. fur got into foul trouble down low yesterday (Golden - 4; Grace - 5). WVU's bigs will flat out wear fur's bigs out. And WVU is not going to go 20-33 from the line.

At one point during a stoppage in play during the 2nd half, Cal was on the court trying to explain and show his freshman PG how to make an entry pass to the post. That's where Kentucky is right now.

Too many people don't seem to grasp that talent only gets so far without experience in college basketball. Probably half or more of the Kentucky roster will be NBA draft picks; Richmond has maybe one. Kentucky's raw talent level is way ahead of Richmond's. However, these Kentucky kids don't know how to play college basketball yet. I recall hearing coaches from Roy Williams to Coach K to Shaka all say that most kids get to college and never really had to play defense in high school or in AAU. We saw it yesterday. Richmond got almost every look they wanted offensively. Shots didn't fall, but they were the looks Mooney wanted for the most part. Kentucky's defense wasn't good yesterday. (Their offense was a wreck, too.)

Your point about West Virginia is why I thought all along that Richmond had a better chance to beat Kentucky than the Mountaineers. Huggins and his team won't let Richmond get comfortable offensively.

 

[go_rams_go]

Don't sleep on Burton for fur.

Regarding SLU, they beat LSU without Hasahn French and Fred Thatch. They are clearly the team to beat in the A-10.

One thing to note with the Spiders is that Connor Crabtree hasn't played yet. He transferred in from Tulane and redshirted last year. Should be a contributor but it seems like he's battling injury. If he's out for any extended period of time UR really only has one proven non-big reserve (Gustavson) and will be susceptible if any starters get in foul trouble. UK couldn't make them pay for Golden going out, but better teams will capitalize.

 

[N Mollen]

He was never a bad coach. He had some tough luck with injuries and transfers, but he has to do what 330 or so D1 coaches must do: recruit and develop. The guts of this UR team is the same one that went 13-20 (6-12 in A10) two seasons ago. The players developed and got better; they added Francis, who sat out that season as a transfer. Plus, Mooney switched from his beloved matchup zone to a man-to-man defense. That’s all pretty good coaching.

Mooney is a skilled offensive coach. His teams rarely play good defense (we'll see about this year) and he never recruits for depth -- a "falling" common to other coaches who don't use an "army" approach. He's got his best UR team this year, appears to have hit on several unheralded recruits, and is making the most of it.

I was impressed that he was flexible enough to set his preferences to match the circumstances, which is something good coaches do.

 

[AlienAiden]

Your point about West Virginia is why I thought all along that Richmond had a better chance to beat Kentucky than the Mountaineers. Huggins and his team won't let Richmond get comfortable offensively.

Gilyard and Francis give them a good shot. It will depend on whether they are shooting well in that one. West Virginia will try to bully them down low. In my opinion it will not be much of a point spread by Vegas.