Tag Archives: Kevin Anderson

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Since the Spiders have been off for the week, I’ve had a chance to clean things up and prepare for Temple, returning from my post-Christmas/virus hiatus with a flourish. A lot’s happened over the last three weeks. I need to get some opinions out:

Thumbs down: Raising Kevin Anderson to the rafters. There, I said it. Before my degree is revoked, here me out. KA certainly deserves to be up there; his credentials are undeniable. And yet… doing it the week after Christmas against UNCG? The box score lists the attendance at 4400. I watched the video. Unless everyone left after the pregame ceremony, there weren’t close to 4400 butts in seats. And doing it six months after he last wore the uniform? There’s a reason why every hall of fame has a waiting period. Granted, MLB’s five year rule would be excessive in this case, but it’s serving a pretty good purpose from them (read: steriod users). UR needs to wait at least a full year, if not two, before raising a player banner. Doing otherwise sets a dangerously quick precedent.

Thumbs up: Darrius Garrett, UR career blocks leader. DG is fourth in the nation, but second in the conference (behind St. Joe’s CJ Aiken), with 3.7 blocks per game (13.8%). Impressive. Or an indicator of too much inside penetration by opponents?

Thumbs up: The Spider Store is stepping up. I’m still not a fan of the replica basketball jerseys and they have some other other questionable products, but these shorts are pretty sweet.

Thumbs down: The Richmond Spider app, now available on iPhone as well as the previous Android version. Okay, the app itself is fine. It’s free (to download). It looks nice. It works. Hiding the most useful and worthwhile content–live game audio and video highlights–behind a $5 pay wall? That’s a low blow. I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt here and believe the pay wall is NeuLion’s doing, the app’s developer, and not UR, but even that is only so forgive-able.

Thumbs down: The road. Five of the Spiders’ seven losses this season have been on the road (with one more coming in Cancun). Thankfully, four of the next six are in the Robins Center.

Thumbs up: Derrick Williams. The big man is starting to get it. Yes, it’s still just a modest 6%, but his assist rate has been steadily climbing all year. Mooney needs big men who can pass and know where teammates will be and where they will be open. That trend is a great sign. Drawing over 4.5 fouls per game and a free throw rate over 70 are also big assets to this offense. I’m just scared about next year if DWill needs to slide over to play center.

Thumbs up: Speaking of free throw rate…the team rate is up to 41, which is well inside the top third in D1 and leaps and bounds ahead of the last few Spider teams. Easy points are needed until the defense can round back into stifling form.

Thumbs down: Francis Martel. 25 minutes a night, under six points, under four rebounds, under 40% shooting. Paging Francis Martel…

Thumbs down: Saturday’s 7 p.m. tip against Temple. The Patriots kickoff against the World Christianity All That Is Good Tebow and the Broncos 60 minutes later. I think the playoffs get priority so thank Tebow God for DVR. On the plus side: the twin bill is an excellent excuse for A-plus eats. The chicken wings have been marinating since Wednesday.

Thumbs up: Temple will provide top flight competition Saturday. The rematch of the A10 tourney game should be really great stuff. UR needs a signature conference win to send a message and get the team feeling good about things. Coming off a really impressive win Wednesday at St. Louis, the Owls will be the second highest team in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings the Spiders have faced (#45, Iona is currently #42). Temple is one team that can’t dominate the small Spiders with size up front, although Khalif Wyatt, Ramone Moore and Juan Fernandez all run 6’4” in the backcourt. PS, how does Fernandez still have eligibility?

Spider up!

Hello, Old Friend…

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Updated 3/15 with additional links, notes, etc.

We're in!

It’s good to see you again, #12 seed! It’s been too long! I like this team feeling slighted by the Committee. Get mad. And then get after it. Not pictured, but reading Dr. Sweats’ reaction to the seeding in the SpiderTV video…he seems pleased. Certainly more comfortable/confident than last year’s reaction to the St. Mary’s draw.

The dark jerseys are comfortable and will look good on TV. I’m not sure the school wouldn’t prefer to wear red anyway. Red or blue will look great against Vanderbilt’s white/black/gold combo.

There’s way too much to cover, so let’s just launch straight into a hodge-podge of links, thoughts, reactions, updates, travel notes, etc. In no particular order….

Secondary Break caught up with Dan Geriot and Kevin Anderson after the A10 championship, Dan here, and KA here. It’s worth the click-through just for the freeze on Geriot’s video. Break then broke down the Spiders’ defense during their title run.

Current coaching vacancies (yup, it’s that time of year!): Utah, Arkansas, Providence, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Northern Illinois, Loyola (Chicago), Wyoming, and NC State. Any more I’m missing?

On the other end of the A10 finals picture, Dayton. Blackburn Review can always be counted on for calm, rational reactions and analysis.

Vanderbilt last played on Saturday, an 11-point loss to Florida, meaning they get an extra day’s rest than the Spiders. Vandy also crosses one fewer time-zone than Richmond in traveling to Denver. Add in the altitude, minus Harper’s 29 minutes Sunday being his fewest in a game since February 5 against Fordham. FWIW.

The Tennessean says the Vandy bench needs to step up for the ‘Dores to advance.

I can’t even fathom how long this took. Dorktastic! (Well, apparently not that long since the pairings were just announced Sunday evening.)

Andy Katz hosted a coaches show on ESPNU yesterday and got 67 of the 68 tournament-bound coaches to call in. The one exception? Vandy’s Kevin Stallings. Hmmmmm. A montage is here.

VUCommodores.com has Stallings video, plus their take on the matchup and Vandy’s tourney history.

The trees are really big in the Northwest. No, but seriously.

So Sunday’s A10 final was essentially a play-in game. Had the Spiders lost and not made the dance, this blog may have ceased to exist. (Go on, get all your jokes out now.)

Solid pub for Harp.

Dr. Spider and I will be watching UR in a tourney game together for the first time. A big step. One of us attended each of Richmond’s last two tourney appearances. Of course, neither of us will be in Denver this time. All good signs.

Richmond/Vanderbilt match-up, according to Ken Pomeroy’s Four Keys to Winning:
Effective FG%: UR 53.6%, Vandy 52.8%
Turnover %: UR 16.7%, Vandy 19.1%
Offensive Rebound %: UR 28.2%, Vandy 32.8%
Free-Throw Rate: UR 33.4%, Vandy 45%

The mix of starting Ced Lindsay on Saturday against Temple was a cagey move by Dr. Sweats. Lindsay also played pretty well on Sunday, showing some real flashes for next year and gaining some valuable experience. DWill, on the other hand, while always fun to see, looked fairly lost on the floor. Did he spike the ball out of bounds?

Seth Greenberg. Gets funnier every year. As does Jay Bilas (@jaybilas) on twitter, except weekly.

Has everyone noticed the new Starbucks logo on their cup by now? One flight attendant last week was very disoriented.

Dr. Spider and I took in Harry Potter on Broadway Friday night (yes, during the URI game, and I’d do it again). He’s playing the lead in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Hysterical! He held up fine singing, but his dancing, commitment, and especially his comedic timing were excellent. Check it out, the show was great.

Can the Spiders dance as well as Harry?

Good job Dr. Sweats, getting Kevin Hovde into the game Sunday. He deserves every second. Congrats Kevin!

While traveling, I got a taste of West Coast sports fandom: sitting in a hotel room drinking coffee on Thursday morning, the Big East tourney tipped off at 9 a.m. I could get used to that!

Token non-basketball (sorta) item: Lehigh Football Nation takes a look at some of the changes coming (or potentially coming) to the CAA Football.  I don’t agree with all of his basketball analysis, or the direct impact of March Madness on the CAA Football, but it’s a thorough look and interesting read.

The fine people over at Yuku Dukes took on the undesirable task of trying to wrangle up the various miscreants that are the A10 bloggers, plus some other more reputable special guests (like the A10 board’s famous WH), and organized a post-season awards ballot. And the winners are…

The bracket breakdowns by region are coming in fast and furious. I think my dog even has one up. A quick sampling:
Ballin’ Is A Habit
ESPN (video)
Rush the Court
SI.com’s Seth Davis (video)

Eveyone else has already jumped all over this, but it still bears repeating: really Gene Smith, “style of play”?!?!?! Be embarrassed.

The Juice jumps out early and throws KA up as a name everyone will know soon.

A shared iPod Touch’s twitter stream is not the recommended way to follow a college basketball game. This just in.

Happy Hour on St. Patty’s Day? Yeah, should be simple to find a quiet spot to watch the game Thursday. At least UR isn’t drawn against Notre Dame. Or The Jimmer.

Hey, RichmondSpiders.com, “Boardwalk Empire” is easy, obvious, and hyperbolic. You’re better than that! When we win three in a row, then claim an empire. Not for one, not for a first.

It’s never too early to look ahead, apparently. ESPN breaks down what each team is losing this spring and gaining in the fall. The Spiders breakdown is here. Starting four seniors we know it won’t be pretty, but the freshman class sounds promising. The big, annual question remains: who’ll be at the end of the bench.

Gon-ZAG-a. The first “a” is as in “apple,” not “auto.” Seems relevant.

Great work on the final shot:

Open Season

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Calmed down yet?

Wow, that was a big win last night over a big time Purdue team. For the second straight year, the MBB Spiders won a November mini-tournament, the Chicago Invitational. It was a resume-making win. It was an attention-grabbing win. It was a bandwagon seat filling win.

Harp ran wild on the Boilermakers as long as he stayed on the floor.

Before the win was in the box score, however, the game was on the Big 10 Network. Dr. Spider and I settled in for a post-holiday Saturday night of hoops coming to our own living room live in HD. It was a fun game to catch and should definitely jump-start Dr. Spider’s investment in this team going forward. Nice.

Now, with the clarity of a cold, clear Sunday morning at the end of November, let’s recap what we’ve learned about this MBB Spider squad, both last night and to date:

Iona was a blip. Road games early in the season can be tricky as a team tries to find its sea legs. Stop the panicking now. (As a said: no one else on the schedule is the Gales.)

Free throw shooting is a problem. Including last night, UR’s shooting 61% from the line. That’s not good. What’s more, take out KA’s (almost respectable) 69%, and the rest of the team is 58%. Free throws make a difference come the tight, tournament games of March. Free Throw Rate (FTR) is one of the Four Factors (along with eFG%, Turnover % and Offensive Rebound %). FTR, however, doesn’t count made free throws. It’s only FTA/FGA. Guard-heavy Richmond already isn’t going to attempt a ton of free throws, so they need to make the attempts they do get. FTR is generally the fourth of the Factors, yet it still has already cost UR the Iona win. Lock ‘em in the gym until everyone makes 15 in a row, Coach Sweats.

Good to see some UR fans in the stands out in Chicago! UR’s a national school, and even though we may not travel great, alumni are everywhere. It’s easy to forget sometimes. Some clear Spider-cheering voices came through well on the broadcast- awesome! I expect similar support out in Arizona next week. Rally the troops! This team needs to be seen.

KA is good. Like, really good. No, this statement of course isn’t news to any UR or A14 fan. It’s still fun to hear the B10 Network announcers fawn over him. And what’s more, it was good to see Dr. Spider come around. Dr. was a unwavering Gonzo fan last year, questioning KA’s contributions along the way. Dr. Spider called KA bi-polar at the beginning of last night: either “Kinda Awesome” or “Kinda Apathetic.” The Dr.’s a convert now, finally acknowledging, “maybe I just don’t see everything he does because he does it so quickly” after watching the replay of a particular KA cross-over, look-away, ball-fake scoop for 2 in the second half.

Geriot’s not the most athletic and can have trouble guarding quicker bigs- even in this slimmed down incarnation- but he’s key to making the offense work. He has 23 assists on the year, over 20% of the team’s total. KA, by comparison, has 26 assists. (FYI, Lindsay is 3rd on the team with 15.) Geriot, however, averages 9 minutes more per game (and 19% more minutes on the season).

This squad is a veteran team. They responded perfectly when Purdue cut the lead to 5 in the second half, punching back with a 9-2 run. They handled the ramped up Boiler pressure in the second half well, turning the ball over only 3 times. Maybe I’m nitpicking here, but they still need to be careful and smart. Eight turnovers in the first half is WAY too many against a good team. And Darrius Garrett. D, you’re a junior. You shouldn’t be picking up cheap techs for shoving in front of the refs. Plus, we all know you’re a ferocious shot blocker. Be a smart shot blocker. Your swat in the second half, trying to send the ball into the third row, was great. What would’ve been better, however, was blocking it to a teammate (you had two to choose from), instead of giving the Boilers the ball back and surrendering an unnecessary two points. Keep awareness out there.

Mooney should try to put UR in as many tournaments next year with as many big teams as possible. It’s not possible to get ready for this Princeton offense in one night. I can’t even count how many backdoor layups UR had against Purdue. (Sidebar: can someone do this all season? Is anyone doing this already? That’d be a great stat!) Beyond backdoors, however, the Spiders run a great defensive scheme- a switching man-to-man. How effective was it? Purdue still doesn’t know what they were seeing out there: E’twain Moore said “[Richmond] were playing like a matchup 2-3 zone.” ESPN’s Eammonn Brennan also asked KA about UR’s “matchup zone” at the 0:44 second mark of the video here. As Spider fans know, and KA replied, UR plays man defense. Oops. Great scheme by the coaches, and execution by the players.

UR's "zone" defense gave coach Matt Painter and Purdue plenty of headaches.

These Spiders aren’t “Giant Killers.” I saw that title thrown around online a bit after the game. I didn’t like it. These Spiders are much closer to being giants themselves than giant killers. Want proof? Listen to Purdue coach Matt Painter (my favorite post-game comment, by the by): ”I told our guys: [Richmond] didn’t play well. They played hard … but they didn’t shoot the ball as well as they were capable of. I told our guys this could have been a lot worse than it was.” Yes, yes it could have been worse, and “Giant Killers” don’t beat ranked teams without playing their best ball. As Painter explained, Richmond won because they harder, quicker, and wanted it more, not because they played a perfect game of basketball. Or got lucky. Or anything else. UR started just as slowly as Purdue did. See the eight first half turnovers. For the first ten minutes UR looked to be rushing things by a quarter step (especially Lindsay, which is understandable/expected for a freshman). I’m sure Coach Sweats will point out plenty of areas of improvement on the film from last night during the prep for ODU this week (not the least of which: Harp’s foul troubles- that 4th was borderline bone-headed). The ceiling for this team is high to VERY high.

Per the broadcast, KA apparently uses opponents heads as a gun sight when shooting. Well then.

Darien Brothers can stay. Gonzo he may not be, but he’s assumed that spot in the lineup well. Richmond’s 4-0 on the young season when he makes four field goals. He and Smitty make a great combination at KA’s side.

The magic number: 22. UR’s 5-0 when the opponent makes 22 or fewer field goals. (Iona made 31.)

The Spiders can rebound. Honest. The DOMINATED the glass last night. I don’t think Purdue has gotten their first second chance bucket yet. Harp and Martel in particular lead the way, but it really was a team effort (Smitty’s board between two Purdue players, then look to FCM underneath was fantastic). I understand the strategy in not selling out for offensive rebounds, but UR can still clean the glass given the pure number of athletes on this team. As the game announcers remarked, don’t be fooled by the Princeton offense stereotype, the Spiders are super athletic and quick.

The rest of the season is officially on. The corner stone for the NCAA Tournament resume has been placed. Time attach the rest of the schedule and to build the entire house.

I’m in. Dr. Spider’s in and it’s not even December yet.

Awesome.

But calm down a little. Need to prepare for the rest of the season before March.

March preparation will come.