Latest / Spiders Sound Off / 48 Points. Three Overtimes. One Legend. Maggie Doogan Makes History

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48 Points. Three Overtimes. One Legend. Maggie Doogan Makes History · Spiders Sound Off

0:06
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Spiders Sound
0:10
Off. This is Tom.
0:12
And this is Porter. And we are back in our Henrico
0:16
studios. We have just gotten back from
0:18
the men's loss to Saint Joseph's, but we're going to not
0:23
going to let that rain on our parade of threes and twos that
0:26
Maggie hit yesterday. So we're going to still try to
0:30
have some excitement here because boy, that was one heck
0:33
of the game yesterday in the Robin Center.
0:35
Yeah. So you know, Full disclosure
0:40
guys, we've talked about this. We're a fan driven podcast.
0:42
We're probably 90% fan, 10% actual journalist.
0:46
And so, you know, we heard after losses we do and it's hard to do
0:50
podcasts that are going to be recorded and then released
0:53
tomorrow morning right after a loss.
0:55
But let me just start with this. So Saturday night, 6 O clock in
1:01
the Robbins Center was most likely the greatest single
1:07
performance I've ever seen in the Robbins Center by a spider
1:10
player. And that's men and women's.
1:13
It was an absolute show and it was an unbelievable game on top
1:21
of being just a incredible individual performance.
1:25
The the thing I'll say is 2 heavyweights showed up last
1:28
night, Davidson and Richmond, both top 50 teams in the
1:32
different metrics we track and they traded shots the entire
1:37
night and what was a exciting triple overtime affair.
1:41
I hate to see one team have to lose.
1:43
That no, you don't. Yes, I do.
1:45
Actually. I had the second overtime.
1:46
I was sitting there like, gosh, I'm going to feel bad for
1:49
whatever team loses because the game was that good.
1:51
So it was just literally a battle of heavyweights.
1:53
There were spider royalty in the house.
1:55
Addie Budnick and Katie was there.
1:57
Katie Hill was there. One of our star recruits was
1:59
there. You said they put her on camera.
2:00
I was must have been turned around at that time.
2:03
We started off without Alicia Newell.
2:04
She was still nursing an injury, which meant Rain Wright was put
2:08
into the starting lineup. I will say the good news for
2:11
those who didn't see the game like Alicia was with the rest of
2:15
the team jumping up and down celebrating.
2:17
So I don't think her knee injury is something longer term.
2:20
She's probably bruised up and just not ready to go.
2:23
But I I don't see that as a long term loss.
2:25
But we definitely missed her in that game.
2:28
But back to the the journalist versus the fan thing.
2:30
So like I was trying to think overnight and I I didn't have a
2:33
lot of time to write something for this episode because we were
2:35
busy after the game last night and I had a bunch of commitments
2:38
this morning that I attended to and then we just went to the
2:41
men's game. So, you know, it feels like I
2:43
just left the Robin Center. And so I, I was trying to think,
2:45
what could I say to do that game justice today?
2:49
And, and I'll simply say this like sometimes it's enough to
2:53
say I'm just happy I was there. Like I'm just grateful I got a
2:58
chance to witness that game, that performance, something I'll
3:02
remember forever. It it was just special.
3:06
It was just special. And so if you guys don't know,
3:08
Maggie scored 48, the single individual best performance in
3:11
the into the blade this year for a woman scoring 48.
3:14
She just she she, that's the most points in a game.
3:17
She had 13 rebounds. I think Audie Crooks at 47 I.
3:20
Think Audie Crooks was 47 was the previous best USA TODAY did
3:24
a story this morning about you know here's here's a mid major
3:28
player who just beat Audie Crooks.
3:29
By the way, can we talk about how good the A10 is in women's
3:32
basketball? Well.
3:32
Yeah, before we get there, I mean, let, let me, let's keep
3:34
talking about and we obviously we have a great game and a great
3:37
performance. Like they're not the exact same,
3:39
although you can't talk about 1 without the other.
3:41
So one thing you you mentioned Maggie hit 48 in three
3:45
overtimes. We we mentioned this on the last
3:48
podcast and I had you repeat the score.
3:50
Remember, Davidson's prior win was against Saint Joe's, and
3:53
they won 48 to 36. Yes.
3:58
Now this was a different game. This was wide open, a lot of
4:00
threes, lots of scoring. But holy cow.
4:03
I mean, when one player in one game, yes, it's triple overtime.
4:06
So there's a lot more minutes, but is able to score as much or
4:09
even more than the Saint Joe's team did in an entire game.
4:13
I mean, tells you how magical kind of that.
4:15
Performance and we were down 9 and half time.
4:18
It's the same thing that we had seen in every top 50 game we
4:20
have had this year. Like we started, you know, maybe
4:22
a little slow. We were having a hard time
4:25
getting all the pieces working at the same time.
4:27
So we're down. Not at halftime.
4:28
I'm thinking, here we go again. If you remember, folks, we came
4:31
off that Rhode Island loss. We were pretty much hurting
4:33
after that as well. And we said maybe Maggie's just
4:36
going to have to show to the the world that she could score 40 or
4:38
50. So that team stopped covering
4:40
her one-on-one in the A10. And I don't think we were really
4:43
serious when we were just throwing things out like that.
4:46
But you know what, she absolutely did just that.
4:48
She scored 48 points. Now she's announced to the rest
4:52
of the Atlantic 10, cover me one-on-one at your own, at your
4:55
own peril, at your own peril, because there's now a new high
5:00
bar for what that could mean, you know, to your detriment.
5:03
Yeah. So to your point, like getting
5:04
into the game, so part of that slow start is part of the this
5:08
one of one of these weaknesses we have is these teams are
5:11
playing us really aggressively a man to man.
5:14
And we're, and we have these early turnovers, which seem to
5:17
be from the uneducated eyes of mine is we're trying to run our
5:23
normal offense, even though the pressure is so tremendous.
5:27
And we're trying to throw backdoor passes or we're trying
5:29
to throw a pass to the inside to the cutter when they've got
5:32
hands all over them. And like, we're not starting
5:36
that one-on-one game. We're just trying to like play
5:38
our normal offense. And so there is some sort of
5:41
adjustments. Coach is still trying to figure
5:42
out of like how in that first quarter when teams are playing a
5:46
super tight on man to man, like what is the way to succeed?
5:50
Because we're just, we're, we're a slow starting team.
5:52
I mean, remember when we talked to Ali, gosh, over 4 weeks ago,
5:56
she was like, we've got to figure out how to not be coming
5:58
out of the gate so slow. I don't think it's always been
6:00
turnover that's been more than the newer story for that.
6:03
But we're still kind of slow getting out of the block and we
6:06
we've got to solve that again because we've got aspirations
6:09
to. I think go to the tournament, I
6:10
think part of it is you guys have to remember last year this
6:13
team won 17 regular season 810 games with the sole loss being
6:16
at Fordham. We are the team that every other
6:20
810 one team wants to take down. We wanted NCAA tournament game.
6:24
This team right here is the team everybody wants to take down.
6:27
So you're going to get everybody's best shot every
6:29
single game. And I mean, that's been pretty
6:31
consistent. No matter who we play, we're
6:33
getting everybody's best shot. One thing let me say, let me
6:35
talk about Davison for just a second, because it would be
6:38
doing a disservice not to credit what the coach there is
6:41
building. They had three players there.
6:44
Number 7 #14 #21 we talked about #21 in the scout Charlize Dunn
6:48
out of Australia. I really started digging in into
6:51
the into the Davis and women's roster.
6:53
And give the coach credit. She's a master scout of
6:57
international players. And I mean, it's, it is
7:00
impressive. She's got a player from Hungary,
7:02
from Spain, at least 2 from Australia, Martinique.
7:06
You know, it's interesting. I, I, I wonder how this happens.
7:09
Is it just, is it just a coincidence?
7:11
But I mean, that men's team has always had kind of an
7:14
international flair. And so is it something where
7:17
that school has just invested in some of that international
7:21
scouting and you start building that reputation of a place where
7:24
people can play and get a good education and be successful?
7:28
And it, and it's obviously it's, I don't know if it's carried to
7:30
the women's program or it's totally a coincidence that they
7:33
have done that. But I, I, I mean, we, we've
7:35
watched that men's team for a while now and they seem to
7:37
always have a couple folks from Australia in particular that,
7:41
you know, are those all centers or wings?
7:44
I can still shoot threes. And they had they have a couple
7:46
of those that's. Yeah, and I mean, and like these
7:48
international players are, are are young, like they've got the
7:51
the number 7 Katie Donovan who kept coming off those.
7:54
It was almost like a like a coming around the screen.
7:57
She was hitting three after three.
7:59
She's a junior #14 who played this last year, play such a
8:03
physical game. I think she's out of yeah, she's
8:05
out of Belgium. She's a sophomore.
8:07
So they have a great team. Davidson's on the rise.
8:10
Their team is going to be it's going to be a beast in the
8:12
Atlantic 10 for a long time. So hats off to those guys, man.
8:15
They they played a heck of a ball game.
8:17
I I look that if you were at the Robin center, you know what I
8:20
mean. Let's talk about the crowd for a
8:21
second. The crowd last night was.
8:23
Fantastic. I think it's about 2200 is what
8:26
the number? And loud and engaged throughout
8:29
the the whole game. 3 overtimes crowd stayed in it.
8:32
I mean really gave a lift. It was, it was awesome.
8:36
And then the pep band was there last night and I don't usually
8:39
see them in all the women's games that I think gave the team
8:42
a lift. There was a great investment by
8:44
the whole community to come together and lift the ladies
8:47
last night because we needed everything we got.
8:50
I mentioned Rainwright inserted into the starting lineup,
8:53
thought she played really good defense.
8:55
There was a play in the third quarter specifically, I think
8:58
she knocked the ball out of Charlize Dunn's hands and she
9:01
dove on it and they tied it up and it was A, and it was a jump
9:04
ball which went to the Spiders. Every single play like that
9:08
needed to happen for that game just to get to overtime.
9:11
And then, you know, the Maggie Dugan show took over after that
9:15
and just refused to let us lose. Well, it was interesting too.
9:18
I mean, you look at those overtimes, like the first
9:20
overtime, there was lots of points score.
9:22
The second overtime was pretty ugly.
9:24
I think it was a 55 in the second overtime.
9:28
And then in the third overtime, it got fluid again and Maggie,
9:31
so I think scored eight points in a row and we we finally since
9:34
ourselves a bit. But yeah, I mean, it was it was
9:38
a fantastic game. I mean, Davidson was great.
9:42
We just couldn't you wondered why we couldn't stop them.
9:46
But at some point you wonder why they can't stop Maggie.
9:49
They just, they were just making their shots.
9:51
They they play Davidson plays a great game and their defense is
9:55
very aggressive. I think the refs were letting
9:58
them play pretty much. I mean, they were certainly
10:01
called for more fouls than we were and they got into foul
10:03
trouble when you got into the overtime.
10:07
But I but I don't think the rest were biased.
10:09
I think they just play so aggressive.
10:11
They're very much like hands on their hands on you at all times.
10:15
And that and that the first half of rattled us.
10:17
I mean, we were, we shot 39% in the first half, 27% from three.
10:24
We just, we did not look good in the first half.
10:27
Maggie had 10 points. So, you know, Maggie was doing
10:30
her piece. We didn't have much else going
10:32
on. Rachel hit some threes, which
10:33
was in there early, but it was interesting the post game, you
10:38
know, they're asking Maggie, like, what were you saying at
10:39
halftime? And it's just very interesting.
10:41
And you've heard us talk about this before, Like Maggie's like
10:43
an assistant coach on that team. And I think she was, you know,
10:46
talking to that team about, you know, how they, you know, they
10:48
they got to play better. There's a good crowd here.
10:50
The crowd deserves more. Was really motivating that team
10:54
to get out there in the second-half and, and, and they
10:56
they certainly did. Yeah, and the crowd, I mean,
10:59
like we had a, a cute couple from Lynchburg come down and say
11:03
hi during the during the game and and they had driven 90
11:07
minutes in to watch the game. And they, they, they told me
11:11
they listened to all 35 episodes of Spider sound off.
11:14
And then she, she said we listened to three of them on the
11:16
way here. So what better way to come in
11:18
and watch the ladies play than to drive 90 minutes and what and
11:20
listen to Spider? Sound off, binge listening to
11:22
spider sound. Off listening to spider sound.
11:24
Off Recommended by 4 out of five doctors.
11:26
But you know, when I was driving home last night, you know, what
11:29
thought went through my mind was like, I mean what a great game
11:32
to pick to drive to. Like if you're going to drive 2
11:35
hours to come watch the spider ladies play, you got to witness
11:38
maybe the best game in spider lady history and one of, and the
11:42
best ladies performance for spider history all at the same
11:45
time. So like I've, we've told you
11:48
guys this and we're going to continue to tell you this.
11:51
The spider women's program is really, really special.
11:54
And we have 6. I think I just counted.
11:57
I was doing some math while you were talking.
11:59
Six more chances to watch them at home.
12:01
Six more chances to watch the greatest women's player our
12:04
program has ever had play. Six more chances where you don't
12:08
know what will happen. I think the only person that may
12:12
ever have a chance at breaking Maggie's new record of 48 points
12:15
is Maggie herself. And so.
12:18
It's some some Maggie stats for her just like these are we've
12:20
had three games in January. So she has shot 46% from three
12:25
in those three-game, 62, 1/2% from 2 and 89% free throw
12:31
shooter. So I mean, she's on a roll.
12:34
I mean, obviously there's one game.
12:35
And what I love too is, you know, looking at Twitter,
12:38
there's a couple A10 accounts. And when I was looking this
12:41
morning, I'd see like the post of like Maggie Dugan with a
12:45
career high of 35. And then they see like a post
12:48
like 2 minutes later, like Maggie Dugan with 38.
12:51
And it was like, at some point they're like, we need to relax
12:54
and not keep posting because you're not going to really know
12:57
what her high is. But yeah, she had 30 in
12:58
regulations. So I feel like it's not all
13:00
about like loading points in overtime, but she had eight in
13:03
the first overtime, two in the second and then eight in the
13:06
third. 48 points, 13 rebounds. At the post game, Maggie was
13:10
talking about the other players on the team and how they they
13:14
they helped lift her up. And I mean, like, I love that
13:16
she like Ali. Let's give Ali a shout out to
13:18
55. That's a 55 folks minutes in
13:21
that game under heavy pressure. Like, awesome job by Ali just to
13:26
be the dominant point guard we needed her to be in that game.
13:29
So, so I had this moment I mentioned to you about Ali and I
13:31
think it was the 3rd. We started really rallying in
13:33
the 3rd and what Ali started to do in the 3rd.
13:35
And I'm sure there was some half time coaching together.
13:38
There was like drive, no matter who was on her was like you're
13:40
faster than them drive, get some layups and she was getting some
13:44
easy layups and really was was playing great.
13:46
And there was this moment where somehow we got the rebound on,
13:50
You know, they shot. We got the rebound.
13:51
Rachel had the ball and was taking it up court.
13:54
And I saw Ali was trailing her and Ali had this like, look on
13:57
her face and just scream like, like, that's my job.
14:02
Give me the ball, give me the rock.
14:04
And Rachel heard like Rachel got to half court was like here, I
14:07
mean, and she knows, you know, Ali knows what she's doing there
14:09
and leading that off. I mean, but I love seeing that
14:11
like ferocious side of Ali of like, get me that.
14:14
Ball, I mean we were without Alicia Newell last night for
14:16
those of you guys who didn't see the game and and that's our best
14:18
on ball defender. So to to beat a top 50 team
14:22
without your best defender, it took a it took a group effort,
14:26
special, special performance by one player, but a group effort
14:28
by everybody. I mean, if Rainwright doesn't
14:30
fall on that ball, we might not go into overtime.
14:32
You know, there were a couple big rebounds down the stretch
14:36
that, you know, offensive rebounds that gave us a lift.
14:38
I mean, it was just a great basketball game and, and
14:41
honestly, no, there's nothing I can say about it other than I'm
14:45
glad I was there. It was special.
14:47
It'll be a memory I have forever.
14:48
And, you know, I'm just, I'm just grateful that I got to see
14:52
that. Yeah, and as much it was the
14:53
Maggie show, there were those moments like, you know, at the
14:55
end where I think like Simon had a block and then she came down,
14:59
might have been a Player 2 later where she drove and got the
15:03
basket and one. So that was awesome to see.
15:06
There were a lot of players contributing at the end.
15:08
They're all playing their butts off.
15:10
Well, so this is not to be a downer.
15:12
Like that game was fantastic. Like one of the things the team
15:14
is learning and coach talked about it in the post game
15:17
yesterday is like that was their first single digit game of all
15:21
seasons, which is hard to believe.
15:23
So and obviously going having regulation and then three
15:27
overtimes, although the third overtime it was still single
15:31
digit, but there wasn't like a play at the end.
15:33
Like that was the first time the team had to learn on the court.
15:37
Obviously they do this in practice, but during a game with
15:40
high pressure of like, you know, this is the last play of the
15:43
game or this is the last play could be the last play of the
15:45
game. You know, they they had a few of
15:46
those. So yeah, I think, you know,
15:48
coach probably learned some stuff and watching his team.
15:51
There was a little bit of offense, defense.
15:53
Do you time out? Admitted that in the post game
15:55
show too. I think like the first time it
15:56
was, you know, and this is like there's no easy answer to it.
15:59
Like the other team missed, you got the ball, you have a chance
16:02
to win, it's tied, you call a time out or not to set up a
16:05
play. He let them run and I really
16:07
didn't get a great shot out of that.
16:09
And then I think in the first overtime we were up by three
16:12
that. Was the second overtime, I think
16:13
that we had that we, yeah, we had the three-point lead.
16:15
Now is the first overtime. Yeah, first overtime we had the,
16:18
we had the three-point lead, they had the ball.
16:23
We decided not to foul or maybe we meant to and we didn't.
16:27
But anyway, their best 3 point shooter of the night got open on
16:29
a screen, hit it and to to Maggie's credit, win her post
16:33
game. Like Maggie, as much as like,
16:35
you know, they were trying to get her to talk about how great
16:38
she was. She was like, hey, I I was
16:40
guarding her and somehow I let her get open like this is Mag
16:43
and This is why, what makes her a great player, like a great
16:46
leader? Yeah, she's not patting herself
16:47
on the back. She's basically saying, Hey,
16:49
everyone else, help me get that great.
16:54
And she probably will never call herself great.
16:55
She probably just said, let me make make some shots.
16:57
And then like, hey, they made a shot and I was guarding her and
17:00
I don't know why I let her get open.
17:01
That's on me. So it's like what a leader she
17:03
is. We're going to we're going to
17:05
miss her, not just her scoring next year.
17:07
We'll miss that assistant coach part.
17:09
And and maybe a last note on this, What I love and this is
17:11
the relationship her and coach have built over those four years
17:14
when that game was over, like everyone's getting in the line
17:18
to shake hands. She is at the end of the bench.
17:21
Her and the coach are like having a hug before they both
17:25
like quickly realize like, oh, we got to jump in line and shake
17:27
hands, but that, you know, that game meant a lot to to her and.
17:31
Such a such a great game and and the thing like I'll come back to
17:34
and I've heard you've heard me mention celebrities episode, you
17:36
know, character shows up when you think nobody's looking.
17:40
And after that Fairfield loss where we got blown out and it
17:44
was a tough, tough night. You know, I'm coming out of the
17:47
post game conference and there's Maggie in the stands, no
17:51
cameras, no fanfare, signing autographs just for little
17:55
girls. And it will shows you, you know,
17:59
a how how hard the women work to build the brand and also just
18:02
what person Maggie Dugan is like, win or lose, she's going
18:06
to do the right thing. Just a great ambassador for
18:08
Richmond and like I said to every guys, all you guys, this
18:12
is the best Spider women's player we've ever had.
18:14
And like you need to get out and support or you need to get a
18:16
watcher. One thing you can do for us,
18:18
take this podcast, this one specifically and forward it to a
18:22
friend. If you don't, if they're not
18:23
listening, let us tell them about Maggie for you.
18:26
So they get out in these last six games and support the
18:29
ladies. It's just something special.
18:31
You got it. You got to do it.
18:33
Well, and just to, I mean, we're not going to talk about next
18:35
weekend games. We'll do that in our midweek
18:37
pie. But next weekend is the next
18:39
home game for the women. It's against VCU, I think it's
18:43
Sunday at noon and they're trying to get 5000 fans.
18:46
So if you haven't been to a game yet, VCU's not great, but it's
18:50
always great to watch us beat VCU.
18:51
Oh, there's nothing better. Than beating VCU and so if you
18:54
haven't been or well, if you have been, definitely come out
18:56
again. But if you haven't been, that's
18:58
a great one to come to. We want to try to, you know, at
19:00
least break a a record. We haven't had 5000 a long time.
19:04
I think they've done it before, but it's been a really, really
19:06
long. Time since we've done that.
19:07
No, no, no. It's been longer than that.
19:11
OK. So I think we are successful.
19:13
We almost got to 20 minutes talking about the good stuff.
19:18
If you were frustrated, like us leaving that Saint Joe's men's
19:21
game today again, you know, you can always get a little less
19:26
frustrated. I think when you watch the
19:28
women's team, just because they're they're, they're the one
19:30
of the top teams. And tomorrow night when this
19:32
thing airs, it'll be tonight. So this airs on Monday morning.
19:35
You know, you can go to the local and see the coaches show.
19:37
Russell is the guest of Coach Muni on this on the Coaches Show
19:40
tonight, so that'll be fun. OK, but anyway, so we did play
19:43
Saint Joe's at home today. Yeah.
19:45
Can I, can I start with just a couple observations?
19:48
Yes. I got to hit you with some
19:49
stuff. OK.
19:51
It was replica jersey day, right?
19:53
I'm wearing the sporty replica jersey, by the way, is
19:56
fantastic. You know, I had, I tend to wear
19:58
my size is pretty large because I'm a I'm a big dude.
20:02
The I'm very happy for the jersey.
20:04
By the way, you know for season ticket holders you get one per
20:08
account. 1st 500 students. I get to have a jersey, right?
20:11
So I get myself in line 12 minutes before the game's going
20:14
to start, right? Just thinking I'm going to get
20:16
my jersey. I asked you to pick up our press
20:18
passes. So, like, I didn't have to go
20:19
think about that. And I sat in line for what felt
20:24
like 30 minutes. It might have been more longer
20:25
than 30 minutes. I don't even know.
20:28
Which in and of itself is not a bad thing if you're running the
20:30
align as efficiently as you can run it.
20:31
The two students that were there, wonderful people.
20:34
I'm glad that they were there and doing their thing.
20:37
Here's my beef. OK, if you're going to give out
20:40
replica jerseys to the thousands of season ticket holders that
20:43
have season tickets, right, you don't have more than one person
20:47
checking the names on the list to make sure you're a season
20:50
ticket holder. How?
20:51
Maybe 4. So that line moves rather
20:53
quickly. There were two people at that
20:55
desk. One was for the season ticket
20:58
orders, the other was for the students.
20:59
Well. The students have their own
21:01
desk, didn't they? I think the guy was doing
21:03
students at the same desk I. Think I think it was a different
21:05
desk. OK, was it a different desk?
21:06
Well anyway, I've got one guy. One guy had a student list, one
21:09
guy had a had a had a season decor list.
21:12
Like how about getting 2 lists to both guys so they both, if
21:15
there's no students coming up, can can you know, like move you
21:17
quickly through the process? I got to the game from the from
21:22
the no. The benefit of being in the line
21:24
was Coach Roussell walked by. I got to talk to him for a
21:27
second. That's a highlight.
21:28
You got to do your socially, I got your sales pitches.
21:31
I got I got to thank him for, you know, last night, which was
21:35
special. I got, you know, Sam Dewey
21:38
walked by. I got to give her my version of
21:40
a high 5 and thank her for last night.
21:42
That was cool. And we had a we had a listener
21:44
right behind me in line. So I was talking to him the
21:46
whole time. By the way, love, you know, your
21:48
chocolate bit like you know, from from last last time.
21:51
So that was cool. So so there was some there was
21:53
some good things about being in the line right, but like, come
21:56
on, you got to move faster spiders like 2315 when I get out
21:59
of the line and get to the game. So I missed the whole, you know,
22:01
first eight point run up. On OK can I I got 1.
22:05
More thing for. You no, I want to talk about
22:06
that. OK, I've got some insight.
22:08
There's a little bit of there's there was a better way to do it.
22:10
OK, So we got to our seats, saw that you had been there, but you
22:16
weren't there anymore. And I and then you sent a text
22:18
like, hey, you're still in line. And I'm like, well, we need to
22:21
get ours. We hear this is line and I
22:25
realize like it's Laura's name on the season ticket.
22:28
So maybe she needs to go versus me.
22:29
So she's like, she'll go. So she gets up and she passes.
22:33
She says like the table where it's like the students.
22:36
And she's like, is this where I go do it?
22:37
He's like, no, this is for students.
22:39
But if you get to the other one and the line's too big, just
22:42
come on back. So I'm not.
22:46
There was a cheat code and I didn't know it.
22:47
That's right. So Laura went and saw this giant
22:49
lion, came back with like, were you serious?
22:51
And he's like, here you go. It's it's the first time back
22:54
where I can actually get like the the season ticket holder
22:57
specials, right. So I mean, I don't know all the
22:59
cheat codes. OK, my second.
23:00
Well, let me let me make one other complaint here.
23:03
I think that cheat code worked because they're only like 75
23:07
students, so they had 500 jerseys for the 1st 500 students
23:12
and I only counted 75 students so they probably had like 4
23:15
boxes of jerseys and they're like what do we do with these?
23:19
Maybe they'll give them to students in future games.
23:21
We're going to have another replica jersey night for the
23:22
students is my guess. By the way, great crowd Today,
23:25
5200 announced it was a really good crowd for the men's game.
23:29
OK, here's my second observation.
23:32
So kind of hungry, I intentionally didn't eat lunch.
23:34
I had some obligations this morning.
23:36
So I go straight from those obligations to the game I need
23:38
to eat, right? Shame on me.
23:40
I didn't realize it's Sunday and Chick-fil-A is not going to sell
23:43
their chicken sandwiches on Sunday.
23:44
And you know, I'm not touching the BBQ.
23:46
So. So I get in line where they
23:48
typically serve the BBQ, thinking maybe the hot dog.
23:50
But then I see the chicken. It's it's a chicken.
23:53
It's a chicken filet sandwich. So I get up there and I'm like,
23:55
hey, I'll take your chicken filet sandwich.
23:57
Is it Chick-fil-A sandwich? He goes, no, it's chicken filet
23:59
sandwich. I said, is it made by
24:01
Chick-fil-A? He goes, no, it's chicken filet.
24:04
He he's very honest and I love the guy for saying that.
24:07
And he hands me the sandwich and it's kind of the red branding.
24:09
Like you see it Chick-fil-A a little.
24:10
Bit the spider with the. Spider logo on it and it says
24:13
chicken filet sandwich. So I ate that chicken filet
24:15
sandwich and it was actually really good.
24:16
I give it props. I mean, it wasn't as good as
24:18
Chick-fil-A, but it was very good.
24:20
And I'm like OK so that was good.
24:22
One other question 1 user asked me, are we getting a kickback
24:24
from the spider shop for all the merch that we wear every single
24:27
one of? These we are not.
24:28
We get 0 kickbacks, no free jersey.
24:31
Porter's lucky if I give him water when it.
24:32
Comes to gear like, you know, when we get to the studio,
24:35
that's about the only thing I get, which is a glass of water.
24:38
I got to chocolate last time, so yeah.
24:40
OK, so that's that's my, those are my observations today.
24:44
The chicken filet sandwich, the kickback we're not getting from
24:46
the spider shop, and the fact that it was 2315 when I got to
24:50
my seats to watch the game. Yeah, well, the game didn't get
24:54
much better. I mean, we got down by 17 a
24:57
minute into the second-half, I guess we're down by 12 and then,
25:00
yeah, 5 O and then whatever the plan was coming out at half
25:05
time, it didn't work. Well, initially it didn't.
25:07
Initially got down 17 and the team fought back.
25:10
So if you're trying to be optimistic, it's like, hey, they
25:13
clawed back from 17 points, never could get the lead.
25:16
Got down to a kind of 1 score a few times in the last five
25:20
minutes. But I mean, this is a Saint
25:22
Joe's team that I mean, you heard us if you heard us in the
25:24
last pod. You know, I think there were 360
25:27
in the nation in three-point shooting and in the first half,
25:31
like they were just launching and making the now in the long
25:34
run, they missed a bunch in the second-half.
25:36
So their percentage wasn't great.
25:37
But you know, somehow we're able to make bad 3 point shooting
25:41
teams look good. And that's that's just a problem
25:44
we've got to solve. I mean, I would say a couple
25:46
things for shout out to Argor, Brighton, Thomas.
25:48
They played a heck of a ball game.
25:49
I loved both of their performances.
25:51
It seemed like the Saint Louis, the Saint Joe's big man was
25:55
camping out in the lane and almost daring our bigs to shoot
25:59
the three. Now we have, we've talked about
26:00
it, one Elite 3 point shooter on our big team, on our bigs, Mike,
26:03
who got it going at the end of the game at two in a row.
26:07
And I think, you know, in that type of game where their big is
26:11
hanging out under the basket and bikes on the three-point line, I
26:14
want to see him take the 10 shots, not the number that he
26:16
took from three, but I mean, you know, he hit two in a row at the
26:20
end of the game, got us back into it.
26:23
We were down to points. We had five fouls we had to give
26:27
to send them to the line, which we gave.
26:29
And that. And that actually was pretty
26:30
efficient how we did that. But can I just speak to that?
26:32
Like, what drives me nuts? And this is like any
26:35
basketballs. This is not just Richmond
26:36
basketball, 'cause we actually saw this summer in the women's
26:38
game early on with Davidson in the first half.
26:41
It's like when it when it doesn't seem like from the from
26:46
the fans point of view that our defense is aggressive enough and
26:50
we have one foul, I think is what we had in the first half or
26:53
maybe 2. And then again getting to the
26:56
end of the second-half, we had one foul or two fouls.
26:58
It's like it's one thing if your defense is just so fantastic
27:00
that you're not fouling. And I know we've had some games
27:03
where we've had like too many fouls.
27:04
So this is fit. Like we're just still not a very
27:07
good defensive team. Like we we weren't aggressive
27:10
enough and that's why they got up to a 17 point lead.
27:12
But like, and maybe this is shows a little too much of my
27:15
character, but what if I think of sports where I played where
27:19
we're getting our butts kicked at some point, I'm taking
27:21
somebody out. And so like, where is the like,
27:25
the guy's cutting with the ball and I'm going to grab his shirt
27:28
and hold him. Let me be clear, we're not
27:30
advocating for the injury of minors on this, on this.
27:33
No, but like, like we need a mean streak somewhere on
27:36
defense. Like we just don't have that.
27:38
And I'd love to see at some point where we look mad when
27:41
we're getting lot, when we're getting beat and we start really
27:44
playing. More so you look at the end of
27:48
the day, you can't take a second off in the Atlantic 10.
27:51
You can't like, I mean, if you had drawn up on paper, you know
27:54
what the last three games would look like, You know, we would
27:57
have, we would have lost to Saint Bonnie at Saint Bonnie and
27:59
beaten Saint Joe's by 20. But you know, it turns out we
28:02
beat St. Bonnie at Saint Bonnie and we
28:03
lost at home to, you know, one of the teams that's not as
28:06
highly considered in the in the Atlantic 10.
28:08
So you can't take a minute off. You just got to play.
28:11
You got to play every single second and you can't start slow.
28:15
You can't we can't get down 2513 or whatever the 2315 when I,
28:18
when I come out of the replica jersey line, I mean, you know,
28:22
we're not good enough yet. Where we can, we can get behind
28:25
17 points and come. Back yeah.
28:26
And what what's what's troubling too is that you had mentioned in
28:30
the last game that like Daughtry didn't have the right match up.
28:34
Daughtry didn't. He's in a little bit of slump.
28:36
He didn't play great today but the match up problem can't be
28:39
because the other team is big and we got a couple games in a
28:43
row where the other team is playing like 3 guys that are
28:45
like 69610 and we get we had pretty much no points inside
28:50
today. It was like 3 pointer bust for
28:52
the entire team. I think I was, so I was talking
28:54
to one of our listeners on the way into your out to your
28:56
studios and here's what I kind of think.
28:58
Like I, I Full disclosure, like I was kind of still a little bit
29:02
rattled about the replica jersey line and I just, my head wasn't
29:05
on straight. You know, I watched that diaper
29:07
Derby during halftime, which, by the way, was fantastic.
29:09
I lost a beer on that. I I actually have run some
29:12
advanced analytics models against the diaper Derby.
29:15
I have like a starting position that I think has advantage.
29:18
In the rest of the field, we'll do a whole different pod.
29:20
But maybe that's a different pod.
29:22
The the thing I'll say like, according to the listener who
29:25
knows a little bit about basketball, you know, they they
29:27
they were they're like they're big with sitting back under, you
29:30
know, inside the lane and almost taking away the paint from us.
29:34
And like in that type of game, you know, Daughtry's a good
29:36
three-point shooter. Walls is a good three-point
29:38
shooter. Course Will Johnson.
29:39
You know, you just have to let the threes fly and you got to
29:42
let them fly. You know, it's you got to be,
29:43
you can't be scared to take too many threes in a game like that
29:46
because we are a good three-point shooting team, a
29:48
very good 3 point shooting team. So yeah, I mean, that's that's
29:51
an adjustment. I think, you know, we're going
29:53
to have to make because if you know they're, if they're going
29:55
to take the bigs, the paint away from us, you know, Beagles the
29:58
guy who likes to score at the rim and Daughtry's guy likes to
30:01
go to the rim. They had 30 points in the paint,
30:03
we had eight. Then you have to, you have to
30:05
adjust. And I, I mean, I don't want the
30:06
adjustment to be, you know, fade away jumpers inside the
30:09
three-point lane. I want inside 3 point.
30:10
I I want it to be 3 point shots that are that are.
30:13
Open. Well, I'll tell you, when
30:14
Argybright started getting hot, it wasn't just 'cause he was
30:16
shooting threes, like he was able to like beat a guy off the
30:19
dribble and then shoot like the 20 foot jumper or the 15 foot
30:24
jumper. So it's like there are ways to
30:26
score where the other team is big and packing it in, but we
30:28
just don't have enough guys right now who are find a way to
30:32
do it. I did like appreciated the
30:33
announcers were talking about like, you know, Dachi's had a
30:36
couple off games in a row and like AJ wasn't great today.
30:40
So like having went like was there.
30:42
Have we even had a game all year where like either AJ or Jayden
30:46
weren't like on their game and like what they they both just
30:49
weren't able to find a way to take advantage of the fact that
30:53
the other team was packing it in and it hurt us Like we again, we
30:58
had a chance. Even coach said in the post game
31:01
that he thought Wall should have taken that shot, but that's up
31:03
to Mike. The three-point shot.
31:05
Yeah, the three-point. Yeah, he had a, he had a three
31:07
pointer, but he passed it off the time.
31:09
We've already had the debate about Mike's 3 point shooting
31:12
where we have settled on Mike Walls is an elite 3 point
31:14
shooter, so we fully endorsed Mike taking open 3 pointers.
31:17
Yeah, I mean, Porter and I were talking on the phone actually
31:20
when he was driving here. Like that's a game where I'd,
31:23
yes, we, I'd find something to complain about.
31:25
But I'd like if Mike went 2 for eight from three, he'd be like,
31:29
oh, he just didn't have a shot today.
31:31
But at least he, you know, he took 8 attempts because he was
31:33
wide open 8 times. And you know, like the to Mike's
31:37
credit, like he's never taken threes where he's like trying to
31:40
dribble around a player and shoot a he's taking threes
31:43
because they're leaving him open and would love to just see him.
31:46
Let's have a day where he's not just three for four, but he's 8
31:50
for 9, right? Because or they have to really
31:53
change. Let it RIP 20 times.
31:54
Make that. Make them pull that big.
31:55
Yeah, that's right. You force them to change.
31:57
He's got a shot that can do that for sure.
32:00
OK, so let's let's try to jump ahead because I think we, we
32:02
don't want to talk about that game anymore, do we?
32:04
No diaper Derby, grocery game at halftime.
32:07
I got all kinds of things We. Could talk, yeah.
32:08
OK. So we've got a couple games
32:10
coming up. We'll be pretty quick on those
32:11
because we're running a little long.
32:13
So the the two games on Wednesday, the women are on the
32:16
road against Dayton, the men are home against LaSalle.
32:21
I'll. Give you the 2 minute.
32:24
Dayton, yeah, do it. OK.
32:25
So Tamika Williams Jeter is the coach share the successful year
32:28
last year, nice season. This year, they're nine and
32:31
seven, 236 in Bartorvic. 2O1IN net.
32:34
At least earlier today they were.
32:35
OK, so a game we should be favored pretty heavily,
32:39
Bartorvic has US winning it, you know, relatively easily.
32:42
But then again, you know, games sometimes that are better you're
32:45
supposed to win end up being challenges.
32:47
So, you know, the stats aren't going to win the game we're
32:49
favorite. We should be favored by
32:50
somewhere between 16 and 17. They turn the ball over too
32:53
much. Dayton does.
32:55
So pressure should work. They don't shoot free throws
32:58
particularly well. That's just a little bit of the
33:01
quick observation. They've they've played a, you
33:04
know, they've played some teams and beaten some teams that are,
33:06
you know, of note, they beat Kansas, they beat Xavier this
33:09
year. So it's not, it's not
33:11
inconceivable that they could give you a really, really,
33:13
really strong game and and threaten you.
33:15
They beat Fordham in the last game out.
33:16
We saw that how we did there. They beat him pretty handily.
33:18
So it's going to be a it's going to be a test.
33:21
The key thing for our ladies to guard against at Dayton, in my
33:25
mind, is the hangover that might exist after the game.
33:29
We just saw it, you know, with Davidson.
33:31
It was such a emotional game, such a exhausting game to have
33:34
to play 3 overtimes, especially when when you were down a point
33:38
guard, pressure guard, I should say.
33:41
You know, that's my biggest fear.
33:43
It's like we just come out with slow legs because we're
33:45
exhausted. And you catch them on a night
33:47
where they're trying to give you their very best effort because
33:49
you're a good team and you end up getting rolled.
33:50
We can't have. That yeah, I don't see us ever
33:52
getting rolled by a bottom half team in the league, but that's.
33:56
That's the that's the one risk scenario.
33:58
Yeah, hopefully Newell is back. So like she has fresh legs and
34:02
we can just get a big lead and and rest some people.
34:05
So the men, they're home against LaSalle.
34:08
You heard me talk about how like the Saint Joe's game, like we're
34:11
definitely going to win. And so now we lost that game,
34:14
we're home against LaSalle. Yeah, maybe he shouldn't just
34:16
say that we're. Probably they're they're in the
34:18
200, think they're 220 on Bartovic.
34:21
They're one in three in the 810. They beat Rhode Island, they've
34:24
lost to George Mason, George Washington and Saint Joe's.
34:28
They are a rebounding team. So if you look at teams that we
34:32
struggle with, they're they're 55 and Bartevik for rebounding
34:36
plus two points. So this is a team that they're 5
34:38
and 12 and they're plus 2.3 in rebounds.
34:41
So like with a record 5 and 12, you wouldn't expect them just
34:44
because you're, you know, you're losing a whole lot more than
34:47
you're winning that you're not going to overall be up in
34:49
rebounds. They don't turn the ball over a
34:51
lot. So that's one of their other
34:52
strengths. Why are they 5:00 and 12:00?
34:54
They shoot 30% from 3. Saint Joe's was not a good
34:58
three-point shooter team. And again, I think they're ended
35:02
up at around 30% at the end of the game.
35:04
But in the first half, like they just got open and made them a
35:07
little bit sad. Like they're they average under
35:11
2000 per game in in attendance at home.
35:15
Now we're playing them at home. But this is a program that
35:18
they've had some NBA players in that program.
35:20
If you go back, you know, 20-30 years and that program right now
35:23
is struggling they sound. Like a Final Four one time or to
35:26
win a national championship. Yeah, I don't know that much.
35:29
They're leading scorer Marshall, kid Marshall, he scores 12
35:32
points per game. So and he's they don't have like
35:34
one guy who's scoring 20 who's dominant.
35:38
They got a lot of players who play and a lot that score and
35:41
that like 789. I don't I don't think they've
35:44
figured out the consistent lineup.
35:46
I mean that's they're 5:00 and 12:00 and 1:00 and 3:00.
35:50
Marshall is from Niagara, transfer from Niagara.
35:52
Do you remember who's the Richmond great past great who
35:56
transferred from Niagara is? That.
35:58
TJ It was TJ. TJ Klein.
36:01
I was at Niagara and then had three years at U of R and I
36:05
think when he left was eighth in scoring and he didn't, he only
36:08
played three years. Wow.
36:09
At U of R, that's how that's how great he was.
36:11
DJ. Was.
36:12
One of the but we got LaSalle Wednesday at home at 7 and I
36:14
think the women are at Dayton at 7:00.
36:17
So you're going to have to decide which one to watch if
36:19
you're staying at home or you're just not local to either of
36:22
those teams. Obviously the men like this is a
36:27
game like we can't if if we lose to LaSalle, like we're clearly
36:31
in like a a troubling area because I let you mean we'll see
36:34
how the season ends up like George Washington.
36:37
That loss is nothing to be ashamed of.
36:39
Like I wish it was closer, but they're going to be a top half
36:42
team, if not a top four team in the A10.
36:45
They're playing. They're they're a good team.
36:48
I don't see Saint Bonaventure, Fordham or LaSalle in the top
36:52
half of the A10. And so that's the teams we've
36:55
played so far. So I don't think, I don't, I
36:58
still don't know how good are we right in the A10?
37:02
And so like LaSalle is a team again, I think they're going to
37:04
be the bottom half of the A10. And some of these teams maybe
37:07
like the bottom team in the A10 or a little Chicago likely ends
37:10
up being Loyola Chicago likely ends up being the worst team.
37:13
So that like this is a game like we've got to come back.
37:16
We've got to show that we're a top half team and be able to
37:20
take care of a team like LaSalle at home.
37:21
And we've lost a few games in a row now at home.
37:23
So yeah, three in a row. So that that's trouble.
37:26
John O'Connor had a question about that in the post game
37:28
presser about like, is there something happening at home?
37:31
To his credit, I thought that was a good question and I don't
37:35
know, we just got to figure it out.
37:36
It's just one of those things we can't lose at home.
37:38
You got to defend your homecourt.
37:39
By the way, Lasalle's men's. LaSalle men's basketball has a
37:43
rich history heightened by the 1954 NCAA championship.
37:48
They were the actual champions in all basketball in 1954.
37:51
They have an NIT title and two Final Four appearances.
37:55
So Lasalle's history, while dated, is certainly impressive
38:00
when it comes. I'm trying to remember who they
38:01
had an NBA player in the maybe in the 90s and Maggie.
38:05
Dugan's mom was a star for listening.
38:06
Lionel L Train Simmons yeah 674 from the late 80s and a.
38:11
Nickname like T Train or something like that.
38:13
You know, something something good.
38:16
I don't think that was AI think they were.
38:17
That was pre a 10 for them but. We'll have a pole out there.
38:20
We'll ask what we should nickname Tom.
38:21
No, let's we need a good nickname for Tom.
38:24
OK, so we got two games on Wednesday, so hopefully the
38:27
women keep going and the men can rebound literally and
38:32
figuratively from their from their loss home against Saint
38:36
Joe's. Let I mean, let's keep coming
38:38
out and supporting these teams. We've got a a lot of games left
38:41
before we get to the a 10 tournament.
38:42
Both of these teams are in a place clearly the men have to
38:45
win the tournament to get to NC as the women are not clearly an
38:50
at large team, like they're not an obvious at large team.
38:53
So I mean, they got to keep improving thinking that
38:56
tournament, you know, could be in or out.
38:58
So keep supporting every every game matters right now.
39:02
And, you know, hopefully we can the men can turn around and
39:05
start get a winning streak going and the women can keep can keep
39:09
their streak going and wait for that Rhode Island rematch to
39:15
show that they're the best team in the.
39:16
League, yeah, we still have work to do.
39:18
Obviously, you know, you got to get probably 4 quad two wins,
39:21
and so we got to win three of our next four against these
39:24
really good teams in the A10 on the women's side if we want to
39:26
have a chance at an at large. But the key was the first Test.
39:30
The first step was beating Davidson at home, and we did it
39:33
without one of our best. Players, I will maybe leave this
39:35
leave this on a positive note for the men.
39:37
I noticed today the men are one and O and quad 1.
39:41
There you go. Belmont's a Quad 1.
39:43
The Belmont, yeah, on the road they're like 58th or something
39:46
now. So I think it's top 75 on the
39:48
road or something is a quad 1. So we got a quad.
39:50
We're we're one or no quad one spiders.
39:53
Yeah, I'll give you, I'll leave you on this last thought to show
39:55
you my professional journalism chops.
39:57
I was in the post game presser and Coach Mooney put his jacket
39:59
down beside me before getting on camera and doing his his shtick.
40:03
And I love, you know, I love that red jacket.
40:05
I talk about it all the time. So when he came back to get it
40:07
on the way out, I said next time you leave that jacket next to
40:09
me, Coach, I'm taking it. So there you go.
40:14
There's my professional journalism chops.
40:16
Yeah, that that shows you're you're a pro.
40:19
Anyway, thanks guys for listening.
40:21
If you got this far, we really appreciate it.
40:24
Just share this with your friends.
40:25
Let's keep growing this thing and growing the Spider fandom.
40:30
Until next time, this is Tom. And this is Porter.
40:33
And this is spider sounding off. See you listen.
40:35
To their voices soothe your soul.