Latest / Spiders Sound Off / Inside Richmond Basketball with Chris Mooney: Leadership, Development & the New Era

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Inside Richmond Basketball with Chris Mooney: Leadership, Development & the New Era · Spiders Sound Off

• 0:04
  Hey everybody, welcome back to Spiders.
• 0:07
  Sound off. This is Tom.
• 0:08
  And this is Porter. Well, we've got a great treat
• 0:12
  for us and a treat for you is that we just finished recording
• 0:17
  a conversation with Coach Mooney.
• 0:19
  Any initial thoughts before we move on to that conversation
• 0:24
  with our audience? Just that like I really do
• 0:27
  think, you know, the, the pieces are in place for a, for a good
• 0:30
  run down the stretch. I know it's hard with recency
• 0:33
  bias being coming off some tough losses, but I really do think
• 0:35
  the ingredients are there to make a run and to and to be
• 0:38
  dangerous in March. Yeah, so enjoy that conversation
• 0:41
  with coach and we will be back with you sometime this weekend,
• 0:47
  hopefully after a big win at GW. And good morning everybody and
• 0:51
  welcome to Spider Sound off. We are joined by a very special
• 0:55
  guest this morning, Coach Chris Mooney of the men's team.
• 0:58
  Welcome coach to the Up to Spider.
• 1:00
  Sound off. Thank you guys.
• 1:02
  Really appreciate you guys having me on.
• 1:04
  Now our pleasure. We know it's it's not probably
• 1:07
  super fun to do media the day after a tough loss, but we do
• 1:10
  appreciate you coming on. We know that you're going to be
• 1:14
  busy getting ready for the next game, but definitely it's an
• 1:17
  excitement for us. Haven't haven't the head coach
• 1:19
  of the men's team join Spider Sound off.
• 1:22
  Quick question for you. So my social feed showed me a
• 1:26
  picture just yesterday of you with the two Martelli's.
• 1:30
  Can you tell us a little bit about, you know, what happened
• 1:32
  there? Yeah, so, so Phillip Martelli,
• 1:39
  the current head coach of ECU, Phillip's son goes to collegiate
• 1:44
  with my son Danny, and I was on the basketball team.
• 1:47
  They're in the same grade, both sophomores, and so we've been
• 1:51
  able to see each other, actually probably about four or five of
• 1:53
  the games. And then Coach Martelli was in
• 1:58
  town. They had played Saint Joe's, I
• 2:00
  guess, on MLK Day and stayed in town and, and went by and caught
• 2:04
  the game. So it was great.
• 2:05
  We sat together, hung out and talked Philadelphia stories and
• 2:09
  A10 basketball for a while. So it was, it was, it was great
• 2:12
  to see Coach Martelli. And, you know, I've known
• 2:14
  Phillip forever and, you know, great family and really, really,
• 2:18
  really nice people. Yeah.
• 2:20
  Did the younger Bartelli congratulate you on joining his
• 2:24
  father and the most a ten wins category?
• 2:29
  He did not mention that. He did not mention that.
• 2:31
  So I'm just going to say that might be a little bit of
• 2:33
  dartboard material for the upcoming VCU games.
• 2:36
  That's an obvious snub, coach, so we're just pointing that out
• 2:40
  for sure. But But tell us about what it
• 2:42
  means just to be on the list with Cheney and Martelli as you
• 2:46
  know, the winningest A10 coach in history for conference games.
• 2:51
  Yeah, this morning that's it doesn't mean so much, but you
• 2:55
  know, it's what what's interesting about it is that,
• 2:58
  you know, I'm from Philadelphia and, you know, have known Coach
• 3:04
  Martelli and knew Coach Cheney forever.
• 3:06
  You know, essentially my whole my whole life and or my whole,
• 3:10
  you know, since I was in high school.
• 3:12
  And you know, those guys are icons in in Philadelphia
• 3:16
  basketball. You know, Coach Cheney, I was
• 3:19
  one of the most unique, successful and amazing coach.
• 3:22
  You know, you couldn't when you would drive through
• 3:25
  Philadelphia, his saying was winning as an attitude and you
• 3:28
  really couldn't go too many days without saying that on a
• 3:30
  billboard or a commercial. It was temp became Temple
• 3:34
  University slogan. He came to watch me play.
• 3:38
  We used to play in the Sunny Hill League, which was at Temple
• 3:41
  in Saint Joe's, the games in the summer.
• 3:44
  And I had I had been playing pretty well.
• 3:47
  And Coach Shaney came to see me play and he, you know, he just
• 3:50
  told me how you played inside the whole time.
• 3:52
  So he he he was he was moving on.
• 3:55
  But even that was a thrill. And coach Martelli, I mean, I
• 3:59
  think probably has raised more money for coaches versus cancer
• 4:02
  than, you know, most of the other coaches combined.
• 4:07
  You know, he he was a a high school coach at Bishop Camrick,
• 4:10
  which is in the Philadelphia Catholic League, which is where
• 4:11
  I played, and then a 10 year assistant at Saint Joe's.
• 4:15
  And you know, again, those guys really embody Philadelphia
• 4:18
  basketball. I've probably been at ten
• 4:20
  banquets where Coach Martelli spoke and they could be CYO
• 4:23
  banquets or high school banquets, Philadelphia Catholic
• 4:26
  League banquets, just, you know, so good with his time and, you
• 4:30
  know, represents everything that the that Philadelphia basketball
• 4:32
  in the Philadelphia Catholic League aspires to.
• 4:35
  And so for me, those guys, you know, there'd be no category I
• 4:41
  could be in with them. So that that that makes it
• 4:44
  certainly special and surreal. But I look at those guys in a
• 4:47
  far different category than just basketball coaches.
• 4:50
  Did you get to coach against Cheney your first year at
• 4:54
  Richmond? Yes, I did.
• 4:56
  And you know, they, they played, you know, of course, famously a
• 5:00
  match up zone and, but different than the match up zone we
• 5:05
  played, they they would play a a bit more of a zone defense and
• 5:08
  tailor it to their opponent. Whereas we played a match, Our
• 5:13
  match up zone was very much man to man switching 1st and then,
• 5:17
  you know, exchange, you know, staying in our spots on certain
• 5:20
  cuts and things. And they played us a 131 zone.
• 5:23
  And you know, it's funny, you see that match up zone on TV and
• 5:29
  it feels like, well, just, you know, move the ball, get it to
• 5:31
  the high post and then, you know, you have 3610 guys and 265
• 5:36
  guards. I think 2 of the guards played
• 5:38
  in the NBA. And it was, it was a long, it
• 5:41
  was a long day. As a matter of fact, we played
• 5:42
  there and then went to Saint Joe's a few days later and, you
• 5:48
  know, really got, really got crushed in, in both games.
• 5:52
  And we're pretty outmatched. And there's a kind of a famous
• 5:56
  among the guys on the team, a famous speech that we gave that
• 6:00
  I gave after the Saint Joe's game.
• 6:03
  It was a second part of that trip.
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  And, you know, I was not only felt bad about the results of
• 6:08
  the game, but it was in Philadelphia as my first time
• 6:10
  coaching. And we really, you know, we
• 6:12
  really weren't in either game. And I just talked about that
• 6:16
  when these guys came back to visit school, the program would
• 6:19
  be unrecognizable. And, you know, we'd have guys in
• 6:22
  the gym all the time, guys who wanted to play, guys who were
• 6:25
  here played together and all that kind of thing.
• 6:29
  And so that was pretty special. Those guys, I remember
• 6:32
  celebrating with them in Atlantic City when we won, when
• 6:36
  we won the A10 tournament and and 10 or 11.
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  And so it's pretty special full circle moment that that began
• 6:44
  with a very tough trip to Philadelphia.
• 6:46
  Yeah, nice, nice. So to take you back to the
• 6:50
  present for a second year to date, you know, you've got 20
• 6:54
  games worth of data. Now what?
• 6:56
  You know, what is what are we doing well at Richmond
• 6:58
  Basketball and what do we need to work on?
• 7:01
  Yeah, I would say that we are you know, with the exception of
• 7:10
  the Saint Joe's game, I feel like we are playing with energy.
• 7:15
  You know, we have some groups out there and and re watching
• 7:17
  some of the games, you know, whether it's Power black or a
• 7:22
  national broadcast team, you know, pointing out how small we
• 7:25
  are at times. And that's that's true, but I
• 7:28
  think we are making up for that with playing with energy and
• 7:32
  we're moving well. You know, I think in conference
• 7:37
  we're averaging, you know, like 8 turnovers a game, even though
• 7:40
  we, you know, we generally pass the ball more than most teams.
• 7:42
  So we're have more possessions because of the the pace we're
• 7:47
  trying to play at. I think we're playing, with the
• 7:51
  exception of the Saint Louis game, we're playing well
• 7:53
  defensively. We're you know, so there, there
• 7:57
  are some positive things there. I I think that what we need to
• 8:01
  improve on, as you know, we probably need to take a few more
• 8:05
  threes. We're shooting a a very good
• 8:08
  percentage from three. You know, we have some guys who
• 8:13
  can score in the mid range, Aiden, David Thomas, Will, Will
• 8:16
  Johnston, AJ Lopez and I'm not, you know, I think we need to get
• 8:22
  ourselves easier 2 point baskets.
• 8:24
  So part of playing in transition and playing up tempo by design
• 8:30
  that helps you get a few easier twos and threes.
• 8:34
  I, I, you know, I want us to be able to get easier 2 point
• 8:37
  baskets. So, you know, even the play
• 8:39
  Jonathan Beagle turned his ankle yesterday at a nice post moves
• 8:43
  on the baseline. You know, we had a tip in on 2
• 8:46
  possessions before that. So you, you want to try to get
• 8:48
  easier 2 point baskets. Can you generate those in
• 8:51
  transition off of turnovers? Can you generate those and, and
• 8:55
  our low post touches, can you generate those like we have over
• 8:59
  the years on cuts to the basket? We just need to find a few more
• 9:04
  of those while also focus on on taking more catch and shoot
• 9:08
  threes, which we've been, we know we've really converted on
• 9:11
  at a high rate. So I think that's offensively, I
• 9:14
  think defensively, you know, we've we've stolen the ball a
• 9:20
  little bit here. You know, we have, you know,
• 9:23
  what with Mike and Jonathan have been great defensive rebounders,
• 9:27
  you know, with their status unknown for today and for the
• 9:31
  immediate future, that's going to be more of a challenge.
• 9:34
  You know, we need Jaden Daughtry to play as he did last night
• 9:38
  because he's a dynamic player, very unique.
• 9:41
  So we need these things to all happen.
• 9:43
  You know, AJ being in foul trouble really hurt last night
• 9:47
  because of the other, you know, players we had that weren't in
• 9:51
  the game. So I, I think there's a laundry
• 9:54
  list always, you know, if you're an undefeated team, there's a
• 9:56
  laundry list of things that you could do better.
• 9:59
  But I would say it boils down to that.
• 10:01
  Can we get easier twos, focus on shooting more threes that are
• 10:05
  these catch and shoot threes that we're that we're very good
• 10:07
  at. And then defensive, defensively,
• 10:10
  even be scrappier, even be scrappier.
• 10:13
  And you know, I don't want to take too many chances
• 10:17
  necessarily, but when we have those opportunities that turn
• 10:20
  teams over to four shot clock violations, really dig in in
• 10:23
  those moments. You know, it's interesting you
• 10:25
  talked about thoughts here. I remember earlier in the year
• 10:28
  when he started playing more, you made the comment of like
• 10:30
  both he's learning our system and the system's learning how to
• 10:35
  use him. And you mentioned easier twos.
• 10:38
  Because I the thing that I'm sure is not part of your plan is
• 10:41
  when he's at the three-point line and has to back his player
• 10:43
  all the way down to score. He's good at that.
• 10:46
  But it's like, how do you get him as an example of like those
• 10:50
  easier twos? He seems to always have to work
• 10:52
  super hard to score. Yeah, no, that, I mean, not
• 10:56
  really. That's a perfect question.
• 10:59
  You know, he is good at that and that is part of basketball these
• 11:02
  days, but that that that's kind of a balance and and you know,
• 11:09
  him missing the summer has an impact on that because you know
• 11:13
  that we we recognize that he can do these.
• 11:17
  You know, that the two steals and light and dunks that he had
• 11:19
  last night in transition and some of the baskets he had are,
• 11:22
  are just, they seem very easy. And that's that's really, really
• 11:26
  nice during the course of the game.
• 11:28
  What what the balance is, is kind of utilizing his unique
• 11:32
  skill set, which can result in, you know, easy twos.
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  And as I think he gets better and better shots for other
• 11:39
  people too, because he's a good passer.
• 11:42
  And then also having him, you know, just master how we're
• 11:47
  trying to play. And I think he'll get easier
• 11:51
  twos if he masters how we're trying to play.
• 11:56
  And but it's taxing, it's hard. You're preparing for the next
• 11:58
  game. You're you're reviewing, you're
• 11:59
  going over your Special Situations and you're trying to
• 12:02
  get these things to happen. So we're tempted to rely on his
• 12:07
  unique skill set. And, you know, you're tempted to
• 12:10
  say, throwing the ball and back your man in and let's see what
• 12:12
  happens. And he's tempted to do that
• 12:15
  because he's so good at it. And so how can we start to make
• 12:19
  it that he gets, you know, a backdoor cut a drop off pass
• 12:22
  like he got from Will Johnston, you know, catches the ball
• 12:26
  closer to the block. So it's, it's not as taxing on
• 12:29
  him to, to get to get himself into the lane.
• 12:31
  So, yeah, I think that's the progress we're trying to make.
• 12:34
  And and, you know, we recognize and he recognizes what what he
• 12:39
  can bring. And I think when it when it is,
• 12:42
  when we get there, it'll be great.
• 12:44
  It'll be wonderful. But it is, it's, it's a it's a
• 12:48
  little bit of a road to get there.
• 12:49
  And we're going to keep working at it as hard as we can.
• 12:52
  Coach we, we attended or I attended 2 practices this year,
• 12:55
  1 early summer one in September and early summer Argar bright
• 12:59
  look good and by the end of the summer he looked amazing.
• 13:03
  And then early summer, you know, Will Harper looked a little bit
• 13:07
  lost. Full disclosure, that's a
• 13:08
  podcasters opinion and right now he's looking like, you know, a
• 13:13
  real weapon for you. Can you tell us a little bit
• 13:15
  about how encouraging it is to see Arga Bright's progress in
• 13:19
  the system and then Harper's progress in the system?
• 13:23
  And then talk about kind of what it's like for a incoming player
• 13:26
  to, you know, come up to speed to where there are a meaningful
• 13:29
  asset, you know, in A10 play. Yeah, another great question.
• 13:33
  I, I think that we have this, you know, among the videos that
• 13:37
  we show to recruits on campus that kind of talks about our,
• 13:41
  how we play. And you know, what, if there's a
• 13:45
  clip of me saying, you know, the, when a guy has a very good
• 13:48
  sense for the game, it, it's pretty easy because the patterns
• 13:54
  and the, and the reads make sense to him.
• 13:57
  You know, so somebody who doesn't have quite as good of a
• 13:59
  feel, you know, he might start to try to memorize what he's
• 14:03
  supposed to do. But the guys who have a good
• 14:05
  feel instinctually that, well, they would have cut their
• 14:08
  anyway, or they would have made that decision anyway.
• 14:10
  So then it's just blending it and make, you know, the, the,
• 14:14
  the positives of it are that it doesn't stop.
• 14:16
  There's always something to go to.
• 14:20
  So for Aiden, you know, among his great attributes is
• 14:25
  quickness, his confidence and fearlessness.
• 14:29
  He really has a great sense. And you know, I think that's why
• 14:31
  one of the reasons been to the free throw line so much and, you
• 14:34
  know, understanding not, you know, not when to attack in
• 14:40
  terms of when the coach wants you to attack them, when to
• 14:42
  attack when your players off balance or when your defender is
• 14:47
  looking the other way or, you know, whatever the case may be.
• 14:51
  So that is something that has really got even even gotten
• 14:55
  better and and been enhanced. And Will Harper, I think same
• 15:00
  way I think Will's overwhelming positives are his
• 15:04
  competitiveness and his confidence.
• 15:08
  And you know, even last night's game, I might have the timing
• 15:11
  wrong. There's about 3 minutes to go
• 15:12
  and he makes a drive in from the left wing.
• 15:14
  And you know, we're a little bit last night without the centers,
• 15:21
  you know, who's really the hub of what we're trying to do.
• 15:23
  We're a little bit, we were, we were moving well, but a little
• 15:28
  bit back and forth, you know, so to speak.
• 15:31
  And so him making a drive because he confident enough to
• 15:35
  seize the seize the crease, whatever gets themselves to the
• 15:38
  free throw line. That's pretty impressive.
• 15:40
  And anybody new, I think the way we play is a little bit
• 15:46
  different. I think if you asked all the
• 15:47
  guys who have played here, they now believe, you know, they
• 15:52
  believe this is the way you play.
• 15:53
  So it's, you know, we've talked about in the transfer portal
• 15:58
  error. Do you dumb things down or do
• 16:00
  you make it? I shouldn't say dumb things
• 16:02
  down. Do you simplify what maybe
• 16:05
  you're trying to do? Well, then it becomes all about
• 16:07
  the talent that you're able to get.
• 16:09
  And so if you can play in a style and, and sign the guys who
• 16:15
  have this good feel and can pass and really not only understand,
• 16:24
  but embrace the style of play and you know that that can be a,
• 16:29
  a, a significant advantage. And so to do it as freshman is
• 16:33
  impressive. We've had freshman do it before,
• 16:37
  but probably not, maybe not to the level Aiden has.
• 16:39
  And I think Will Harper more and more is going to become that
• 16:42
  much more integral part of this team.
• 16:44
  That shows your confidence in Harper that he was on the floor
• 16:47
  with two minutes to play last night.
• 16:48
  You know, I mean, he's really come just so far this year.
• 16:51
  That's just worth mentioning because I think it's it's
• 16:53
  definitely impressive, his progress.
• 16:55
  I agree, remember. And we, and we put it in that,
• 16:58
  that part of that practice, that that was a practice where you
• 17:01
  were at moments having to flip the microphone up to, to, to
• 17:06
  correct some things that Will was doing.
• 17:08
  So it's, it is fun for us to have like experienced that
• 17:11
  moment to now see him out on the court where, you know, I think
• 17:15
  the average fan is like, well, he went from not playing to
• 17:17
  playing. But we, you know, we've seen
• 17:19
  that practice where where he was playing and, and not playing the
• 17:22
  way you were hoping or wanted at the time.
• 17:25
  And it's kind of fun to see that progress dramatically, really,
• 17:29
  for him. On the court.
• 17:31
  In the last. Month for him so.
• 17:32
  Oh, good. I appreciate that.
• 17:33
  That's great. Awesome.
• 17:35
  Question for you, this is a this is just a random question.
• 17:38
  So stoppages in play. I've always wondered, you guys
• 17:43
  huddle, the coaches huddle on one side, the players sit in a
• 17:45
  semi circle. Usually one coach is talking to
• 17:48
  the players while the other three coaches are talking to
• 17:50
  each other. Tell us about, like, what do you
• 17:53
  guys talk about in that little coach's side huddle?
• 17:55
  And then how do you communicate what you talk about to the
• 17:57
  players? Yeah, that's that's interesting.
• 18:01
  So, you know, some some of the coaches huddles aren't suitable
• 18:05
  for even even this podcast. But so it's, well, the
• 18:12
  interesting point is when you know, I, I, I don't know if I, I
• 18:17
  think I was here and people started to bring out the little
• 18:19
  chairs for the the time out huddle.
• 18:22
  You know, and like a lot of things is like, but that seems
• 18:24
  silly. What's the big deal?
• 18:25
  And then of course, we started to bring out the little chairs
• 18:27
  for the time out huddle. And one, one reason we do it,
• 18:32
  how we do it is we meet as coaches on the baseline.
• 18:37
  And that's so that I'm not because if we went out toward
• 18:42
  half court and came into the huddle the other way, which we
• 18:45
  used to do, then I'm tempted to maybe talk to the official.
• 18:49
  And so we changed it so that the coaches would just immediately
• 18:53
  go toward the baseline so that there's no temptation to talk to
• 18:57
  the official about a previous play or anything like that.
• 19:01
  And so that was that's one that was very, very like, you know,
• 19:08
  strategic and specific, like we wanted to make sure that limit
• 19:11
  that access. And then the coaches, you know,
• 19:15
  to be honest with you, the assistants, you know, are are,
• 19:20
  you know, critical in that in that huddle, just because you
• 19:24
  know that the head coach tends to in a in a one way positive,
• 19:28
  see the whole thing and, you know, including the negatives.
• 19:32
  And then the assistants tend to see that play that, you know,
• 19:37
  that usually the coaches that has the scalp is in there.
• 19:40
  Usually the coaches on offense that you know, that the coach is
• 19:44
  talking about defense. So, you know, when it's talking
• 19:47
  about what should we run next? When how are they guarding the
• 19:49
  ball screen? What can we do there?
• 19:52
  Which kind of gets me back to focusing on the specifics and
• 19:57
  not, Hey, why is this guy? Why didn't he play well?
• 20:02
  And. Or, you know, or why didn't he
• 20:03
  make that decision? Or Can you believe he dropped
• 20:05
  that ball? And gets me a little bit more
• 20:08
  focused. And then, you know, often we
• 20:11
  we've kind of had this little bit of a tradition here that we
• 20:15
  want a guy to sit in my seat before I get there.
• 20:19
  And so, you know, we've had different guys do it, You know,
• 20:23
  Jacob Gilliard, you know, would do it sometimes.
• 20:26
  Kevin Huffy would do it when he was a a player here.
• 20:31
  You know, Grant Golden once in a while, although he was so
• 20:35
  sweaty, we we kind of didn't want him to.
• 20:37
  I didn't want him to do it. It's a different.
• 20:41
  Strategy. Yeah, and we just wanted guys to
• 20:43
  be in there, you know, Dalani Hunt, you know, to be in there
• 20:46
  and you know, because we we want that circle to be nice and tight
• 20:51
  and we want the guys to to have some talking in there.
• 20:54
  And and maybe the guys on The Who are in the game or in those
• 20:58
  little chairs are tired or, you know, they just got a Charlie
• 21:03
  horse so that, you know, all those things are happening.
• 21:05
  So we want there to be a little bit of of discussion there, not
• 21:07
  to be quiet. And then usually when I get in,
• 21:11
  it's really more just the next play, what we're going to do
• 21:14
  once we get into the huddle, You know, when I was younger was
• 21:17
  probably a little bit more ranting and raving in those
• 21:20
  huddles. And that still exists sometimes,
• 21:23
  but it's usually a little bit more of, hey, this is what we
• 21:26
  want to do on this next play, whether we're on offense and
• 21:28
  we're defense. You know, it's interesting.
• 21:30
  I reflect on something that Mike Wall said, I think earlier this
• 21:34
  year, I think it was during the summer, was that talking about
• 21:37
  last year's team that when Delaney went down, everyone was
• 21:40
  like, well, that was our one leader and what do we do now?
• 21:44
  And what Mike was saying like with this unit, there's a lot of
• 21:46
  leaders and I think I've I've seen that, but want to talk
• 21:49
  about kind of whether it's Johnston or it's what it's Mike.
• 21:53
  Like it seems like you've got a broader leadership team this
• 21:57
  year, which obviously can helps you have that coach on the court
• 22:01
  as you go forward. Yes, yeah, I think that I agree.
• 22:05
  I think Will Johnston, I mean, I think he has natural leadership
• 22:08
  qualities. Obviously, when you grow up
• 22:10
  playing point guard and have the ball, that's just, you know,
• 22:15
  that's your most natural position to be a leader.
• 22:19
  And, and the type of leader that he is, He's he's calm, he's
• 22:24
  positive, he's thoughtful. He he's, he's very, very good.
• 22:28
  And he's also when he whether he's in the game or out, he's in
• 22:33
  tune and and he's really, he's really on it and has, you know,
• 22:37
  really good. I mean, yeah, I love the kid.
• 22:38
  He's he's really from that standpoint, just tremendous.
• 22:45
  I think you know, Mike and you know, the guys who have been
• 22:51
  here have that advantage and I think Mike leadership a lot.
• 22:55
  You know, he'll often not want to come out at practice and
• 22:59
  wants to get more reps. And you know, there are some
• 23:01
  days when you're, you know, like right now we're going to play
• 23:04
  three games in seven days where you know, you want to you want
• 23:08
  to not skip anything, but you also want to make sure that you
• 23:12
  prioritize guys being fresh and Mike really wants all the reps
• 23:16
  and attacks those reps at 100%. Very impressive and talks
• 23:22
  throughout those reps and then when we do drag him out, talks
• 23:25
  while he's out. So that's really positive.
• 23:27
  I think Jaden Daughtry, you know, Jaden is the most dynamic
• 23:31
  player maybe that we've had and he's an emotional player, which
• 23:38
  is a extremely positive in some respects and can be when he's
• 23:43
  neutral, that can be a negative because we want to feel his
• 23:46
  energy and emotion. But he's really really and and
• 23:50
  his are a fearlessness, you know, for the moment for the
• 23:55
  opponent, for a way game. And that's really important, you
• 24:00
  know, and I think that Aiden and Will are going to Will Harper
• 24:04
  going to grow into leader leadership guys.
• 24:07
  Certainly Aiden again, having the ball, you know, already
• 24:10
  having done a lot in it in his brief career.
• 24:13
  So, yeah, we do have ways to go to stretch that, you know,
• 24:16
  sometimes, you know, I I thought leadership has in general
• 24:23
  declined over the years from players.
• 24:27
  And I say that because one, obviously the moving around and
• 24:32
  the and, and guys aren't as, you know, it's, it's much easier to
• 24:34
  be a leader when it's the, you know, the 35th time you've gone
• 24:38
  into halftime trailing and, and you, you know, you need to be
• 24:41
  ready and you understand the coach is going to be upset.
• 24:43
  Oh, it's just much easier. Secondly, the guys, you know,
• 24:49
  there was a time when guys would be considering transfers and
• 24:53
  the, you know, the team would not beat them up, but they were,
• 24:56
  they were really offended and they were really, they had such
• 24:59
  ownership of the program that they were, you know, they didn't
• 25:02
  want that, you know, and they, they wanted, they wanted that
• 25:06
  guy to understand. And now, you know, the more that
• 25:10
  the way guys act is very respectful of each other's
• 25:14
  journey and that seems to take priority over the over the team.
• 25:20
  And you know, that that I think has impacted leadership member
• 25:25
  Kendall Anthony. I mean, he would, he would get
• 25:27
  on guys, you know, and, and you know, Kendall's playing his
• 25:32
  senior year and he's, you know, he's got a 7:00 AM lift and 2:00
• 25:37
  shooting session and 3:00 practice and watching film after
• 25:41
  the game, after practice. You know that, you know, that
• 25:45
  grinds on someone who feels like he's not getting the most out of
• 25:48
  his teammates. And so you lose that to a
• 25:51
  certain extent. And so with Will, we're lucky,
• 25:54
  Mike being a fourth year senior with Will being a natural
• 25:58
  leader, we're, we're pretty lucky to have that.
• 26:00
  And hopefully that impacts some of our younger guys as well.
• 26:03
  That's awesome. Switching to the portal for a
• 26:06
  second, we had Jim Merritt on talking in a previous episode
• 26:11
  about kind of, you know, raising money for, you know, the the
• 26:15
  payment of players and some of the challenges and opportunities
• 26:19
  that we have here at Richmond. And Thomas just recently done a
• 26:23
  little bit of research on some of the changes with the portal.
• 26:26
  Well, obviously, like, I mean, you're living this change.
• 26:29
  Like I think my understanding the current roster is like the
• 26:31
  old model, the collective, and now you've got the new model and
• 26:36
  there was just a change in the last week.
• 26:38
  Love to get your thoughts on it. Where they changed the dates?
• 26:41
  I think it used to be, I'd say used to like it's always been
• 26:44
  that way, but last year it was, you know, after the first
• 26:47
  weekend of the tournament, the portal opens.
• 26:50
  Like that naturally creates a bunch of conflicts of like when
• 26:54
  do you start talking to your existing players?
• 26:55
  How do you when do you start recruiting new players?
• 26:57
  They've moved it to the the day after the tournament and now
• 27:01
  it's 15 days. Like what's your when you when?
• 27:03
  And that's effective immediately.
• 27:05
  So it was kind of your general thoughts when that change came
• 27:08
  out? Yeah, to be honest, fellas, it's
• 27:13
  it's completely irrelevant and and doesn't matter.
• 27:15
  I mean, the portal is open 365 days a year.
• 27:21
  That's just semantics. And that's just what the rule
• 27:24
  looks like. But, you know, the day after the
• 27:28
  national championship, you know, my my wife is Cuban.
• 27:31
  And so Hurricanes fans and then Fernando Mendoza seems like the
• 27:37
  greatest story in sports history.
• 27:39
  And, you know, the next day his brother transferred to Georgia
• 27:43
  Tech after the most magical. So, you know, obviously that's
• 27:49
  in place a long time ago. And and that's that's after the
• 27:55
  greatest thing that ever happened.
• 27:57
  So, yeah, it's completely irrelevant.
• 28:00
  You know, every word we're using these days, like the portal
• 28:05
  opening or closing the contract. Yeah, eligibility, all, all
• 28:15
  those words mean nothing. I mean it.
• 28:21
  It really all means nothing. So, you know, in terms of, you
• 28:25
  know, we, you know, I, I hope this isn't a silly thought here
• 28:33
  that, you know, in, in the, in the, in the future, we really
• 28:36
  want to have retention at Richmond.
• 28:38
  It's just something I believe in.
• 28:41
  You know, if you looked at Jai Bailey, who's a wonderful
• 28:44
  spider, if you look at his stats for his first three years,
• 28:49
  there'd be no predicting that he'd be one of the most
• 28:51
  important players on the A10 championship team as senior
• 28:54
  year. And that happens because he was
• 28:56
  here and he, you know, we had the hard emotional conversations
• 29:02
  in my office and, you know, all, all that goes into it.
• 29:05
  And I'm not necessarily saying it should go back to the old
• 29:08
  way, but we really want retention because of what what
• 29:13
  Richmond is. And we want what we want
• 29:15
  Richmond basketball to be. And also we think that's the
• 29:17
  best way for Richmond basketball to be good.
• 29:19
  I it doesn't feel like we're going to go out and sign
• 29:23
  somebody from the G League or be able to attract the, you know,
• 29:31
  the an NBA prospect that we're going to do it as coach Tarrant
• 29:37
  did it as Coach Beeline did it with guys who are here and
• 29:42
  appreciate love Richmond and, and pour the heart out for
• 29:44
  Richmond. And I don't want that to sound
• 29:46
  naive. I think it's also a basketball
• 29:48
  strategy. But those, those changes could
• 29:53
  not be in my world. Those changes could not be less
• 29:56
  relevant. You know, you guys can enter the
• 30:00
  portal at every time, at any time.
• 30:01
  You know, they call them contracts.
• 30:03
  Really they're just agreements to be paid while the school has
• 30:06
  to reserve a roster spot and pay the pay the player.
• 30:14
  You know, they talk about roster limits or eligibility.
• 30:18
  Ohio State, just some sign, somebody who's already played
• 30:20
  five years. Alabama signed a guy from the G
• 30:25
  League. Baylor signed a guy from the G
• 30:27
  League. You know, it's not only that
• 30:28
  whether those things are right or wrong, that's to be
• 30:32
  determined by whomever. It's that the, you know, nobody
• 30:36
  even knows what rules we're playing by.
• 30:38
  So, you know, those things are just completely irrelevant in
• 30:44
  our will. How does Zen, I mean, because
• 30:46
  like, you know, I'm looking at Richmond's roster.
• 30:49
  You have kind of some promising, really promising.
• 30:52
  I'll use the words underclassmen now on the team.
• 30:54
  So like, how do you guys, you know, have conversations during
• 30:59
  the season, you know, with those underclassmen to let them know
• 31:02
  the importance of the Richmond Way and what you're building?
• 31:06
  Yeah, that, you know, again, that's probably the most
• 31:08
  important thing. I, I would say the natural.
• 31:12
  I have mentioned this to a lot of parents over the years of in
• 31:17
  recruiting and of our our younger players.
• 31:21
  I believe we've had the rookie of the year 3 times.
• 31:24
  I think we've had all rookie team players say 7 or 8 times.
• 31:28
  I can remember 100 tough days for all of those freshmen.
• 31:35
  I can barely remember any good ones.
• 31:38
  And those are the guys who did great by any standard.
• 31:41
  You know, if you're an all rookie in a 14 team league at
• 31:43
  this level, you're a pretty good player who had a pretty, pretty
• 31:46
  magical freshman year. And I can remember all the hard
• 31:50
  times, you know, and Kevin Anderson, Kendall Anthony
• 31:54
  Damonte Buckingham next year. I mean, it is it is hard
• 31:59
  weightlifting, film study, the physicality of practice.
• 32:02
  You know, you you go and practice and you enter that
• 32:06
  second hour and the guy you're competing against, it's his
• 32:10
  500th practice and it's your 15th.
• 32:13
  You have no advantage there and you can't believe that you're
• 32:17
  practicing after a one hour lift.
• 32:21
  So that that's an you know, now then you start to see the
• 32:28
  benefits of it, hopefully because your body stronger, your
• 32:31
  understanding of basketball is better, the competition level,
• 32:34
  the camaraderie that's built, the the level of care we want to
• 32:38
  provide at Richmond. So but it is it is hard.
• 32:43
  And so you want to be able to see some of those bright spots.
• 32:49
  You know, obviously games at the Robin Center of the travel, you
• 32:53
  know, playing in big time atmosphere, being on TV, all
• 32:55
  those things. You want to see some of those
• 32:58
  bright spots so you could get by the frustration and your body's
• 33:02
  tired and all of those things. So, yeah, we want those guys to
• 33:07
  to be good. We're going to be very proactive
• 33:09
  with those guys in terms of, of in terms of our commitment to
• 33:14
  them. And we want, you know, we, we
• 33:17
  always want that. We've even, you know, the guys
• 33:19
  we've redshirted. We have high hopes for the guys
• 33:21
  we've who are playing, we have high hopes for.
• 33:23
  And you know what, most importantly, I want them to
• 33:26
  graduate from Richmond and we're going to do everything we can
• 33:29
  from the supporters of the program to the collective to the
• 33:34
  board, every everything on down to make sure that we have those
• 33:38
  guys and and and Richmond basketball uniforms their whole
• 33:40
  career. Hey, just a tactical question.
• 33:43
  Do like most players today have an agent?
• 33:45
  So you've got like the the player conversation and then
• 33:48
  there's the separate kind of money conversation with the
• 33:51
  agent. Is that kind of the the way of
• 33:52
  the world right now? Yes, I, I would say that 80% of
• 33:57
  them have an agent. I would say probably, maybe
• 34:04
  speaking generally, not just in Richmond, I'd say half of the
• 34:07
  half of the guys are leveling up, have a licensed aid, like a
• 34:11
  real agency agent. Some of them have somebody
• 34:15
  representing them who might not be licensed or might be a friend
• 34:19
  or something like that. But yeah, we have, we have those
• 34:24
  conversations and you know, that part, to be honest, that cleans
• 34:28
  up some of the OR so I should say that it gets to the point of
• 34:34
  the recruiting a little bit more quickly.
• 34:37
  And I don't begrudge anybody for having an agent.
• 34:39
  I don't think it's, I don't think it's and I think that's
• 34:44
  fine and good. Especially, you know, I have an
• 34:46
  agent, you know, I want him to look out for the best of me.
• 34:49
  And my job's Richmond basketball.
• 34:51
  His job is me. And I've, you know, for the
• 34:53
  players, I remind them of that, you know, those guys, they want
• 34:56
  them to play well, you know, but we we need guys who want
• 34:58
  Richmond to play well. But that has not been an issue.
• 35:01
  That has been something that's pretty seamless and has gone has
• 35:06
  gone very well for us. Yeah, Speaking of agents, Tom's
• 35:08
  my agent. But so far the perks, the perks
• 35:10
  have not been good and well, you.
• 35:12
  Know he's got he's, yeah, he's sick, you know?
• 35:14
  He's losing his voice questioning, you know, like the
• 35:17
  seats uncomfortable that I'm in, right?
• 35:19
  Like we need a better backdrop for the future seasons.
• 35:21
  So. Yeah, that's right.
• 35:23
  One more question for you. We do have a lot that we want to
• 35:26
  cover, but I, but I, I mentioned to, to Jason, we would love to
• 35:29
  get you back after the season where we have more time to talk
• 35:31
  about roster, like what's your team building philosophy, things
• 35:34
  like that. And you'll hear me use the word
• 35:35
  analytics and I know, you know, I'm probably the annoying
• 35:38
  analytics guy. All of that we'll say for the
• 35:40
  offseason, you mentioned the red shirts.
• 35:42
  Tell us a little bit about because we haven't talked about
• 35:44
  Diamond Richardson or Hominik. Tell us what how hard they're
• 35:47
  working, what you're seeing out of those guys in in practice,
• 35:49
  Yeah. What what you know, we've
• 35:51
  redshirted a lot of guys over the years and so we've always
• 35:53
  had a pretty much a formula and a plan for those guys.
• 35:56
  And one we always take the red shirt who is a a perimeter
• 36:01
  player and make him the point guard of the scout team.
• 36:03
  And whether he's a point guard or not, there's a gigantic
• 36:07
  amount of responsibility because you know, you're learning the
• 36:10
  other teams offense and systems as you begin your, your every
• 36:14
  every day. And so now you're learning ours,
• 36:17
  you have to know ours theirs and you have to direct people.
• 36:20
  And we do that to, you know, given most exposure to to
• 36:23
  college basketball. And so that's what Donovan's
• 36:26
  doing. And that's something I think
• 36:28
  Donovan can be very good at. And when we want to really keep
• 36:32
  working on them with. And then they all those guys
• 36:36
  also get in day of game workouts for about 35 minutes, hard
• 36:40
  workouts, workouts for their shooting drives, pick and roll
• 36:45
  reads, all those kinds of things.
• 36:46
  So that's an extra 35 workouts a year.
• 36:49
  They do extra lifts. So they're we're really trying
• 36:51
  to maximize their time. And we talked about from the day
• 36:53
  they decide to red shirt, they have 365 days with incredible
• 36:59
  facilities, a strength coach, a full staff of coaches that we
• 37:02
  really want them to, we really want to see improvement for
• 37:05
  those guys in those days. And, and we, and we have, and we
• 37:09
  over, over the course of time, Dylan a little bit different
• 37:11
  because he's a big guy. You know, it's, it's a real
• 37:15
  challenge to play to be a big guy on our, on our roster.
• 37:18
  I've always thought, you know, on these advanced statistics and
• 37:21
  analytics, we, you know, TJ and Grant Golden were like off the
• 37:24
  charts in terms of their usage rates and all these things.
• 37:28
  I've always wondered or hoped that we'd have, you know, some
• 37:31
  of the best big guys in the country, their parents call and
• 37:33
  just say now, hey, we'd really love to go to Richmond because
• 37:36
  you get the ball so much, you make so many decisions.
• 37:38
  And now more and more teams are playing like that, but it's hard
• 37:43
  because, you know, when you're a big guy, you, you've learned a
• 37:46
  lot of things like your footwork in the post and your strength
• 37:49
  and being tough. And, and while we also emphasize
• 37:53
  that, we're also asking you to make decisions and passes and
• 37:56
  handle the ball. And so Dylan has improved
• 37:58
  tremendously and Mike and Beagle have really helped him to be
• 38:02
  able to do that. So that's, that's positive.
• 38:06
  You know, Bryson and and Jalen Robinson, who redshirted last
• 38:09
  year, same thing. They showed great improvement.
• 38:12
  You know, Jalen, we're seeing it a little bit more and more in
• 38:15
  the games and Bryson hasn't quite cracked the line up yet.
• 38:19
  A harder line up to crack because we're playing so many
• 38:21
  guys. But that those are a big 365
• 38:25
  days and it's something I think we'll continue to do.
• 38:28
  Actually, I think it's something that'll be more prevalent in
• 38:30
  college basketball across the board because the opportunity to
• 38:34
  earn money in a fifth season. So it used to be something that,
• 38:40
  and still is sometimes, you know, the player feels
• 38:43
  embarrassed because, you know, he came from the poisonous trail
• 38:47
  of recruiting where he was told how great he was and how
• 38:52
  important he was and how he I don't know how the program
• 38:55
  existed before he got here to have to say, well, I'm going to
• 38:57
  red shirt and it's it feels like he's saying I'm not good enough
• 39:01
  to play when really it's they're investing a whole year in me
• 39:05
  because they think so highly of me.
• 39:07
  Now that's a message that's a little bit harder to convey.
• 39:11
  But I think now with the with the financial piece that might
• 39:14
  be a little bit easier for guys and guys might be looking
• 39:17
  forward to that a little bit more than they have in the past.
• 39:21
  Yeah, it's interesting. I never thought about that, but
• 39:22
  it makes so much sense. Like you've got five years of
• 39:25
  college income, at least in today.
• 39:26
  Yeah, if you believe those rules, yes.
• 39:31
  For now anyway. Chris, thank you so much for
• 39:33
  your time today. I know you've got a big game on
• 39:35
  Saturday. Hopefully you have at least one
• 39:37
  or maybe 2 centers. Yeah, who can play.
• 39:40
  Yeah. So hopefully rest up.
• 39:43
  And it sounds like the snow and sleet and all of that will be
• 39:46
  later. So right, you hopefully not
• 39:48
  interfere with anything Saturday afternoon.
• 39:50
  Yeah, Coach, we really appreciate, appreciate you
• 39:52
  coming on. Look forward to talking to you
• 39:53
  again and good luck this weekend.
• 39:56
  Guys, thank you very much. Always appreciate talking to you
• 39:58
  guys. Hey, thanks, Chris.
• 39:59
  Thanks.