Latest / Spiders Sound Off / Darien Brothers on the Sweet 16 Run, the Legendary VCU Shot & Richmond Basketball Memories

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Darien Brothers on the Sweet 16 Run, the Legendary VCU Shot & Richmond Basketball Memories · Spiders Sound Off

• 0:06
  Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Spider Sound
• 0:09
  Off. This is Tom.
• 0:10
  And this is Porter. And we are doing a midweek
• 0:14
  recording. We do have a special guest
• 0:16
  coming up to get us to not think too much about the men losing to
• 0:22
  Chicago, which remember I asked the question if we lose that
• 0:25
  pillow fight game of Chicago where we the worst team in the
• 0:27
  A10 and your answer was? Yes, we would be.
• 0:30
  And we did lose another game. We had a big giant lead and then
• 0:33
  decided to. We lost a 15 point lead and a 30
• 0:36
  point lead, which is pretty hard to do back-to-back.
• 0:38
  Quite frankly, just a terrible way to end the season.
• 0:41
  I know that nobody's happy about it and it's portal time.
• 0:45
  It's time to start building the roster for next year, Mooney
• 0:48
  said in his post game presser. 500 agents of his.
• 0:51
  Phone's blowing up his. Phone's blowing up one thought
• 0:53
  about that is we're in a place now where every every player is
• 0:56
  an asset and that each of these assets has a price and there's a
• 1:00
  price where a player is a good value and a place price where a
• 1:03
  player is not a good value. It's kind of like a stock,
• 1:05
  right? If you own Amazon or Apple, but
• 1:07
  you buy it for $500 a share, it's not maybe not a good deal,
• 1:10
  but if you buy for $100 share, it's a great deal.
• 1:12
  So we've got to be thinking now like you're investing in the
• 1:15
  market because you know, you got to get, you got to get the, the,
• 1:18
  the monetary prices, right, so that you can build the best
• 1:21
  roster possible to compete going forward.
• 1:23
  And that is another use for analytics.
• 1:25
  I'll just throw that out. There Yeah, Mr. Mr. Analytics
• 1:28
  Porter Shomo But I you know, I think when it comes to at some
• 1:32
  point, it's like what players are available that want to talk
• 1:35
  to a school that hasn't been to the tournament in a long time.
• 1:39
  So what you're saying is you might have to overpay.
• 1:41
  So if somebody's worth half a million, but you have to pay
• 1:43
  them 550 because. Yeah, I, yeah, I I would see
• 1:46
  there are places where there's slight overpays, but again, we
• 1:49
  do have great facilities. Virginia's a a great state to be
• 1:54
  in. Richmond is an awesome city.
• 1:55
  You know, this isn't, you know, strong North Dakota school
• 1:58
  trying to. Strong basketball culture,
• 2:00
  right? Yeah, so.
• 2:02
  A lot of reasons, I'm just saying now you're in a market
• 2:04
  and the market is, is not necessarily getting, you know,
• 2:07
  just a player, it's getting a player at a value.
• 2:09
  Yeah. And then we got we have to
• 2:11
  retain too, which is a big part of we got to get Argabright back
• 2:16
  at least sounds like in the post conference that he said he wants
• 2:19
  to be back. So whether we've already figured
• 2:21
  that out or we're about to figure that out, like he's a key
• 2:24
  part. He had a he had a really nice
• 2:25
  game, which actually was interesting in that game.
• 2:30
  He hasn't had a lot of games this year where he was big on
• 2:32
  the assist number. Like we've seen that he could be
• 2:34
  an elite score, but that was a game where he had six assists.
• 2:37
  Like I love like that's where he can really excel and where we
• 2:40
  can get to more of that. You know, good, good two point
• 2:43
  shooting if you've got a point guard who can drive and dish.
• 2:47
  On the way this. Is just drive and.
• 2:48
  Score for me watching the game, I ended up I was driving from an
• 2:51
  appointment, so I caught the first few minutes with the radio
• 2:53
  broadcast with I think it's Bob and Scott to do the radio
• 2:55
  broadcast. And I think Scott said, you
• 2:58
  know, one of the challenges we have is we have 32 guards and no
• 3:01
  true 1. And that's an interesting
• 3:04
  statement. But I think to me, Argarbright's
• 3:07
  got to be the one on next year's team at 5 foot 11.
• 3:09
  You just want your one to he's fast enough.
• 3:11
  He if he can pass it dish to create a little bit, you know,
• 3:14
  he can be an elite one in the league.
• 3:16
  I always thought of him as a little bit of a one, but yeah,
• 3:19
  we need him to be the one on that team next year and we need,
• 3:23
  you know, we need to definitely kind of construct the roster,
• 3:26
  you know, with a little bit of a different flair.
• 3:28
  I think to to be more con. So I'm.
• 3:30
  Taking a big stand here. Yeah.
• 3:32
  Just getting crazy. Yeah.
• 3:34
  So I think Argarbright is back, but I think the one is a
• 3:38
  freshman OK. You think it's going to be Deuce
• 3:40
  Simmons? Yeah, I think Simmons, I think.
• 3:42
  Deuce is going to be a great player.
• 3:43
  I mean, freshman. It's hard to ask the freshman to
• 3:45
  step up and run the whole offense, though.
• 3:46
  You know it's hard. Hey, what other spider
• 3:49
  basketball note? I don't know if you saw this,
• 3:52
  Tyler Burton got signed to a 10 day contract with Memphis.
• 3:55
  Yeah. That's fantastic.
• 3:56
  So I know we had Gilliard do that back and forth a little
• 3:59
  bit, never really got the full time contract, but got to go up
• 4:02
  and down a bunch. Tyler Burton, who we learned
• 4:05
  helped bring us Rachel Ostrom. Yeah, that's right.
• 4:07
  So it'll be fun to see what Tyler is able to do in the
• 4:10
  association. Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:12
  Anything else you want to talk about before we bring our guest?
• 4:14
  On no, we're fingers are crossed for the ladies on Sunday night.
• 4:17
  Hopefully we get we get that at large.
• 4:19
  So stay tuned. Hopefully there's some sort of a
• 4:21
  listening party somewhere at the university where we're watching
• 4:23
  party where we can we can gather.
• 4:24
  Yeah, yeah. So we'll, we'll, we'll spread
• 4:26
  that information when we get it. But again, we've got a guest
• 4:30
  coming up. Hopefully it gets us all to
• 4:31
  forget about the the rough season we had, a rough two
• 4:35
  seasons we've had now in a row, and we'll be able to reflect on
• 4:38
  some of the greatest moments in Spider history.
• 4:40
  We have an exciting guest today, folks.
• 4:42
  Let me tell you a little bit about this great Richmond
• 4:44
  spider. He was a sharpshooter, finished
• 4:47
  his career with 205, made three pointers which ranks top ten in
• 4:51
  Richmond history, shot over 40% from deep for his entire career
• 4:55
  which is the 6th best mark in the school's record books.
• 4:58
  His senior year he made 84 three pointers which is tied for third
• 5:01
  all time. He started for our Sweet 16 team
• 5:04
  back in 2011 and hit one of the great shots in Richmond history,
• 5:09
  a last second three against #16 VCU which sent a game to
• 5:13
  overtime where you are went on to win.
• 5:15
  So join me in welcoming to spider Sound off University of
• 5:19
  Richmond Hall of Famer Darien Brothers.
• 5:22
  Thank you. Thank you guys for having me.
• 5:24
  Great introduction. OK, well.
• 5:27
  Porter and I were debating this earlier.
• 5:28
  We're going to go from that great introduction into a little
• 5:30
  bit of a downer. I don't know if you saw, but the
• 5:32
  Spiders did get eliminated from the tournament yesterday.
• 5:36
  You know, you had this career and we'll spend a lot more time
• 5:38
  on an hour because NCA as their freshman and sophomore year, you
• 5:41
  probably thought it was going to happen every year.
• 5:43
  And then your junior and senior year, you, you know, we're also
• 5:46
  kind of part of being eliminated in the 810 tournament.
• 5:49
  Like I'm sure you feel for the players when they go kind of go
• 5:52
  through that and can reflect on it.
• 5:53
  Like what, what is that experience like when you're on
• 5:56
  the, you know, you're in the a 10 tournament and your, your
• 5:58
  season is over and you didn't get to the, you know, the goal
• 6:02
  that you had all along was to kind of get to the tournament.
• 6:05
  Yeah, it's, it's a tough feeling for those guys.
• 6:07
  You know, I watched the last game versus Duquesne, watch the
• 6:10
  game against Loyola Chicago and it's tough.
• 6:13
  You know, the guys are playing a bunch of games, you know,
• 6:15
  battling a lot of injuries and stuff and, and it's a tough
• 6:17
  time. It's when I go home, you know,
• 6:20
  some days you may be clicking and some days you may not.
• 6:22
  So it was definitely a tough stretch for those guys, but I'm
• 6:26
  sure a lot of them will be back and, you know, continue,
• 6:28
  continue playing so. Darren, tell us about your
• 6:31
  recruitment. You start at Benedictine before
• 6:34
  committing to Richmond. So you're one of the one of the
• 6:37
  folks that stayed local. You started here, you kind of
• 6:40
  you stayed here. You played with some great
• 6:42
  players at Benedictine. But tell us about what it's
• 6:44
  like, you know, playing in front of your hometown crowd.
• 6:48
  It was, it's actually awesome. You know, my whole family's
• 6:50
  there, my parents, my brother, and to be able to have them in
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  the stand supporting me, it's just a great feeling.
• 6:59
  You know, I feel for a lot of the guys that don't have family,
• 7:01
  you know, they may catch one game in the season.
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  There will be times I would we would play in North Carolina and
• 7:07
  I would have family come down there.
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  So it's just a huge support system.
• 7:10
  It's nothing like it. How did, how did we recruit You
• 7:13
  did, was it, were we early in or we late to the game?
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  How did who, who else was recruiting you talk us a little
• 7:17
  bit about that story? Yeah.
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  So a lot of people may not know, but I started my first, my first
• 7:23
  one in sophomore year at Monica in high school.
• 7:26
  So I started there and it's a funny story because I think it
• 7:29
  was my sophomore year, we were actually playing against
• 7:32
  Meadowbrook High School and Justin Harper was there, so had
• 7:36
  a pretty decent game. And you know, I saw the coaches,
• 7:39
  Coach Mooney and Bryant and all those guys in the stands.
• 7:41
  And I think that's when it actually started.
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  And they didn't kick off until my junior year at Benedictine.
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  Play for a wonderful coach, Sean Mceleone, who's at IMG right
• 7:51
  now. So I think it just started with
• 7:54
  with Benedictine, we played a national schedule, had Ed Davis
• 7:59
  on our team, who is the UNC star, NBA vet Bradford Burgess
• 8:04
  played at BCU. So we had a lot of guys around
• 8:07
  us, you know, helping me, you know, play and, and get, you
• 8:10
  know, recruited and stuff like that.
• 8:12
  And then the AU circuit. So I would, I would guess my
• 8:15
  sophomore year was when Richmond started recruiting me and then
• 8:18
  it's been home ever since. I'm curious if you look at kind
• 8:21
  of during your career, you have already mentioned Justin Harper,
• 8:25
  there's Ryan Butler who's kind of a local star, Trey Davis,
• 8:29
  like you, there is a kind of a Richmond feel.
• 8:32
  And now we've got Aiden Arger Bright who's from Richmond and
• 8:35
  Jaden Daughtry, another Benedictine guy.
• 8:38
  Like like what is that like when you're, you know, you're did it
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  make it just that much more comfortable that there are
• 8:43
  Richmond folks kind of are in the program or like, what is
• 8:46
  that experience like? Because I think it's you don't
• 8:48
  see that a lot of schools where there's kind of a little bit of
• 8:50
  a local element. Yeah, it's it's definitely
• 8:53
  great. You know what Coach Mooney's
• 8:54
  done with recruiting, the loop, the local guys and we're all,
• 8:58
  you know, close, you know, on and off the court, you know,
• 9:00
  when we were playing and I just, it says a lot about the program
• 9:04
  that there's a lot of great basketball players in the
• 9:06
  Richmond area. So I think that speaks a huge
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  volume, so. Nice.
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  Taking you back to the 2010 season for a second freshman
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  year. Team goes 26 and 9:00.
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  You got Kevin Anderson on the team.
• 9:18
  He's a junior. You got David Gonzalvez, you had
• 9:21
  big wins against the top 20 Florida team, you played Temple.
• 9:25
  What was it like being a freshman on that team?
• 9:28
  Yeah, that wasn't honestly an eye opener for me, you know,
• 9:31
  coming from high school, you know, straight into college,
• 9:34
  playing behind a bunch of talented guys, you know, KA and
• 9:37
  Gonzo it, it was just an eye opener for me.
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  Like I said, just being able to sit back and be a sponge and
• 9:44
  watch those guys, how hard they play and how hard they compete
• 9:48
  and you know, one the younger guys to get better.
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  And I think for me coming in, you know, I didn't know the
• 9:54
  offense at first. So I was able to sit back and
• 9:57
  learn and, you know, I would play one-on-one against the guys
• 10:00
  just trying to sharpen my game up.
• 10:01
  And then, you know, once I got my opportunity, I came in and
• 10:05
  trusted myself. The guys trusted me.
• 10:07
  So that goes a long way. What was that NCAA tournament
• 10:10
  experience like this? You were seven seed.
• 10:12
  I'm trying to think if we've ever been higher than that.
• 10:14
  But like, so we're top 25 team. There's a lot of attention, you
• 10:18
  know, seven seed. You know, that game didn't go
• 10:20
  the way you'd like, but just take us back to kind of, you
• 10:23
  know, the trip out kind of what that you know, pre game kind of
• 10:27
  your first NCAA tournament kind of I'm sure your eyes wide open
• 10:32
  going into that. Yeah, it's awesome.
• 10:34
  And, you know, I, I talked to a lot of my buddies and stuff and
• 10:37
  it's, it's not too often that you get to make it to the NCAA
• 10:41
  tournament. So to say, you know, that you've
• 10:43
  done it twice is, is a huge accomplishment.
• 10:46
  And you know, for the Richmond program, it's huge, You know,
• 10:49
  especially from the past and the history, going to the
• 10:51
  tournament, being some top, you know, 25 teams and then getting
• 10:55
  a seventh seed. It was definitely fun and a, a
• 10:57
  huge, you know, atmosphere for us.
• 11:00
  Like you said, it didn't go as planned, but you know, we got
• 11:03
  there. It was a fun experience.
• 11:05
  The guys, you know, the camaraderie, it was awesome.
• 11:08
  So we still talk about today, so.
• 11:11
  It's interesting to thinking back like where the, you know,
• 11:13
  the Cinderella's team reputation and then all of a sudden you're
• 11:17
  top 25 and you're 7. Like that wasn't, you know, you
• 11:21
  almost had to kind of get out of that Cinderella mode, right?
• 11:24
  Because, you know, you're now the favorite.
• 11:27
  I know. I think we were in Vegas to
• 11:28
  watch that game, too. I think that St.
• 11:30
  Mary's game, they had a set, they had a center that was kind
• 11:33
  of dominated. Right.
• 11:37
  So how so take back this? So now kind of you lost that
• 11:41
  game, but you're kind of a freshman.
• 11:42
  You're like, hey, I'm coming back.
• 11:44
  Like if you can like from that game through the summer or like,
• 11:48
  how did that like all prepare you?
• 11:50
  And not just you, but obviously the team mates that were coming
• 11:52
  back. How did that prepare you for the
• 11:54
  next year, which is kind of one of the magical years of
• 11:57
  enrichment history? Yeah, it was great.
• 11:59
  You know, I've always wanted to be known as, you know, a hard
• 12:02
  worker, a great teammate. So, you know, I got in the gym,
• 12:06
  that's how I was raised to always outwork the next person.
• 12:09
  I had all the resources my dad used to, you know, take me to
• 12:14
  speed training and have trainers.
• 12:15
  So I kind of carry that over with me to the college level as
• 12:18
  well. So in the summers, you kind of
• 12:20
  on campus by yourself. I live 10 minutes away.
• 12:23
  So, you know, I stay on campus and, and the gym literally every
• 12:27
  night, you know, for the summer and, you know, gearing up for
• 12:31
  the next summer. Spoke to Mooney.
• 12:34
  You know, had a big role to fill.
• 12:35
  So a lot of those guys were leaving, so I had to step up my
• 12:38
  game so. Yeah, it's really good.
• 12:41
  David Gonzalvez, one of our great shooters of all time, Like
• 12:44
  so he was that senior leader on that team.
• 12:46
  So some big shoes to fill as a sophomore.
• 12:50
  Oh yeah, he was. He was great, great role model
• 12:53
  for me. And it's something that's super
• 12:56
  funny is, you know, this guy is such a hard worker.
• 12:59
  He would play a full game. We would come back from a a road
• 13:02
  win or a road game and he would play me one-on-one.
• 13:07
  So I think that kind of opened my eyes up to this is what it
• 13:10
  takes to be a leader, you know, to help the younger generation.
• 13:14
  So I applaud him for that. I even got to play against him a
• 13:17
  couple of times overseas. So that was pretty cool.
• 13:20
  That was cool. So 2011, the Sweet 16 team.
• 13:23
  Let's let's talk about that for a second.
• 13:25
  So you come back, you've had work in the gym over the summer.
• 13:30
  What are kind of the expectations you and the team
• 13:32
  had going into the season? What?
• 13:34
  What were the goals that you set for yourself?
• 13:37
  Yeah, I mean, our goal is always to, you know, make it to the
• 13:40
  tournament, you know, when a 10 championship.
• 13:44
  And I think we had such a good group of guys that we knew we
• 13:50
  could do it. We believed in ourselves.
• 13:52
  We were all friends off the court.
• 13:53
  And that stuff takes you a long way on the court as well.
• 13:56
  You know that that teamwork off the court, you know, everybody
• 13:59
  hanging out all the time kind of brings you together and it kind
• 14:02
  of molded our season, really. You're going into the A 10
• 14:06
  tournament. I think you were third.
• 14:09
  I think it's the final in the standings and probably not as
• 14:13
  clear as a year before that. Like, hey, you're getting an at
• 14:16
  large. I'm guessing the at least the
• 14:19
  the folks who were talking about it, probably not the team, but
• 14:21
  others talking about it were saying the year before, it's
• 14:23
  like, oh, you're going to get an at large.
• 14:25
  This was a year where kind of winning the a 10 tournament, you
• 14:28
  know, was was as critical as ever.
• 14:30
  So, you know, looking at some of the data there, like, you know,
• 14:33
  you had had top 25 Temple in the semi finals, had a big win then
• 14:39
  against Dayton, kind of who's always been since they've been
• 14:41
  in the A10 kind of a a dominant team.
• 14:44
  And I think that's our first ever A10 Championship.
• 14:48
  I am not 100. Percent.
• 14:49
  I think so it. Might be so.
• 14:51
  What was that tournament like? I mean, kind of winning the A10,
• 14:56
  being a champion kind of a year after kind of that NCAA
• 14:59
  tournament, I'm sure that was an awesome celebration.
• 15:02
  It was definitely an awesome celebration.
• 15:04
  Just the competition, man, the A10 conference was so
• 15:08
  competitive. You know, a lot of people say
• 15:09
  also mid major, but we competed with some of the, you know, the
• 15:12
  high major schools and I think for us that that entire weekend
• 15:17
  is just a grind. It's a dogfight, you know,
• 15:20
  playing against top 25 teams. So I definitely think that was a
• 15:25
  huge road for us, you know, beating those guys, setting us
• 15:29
  up for the tournament. I think that definitely helped
• 15:31
  us. Yeah, and I'm guessing you
• 15:33
  didn't really get to enjoy Atlantic City outside of the
• 15:36
  basketball court. That was a business trip.
• 15:39
  Yeah, Business trip. Yeah.
• 15:41
  So Tom and I were, we had the fortune of being together for
• 15:43
  that game against Vanderbilt. We were out in in Las Vegas with
• 15:46
  a bunch of Richmond, you know, grads.
• 15:48
  And we really, it was just awesome to be together and
• 15:50
  experiencing the camaraderie of a huge win like that.
• 15:53
  What do you remember about that Vanderbilt game?
• 15:55
  Man, I honestly, it's like a blur to be.
• 16:00
  We kind of went on a run and just we stuck together and we we
• 16:04
  pulled away and I remember a a picture of me and Kevin Anderson
• 16:09
  that out. You know, I'll never forget of
• 16:10
  us just trying to block somebody shot just the the momentum of
• 16:14
  the game and you know, the back and forth on the big stage.
• 16:17
  It it was awesome. Such a a great feeling.
• 16:21
  That's awesome. And when you kind of you win
• 16:23
  that game against Vanderbilt where it's now we're kind of in
• 16:25
  that Cinderella roll again. Was there a big celebration or
• 16:29
  is it like, hey, you got a game in 2 days, you know the year
• 16:32
  before you lost in that first round so this is your first time
• 16:35
  with a win and it's like quick turn around.
• 16:38
  Yeah, yeah, we definitely celebrate in the locker room,
• 16:41
  but we all know we we were focused and like you said, we
• 16:44
  had a game in the next two days, so we had to dial it back and
• 16:48
  turn it back up so. And like playing Morehead State,
• 16:52
  who had their own upset in the first round, so it was kind of
• 16:55
  two underdogs playing each other was now you're back in the
• 16:58
  favorite role, I think, heading into that game.
• 17:00
  Like what was the do you remember, I know it's a long
• 17:03
  time ago, but the kind of the prep or kind of what what was
• 17:06
  what you had to watch out for against Morehead state?
• 17:10
  The only honestly, it was like I said, it's such a blurry so long
• 17:13
  ago. And I just remember Kenneth
• 17:16
  Fareed, you know, he was huge on the scouting report.
• 17:20
  So I would say that that was one of our biggest challenges in
• 17:23
  that game. You know, he was projected to go
• 17:25
  to the NBA and had a great career.
• 17:28
  So speaks volumes of the type of caliber team that we were
• 17:32
  playing against so. Yeah, when I look back at that
• 17:35
  box score, I think it's it's interesting like that was you
• 17:37
  won that in your defence. I mean, they I scored like 20
• 17:40
  points in the first half, 48 points overall.
• 17:43
  So that was kind of a defensive shutdown, maybe different than
• 17:47
  what you had to do against Vanderbilt.
• 17:49
  Not that you didn't play defence against Vanderbilt, but you, you
• 17:52
  know, you couldn't you couldn't shut that team down like you did
• 17:54
  Morehead State. Yeah, do you I, I like you think
• 17:58
  I think of Darien Brothers as a shooter.
• 18:00
  Like talk about kind of defense. Like that's the fans, don't you
• 18:04
  know, fans want offense, right. But like, how much do you pride
• 18:07
  yourself on your defense and what you learned on your career
• 18:10
  at U of R from like the the Benedictine defender to what you
• 18:14
  know the senior defender Darien Brothers was like?
• 18:17
  OK, yeah, I, I always pride myself on defense, whether it's
• 18:21
  taking charges, something I love, and just guarding the best
• 18:25
  guy on the other team, whether it's the six, eight guy or 6
• 18:29
  foot guy, I'm going to give my best.
• 18:31
  And you know, I try, you know, to teach other younger kids just
• 18:35
  like, you know, it's it's all about heart and who wants it
• 18:37
  more, especially on the defensive end.
• 18:39
  It's like it's you and the guy in front of you.
• 18:41
  Can you stop him? So that was my main goal is I
• 18:44
  want to guard the best guy on the other team no matter what,
• 18:47
  so. That's awesome.
• 18:49
  So beating Morehead State, now you got Kansas straight ahead.
• 18:52
  Of you. Well, they got to celebrate
• 18:53
  first. They had a little more time.
• 18:55
  So I'm guessing that was a big locker room celebration going to
• 18:58
  the Sweet 16, right? That must have been awesome.
• 19:00
  Definitely was. Definitely was so.
• 19:03
  So, Kansas, Next up, tell us about what happened in the
• 19:06
  tunnel before that Kansas game. You know, we always brought this
• 19:12
  up and I think it was just a little scuffle.
• 19:15
  Just see which team could try and pump the other team.
• 19:18
  Obviously we lost about 20, but I don't think we were
• 19:22
  intimidated at all just by the name on their jersey.
• 19:25
  I think it was just we didn't have a good game.
• 19:27
  That game, you know, we weren't clicking on all cylinders and it
• 19:31
  was a different match up for us. So it was a good experience.
• 19:35
  And then, you know, like I said, getting to play Kansas, you
• 19:38
  know, in the Sweet 16 representing Richmond was a
• 19:41
  huge, you know, accomplishment for us.
• 19:43
  But yeah, he's just a little scuffle.
• 19:46
  Hey, curious. You know, obviously we we didn't
• 19:50
  win that game, but then VCU got to advance and play Kansas.
• 19:54
  Did you root for VCU to beat Kansas?
• 19:56
  Do you remember? Honestly I can't remember but me
• 20:00
  it's. Hard to root for VCU.
• 20:04
  It is, you know, I'm friends with, you know, I was friends
• 20:06
  with some of those guys on that team.
• 20:08
  So maybe individually I was rude for him.
• 20:11
  But I think that you. You corrected me last time.
• 20:12
  That was before they joined the A10.
• 20:14
  So yeah, that's right. They were the, yeah, they were
• 20:15
  the CAA team. But yeah, it was still, I mean,
• 20:18
  that was when we played them only once a year.
• 20:19
  So like the that game had even more meaning before they joined
• 20:23
  the A10 because it was kind of a one time thing versus the two
• 20:26
  times we've got now. Darian It's been 15 years.
• 20:29
  Is there anything about that Kansas game playing in it that
• 20:31
  still sticks with you today? No, just just the fact that, you
• 20:37
  know, playing against future NBA guys, you know, we obviously had
• 20:41
  a couple on our team as well, but just as a a college kid, you
• 20:45
  know, playing on that stage just speaks volumes I would say.
• 20:52
  But you know how we beat them and being able to play VCU, that
• 20:55
  would have been like one for the history books right there.
• 20:59
  Absolutely. OK, well let's jump ahead a bit
• 21:03
  to your some of these giant games you had as an
• 21:06
  upperclassman. So maybe start with that
• 21:09
  Charlotte game, January 2013. Charlotte was 15 and three, we
• 21:16
  were 12 and seven we won by 208161 and you had 39 points and
• 21:25
  I was like the most we saw it was the most Spiders player had
• 21:28
  in over 40 years. So like just, you know, it's
• 21:32
  probably a game you like thinking about, right?
• 21:34
  When you get when you're hot and you can't miss, but like how do
• 21:37
  you reflect on that game and kind of what you're able to do?
• 21:41
  Yeah, honestly, you know, I didn't expect anything less.
• 21:45
  The reason why I say that is because, you know, I put in the
• 21:48
  work and it always comes back to that.
• 21:51
  You know, I was in the gym late at night, you know, trying to
• 21:53
  perfect my shot and just understanding the game and, you
• 21:57
  know, having a great coach and Coach Mooney being able to teach
• 21:59
  you how to play, I think that kind of helped me.
• 22:03
  And I came out hot. You know, once you as a shooter,
• 22:05
  you hit one or two, go in, then it's like it's a big giant hoop.
• 22:10
  So that's kind of the way that it felt much.
• 22:12
  You know the team, they kept finding me and it happened to
• 22:17
  score 39 at night. Yeah, it's an 8A record. 83
• 22:20
  pointers are tied with the record for eight in a game.
• 22:22
  That's that's hot. Does the, does the does the
• 22:25
  crowds cheer get louder and louder each time that that one
• 22:29
  of those goes down? Do you remember?
• 22:30
  That I think, I think it does, yeah, man, it's just a good
• 22:34
  feeling just to see it go in and everybody's just coming to watch
• 22:37
  a show at that point so. Now you were 11 for 12 from the
• 22:41
  foul line in that game. Like talk about how do you how
• 22:43
  do you become a great foul on shooter?
• 22:46
  Like was that just repetition? Repetition in the gym, you know,
• 22:52
  shooting more than 10 and, you know, focusing on making that
• 22:55
  was all my always my, my goal is, you know, not how many I
• 22:59
  can, you know, just make but make them in a row and can't
• 23:02
  miss more than two so just kind of challenging yourself and and
• 23:06
  being competitive with myself so.
• 23:10
  Let's talk about the shot for a second.
• 23:11
  So and everybody in Richmond still talks about the three
• 23:14
  pointer you hit with the second left 1.5 seconds.
• 23:17
  Left, and that was only five days after that Charlotte game.
• 23:19
  So you have this master class in the Charlotte game.
• 23:22
  You're now have #19 VCU coming to the Robin Center.
• 23:27
  Walk us through that play. Tell us about like how that
• 23:30
  thing unfolded and and what you were thinking when you released
• 23:32
  it. Yeah, I mean, I kind of remember
• 23:35
  like it was yesterday, you know, I had I'm a three-point shooter.
• 23:39
  So, you know, guys want to play me tight.
• 23:43
  I remember Cedric was, you know, dribbling the ball and we've
• 23:46
  worked on this a bunch of times in practice.
• 23:49
  Well, he'll drive, I'll fake in and stop behind for a shot.
• 23:53
  That's partly our offense. So just happened to be a little
• 23:55
  bit deeper. But that's that's basically what
• 23:59
  happened. You know, he drove to me.
• 24:00
  We kind of had that connection, you know, throughout our career
• 24:03
  and great point guard. He saw what happened.
• 24:06
  The guy went under on me, stopped behind and, you know,
• 24:09
  felt confident I was going to hit the shot so nice.
• 24:12
  And you had a whole 1 1/2 seconds left.
• 24:15
  So to think about it, well, that's a it was an awesome game.
• 24:20
  Like maybe just talk some. We've mentioned VC before,
• 24:22
  obviously from the NCAA tournament.
• 24:24
  Like, what was that rivalry like for those four years that you
• 24:28
  were here? Yeah, it was a dogfight.
• 24:30
  You know, we always prepare for it, like you say, every single
• 24:33
  year. And it was probably one of the
• 24:35
  hardest weeks of practice to prepare for them, you know, with
• 24:39
  the Havoc defence. And we always practice with six
• 24:43
  guys on the court to mimic it because, you know, that's how
• 24:46
  they play. So it was, it was always a dog
• 24:47
  fight against VCU and I feel like it still is today, you
• 24:51
  know, to see who's the best in the city.
• 24:53
  But like I say, I've friends on that team.
• 24:56
  It's all it's always a battle. So we have a rapid fire around
• 25:00
  for you, so we're going to catch you with some things and just
• 25:02
  whatever first comes to mind is the answer.
• 25:05
  So what's the best venue outside the Robin Center you played in?
• 25:11
  Kansas. OK.
• 25:14
  OK, if there's one player you guarded, and let's not use a
• 25:18
  spider because I know you guard him in practice, but like, is
• 25:20
  there one player that you can remember that was like, oh, this
• 25:23
  guy's going to be a problem? Jordan Crawford from Xavier.
• 25:27
  Yeah, OK. Game day meal?
• 25:31
  What was your go to before a before a game to eat?
• 25:35
  We always usually ate the same thing, so pasta with chicken.
• 25:39
  OK, nice. Would you have like a is this
• 25:42
  like a team dinner in the dining hall?
• 25:44
  Is that? Yeah, we were doing in the Robin
• 25:46
  Center. Robin Center, Yeah.
• 25:49
  So you've been, I know you're not in Richmond now, but spent a
• 25:52
  lot of time in Richmond at least back then.
• 25:53
  What was your kind of favorite place to to go eat?
• 25:58
  Oh, that's a tough one. Oh man, I would have to pass.
• 26:04
  I'm not sure. Oh my.
• 26:06
  Goodness, that's okay. We'll just say, let's say it was
• 26:09
  the the the pier. Yeah, I guess we called the on
• 26:13
  the pier on campus. Well, no, it could have been off
• 26:15
  campus, but well, we'll like act like the pier and was the was
• 26:20
  the pub. Still around back then?
• 26:21
  Or did it close by then change? Names.
• 26:23
  It might have been still around, I don't.
• 26:24
  Remember, actually, you know what, take that back.
• 26:26
  My favorite place I would say was, Oh my God, it was a burger
• 26:33
  place that I would go to after every game.
• 26:35
  Oh my goodness. I don't know if they still have
• 26:39
  it. I'll have to look it up and get
• 26:41
  back to you. Not a chain, not one of these
• 26:43
  chains. We're talking about a Richmond
• 26:44
  place, yeah. Who's the funniest guy in that
• 26:47
  2011 locker of? I would say Kevin Smith.
• 26:53
  OK. I can see that.
• 26:56
  Who wins the game of HORSE between you, David Gonzalvez and
• 26:59
  Nick Sherrod. Probably gonzo.
• 27:03
  OK, Yeah. Do you stay in touch with a lot
• 27:07
  of those teammates? And I know Kevin's coaching at
• 27:09
  Fordham, like, is there like a a Facebook group or a text group
• 27:14
  where you guys are chatting about what's going on?
• 27:17
  Yeah, yeah. We have a big group chat going
• 27:19
  on. We all stay in contact, see what
• 27:22
  each other's up to, talking hoops and just life in general.
• 27:25
  So it's still good to to have that, you know, that tight knit
• 27:28
  with all those guys. Let's talk for a minute about
• 27:32
  your overseas career. You played in some pretty cool
• 27:35
  places, I think Sweden, Finland, Hungary, maybe Spain.
• 27:38
  What was the biggest culture shock you experienced overseas?
• 27:43
  I would say obviously the language, the language barrier,
• 27:48
  you know, a lot of the coaches and some of the players, they
• 27:50
  spoke English, but just getting around town and, you know,
• 27:53
  asking for certain things, it was a little, little difficult
• 27:57
  so. Did you have a favorite place
• 28:00
  when you look back of kind of the whether it was the team or
• 28:03
  the location, like where you kind of liked it the most?
• 28:06
  Yeah, I think it was my first year in a town called Malia,
• 28:09
  Spain. It was right on the beach and it
• 28:13
  was literally 3 to 70 all year round.
• 28:16
  I'll say that. One of my favorite My favorite
• 28:18
  place. Nice.
• 28:20
  What was your what was the highlight you remember kind of
• 28:23
  similar to either the Sweet 16 game or the shot against VCU in
• 28:27
  your in your post Richmond career, what was your favorite
• 28:29
  memory, favorite moment? My favorite moment would be my
• 28:33
  second year in Irene, say we actually won a championship.
• 28:38
  It was probably the biggest moment after, you know, my
• 28:41
  college career, getting another championship, which was nice.
• 28:44
  So that'll probably be it. Did you run into other spiders
• 28:48
  when you played internationally? I did, yeah.
• 28:51
  My years in Finland, I actually played against Gonzo.
• 28:54
  You know, I had mentioned earlier I played against him a
• 28:57
  couple of times, so that was pretty neat.
• 28:58
  Nice. Nice when you when you you know,
• 29:03
  we've talked about Aidan Argabry earlier, who's kind of was on
• 29:06
  the all rookie team local kid. Like, I don't know if you've
• 29:10
  ever talked to him, but let's say you had a moment to like sit
• 29:13
  down with Aidan about like, hey, now you've had a great freshman
• 29:15
  year. Like this is what it's going to
• 29:17
  take. Like, what would be some of the
• 29:18
  messages you'd you'd give him or any sort of, you know, player
• 29:21
  who's, you know, trying to go from being, you know, good to,
• 29:24
  you know, a Hall of Famer? Yeah, that's a great question.
• 29:28
  I I think what I would tell him, you know, I've watched him play
• 29:31
  and he's tremendous player, super high IQ.
• 29:35
  I would just tell him to keep working on his game and and be
• 29:38
  be aggressive. You know, even if you're
• 29:41
  becoming a sophomore, still try to be that leader on that team
• 29:45
  and I can definitely take you a long way so.
• 29:48
  I mentioned Hall of Fame. What was that like when you got
• 29:52
  inducted to the Hall of Fame? Was it 3 years ago or so?
• 29:55
  Yeah, three years ago, yeah. It was a surreal experience.
• 29:59
  It was a huge honor. Just especially being being
• 30:03
  local and you know, playing for Richmond and having my whole
• 30:06
  family there and my wife and kids, it, it was such a great
• 30:09
  honor and it speaks highly of the program and something I can
• 30:14
  always look back on and appreciate.
• 30:18
  Nice. We both married spiders, and I
• 30:21
  think you did too. So tell us a little.
• 30:23
  Yeah. Tell us your origination story.
• 30:25
  Yeah. So my wife, she played at
• 30:29
  Richmond. She played lacrosse there was
• 30:31
  alleging that Richmond lacrosse still has her name on some of
• 30:35
  the the record books. So we kind of linked back up
• 30:39
  while I was overseas and I came home to visit her in New York
• 30:45
  and then we kind of kicked it off.
• 30:46
  Ever since we're married, we both have we have two kids and
• 30:50
  they're getting into sports as well, so.
• 30:52
  That's awesome. Such a night.
• 30:54
  That's great. And when we were kind of
• 30:56
  arranging this interview, you know, you're been coaching now
• 30:59
  too. So what's happened?
• 31:00
  Like how long have you been you've been coaching for a bit
• 31:02
  or is this new kind of where what are your aspirations like?
• 31:05
  I know Chris Mooney always says like he would never recommend
• 31:07
  anyone getting into coaching. He makes fun of, you know, there
• 31:11
  was an interview, I saw him with Zach Chu and with others where
• 31:14
  he's like, I'd never told these guys to do this, but you're
• 31:17
  starting to dabble into coaching a little bit.
• 31:19
  Like what? What the How is that going?
• 31:21
  Yeah, it's great. I'm in my I just finished up my
• 31:24
  second year here at a local high school in my town.
• 31:28
  It's been a great experience just being able to give back to
• 31:32
  the community and teaching the younger generation, you know,
• 31:35
  just a game of basketball and trying to shed as much knowledge
• 31:38
  that I've learned over the years to them.
• 31:40
  And it's been great. Like I said, we made it to the
• 31:43
  playoffs this past year in a few years, first time in a few
• 31:46
  years. A lot of accomplishments,
• 31:48
  coached some good players. So it's been a journey and you
• 31:52
  know, I'll definitely try to continue coaching.
• 31:54
  So it's been fun. And you're up in Massachusetts,
• 31:56
  so you're a professional snow shoveller after the last couple
• 32:00
  of months. Oh yeah, it's been tough.
• 32:02
  It's been tough up here for. Sure.
• 32:04
  Yesterday here, I'm not kidding. It was I think 87° and outside.
• 32:08
  Right now it's 35 and there's snow all over the ground.
• 32:11
  We had a massive front roll through.
• 32:13
  I I'm keep wiping my nose. So it developed a little bit of
• 32:16
  a cold. I apologize just but like it all
• 32:18
  just changed so quickly. You feel better, that's.
• 32:22
  Well, hey, obviously I kind of a Hall of Famer.
• 32:25
  Your name's in the record books. Like what do you want fans to to
• 32:30
  Remember Remember you for the most?
• 32:33
  I would say just being a hard worker, it's always competing
• 32:40
  and being a great shooter, I would say that, you know, just
• 32:44
  just a great teammate, so. Nice, that's awesome.
• 32:49
  Well, Darien, thank you so much for being a great Spider.
• 32:52
  It's for being just a wonderful ambassador of Richmond men's
• 32:55
  basketball and we appreciate you coming on Spider Sound off.
• 32:59
  Really enjoyed hearing more about your story after college
• 33:01
  and you know, look forward to seeing you in the Robinson or
• 33:04
  sometime. I appreciate it hopefully soon,
• 33:06
  and I appreciate you guys for having me.
• 33:08
  Thanks, Darien. Thank you, we will try to be
• 33:14
  funny and entertain.