Latest / Spiders Sound Off / Snowed Out & Slipping: Spiders Talk GW, Duquesne, VCU + Robby Robinson Interview

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Snowed Out & Slipping: Spiders Talk GW, Duquesne, VCU + Robby Robinson Interview · Spiders Sound Off

0:04
Hey everybody. Welcome back to Spider.
0:06
Sound off. This is Tom.
0:08
And this is Porter. And we are here on a Sunday
0:11
afternoon in Richmond where we got a little bit of snow, a
0:16
little bit of sleet. You know, I was looking forward
0:18
to being snowed in with a little Richmond women's college
0:21
basketball today on TV, but unfortunately we we lost the
0:26
game due to the condition so. We didn't get us, we didn't lose
0:31
the game. Well, we didn't lose the game.
0:32
We're just not playing the game today.
0:34
It's not the right, not the right words to use, right?
0:37
I don't know. We could talk about it now.
0:39
Did you see kind of what that schedule is going to look like
0:42
in mid February? I think we're, I think they said
0:44
they're moving it to Monday, February 16th, but I have not
0:47
looked at the schedule yet to see who went around.
0:49
That listen to this Saturday the 14th, we're at Davidson.
0:55
Oh, that's brutal. That's kind of Charlotte.
0:57
It's the long drive, the 16th. We're at George Mason and the,
1:03
well, one of the reasons I think it got rescheduled then is
1:06
because we're going to stay up there because on Wednesday we're
1:09
at George Washington. Yeah, I don't love.
1:13
That Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and then the next Sunday, we get
1:16
to come home against La Salle. The good news is George
1:19
Washington's, their women's team is not great, but we're at
1:23
Davidson, then at George Mason, right?
1:25
Yeah, Davidson and George Mason are both really good.
1:28
And so you kind of, I mean, if you beat Rhode Island and you
1:31
beat George Mason, one of the two games you got left against
1:33
them, you beat Saint Joe's and you beat Davidson, you could
1:36
have, you could afford to maybe lose one more quad 2 game, I
1:39
think, and still having that large, but like, I don't know if
1:40
you can lose 2 more. So I don't love that.
1:43
I don't love that at all. Actually.
1:44
I think that's that's a bad setup for us.
1:46
Yeah, I did see in one of in the Athletic where they did a
1:49
bracketology, they have Richmond as one of the first four out and
1:54
only Rhode Island in Now that's just, you know, one opinion, but
1:57
it kind of tells you, you know, we're not clearly in but but
2:02
anyway, we got we got some work to do so.
2:05
It's not ideal to have to play Davidson and George Mason
2:08
back-to-back on the road with a one day off in between.
2:10
That's not an ideal set up. We have more to look forward to
2:14
on the women's side, but we're going to have to talk about that
2:17
game at George Washington. We've lost three in a row now.
2:22
You know, the final score of yesterday's game was 85 to 69.
2:26
We got at VCU next. We're three and five in
2:29
conference now, 11th in the standings.
2:32
Now there are some teams that haven't played their eighth game
2:35
yet. But anyway, do you want to talk
2:37
about the some positives first? Yeah, let me just kind of give
2:41
you my holistic thoughts and then I will drill into the
2:43
specific game. So, you know, I think we saw
2:46
Mooney tinker with the lineup. He put Argabrite in the starting
2:48
lineup. Yeah, that's a positive.
2:50
That was on my list of like. It's good that.
2:51
He's, I actually liked that. I thought even though we got
2:54
set, we got off to an 18 to 3 deficit.
2:56
I did like seeing the change and I think, you know, he's going to
3:00
continue to tinker with the combinations heading into March
3:03
to try to find the right combination that helps us, you
3:06
know, win a couple key games heading into the tournament and
3:09
then, you know, try to get on a four-game run in the tournament.
3:12
I mean, I'd say we had a good second-half.
3:13
Like that's that's another positive.
3:16
We outscored them in the second-half.
3:18
I mean, overall, it feels like we lost some confidence.
3:21
Like that Rhode Island game really set us back, even though
3:23
we were the better team and, and, you know, outside of two
3:26
centers getting hurt and then hitting a lucky shot at the end,
3:28
we were, we should have won that game.
3:30
But it feels like we've lost some confidence.
3:33
You know, at least against the GW team on the road, it was
3:36
definitely not a our most confident effort.
3:39
No, the other things I had just just on the positives like in in
3:44
a way, not only are good right starting, I think is the right
3:47
move, but this is the first, you know, decent game Tynes had in a
3:50
while. So like almost losing his
3:53
starting job, coming off the bench, like he had a little more
3:56
spark. Seemed more aggressive and then.
3:58
You have to give Walls credit being the only centre had 14
4:02
rebounds. Walls was a beast on the boards,
4:04
especially defensively, and I love the way he took it a couple
4:06
times right at the rim. I, I mean, you know, no
4:08
complaints about the way Mike played that game he played.
4:10
A real Well, I mean, there's a complaint about everybody in the
4:13
1st. Half.
4:14
Yeah, I got you. But but in the second-half it it
4:17
was certainly the team competed more.
4:19
But what are your other thoughts, Porter?
4:21
So we've played eight games or sorry, we've had eight losses,
4:24
right? So we're 13 and eight.
4:26
In those eight losses, 5 of the 8 combined were a lot were 12
4:32
points, right? So we lost five close games,
4:34
right? And then we lost three times to
4:36
teams that beat us pretty handily.
4:38
St. Louis once and George Washington
4:40
twice have beat us handily. We did beat a Quad One team on
4:43
the road. That's Belmont.
4:45
That's a good win. You're in a good mood today.
4:48
I am in a decent mood, right? Like I've got my spider sound
4:50
off hat on. I've got my nice red spider
4:52
shirt on. I'm, you know, I'm setting up in
4:54
the I'm in the RVA studio today instead of the Heroka studio.
4:58
I mean, I think, you know, overall there's, there's some
5:01
things that I still am optimistic about.
5:04
And knowing that, you know, the the key for us now is to get to
5:08
where we play four games in March to get the right, you
5:10
know, set of players down, playing the right amount of
5:12
minutes in the right way. What you got to do is find the
5:15
right line up that's working for you win a couple games, maybe
5:18
two or three in a row towards the end of the 810 regular
5:20
season. Your guys are feeling confident
5:23
now because you figured out you know, who, what, when and where
5:26
and you just you just try to get on a roll and win four in a row.
5:28
I don't think it's going to happen.
5:29
I'm not saying that we're going to do that.
5:31
I'm just saying that's that's kind of the play right now.
5:33
I. Was wondering Porter, you, you
5:35
know these a lot of stat services better than me.
5:37
I was watching that game in particular.
5:39
The first half of this wasn't true in the second-half, but I
5:41
was aching to like find a stat that had how much space do you
5:47
have when you shoot a three pointer?
5:52
Because it felt like in the first half they had lots of
5:55
space. It wasn't, I mean, some were
5:58
contested, but it wasn't a lot of contested threes.
6:00
In the second-half it was different, but I felt like if if
6:03
you had that stat you'd say like we were really bad in the first
6:06
half in contesting threes. I mean, I, I forgot the, I
6:11
forgot the number of what percentage GW shooting against
6:14
us from three, but especially in the 1st 3/4 or the first three
6:19
halves we played in this year, they were, they were
6:20
unbelievable. And yeah, you're right, we were
6:22
late getting off switches and into position, which has our
6:25
defender flying out, not getting there in time.
6:27
We were going. Under screens at times it's
6:30
like, you know, these guys are lethal from three.
6:32
And there's one play in particular I think it was AJ
6:35
went like way under a screen. And it's like, what are we doing
6:40
in the first half? AJ wasn't playing like the way
6:43
he's supposed to, like the way we've taught him how to play.
6:45
He was going off with his instincts too much and not
6:49
enough on like how he's been coached.
6:52
And, and that's a, you know, a work in progress.
6:53
Obviously when you got a bunch of new players.
6:55
We're having like a, a first half problem.
6:59
We're just coming out. I mean, yesterday my wife and I
7:02
went out to watch the game and it was 15 to 3.
7:04
And I'm like, this game's over. And not just because it was 15
7:08
three, but it was like a bad turnover.
7:11
We are kind of missed a layup. Like it was just, it's like,
7:14
wow, like we just don't look like we're in the same league as
7:17
that team. Yeah, I actually thought for
7:20
some reason I posted this on the message board.
7:22
I thought we were going to win the game.
7:23
I felt like we're just going to, we're going to go into the
7:25
because, you know, it's kind of the thing where we lose the
7:27
games we shouldn't lose and then we go and beat the team we
7:29
shouldn't beat on the road. I just felt like, OK, we're
7:32
going to take it out on GW and win that game.
7:33
But man, was that wrong. Like we were down 18 to 3 and I
7:36
was with you. I'm like, I don't think we're
7:37
going to win this game. I think it was, it's going to be
7:39
over by halftime. And I and I think it pretty much
7:41
was. I mean, we fought back to, I
7:43
think we closed it to what, 12 points at one point in time, But
7:45
like never, the game was never really in doubt.
7:48
We're we're trying some stuff out.
7:49
I think, you know, saw some combinations at the end that
7:51
worked, but never did we really scare GW that we were coming
7:55
back. So it wasn't.
7:57
It was. Interesting.
7:57
Remind, you know, yeah. It reminded me of our scout, if
8:01
you if you go back to when we scouted him the first time, we
8:04
talked some about this kid, Garrett Johnson, who had come
8:07
back from two different occurrences of cancer and had
8:11
ACL issues and he didn't play that first game.
8:14
So we had talked about him and he was sitting.
8:17
I never kind of found exactly why he sat that game.
8:19
Again, some some sort of injury issue, but he played.
8:24
Now they added one more guy who could shoot threes and he went 4
8:27
for five for three in the game, some of them in the second-half.
8:32
Christian Jones hit 4, Trey Dinkins hit four.
8:34
I mean they had three guys with four three pointers.
8:36
And we missed shots like we can't forget, like, oh.
8:38
Yeah, we missed some open. Shots too, right?
8:40
Sure. We missed threes that were open.
8:42
We missed layups. Man, we missed 14 for 14 from
8:45
the foul line, though. What?
8:46
What would we get for one of those against Rhode Island down
8:48
the stretch? Right?
8:49
Like, yeah, that was like, it's just how basketball goes.
8:52
I mean, if you look at the shot chart the GW rolled out against
8:55
us in this game and the shot chart that Saint Louis rolled
8:57
out against us, they're almost identical.
8:58
All of their baskets are within like 3 or 4 feet of the rim or
9:01
their or their three pointers. And that's it.
9:03
There's no mid range game. And then you look at our chat
9:06
chart, we have a ton of mid range shots and a ton of three
9:09
pointers. So it's just we're we're playing
9:11
a different style. You heard the announcers.
9:12
If you listen to the broadcast, the announcers talked about our
9:16
small guards often can get off the get around their guy
9:19
covering them on three and then they're forced into taking the
9:22
the mid range jumper because the they're so small that you're not
9:25
going to be able to score up against the basket.
9:27
But I mean, I, I think philosophically speaking, like
9:31
there's got to be a way that Mooney and the rest of the
9:35
coaches can sit down and figure out a way to to kind of prevent
9:40
the easier buckets. I mean, there are going to be
9:41
days when teams get hot from three and they just beat you.
9:43
But like you, you got to prevent the inside buckets and you got
9:47
to be able to rebound the three-point shots.
9:49
Those two things. If you can do those two things,
9:50
I think you can actually fix what's been plaguing US against
9:53
these really good teams. But those are big challenges.
9:56
Like what I like about. I mean, GW's been pretty
9:59
inconsistent this year. So we've seen two of their best
10:02
games. They've kind of been sloppy and
10:04
lost some games too. But what they do and when you,
10:08
it seems like when you see us do this, it's like a shocking great
10:10
play versus like the good teams, including Saint Louis, which is
10:14
the someone has the ball in the paint and passes it to somebody
10:19
else in the paint. And that's because they're
10:21
double covered and they're looking for kind of that easy
10:24
bucket. And I might have been two games
10:26
ago, we had one of these plays where Johnson kind of came in
10:29
and he got double teamed and he just like gave a quick pass to
10:32
Daughtry, who's wide open to put it in.
10:34
Like for us, that seems like the exception.
10:37
And I think for the really good teams, that seems kind of a
10:40
common play. And so how do we how do we
10:43
figure that out? Like, and I don't, I don't know
10:45
if we have an answer with these guys, but I think that's the
10:49
play. We just don't do a lot because,
10:51
I mean, Castro wasn't really killing us yesterday one-on-one.
10:55
I think I thought that. We'd mentioned in the post game
10:57
we had changed the switch like we weren't switching.
10:59
You didn't see time trying to box out or post up defensively
11:04
against Castro. We saw some of that in the first
11:06
game. So they did change some of their
11:09
stuff on the switching. But again, the three pointers
11:12
killed us early and hard to come back when you're you're down so
11:16
quick and. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like,
11:20
I mean, I think, you know, the I'm not sure if if this is the
11:22
low point in the season or if it was the loss of road to Rhode
11:25
Island at home, but definitely it feels like right now our
11:28
backs are against the wall from a confidence perspective.
11:32
But the kids played hard in the second-half.
11:33
And I think, I think that I mean, Moody coach teams, they
11:38
never quit. So I still believe, and I know
11:41
I'm starting to sound crazier and crazier the more I say this,
11:43
but I still believe this team has the ingredients for a
11:45
successful run. And so, and I like the fact that
11:49
we've played a lot of kids because you've gotten a chance
11:51
to see, you know, who can do what.
11:53
And so I think the key now is you've got all of this data.
11:56
How do you how do you figure out like what is the right thing to
11:59
run? Maybe it's shortening the bench,
12:01
maybe it's, you know, some sort of subtle change in the defense,
12:05
but there's something there. And, and if we can figure out
12:08
what it is in the next two weeks or so, get on a couple game run
12:11
at the end of February and then enter the 18 tournament with
12:14
confidence. I mean, the team could win four.
12:16
I'm not saying it's going to happen.
12:18
I'm not saying it's highly probable or even likely.
12:20
But I do think it's like last year we knew we weren't going to
12:23
have any chance of winning the 18 tournament.
12:24
We just didn't have a good enough team, right?
12:26
There was 0.0% chance. There was just no team.
12:28
Unless you know, you had a some sort of Black Swan event, there
12:32
was just no way that was going to happen.
12:33
But this year, I feel like the ingredients are there.
12:35
It's just we haven't figured out what our identity is completely
12:39
yet. And so, you know, there's still
12:41
a little bit of time, although I, I know each, each loss is
12:44
getting more and more frustrating.
12:45
And you know, when you pile them on to, you know, the, the, the
12:49
season last year, it's got a lot of, a lot of folks pretty upset.
12:51
But at the end of the day, you know, what's our Ken Palm these
12:54
days, Tom? Is it 120 something like that
12:57
one 18118 as of this morning. So I mean, that's still a top
13:01
33% team in America. And you know, it's the same Ken
13:05
Palm ranking as UNCW, who's 18 and 3.
13:08
We have a a guest planned to help with the VCU scout and
13:12
we'll see if we're able to do that just based on the snow and
13:14
power outages. But do you know the last time we
13:17
won at the Siegel Center? A year?
13:19
2018, yeah. You already have that in your
13:21
notes. I did AI did a little bit of
13:23
work to get ready at at VCU. What's a seven in a row?
13:27
I mean, here's what I'll tell you.
13:28
Like you don't want to have to win at VCU to get well.
13:32
You don't want to have to go in at VCU to get well.
13:34
I get it. All right.
13:35
Hey, everybody. We got a special treat today.
13:39
We have a guest, Robbie Robinson, who's the voice of the
13:43
Rams. Robbie, thank you for joining
13:46
Spider. Sound off.
13:48
Tom Porter, thanks for having me on.
13:49
I guess I'm in enemy territory, although I live like a mile and
13:52
1/2 from campus. So either I'm invading you guys
13:55
or just camped out. But yeah, this is fun.
13:58
I appreciate you guys taking the time to chat.
14:01
Yeah, and for all those Spider fans who are like, I don't know
14:03
who this guy is, just think of him as the Bob Black of VCU.
14:07
So we know of Bob Black is kind of the voice of the Spiders
14:10
forever. And you've been the voice really
14:13
for VCU for a while now, right? Yeah, you know, it's crazy.
14:16
Listen to this. I've been, this is my 18th
14:18
season. That's a long time to do it.
14:20
I mean, I've been doing it for 18 years.
14:22
I am 6th in the A10 and tenure and play by play voices of a 10
14:28
teams. The guy at Duquesne, Ray Goss,
14:30
he's been doing it for like over 45 years.
14:34
The guy at Saint Bonaventure has been doing over 42 years.
14:38
The Dayton guy, Larry Hamsgren is like 43 years and then Bob is
14:42
actually 4th. Bob's been doing it over 40
14:44
years. When Bob started, I was like 8
14:46
years old and he's 4th and tenure.
14:49
And then there's a couple of guys, there's a guy from LaSalle
14:52
and then I'm in there somewhere as well.
14:53
So yes, 18 years. But it just goes to show these
14:56
jobs don't really, it's not like coaching, right, with the just
15:00
turnover, turnover, turnover. These jobs stay the way.
15:02
So I've been doing. What?
15:03
What lets you do VCU? What's that story?
15:05
You know, I was living in Charleston, SC, and I was the
15:09
voice of the Citadel Bulldogs, which is an old, I think,
15:12
Southern Conference opponent of the Spiders, and also football
15:16
and basketball. And I'm AUVA grad and ultimately
15:20
wanted to go back to Charlottesville and do UVA on
15:23
the radio. And that job opened up in 2008.
15:27
And I went after it with everything I had just cashed in
15:30
all my chips and all my favors and did not get the job, didn't
15:33
really come close to the job. And so two weeks later, Norwood
15:37
Teague, who is the athletic director at VCO at the time, was
15:39
a friend of mine from when I worked and went to Virginia.
15:43
And Terry Siski, who had been doing games on the radio for 28
15:48
years for VCU, he had just retired.
15:49
And Norwood sent me a one sentence e-mail that said, do
15:52
you want to come handle our corporate sales and do our games
15:55
on the radio? And we moved up to Richmond and
15:57
it's been kind of a fairy tale ever since.
16:00
That's awesome. That's.
16:00
Great. Now having been there for, gosh,
16:03
this 18th season, is there like 1 moment that like you walk into
16:07
the Siegel Center and you're like the, I remember that one
16:10
moment which was like either made, you know, made you realize
16:13
this was the job you wanted for 18 years or just kind of this
16:16
great moment in that, in the Siegel Center that you kind of
16:19
always remember. Well, Tom, that's an interesting
16:21
question. I think, you know, really the
16:24
one that made me realize I'd made the right choices.
16:26
When we won the CAA tournament in 2009, we'd be George Mason.
16:31
And when I was at The Citadel, we would win, I'm not kidding,
16:34
567 games a year. We were frequently 7 and 24.
16:39
We'd bust out like a 10 and 21 every now and then.
16:41
So coming to VCU and making the NCAA Tournament my first year,
16:45
that to me was just more than I could ever imagine.
16:49
It was unbelievable. And we we lost UCLA in the first
16:52
round there, but I was doing an NCAA tournament game, which was
16:55
blew me away. So that made me realize I'm, I'd
16:57
made the right choice. And since then, I mean,
17:00
obviously I think the easy low hanging fruit on that is the
17:03
final four run in 2011. But we've had just so many
17:07
incredible games and atmospheres.
17:10
And I'm not to sound hokey or syrupy or whatever, but I every
17:14
time I go in the Siegel Center and I'm around that atmosphere
17:16
and around the band and just the, the whole culture of VCUI
17:20
feel pretty blessed that I've landed in this job and they let
17:24
me come and call the games and be a part of it.
17:27
That's great. Robbie, you guys have done a
17:29
great job, you know, replacing great coaches with great
17:32
coaches. What can you tell us about kind
17:34
of Coach Martelli, his style versus like a Odom coach team?
17:41
It's interesting you know, Porter, he is, first of all, he
17:43
is a phenomenal person. He is, he's, he's a great guy.
17:47
Like he is a thoughtful, caring, he's a fun guy.
17:50
He's he's bringing Rodney, my color analyst and I into the
17:54
mix. It really more so than some of
17:56
the other coaches did just in terms of just getting along and
17:59
chatting and all those things. So, so I am.
18:02
I'm a huge fan of Phil Martelli in terms of his coaching style.
18:06
I'm probably not a good enough basketball savant to give you a
18:09
great answer on that, but it's very similar to what Coach Odom
18:12
did. I think it's a lot of drive and
18:14
dish and fine guys open for three in the corners and shoot
18:17
high percentage shots. Not really a lot of those 15 to
18:20
17 foot jumpers that that those are coming out of style anyway.
18:23
So when I watch us play, I don't see a significant difference.
18:27
Like when Coach Rhodes left and and Brian Odom came in, there
18:30
was a big difference guys. I mean, Coach Rhodes was
18:33
defense, defense, defense and let Ace Baldwin do what he
18:35
needed to do and if we score, that's great and if not, we're
18:38
going to stop him. On the other side, Ryan Odom was
18:41
very much offensively minded, especially that first year.
18:44
In the second year we became much better defensively and I
18:47
just feel like it's very similar.
18:48
Like you'll see us I think on Tuesday night, Spider fans that
18:52
haven't really watched us all year, I don't think they'll
18:54
notice a huge difference. Drive the lane, kick, drive the
18:57
lane, finish at the rim, try to get around your guy with a
19:00
highball screen, kick it to the right wing guy, hit a three.
19:03
And I think Coach Martelli wants to do that quicker than Ryan
19:06
Odom did or even does now at UVAI.
19:09
Think he'd like to do it earlier in the shot clock.
19:11
He wants more possessions. I mean, Coach Odom was a little
19:14
bit more patient and trying to find that perfect shot when
19:17
Coach Martelli's a little bit more, hey, if it's a good shot,
19:20
we're we're wanting to take that and keep the pace going.
19:23
But otherwise, in terms of style and just stylistically, it's a
19:26
pretty similar look, I think than what we've had the last
19:29
couple years with Coach Odom. As you know, we haven't won in
19:32
the Siegel Center very much. It's been since 2018.
19:36
That's a Met makes 7 losses in a row I think, if I'm counting
19:38
right. What makes it such an
19:39
intimidating place for for teams to come in and win?
19:43
What I've been told, our strength coach, this guy named
19:45
Daniel Ruse, and Ruse was here with Shaka Smart during the
19:49
Final Four, the Peak Havoc years is what we like to call it.
19:52
He went with Shaka to Texas. So they came back in 2018-2019
19:56
where we played Texas. He was on the other bench.
19:59
And so he was now a member of the Texas staff in the Siegel
20:01
Center when the Siegel Center was like really hopped up.
20:03
And that day we were really hopped up.
20:05
We played Texas. We lost that game.
20:07
He said afterwards, he said it is amazing being on the other
20:10
side. You feel like the roof is about
20:12
to cave in on you. You just do.
20:14
And I don't know if it's it's a building or our fans or the band
20:17
or anything like that. But he, he said that it just
20:20
feels like it's just just pressure after pressure after
20:23
pressure. And I've got to believe that
20:24
every team feels that way when they come in, that the way our
20:27
crowd reacts and the way our crowd celebrates every bucket,
20:30
then every stop and every steal and every dunk, I think that's
20:35
what just makes it a special place and just so difficult to
20:37
win in. You know, I remember vividly the
20:41
kind of the havoc days kind of when that brand was kind of, you
20:44
know, the dominating presence statistically wise like this
20:49
team. And you kind of have read some
20:50
of the, you know, the articles of reviews.
20:52
It's like defense is the weakness of this team.
20:56
It's like offensively, like the efficiency is off the charts.
20:59
So like, what give us like the insider's view.
21:02
I like if you know, if Richmond's going to succeed,
21:05
like what, what about the defense kind of could give us a
21:07
chance. I think if person's going to
21:10
succeed, they're going to get to the rim.
21:12
That's what George Mason did when we played them a couple
21:14
weeks ago. We just struggled stopping them.
21:17
And even yesterday, guys, when we were down in Davidson, there
21:20
was a couple, there was a couple segments of the game, not long
21:23
segments, but just a couple segments of the game where we're
21:26
defensively, we weren't locked in and Davidson got some good
21:29
looks and some buckets, you know, some threes without a hand
21:32
in the face and just little things like that, that this team
21:34
is growing into. It is tough when you have an
21:37
it's, it's tough when you have new players.
21:39
That's one thing for sure. And you guys have to deal with
21:41
that. Everybody has to deal with that.
21:42
We talked about that before we started recording on the podcast
21:44
that there's new guys on every single team.
21:47
No one is returning 8 guys that you're used to from the years
21:49
past. But when you couple that with a
21:51
new coach, I just think it's it's tough to to really get that
21:56
defense moving in the exact direction you want because
21:59
communication on defense is such a big thing.
22:01
And these guys are still learning to communicate and the
22:03
coaches are still learning to communicate.
22:05
And honestly, you know, Tom, it happened in Coach Odom's first
22:08
year. We were 11 and seven in the
22:09
league. And Coach Odom's first year, you
22:11
know, VCU 11 and seven in the conference is a little bit you
22:14
raise an eyebrow or two about that.
22:17
Yeah, I remember a little bit of like the, uh oh, like this
22:20
transition's not going well and. Exactly.
22:22
It got it, got it. Got good pretty quick.
22:24
Yeah, yeah, we did. And we, we got hot down the
22:26
stretch, but you guys beat us at the Robin Center that year.
22:30
And so I think just, I think it's just very difficult to
22:35
implement your culture, implement your offense, get guys
22:38
to communicate all together on both sides of the floor.
22:42
Something might suffer and I think our defense isn't
22:44
suffering, but it's definitely not the level of coach Martelli
22:46
wants it to be at. And I think that's really the
22:49
that's been the key for that this year.
22:52
So Robbie, Speaking of new players, who's somebody on VCU
22:56
that Spider fans might not be familiar with that we have to
22:59
contain if we're going to have success this week?
23:03
Probably I would say Porter Lazar Djokovic is our 6 foot 10
23:09
junior. He's he originally went to
23:11
Xavier out of high school and then went to the College of
23:14
Charleston last year and just never really got it going at the
23:18
College of Charleston. I think he was injured a little
23:20
bit. He's been a real force for us.
23:22
And I say that as a guy that someone that your fans aren't
23:25
going to know because he's new. He's our best.
23:26
He's probably our our our newest player that your fans aren't
23:30
going to be familiar with. And he's just tough, man.
23:32
He is strong, he's fast, he can handle the basketball, he can
23:35
pass, he can rebound, he can hit free throws.
23:38
He's like a 77% free throw shooter, which is good for a 6
23:41
foot 10 guy. I mean, that's that's harking
23:43
back to a lot of the really good big guys that you've had at your
23:46
school over the past decade plus that we've gotten to know.
23:50
And so I think he's someone that if I'm a Spider fan, I would I
23:53
would be on high alert for as a new player.
23:55
We'll start a freshman point guard, Nick Lewis.
23:57
He's really good. Nick is he's having kind of the
24:00
ups and downs of freshman year and has helped us win a lot of
24:03
basketball games. And I think right now is pushing
24:06
through that freshman wall, which they all hit about this
24:08
time of year after playing 20 plus games and intense and
24:11
atmospheres. So those two guys, but probably
24:13
the one that really will be like, whoa, we didn't see that
24:16
coming. If they haven't been paying
24:18
attention to VCU basketball is Terence Hill, who was actually
24:22
on the team last year. He was a returner and he has
24:25
been dynamite for us this season.
24:27
I mean, just flat out great. He's averaging like 15 a game.
24:30
He comes off the bench and he comes off the bench and like 6
24:33
minutes later he's got eight points.
24:34
He's immediately, he's like the microwave man.
24:37
He's immediately heating up and he is going so that kind.
24:40
Or if he might have 6 at half because he didn't really get
24:43
going and then with 12 minutes left to go in the second-half,
24:45
all of a sudden he's got 16. You're like, wow, where did that
24:47
come from? And it's a three and a free
24:49
throws and then a bucket at the rim and another 3.
24:52
And so Terence Hill and Lazar Djokovic, if I'm Spider fans,
24:55
would be two guys I would really want to be aware of and try to
24:59
stop. And if you stop those two guys,
25:01
it's a little whack A mole. We've got other guys that are
25:03
weapons, but those two guys have been leading the charge lately.
25:07
Yeah, Just to tell you a little about Richmond, what's been kind
25:10
of interesting for us, if you look at Mooney's past, it's very
25:14
much been like there are four or five guys that are playing 25 to
25:18
30 minutes a game and there's two or three off the bench.
25:22
And coach told us kind of early on that when it was the summer
25:26
and he, you know, the team was coming together, both returnees
25:29
and new players that, you know, he had 10 to 12 players where
25:32
the difference between the best and the and the lowest wasn't
25:36
that different. So he had he was for the and
25:39
really for the first time and it's evolved, but has been
25:42
playing 11:50 guys. There was actually a point in
25:46
time, I think before the season, he reached out to Coach Rhodes
25:49
to kind of get advice of like, I've like, this is not how I've
25:52
had to play before. And Jamal Brunt is up there as
25:55
an assistant and he used to be an assistant for Mooney.
25:58
So he mentioned that he like talked to them because this was
26:00
new and like how to like how to, you know, manage the minutes.
26:04
Now it's it's tightened a little bit lately, but we have, you
26:09
know, the a good example of a freshman Will Harper, Will
26:12
Harper the third, who didn't even play until about a month
26:15
ago. And he's kind of now worked and
26:17
and Mooney would say like, Hey, we've got some guys not even
26:19
playing who are like fighting and starting to and now, you
26:23
know, he's become a almost a 20 minute guy.
26:26
And I think he went to school with Lewis.
26:28
I think they're both the kind of high school players.
26:32
They're both, you know, both freshmen who played up in.
26:34
DC area, yeah, I'm looking, I'm looking at the roster now.
26:37
Yeah, they both. It'll be, it's kind of fun when
26:39
you've got 2 freshmen and he won't.
26:41
I don't, he's not starting yet. He's kind of one of the guys
26:43
that that comes off the bench. But we do have a lot.
26:46
We we talk about whack A mole like we've got 12 guys and the
26:50
starting lineup has changed 2 times since we started a 10
26:54
play. And Coach Mooney is still and
26:56
you could tell by our record like he, like we haven't solved
27:00
this is the best version of this team.
27:01
So there's lots of players. We got a couple local kids and.
27:07
Arga Bright's going to be fun to watch for you guys.
27:09
He's a another kind of smaller Richmond guard, but it's a
27:12
freshman. He is he's electric.
27:14
He's just super fast with the ball, draws fouls like crazy.
27:18
Could shoot both from all three levels.
27:21
Likes to go to the rim, but also can shoot to three.
27:23
So he's he's fun to watch. You guys will enjoy.
27:25
Supporters Is he the next iteration of the of that classic
27:30
small Richmond guard that. Yeah, if we can keep them, yes.
27:35
Yeah, in this in this environment, absolutely.
27:37
He's he's got all a 10 caliber kind of an all a 10 caliber
27:42
future depending on, you know, whether or not Richmond can can
27:46
retain him over the full 4 years.
27:48
I mean, he's really fun to watch and he's he's a Richmond kid.
27:51
I mean, he's from, he played here in Richmond, so.
27:53
He gets to the what you'll what you'll hate about him, Robbie
27:56
and what the fans will hate and what we love.
27:58
And Porter picked up on this early.
28:00
He draws tons of fouls and he's got the like, I drive and like
28:04
the head snap, like he might get a little bit of a reach in and
28:08
he's like, you know, got his whole body into that reach in.
28:11
And so like, we love it 'cause he gets to the line a lot.
28:14
And as a freshman, like that seems like a more, a more mature
28:17
skill. But from the very beginning,
28:20
even when he wasn't playing as much, you know, he would go in
28:22
there and this, you know, be the 8th or 9th guy off the bench and
28:26
he'd be there for like a minute and we'd be on the foul line
28:30
shooting foul shots. So he's definitely, he's a guy
28:33
that he can, you know, he's just so fast, as Porter said, like
28:36
he's yeah, he's a freshman. So they all are making mistakes.
28:40
Jayden Daughtry transferred in I think from for Indiana State.
28:44
He's a, he reminds me a little bit of a VCU, a traditional VCU
28:47
player. He's 67230.
28:48
You know, he can take you to the rim, you can shoot the three
28:51
strong as can be. He's he's fun to watch as well.
28:54
And then I think you'll see a lot of offense come out of AJ
28:57
Lopez, who's a who's a transfer from Maine, and Will Johnston,
29:01
who transferred in from, I think it was Loyola Marymount.
29:04
Those two guys are kind of instant offense when they're in
29:06
the game. They can.
29:07
They can now, Johnston. Robbie, he's, he's got kind of
29:10
big orange hair and a a rat tail.
29:14
He's he's Australian. And yeah, so you probably
29:18
haven't had a rat tail in the, in the Siegel Center this year.
29:21
So you know, it'll be the first Rat Tail on on Tuesday.
29:24
I think I'm like. Good.
29:25
Well. So I, I, so I mean, look at your
29:27
roster and I'm hearing you talk about this.
29:29
And I mean, I would say just without even watching play
29:31
Argebrite seems like some of it scares us to death because we've
29:35
struggled with penetration. How are you 3 and five in the
29:39
league? Like what is what is not?
29:41
Because it sounds like you've got a lot of good pieces.
29:44
What's what's happening in the conference where you're a couple
29:48
games under 500? Well, we've lost to GW twice and
29:53
they just, I think, I think we go into those games trying to
29:57
make sure Castro doesn't kill us and then all of their guys are
30:00
just raining threes. So we've lost bad to them twice.
30:05
Yeah, we lost to Saint Louis, like everybody.
30:07
Yeah, Saint Louis. St.
30:08
Louis crushed us. I mean, it's funny he helped
30:11
get. Saint Joe's back to life, like
30:12
when we were playing them, I think they had one win in the
30:14
league and they just went and you know, they've had a bunch of
30:17
turmoil at Saint Joe's and now they seemed like the hot team.
30:20
And then we just lost a terrible Rhode Island game at home where
30:24
we are winning like 99% of the game.
30:26
Lost last second shot. We've lost five of our five of
30:29
our eight losses by a total of 12 points.
30:32
So we've lost some close games this year, games I feel like we
30:36
should have had a better record in.
30:38
So there is something to this team that hasn't shown itself
30:40
yet. Probably did show itself in the
30:42
Belmont win when we won at Belmont, which I think was the
30:45
810's only quad one win in the non con.
30:48
So we can beat a good team, but right now, this last month, I
30:52
would say we're kind of lacking in a little bit of confidence.
30:55
So I think the key is, you know, can when do we put it together
30:58
again and what does that look like?
30:59
So you know. Yeah, consistency too.
31:01
It's like this whack A mole, like we're totally whack A mole.
31:04
Like our centers will have a great game and then the next two
31:07
games, like they'll score combined like 5 points and have
31:11
8 rebounds, and then the next game they'll both score double
31:15
digits. And same with Argar, Bright and
31:18
Daughtry. Like they've had their moments
31:20
and then there are games where they they're just not impactful
31:23
and Mooney's got a lot of players.
31:25
So it's like if you're not out there making a difference, he's
31:28
got someone else at that position to throw in there and
31:30
that can be disruptive. You we kind of hope it leads to
31:34
something, but it's still Porter like to say we have all the
31:38
ingredients, but we're not really sure what the.
31:42
We haven't got the recipe right just yet, but we have the
31:44
ingredients to be really good. And so eventually, like, you
31:47
know, as many guys as we have that are playing, you feel like
31:50
we have the potential to get right.
31:52
I don't think VC at VCU is going to be the place we get right.
31:54
We were talking about that before you came on like it's
31:56
it's not a game that you want to have to get right at because we
31:59
are we have a terrible history of playing at the Seagull
32:01
Center. So, but eventually we could be
32:04
pretty dangerous team. Sure, it seems like you have an.
32:07
Ingredients, Yeah, I will tell you Robbie, I think we have the
32:10
best dressed coaching staff in the A10.
32:13
So we've got that cause Mooney's still wearing the coat and we
32:16
still have the coat and suit and tie group versus the the sweat
32:20
suit, which seems like what everybody else has has evolved
32:24
into and not just in the A 10, but really across the NCAA.
32:28
No, it's, it's interesting to say that Tom, like I'm, I'm
32:30
going over in my mind it 'cause I know Chris wears it for sure.
32:34
Looks great. You're right, he looks fantastic
32:36
in it. Probably 'cause he shops at
32:37
Beecroft and Bull, my friends, which is a proud VCU sponsor.
32:42
But even like last night, Matt Mckillop wore suit and tie at
32:45
Davidson and Tony's skin wears the tie, at least the suit.
32:50
I don't know if he does a tie, but he has like a real slim cut
32:53
suit that he wears. So those three, Archie Miller
32:57
was not. Archie was in that quarter zip
32:59
with the pants. It is, it is changing and I
33:02
don't know. My jury's out on what I'd like
33:05
to see. I think I liked it.
33:07
I liked it when they all looked good and sharp.
33:09
But on the same token, a lot of times coaches didn't know how to
33:11
dress and would look bad, and that was no.
33:14
One I do like, I don't think it's intentional, but you know,
33:16
especially when you have the tie, like Mooney doesn't wear
33:18
the tie as much anymore, but it's like you have things to do
33:21
when you're mad, you know, you take the coat off.
33:23
Like if there's a game, I think at GW in half time, Mooney came
33:26
out without the coat. So like usually he he keeps the
33:30
coat for like the ref, but I think he got into the locker
33:33
room and took off the coat when he was, you know, giving the
33:36
team the business. But remember.
33:37
That one time Shashefsky did that, he came out like a polo.
33:40
It was like really hot and Cameron Indoor Stadium and they
33:43
weren't playing well in the first half and he was
33:45
complaining about the heat and he came out in a polo and he
33:47
like made national news and he was wearing a polo in the
33:50
second-half. And now that would not be news
33:52
at all. That would, yeah, wouldn't even
33:54
make a make a dent. Well, is it sold out on Tuesday?
33:57
Do you know is it? I think there's a.
33:59
Couple tickets left. I think like anybody, things
34:02
have changed so much. There's there's not a lot of
34:04
tickets left. When I say a couple, like we're
34:05
talking corners and maybe a couple G as so you know, like
34:11
it's, you know, people have changed their habits on how they
34:14
how they watch games and we had that long sell out streak and
34:17
you guys always draw well in the Robins Center.
34:20
But it takes a lot of hard work to get a place full to get 75108
34:24
thousand people into an arena. So it'll feel packed, I'm sure.
34:28
Could there be a handful of seats here and there, baby?
34:32
The weather probably won't help. I'm hoping that the roads are
34:34
pretty clear by Tuesday night and it's not treacherous to
34:37
drive around. But who knows what that's going
34:39
to look like with whatever happens in the next 48 hours
34:42
here weather wise. But it'll be, guys, it'll be a
34:45
great atmosphere. It always is.
34:47
Our fans will be fired up and I think my gut tells me that early
34:51
on, you'll probably land some punches with us and that'll wake
34:53
our crowd up to know that this is going to be a walk over, like
34:56
probably most of them. Looking at your record, looking
34:58
at our record and looking at the last few years of basketball,
35:01
think it I'd be I'd be very surprised that this isn't a
35:04
couple possession game down the stretch for either team.
35:08
Well, that would be nice. Although I I think Porter and I
35:10
are both in favor of I think there's any ice on the road.
35:12
They should say no fans are allowed at the single center.
35:15
Let's let's play in an empty ginger.
35:17
Band we'd. Be OK with that.
35:19
The only thing to do? Is that there's no water.
35:22
Water's the only thing that'll keep the fans out of there.
35:24
Yeah, that's true. Let's not jinx the the city with
35:27
water issue. That'll be your fault, Tom, if
35:29
there's no, if there's a water shortage and because no fans,
35:31
it'll be on your shoulders. Well, Robbie, thank you so much
35:35
for joining. We look forward to, well, we
35:38
kind of look forward to the game on Tuesday.
35:40
We usually don't look forward to playing at the Seagull Center,
35:43
but we do look forward to seeing our Spiders and hopefully, if
35:48
it's not us, that you know, VCU can make a run in the tournament
35:51
and give you another chance to call some NCAA games in whatever
35:56
two months from now. I appreciate that, guys.
35:58
I think, I think we're all in for some good basketball down
36:00
the stretch here for both of our programs.
36:03
Yeah, hope so. Well, moving on to the ladies,
36:06
the women have a home game Wednesday.
36:09
Before we get into talking about Duquesne and that game coming
36:12
up, did you see Riley Weiss the other night?
36:16
No. What happened?
36:17
So she scored forty against Dartmouth.
36:20
Whoa, yes. So I know you're a big fan of
36:23
hers, kind of that Columbia team that we beat earlier this year.
36:28
But I saw that tweet that she put out 40 against Dartmouth.
36:31
That was a you know, we know she's a star.
36:36
Glad we don't have to see her again.
36:37
But anyway, so Duquesne Wednesday at home, 6:00 PM.
36:40
Duquesne is O and nine in Conference 7 and 13 overall.
36:46
Was it like 260 and the Bartovic?
36:50
Yeah. Not a great team.
36:52
Well, what what did you find out and dig it into it?
36:54
What do we got to? Worry about well, I, I mean, I,
36:57
I think we, we have to worry about like the flu or some
37:00
contagious disease, you know, knocking out nine of our
37:03
thirteen players, but or however many we have.
37:05
But I, I mean, I think you've got, it's interesting, Dan
37:08
Bert's the coach. Dan had kind of a pretty good
37:12
three-year run in a three-year run going.
37:14
I mean, he was in 2319 and 12 finish 1402421 and 13 finished
37:19
117 and 2521 and 13 finish 117. So he had kind of a really good
37:25
run until this year. And then they're like you said,
37:28
7 and 13 and they're not, they're not a good team this
37:31
year. I mean, they're, they, they do
37:34
have a kid that you have to worry about.
37:36
She's a freshman. She's a 58 freshman and her name
37:40
real quick. Yeah.
37:44
Yeah, I think it was. I think you just said it.
37:47
Alexis. Yeah.
37:48
Portis. What what's interesting with her
37:49
too, Like she I mean, she's I think she scores 15 points per
37:52
game. Her efficiency numbers are good,
37:54
but I think if you look at just her A10 play, like I think she's
37:58
really been struggling shooting. So it's not like, you know, she
38:02
may be their best player, but I think she seems to be as a lot
38:06
of freshmen kind of you get into this part of the season, it can
38:09
it can be tough, especially if you're expected to be the best
38:11
player. Yeah, 1 interesting note about
38:13
her from an efficiencies perspective.
38:15
If you look at the Bartorvic efficiency rating, she's the
38:18
most efficient freshman in the conference by far.
38:22
But I guarantee if you look during the conference, she is
38:25
not. Yeah, probably not during just
38:26
in if you focus on conference play, this is overall, yeah.
38:30
But like, you know, there's, there's only, there's only two
38:32
freshmen in the top 30 and she's, she's ranked #13 overall
38:38
and then the next freshman down is 21.
38:41
So she's actually having a really good year for a freshman
38:44
in the conference or not in the conference in in play 1.
38:46
Interesting thing about the efficiency ratings.
38:48
Rachel has jumped over Zariah Walton to George Mason.
38:51
So she's now number 2IN efficiency in the A10 behind
38:53
Maggie. So we talked about, you know,
38:56
what are the possible, what's the possibility of that?
38:58
That's just interesting. Something to keep our eye on.
39:00
Ally is now #7 overall, which is, which is fascinating.
39:04
And then you've got Alicia Newell sitting at 24 and Sam
39:08
Dewey at 27. So we've got 5, five or five
39:12
starters really sitting in the top 27.
39:14
And Ali was preseason second team, right?
39:16
Do I remember that right? I think Rachel and Maggie were
39:18
first and she was third and Simon was third.
39:22
Yep. So I mean all three are are
39:24
having the kind of seasons we we thought they would.
39:27
But you know what the A 10s got dramatically improved play.
39:30
I think Bartorvic says we're going to beat Duquesne by 31
39:33
points. So that's kind of like, hey,
39:34
we're going to play a lot of folks type game, right?
39:38
But it's always good because like, you know, if you get a
39:41
team where you can kind of if you can kind of put up good
39:44
numbers, get some of the get some of the secondary players
39:46
and stay healthy. You know, you got a tough
39:50
stretch coming up, especially now that we got that three-game
39:52
set in the middle of February and three games in six days.
39:55
That's going to be a brutal stretch.
39:56
So I don't, I don't think we're going to have too many problems
40:00
on Wednesday, but. Definitely is going to be.
40:04
It's going to be an interesting game to watch just from you know
40:06
who can take a step forward of our of our supplemental players.
40:10
Well, it'll be fun too, just to get back to the Robin Center,
40:14
see this team, which we know has been playing really well and you
40:18
know, no games are a Gimme, but it's fun to watch that team when
40:22
they're with our team, when they're rolling offensively.
40:24
And this should be this. This team.
40:27
Duquesne will give us an opportunity to kind of really
40:30
roll offensively and and get a lot of scoring, which is it's
40:34
always fun to watch those games, especially after watching the
40:37
George Washington do that against our men's team in the
40:40
1st. Yeah, yeah, you're right.
40:43
I mean, it'll be nice to it'll be nice to cleanse the the
40:45
palate with something that's, you know, a feel good win for
40:49
sure. I mean, we'll have Tuesday night
40:51
VCU that's on the road. That's a tough match up for the
40:53
men. So yeah, we'll see.
40:55
We'll see what happens. I mean, you never know.
40:56
All it takes is like 30 good minutes to to get us started or
41:00
40 good minutes to get us started.
41:01
And you know, you could start the start the comeback trail for
41:04
the men. So we'll see.
41:06
Yeah. And I guess it's probably, I'd
41:08
say unlikely, but it's certainly in the realm of possibility for
41:12
those who don't live in this Richmond area.
41:13
Like, we're supposed to get a bunch of freezing rain this
41:17
afternoon into tomorrow, and that could shut this place down
41:20
for a few days. And, you know, the other
41:23
travels, not that terrible between universities, but there
41:26
is always a chance that that Tuesday game becomes, either,
41:28
like, no fans or has to get postponed because the ice, you
41:33
know, shuts down power across this town.
41:36
So we'll have to just keep an eye on that.
41:37
So if anyone's planning to go to the game, please pay attention.
41:41
Yeah. Yeah.
41:42
And so if you're listening to this and there has not been a
41:45
VCU update with a special guest, it's because we lost power after
41:50
Porter and I did this episode and weren't able to to add that.
41:54
And but hopefully as we wrap this up, I've already kind of
41:58
spliced our guests and a little VCU Scout in the middle of this.
42:02
But until next time, this is Tom.
42:05
And this is Porter. And this is spiders sounding.