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Spiders Roll: Men & Women Win Big, Coach’s Show Stories, and a Massive St. Louis Test · Spiders Sound Off

0:06
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Spiders Sound
0:10
Off. This is Tom.
0:11
And this is Porter. And we are together here on AI
0:17
Guess a weekday pod. We've been a little bit apart.
0:19
I had a a work trip to Fort Lauderdale for 2 1/2 days so I
0:25
missed the games. I flew out Monday night.
0:28
So Porter really had to take ownership of all the Richmond
0:32
events this week. How was your week?
0:33
It was, I mean, the week doesn't get any better than two.
0:36
And oh, I mean, that's those are good weeks, right?
0:38
So great performances by both the men and the women this week.
0:42
Well, you were really three and oh right, because on Monday you
0:45
got to go. Three and Oh, I went to the
0:46
coaches show for the first time. That's right.
0:49
So let me tell you that story so I have a good.
0:51
Friend from high school who lives in Richmond.
0:54
And we both grew up in Virginia. I've known this this man since I
0:57
was 13. And we we pretty much grew up
1:00
together. And he said, hey, I was at the
1:02
local randomly one Monday night and your coach was on and I'd
1:05
love to like go to that with you sometime.
1:06
So I said, OK, turns out this was the time we were able to
1:10
make that happen. My wife showed up, his wife
1:13
showed up. So there's four of us before my
1:16
friend Mark and Katie got there. I was sitting, I went in to get
1:19
us a table because, you know, I figured it would fill up and it
1:21
did. I'm glad I did that.
1:23
And I got put it one of those communal high top tables and I
1:27
got to chat up a friend, a new friend named Max who's a big,
1:30
big Spider basketball fan and listens to our show, which was
1:32
cool. Mark and Katie got there and
1:35
then my wife was coming from church, so she got there a
1:36
little bit later and we had a great conversation.
1:39
I mean they have fixed the sound problem so I could.
1:42
Hear what was going. On So I went to the first week
1:44
of the season. Sound was OK.
1:46
It was hit and miss my that's why I sat with the Butlers.
1:49
So that was fun to talk to the the the Butler family, Richmond
1:54
royalty. But anyway, keep going to your
1:56
store. Yeah.
1:56
So I was sitting with with Mark, Katie and my wife.
1:59
And then I was also sitting with Max, who was sitting at the same
2:01
table. And first and foremost.
2:04
I thought the food at the local was really good.
2:06
I mean everybody complimented what they were eating.
2:08
So if you guys haven't had a chance to eat there, I heavily
2:10
recommend getting. Out they are not a sponsor.
2:12
They're not sponsoring us. This was my wife had the shrimp
2:14
tacos. She loved them.
2:16
I had crab cakes. They were good.
2:18
And you know, everything that was, was eaten was, was really
2:20
good towards. So Full disclosure, I was
2:24
focused more on my friend Mark because I hadn't seen him in a
2:26
while. So I, I knew I could go back and
2:28
catch the coaches comments on the archive.
2:30
So even though I could hear them very well, I wasn't listening to
2:32
them. I was talking to Mark and Katie
2:35
and Max to some degree too. So at the end of the coaches
2:38
show. My good friend Mark asks Max,
2:41
who listens to our show, who is the better basketball analyst
2:44
between Tom and Porter, right? Yeah.
2:46
So I'm figuring I've got this slam dunk because, you know,
2:49
Mark is there. Yeah, you're there.
2:51
You know, his wife Katie and my wife is sitting right next to
2:53
me. So I'm like, you know, Max, do
2:54
me a solid and and Max thought about it for maybe 5 or 10
2:58
seconds. He put he put some serious
3:00
thought to it and he just turned and said I think Tom's the
3:01
better analyst. So of course not for Tom.
3:06
That delighted the three people I was with nothing more than
3:08
anything that whole night and they loved it too.
3:11
So Max, we still I love you. Tom definitely loves you for.
3:14
Sure. Thanks for listening.
3:16
We appreciate that. Both coaches came over and
3:18
talked to me a little bit which was which was fantastic.
3:20
We have two great representatives of basketball
3:23
working for the university and and Coach Mooney and Coach
3:26
Roussell. I went back and I did listen to
3:29
what they said after the fact and it was a great show.
3:31
Heavily recommend people check it out.
3:32
And now let's be clear. I mean, you don't listen mostly
3:34
the first time anyway. So if like you're in a
3:37
conversation, like boy, you're not listening at all.
3:39
I don't have John O'Connor's natural.
3:41
Ability to to to to. Really.
3:43
Listen to people. I but I sort of also am thinking
3:46
about the next question. And well, remember, like I, I
3:49
agree what you said last time, we're only about 10%
3:51
journalists, 90% fan and 10%, maybe it's more like 5%.
3:55
Yeah, I mean, like, John's a fantastic journalist in.
3:58
Writer I'm more of just a fan. We're entertainers entertaining,
4:01
you know, people with my opinions and it was it was a fun
4:05
night. I'm I'll definitely.
4:07
Go. Is there a player or it's just
4:08
just the two coaches this? Week it was the two coaches this
4:10
week with Bob Black doing the interview and it was it was a
4:12
great discussion listening to them talk and, and I definitely
4:16
felt just, you know, really like we were we have great
4:20
representatives of basketball for the university and.
4:22
It was a full house, I mean every table was taken.
4:25
So it was. It was a great, great venue.
4:27
I definitely recommend getting out to 1 before you know they go
4:31
away for the year and and and take one in because it's worth
4:33
doing and it's it's a small setting so you can actually get
4:36
to talk to players and. Other people who work for the
4:39
university as well as the. Coach yeah, I'd expect that to
4:41
be weekly for the next two months.
4:44
Like they they had to take some time off both for Christmas and
4:47
then there was a lot of travel anyway.
4:49
I'd expect that if it's not every Monday, it's going to
4:52
almost be every Monday through middle of March.
4:55
Yeah, absolutely it's and again, the food is great.
4:57
So like if you if you just go for the food, that's OK too.
5:00
Because I mean, I'm, I'm a foodie, so I love good food.
5:02
OK, so you're well prepped after that Monday to like, go out
5:07
Wednesday to watch the men while the women were playing at the
5:10
same time. So yeah, you had to choose.
5:12
Something so my wife couldn't go so I took our good mutual friend
5:16
Woody to go with. So he sat with me, which is
5:18
awesome. First game for him this year he
5:20
has not gone to a game. He's a he's a big Spider
5:22
basketball fan. He's watched him on TV.
5:24
Somebody has not gone to a game so.
5:26
Woody went with me. We had a great time.
5:28
Woody bought me a Falcon Smash which I which I thanked him for.
5:31
And you drank. And I drank yes, I did had one
5:34
Falcon smash. That's my that's my work night
5:36
limit. Although I will say I wasn't
5:37
going to do the post game show because I, I knew we were going
5:39
to do this recording today and I had to get home and watch the
5:42
women's game so I could get ready for the recording.
5:44
So I, I stayed for the game. I did not go to the post game
5:47
conference this time, but. It was a great game.
5:50
I mean look the the LaSalle game was.
5:53
The result I think we are hoping for in the Robin Center, we, we
5:57
are playing a team that wasn't as talented as we are and we
6:01
beat them handily. And I'll say this, you know,
6:05
there was, I mean, you can see Mooney is, is trying to try
6:09
different things to try to figure out what's the optimal
6:13
thing to do once we, once we get to the tournament.
6:16
Get us the right. Seed in the tournament then get
6:17
to the tournament to win three or four games depending on that
6:20
seed. And so like last night he
6:22
intercept he interjected or or I should say injected Thomas into
6:26
the starting lineup. Thomas played well.
6:29
We started off small as a result, but everybody in that
6:31
lineup was good a good three-point shooter effect.
6:33
All five people shot above 38%, and I think four of the five
6:38
were over 40%. So that's actually an
6:40
interesting little thing to try, right?
6:42
It's a straight 3 point shooting lineup right off the bat.
6:45
The same thing that happened to US against Saint Joe's.
6:48
The big guy sat down low, wouldn't come out on MM, drain
6:51
2-3 pointers right out right out of the gate.
6:53
And that was the last time the guy sagged off of him.
6:55
He changed the defensive dynamic just by doing what he does,
6:58
being an elite 3 point shooter. So that was awesome.
7:00
Mike stretched the defense, I thought.
7:04
Beagle played a really good game.
7:05
He was really effective close to the rim.
7:09
He was. He was very active doing the
7:12
things that he does to score the basketball.
7:14
In fact, I think he reached 1000 career points in that.
7:16
Game. That's right.
7:17
Yeah, they announced that. So that was really cool to see.
7:20
Will Johnston, the Elite 3 point shooter last night for one night
7:23
was an Elite rebounder with 12 rebounds, all defensive
7:26
rebounds, which was really cool. The defense I thought was really
7:30
good was forced to shot clock violation in the first half.
7:32
They were. We were very active.
7:35
The other highlight of the first half for me was Mike.
7:37
He had a A and one slam on a feed from Daughtry, which you
7:41
got to see. It was really good.
7:42
And that's exactly what you know, Mike, if he continues to
7:45
do, will will help this team, you know, do something in the
7:49
A10 tournament that we all want to see it do, which is, you
7:51
know, run the table and and and get a get a bid to the end.
7:54
So. Can I give you a little waltz
7:56
Beagle? Research that I did what you
7:58
got. So they had 27 points and 14
8:00
rebounds combined. Did you do this on the plane?
8:02
Did you do this on the plane by the way?
8:04
No, I did it this morning. OK, cool.
8:05
OK, first of all, that's A season high for them. 27 points
8:08
combined. OK?
8:10
It's also the first time they both had double digit scoring.
8:14
OK, OK. Interesting.
8:16
So I started looking back like what does all of this mean?
8:20
Yes. One, maybe no surprise Nostra
8:23
Thomas, maybe no surprise Spider sound off analysts we have.
8:27
OK, hold on. So they average 14.7 points and
8:31
roughly 12 rebounds per game. OK, so first of all, if like
8:34
that's what you're 5 is doing, like that's not bad, OK?
8:39
So I think sometimes we think of it like we got all these great
8:41
guards and we've got, you know, AJ and Daughtry who can do the
8:44
slashing. But anyway, our centers are
8:46
doing almost 15 points, 12 rebounds per game.
8:50
In the winds, it's 16 points per game, and the losses, it's 11,
8:54
OK, I look at that, I'm like, well, no surprise, you win,
8:56
you're going to score more points.
8:57
That's probably true for a lot of people when they score 20
9:01
points or more. We're four now, OK?
9:04
When one of them scores at least 10, we are 8, no.
9:09
Really. So 5:00 and 5:00 if neither goes
9:13
to double digits. Interesting.
9:14
Now I say that I think it's a neat stat.
9:17
Now we'll play Saint Louis this weekend and they'll both score
9:20
10 and we'll lose and they'll be like, wow, don't say that stat
9:22
was garbage. But anyway, what it's telling me
9:25
is like, like that's a real important part to our team.
9:29
We sometimes because of their splitting minutes, it's
9:33
sometimes it's hard to tell. There's not one guy who's
9:35
scoring 15 points every game. So you look at it as like
9:38
they're, it's a 2 headed monster.
9:40
But if one of them gets to double digits, we win.
9:43
If they both get to double digits, like we're guaranteed to
9:46
win. That's what the date is telling
9:47
me, Mike. Walls.
9:48
To me is the most important person on this team.
9:52
If we are going to make the NCAA tournament, I think it's going
9:54
to be him that carries us there. If you think about how many good
9:57
big men are in the A10 Mike's ability to stretch them and pull
10:01
them out of the lane with his three-point shot and also just
10:03
his physical presence underneath the basket, he's going to be the
10:06
difference maker. So the more he continues to
10:09
evolve his game to that next level, which he's doing, you
10:12
know more and more as you see the season go on, the better
10:15
chance. I think we have a making I I.
10:17
Agree with you, but the one thing I will say what the data
10:19
is telling me is like we just need one of them to have a
10:22
really. Yeah, I hear what you're saying.
10:24
So it doesn't like walls doesn't need to score 12 points a game,
10:26
15 points a game. But if he's having a six point
10:29
game because maybe he's getting 10 rebounds, then we need.
10:32
Let me say it differently. When walls is in the game, the
10:34
big is has to going to, it's going to have to come out and.
10:36
Guard him that. Opens the lane for a lot of the
10:38
stuff that happens behind him. So I really think, you know,
10:41
being able to shoot that 3 will be a difference maker in the a
10:43
10 tournament. And I think it's going to be
10:45
really important for us down the stretch that, you know, he
10:48
continues to fire 63 pointers when that happens, maybe 10 if
10:52
it if it keeps happening and and keep stretching that defense,
10:55
it's really good. Halftime show was the kids
10:57
basketball game. The people I was with Woody and
11:00
the, you know, our friend who sits behind us who's been on the
11:02
pod, the barrister, the barrister, they were loving the
11:05
kids basketball game. One minor beef about the kids
11:08
basketball game. The kids show up and they're
11:09
playing in black and gold. I mean, why are we playing in
11:11
VCU colors for the kids basketball game in halftime?
11:14
It should be red versus blue, folks, red versus blue.
11:17
Look at us. See this is these are the spider
11:18
colors. Let's let's make that happen.
11:20
The gold team won, by the way, 4 to 2 is a defensive struggle.
11:24
But the interesting thing is that.
11:25
We're reviewing the kids game on the the kids.
11:27
Game it was 7 on five. The Gold team threw every kid on
11:30
the bench into the game and so the they stifled the black from
11:33
from equalizing at the end with A7 on five.
11:36
OK, you're I don't want to bring up like old nightmares, but
11:40
there was at some point in time, like 10 years ago and I've got
11:42
to figure out like how to find this stat.
11:44
But there was a game when the team was not playing well and we
11:48
got a technical for six players on the court.
11:51
OK, that did happen once in a men's game.
11:53
I was sitting somewhere else. It was a while ago.
11:55
But boy, you just brought back bad memories.
11:57
I was like, I was like, I was like tee em up, tee em up, let
12:00
let you know. So anyway, that was that was
12:02
fun. Walls had a great.
12:04
Game three blocks, 8 rebounds, 14 points and again the three or
12:07
four mentioned 3 pointers. He was attacking the rim all
12:10
night. The defense was outstanding.
12:11
And they picked it up in the second-half too.
12:13
Yeah, so the first half was exercising the demons of the
12:16
last three games. The second-half was a
12:17
domination. We really blew them out of the
12:19
building in the second-half and it was a great game, a great
12:24
performance by the guys. AJ Lopez went off offensively
12:27
again, which he's prone to do, scoring from all three levels.
12:32
Yeah, I can't say enough good things about the performance.
12:34
It was it was a really solid performance.
12:36
Yeah, and and we'll talk after we talk about the women's game,
12:39
we'll talk about the the, the big opportunity and challenge
12:43
the men have this weekend playing at Saint Louis.
12:46
We're we're going to need all of that and more.
12:48
But it's great to come out, have a a good win or a lot of people
12:51
contribute. Our defense is really the reason
12:54
we won that game. They play great.
12:57
So it's it's it's hopefully the right momentum to get us ready
13:00
for the toughest, yeah, maybe the toughest game.
13:02
We moved back up to 115 in the net and as you pointed out to me
13:06
and I saw, I'll steal your Thunder, but I'm going to I'm
13:08
going to say it. We have the A10 has one quad one
13:12
win across all of its teams. They're one in 17 against quad
13:15
one teams and and the quad one win is.
13:18
It is Richmond Spider. You're Richmond Spiders folks.
13:20
So awesome. Awesome thing to keep in mind is
13:23
that we can beat some of the best teams in America on their
13:26
home floor. OK, well the ladies travel to
13:29
Dayton. They did, yes.
13:30
And had a solid win as well. One of the things.
13:33
Roussell said on the coaches show that Monday night.
13:35
He came over and said it to me at the table too.
13:36
Was he rested Maggie, Rachel and Ally on the day after the triple
13:42
overtime game. He gave them the the day off,
13:44
which they were all pretty shocked about because they're
13:45
used to practicing. But just because they had played
13:48
so many minutes, they took they took that practice off and it
13:52
really reflected itself in the Dayton game.
13:54
Those those 3 specifically Mag Ally and Rachel came out on
13:58
fire. Rachel was on fire from three
14:00
early. Ally had honestly the most
14:05
dominant game I've seen her play as a Richmond Spider and I've
14:08
only watched her for the last two years, but she was in
14:11
complete control that game. 19 points, 13 assists.
14:15
There was a play with 228 left in the game where Ali drove into
14:19
the lane she had She had been dominating the defender all
14:21
night long. She drove into the lane, she
14:24
dribbled behind her back while making a cut, delivered like an
14:27
ankle breaking cut to the where the player fell down completely
14:30
on their behind and in rather than admiring her handiwork to
14:34
watch the player who's now falling down in front of her,
14:37
she like without missing a beat, hit Rachel in stride with a
14:40
bounce pass for an easy layup. And it was just the play that I
14:44
hope they played 10 times. In the video review room for
14:47
the. For the team, because it was it
14:49
was a highlight play. Put that one up in the queerly
14:51
center. By the way, when folks come in,
14:52
let them see that play over and over again.
14:53
That was one of the fit my favorite place so far.
14:55
This. Year well, I'll tell you too.
14:57
Like, you know, I, I did not get to watch the game, didn't have
14:59
time, saw the stats. Like it's a credit to Rachel
15:02
that you don't you're not saying it's the best you've ever seen
15:04
Rachel 'cause she was awesome. She.
15:06
Had 26 points. Unstoppable from three-point
15:08
land. But she's been awesomer.
15:10
She's had is that a word? I can't you know, she set the
15:13
spider record for most 3 pointers in a game.
15:15
So you know that's she's got a high bar to clear.
15:19
But it wasn't, I mean those 245 points combined, it was we won a
15:23
different way. So so against.
15:26
Davidson, Maggie Dugan, you know, took over.
15:29
She was pretty good. The national conversation right
15:32
set Set an NCAA women's record this year.
15:35
Became NCAA. Player of the week, I think, for
15:38
the entire nation. I think she was one of, well,
15:41
depend on what you're looking at.
15:42
Yeah, she was on the starting line up.
15:43
She was on. Some starting line up too.
15:44
So like she she had all kinds of accolades.
15:46
A10 Player of the Week. Again, we we're calling that the
15:48
Maggie Dugan Award. Now, yes, she knows what she's
15:51
doing. Yeah, so.
15:51
But here's the cool thing. So like with this dominant
15:54
performance. You know we look at PRPG which
15:57
is a player replacement values. You like saying we you look at.
16:00
It Bartorvic, not not Bartovic like you call it Bartorvic who's
16:04
one of these advanced quants who really studies basketball and
16:07
the NCAA actually take some of those data feeds into their
16:10
consideration for net now ranks Maggie, of course, the best
16:14
player in the A10 by a long way. She's running away with with the
16:18
with the efficiency ratings. Rachel is now 3.
16:21
And it got me thinking like if Rachel continues this run that
16:24
she's on, she could be runner up to Maggie as player of the year
16:27
award, which is kind of interesting to think.
16:29
About and then Ali has now moved up to #8.
16:32
Over well, part of that too, you know I mean it won't impact
16:35
Maggie, but it'll impact like the rest of the vote of who wins
16:39
the a 10 So like if we lose Rhode Island in the second match
16:42
up like all of a sudden like no one's beaten Maggie for player
16:45
of the year. But you know, you got to give
16:48
Rhode Island credit if they do that.
16:49
Very good team. We've got that.
16:51
That game's not coming up yet, but that'll be the.
16:53
And there's like, and there's a lot more games like Rhode
16:54
Island. Coming up, there's still a lot
16:56
of chances for this lady's team to make a a move.
16:58
Newell's back, by the way. Let me just put this out.
17:00
Newell's back and she was doing Newell things.
17:03
Steals points. She scored double digits.
17:05
Still with the mask. No, I think the mask was off.
17:07
I was. I was looking at it I think.
17:09
At some point got to happen. And the other thing I want to
17:13
point out about Newell, she's, she's shooting 39% on the season
17:16
from three-point land, which is, you know, she's known for her
17:20
slashing ability, but she's 39% from three.
17:23
That's actually really. Really.
17:24
Probably not a lot of shots. Right, I think she's got she's
17:27
made 13 so what's that 13 for 33?
17:29
So yeah, she's had thirteen shots so or 13 makes so that's
17:33
good, you know, do we had another two quick ones.
17:36
She's starting to shoot the three really, really
17:37
effectively. It was a great performance.
17:40
The team did not have a let down.
17:42
This first quarter was dominant. The fourth quarter was dominant,
17:44
the second and third was A. Heated mess it win the middle
17:49
and we do have some things to work on.
17:51
We could dominated on the glass a little bit.
17:54
Dayton had a lot of second chance points, but overall a big
17:58
win on the road against a team that had had some good wins this
18:01
year. You can't complain, and there's
18:02
nothing to complain about. Yeah, so another week of I guess
18:07
midweek wins and then we go on the road for the men are again
18:14
probably the toughest game of the year.
18:15
If you look at the schedule at Saint Louis.
18:17
Yeah, the women are home against VCU.
18:21
I want to talk about the men first.
18:22
Yes, it's kind of marquee game when you look at it.
18:25
So Saint Louis, just some get into the stats first.
18:28
They're 24 in the net, 28 in the Bartovic.
18:34
They're like when you look at offense, defense, these are more
18:36
Bardovic stats as a net doesn't give you all the detail.
18:39
They are the 28th most efficient offense and 48 defense.
18:43
OK, so offense is their strength, but they're pretty
18:46
strong on the defense side. They're #3431 in Kenpom, for
18:52
what's worth. So they they can shoot the
18:57
three. They're ranked 14th in
19:00
three-point percentage and they're 5th in two point
19:04
percentage. OK, these guys know how to
19:06
score. They averaged 90.
19:08
Like you think we like pushing it work a fast team in
19:11
particular compared to, you know, Mooney's teams of 15 years
19:14
ago. And the shot clock was different
19:15
and it was called defense. They averaged 92 points per game
19:19
versus our 82 points per game. So to give you a view of like
19:22
how much faster their and their defense, they average 67 points
19:27
a game. We're 72.
19:29
So I mean, there's a reason why they're 14 and one, they can
19:32
score, they can play defense. An interesting stat.
19:36
If you look at their shot they there's a new stat that was
19:39
created and put out which is going to be your average 2 point
19:41
shot and theirs is 4 feet. Yes.
19:45
And I think that was #1 or #2 in the nation.
19:47
Number one, 3.7 feet. I'm looking at Ken Palm, right?
19:49
So. If they shoot it in close
19:52
underneath the basket or they take.
19:53
Threes or they take threes, right?
19:54
There's there is nothing else. And you look at some of their
19:57
shot charts, sometimes there is nothing else whatsoever.
20:01
That's what's made them special. Their coach John Shirts, he's a
20:04
coach that's hard to dislike. He's really good.
20:08
He's not someone who. Let's say it was a great player
20:11
and got given it. Before you do the John Shirts
20:12
review, they're second. In the nation in effective field
20:15
goal percentage behind Belmont. Hey, how about how we got to win
20:19
against Belmont? So there you go.
20:21
OK, so John Shirts spent thirteen years in division two,
20:25
winning 10 championships and then got Division One job at
20:29
Indiana State. He was there for a few years,
20:32
was super successful there. Got them?
20:36
Yeah, that's right. Got the Saint Louis job, brought
20:39
his best player, Robbie Avila over and had, you know, a great
20:45
first year at Saint Louis. Robbie, who picks his second
20:48
year. Who?
20:48
Who almost came to Richmond, if I recall.
20:50
Yeah, I was going to say it'd be, it'd be interesting to, you
20:53
know, to talk to Mooney and obviously it's a game on the
20:56
road. But I feel like if if Mooney had
20:58
the the machine of putting it in all his attributes of what he
21:02
wants on the center, like I think he would come out.
21:05
I mean, he is a great player, but they're again, their coach
21:08
John Shirts. He's he he's considered an
21:10
offensive wizard, but obviously they play great defense too.
21:12
So you got to talk about Robbie. But what's interesting about
21:16
their team this year? Well, Robbie is like they're the
21:19
big name. He's kind of, if you recognize
21:21
him, he's got the the goggles. Yeah, yeah, he's he's been kind
21:25
of a high profile player. Like last year, their team
21:28
wasn't very deep and so they had the maybe let's call the
21:31
traditional rotation of five guys who played a lot of couple
21:34
guys off the bench. What makes their team so special
21:38
right now is they've got six guys averaging, you know, 10 or
21:40
more points. So they're really deep.
21:43
They they return some good players and including Robbie,
21:47
but they also brought in some transfers, a guy from Boston
21:50
College, a guy from Xavier, guys, people who could shoot and
21:55
play great defense. So they're they're a loaded
21:58
team. Yeah, can I give you 1 nugget
21:59
about shirts? You can so.
22:01
There's 11 coach that has beaten shirts this year and it's Kyle
22:05
Smith from Stanford. Kyle Smith has very strong
22:09
connections to Kevin Huffy who worked for Kyle for over a
22:13
decade at different stops. Columbia University of San
22:16
Francisco and. They're big friends or they're
22:20
good friends. And so maybe, you know, I don't,
22:22
I don't think. Does that robots?
22:23
I don't think Mooney's going to be able to call, you know, Kevin
22:26
Huvdi's friend for a scout on Saint Louis.
22:27
I don't think the A10 is going to help a non A10 beat help an
22:31
A10 team beat an. A10 team.
22:33
Yeah. Anyway, you know where I was
22:34
going with that. Yeah.
22:34
So anyway, still, it's fascinating because, you know,
22:36
it looks like Huvdi and and Smith are cut from the same
22:38
plot. So I mentioned how I think
22:40
Robbie dealer would come out of the if Mooney could put in what
22:44
ingredients he wanted a big man, that's what he got.
22:46
So I just a little comparison to Mike Walls, who's obviously our
22:49
big guy. And and again, this is not a
22:52
place where the minutes are dramatically different.
22:54
So Robbie Villa is great from three.
22:56
He's 32 of 71. So she didn't go 45%.
23:01
Mike Walls is better. Walls is a better percentage,
23:03
but he's 20 for 43. So like Robbie is more confident
23:08
taking that shot more and maybe it says his team is allowing him
23:11
to be more open from three. Like I don't have those stats,
23:13
but I think he is a, they both have a great, I mean, whether
23:17
you're, you know, 46% at with 43 takes or 45% with 71 takes,
23:21
they're both great shooter. It's called elite.
23:24
But it's not elite unless you shoot enough.
23:27
And so that's part of where, you know, Robbie Avila is shooting
23:30
50% more from three than walls. So I think that's we both talked
23:34
about like, hey, let's get walls.
23:35
I think Walls is going to shoot more and more threes as the
23:37
season goes. On OK assists, you know part of
23:40
the Moody offense is the big guy is not just sitting underneath
23:42
posting up like the ball goes through them.
23:45
Through them they create. So both Robbie and Walls lead
23:49
their teams in assists, but Robbie's got 66, Walls has 41.
23:53
So to show you like Robbie Avila has just got again and their
23:56
team is scoring more points, so there's.
23:59
More minutes than walls. That's no, it's not.
24:01
It's not much more. I mean, again, he's like 25
24:03
minutes a game. You know, he's not, he's not
24:04
doing 35 minutes. And I think they have one less
24:06
game too then we have. So anyway, Robbie's a great
24:10
player. Looking at that team, they have
24:13
different guys. I mean the A10, they've had
24:16
Robbie's not their leading scorer every game.
24:17
They got a couple other players who are who are able to score.
24:21
I looked at the 4A10 games and three of the games they had, you
24:24
know, four guys in double figures.
24:26
Well, one they had five, two they had four.
24:29
The VCU game was the only one and they, you know, it was a
24:31
tight game at VCU. They only had two guys score.
24:34
They got a guard, A66 guard Thames, who does not shoot the
24:40
three, but he's a double digit score.
24:42
And so again, you go back, think of the shooting the the shot
24:46
chart. I mean that tells you he's
24:47
driving and getting shots close to the rim.
24:52
They do have a three-point shooter from Xavier Trey Green.
24:56
He shoots 45% from 3. 10 Palm says a 90% chance for a Saint
25:01
Louis win by 14 points. Yeah, Oh, they're, they're going
25:04
to be heavily favored. I mean, again, they're they've
25:06
got one loss. It's it's been a while when they
25:08
lost to Stanford. It's on a neutral core.
25:11
They, they, they shoot 44 1/2% of their shots from three.
25:15
We shoot 42%. So you think of us as shooting
25:19
lots of threes. They actually shoot a little bit
25:20
more as a total percentage. But again, if they're not
25:23
shooting threes, they're driving to the basket or they're getting
25:27
it into someone who's inside. If you try to look at what's a
25:32
weakness for them, it helped. I mean, their depth has sought
25:36
has saved them at times because they do get into foul trouble.
25:39
So I'm, again, that's a benefit of the depth.
25:42
But the one stat where they're not kind of whipping all of
25:46
their opponents is like the volume at the free throw line.
25:49
And we're pretty good free throw shooting team.
25:51
So there is a, there is a, a scenario out there where the
25:55
foul trouble doesn't necessarily mean that they've got, you know,
25:58
people with five fouls who are fouling out.
26:00
But it's just they're, they're, they're accumulating enough
26:02
fouls that we're getting on the line, shooting one on ones, you
26:05
know, early in the first or early in the 2nd.
26:07
And we're able to sync those because we don't, we don't want
26:10
this game to be a race like these guys score too much.
26:13
Like the, the more this looks like old Mooney ball, the better
26:17
of where we're taking our time. We're getting smart shots.
26:19
To compare our miscellaneous components for a second, so
26:22
they're first in the nation, an average 2 point distance at 3.7
26:26
feet, we're 306 at 6.8 feet. So we're taking our two pointers
26:30
further away from the basket than they are.
26:33
We are elite, elite, elite. At 3 point percent, we're 8th in
26:36
the nation. Now 39.6% of our three-point
26:39
shots go up and in. I think this is the kind of game
26:43
where if we get. Hot from three, Mooney's
26:47
masterful at at taking complex offenses and figuring out how to
26:50
slow him down like he did with with Belmont.
26:52
I think we could win this game. I'm, I'm, I'm not, I'm not
26:56
saying we're going to win it, but I think we're better than a
26:58
10% chance. How's that?
27:00
Yeah, Well, I, I again, think of their offense, they've got this
27:04
inside, outside game. So like, our defense has to be
27:08
top notch or we're going to get crushed.
27:11
And so we need that aggressive defense.
27:14
And then I think the more Daughtry and AJ are able to get
27:20
to the hoop and get fouled, get to the foul line like this.
27:26
I agree we got to shoot the three well, but it can't be five
27:28
guys standing around the three pointer waiting to get open
27:31
because that's that's not going to work against these guys.
27:34
Their defense is going to I mean, they'll be they'll know
27:36
that they'll just get out on us. Like we're going to have to find
27:39
a way to get inside and score, score the.
27:42
Avila. Walls matchup will be fun to
27:44
watch. It will be.
27:45
And I think because Avila's going to have to come out on him
27:47
too, right? Yeah, that's right.
27:48
It's going to be a fun matchup to watch.
27:52
Hey, I don't know, man, I feel like I feel I I strangely feel
27:55
pretty good about this game. Remember, we're want to know
27:57
against quad one teams and this is a quad one game.
27:59
So and you know what, we've been playing much, much better on the
28:01
road recently we had then we have at home.
28:03
So I'm going we're a road game against the quad one team.
28:05
That's our sweet spot, man. I'm going to bring back one of
28:08
my favorite segments, OK? And Porter's a little nervous
28:11
about that one. When he does this.
28:13
Segment, I think I know what's coming.
28:14
Like I don't know what he's going to say.
28:16
It drives me crazy. But this segment is what's wrong
28:19
with you people? What's?
28:21
Wrong with you people. Turn it brown upside down at
28:27
least don't be a moron. What's wrong with you people?
28:33
Here we go. OK, today's honorees are US
28:39
Senator John Husted of Ohio and US Senator Eric Schmidt of
28:43
Missouri. There you go.
28:45
Freshman senators up for re election this fall who earlier
28:48
this week decided the best use of their constituents time was
28:52
writing a joint letter to the Big East Conference commissioner
28:55
to let their alma mater's Dayton and Saint Louis join the Big
29:00
East. Let me help you guys out.
29:02
The Big East does not care what you think.
29:05
They barely care what ESPN thinks.
29:07
And that's their business partner.
29:09
But I, you know, I can picture now think of, you know, just
29:11
like our forefathers, Senator Houston and Senator Schmidt
29:14
sitting together in the room where it happens and asking
29:18
ChatGPT to write a letter to the Big East to let their teams in.
29:22
Yes. And as I looked at this letter,
29:23
whether a human or robot wrote it, I'm not sure I can say one
29:27
thing confidently. Yeah.
29:28
No one who runs the Big East got past paragraph 2.
29:32
Meanwhile, perfect timing the next day.
29:34
This is the best wrong with you people.
29:35
Yet, by the way, I'm loving this one.
29:37
This just happened a couple days ago and today it came out this
29:40
whole big expansion of the gambling scandal.
29:43
And they did mention that Saint Louis games were involved, not
29:46
Saint Louis players, but Saint Louis games were involved.
29:48
And I just like, you know, nothing strengthens your
29:50
expansion pitch like a gambling scandal.
29:53
And let's say we play Saint Louis this weekend.
29:55
So I'm going to pick on them a little bit more than Dayton.
29:57
The basketball letter, this is like it's basically basketball
30:00
focus. Yes, it wasn't just about
30:01
basketball. They got other teams, but it's
30:03
all about basketball. It's at the University of Dayton
30:05
and Saint Louis University have consistently been top performers
30:09
in the Athletic 10 Conference. You know, history tells you
30:12
those teams aren't close like Dayton's, Dayton's when the NCA
30:15
is almost twice as much as Saint Louis.
30:17
Since a similar time period, since the early 2000s when they
30:19
joined, Saint Louis and Richmond actually have a very similar
30:22
track record. They had run like two or three
30:24
years and then a gap and then went again.
30:28
I mean, even I could admit that Dayton and VCU baked the
30:31
headline stage at a concert while Richmond and Saint Louis
30:36
or on the side stage. I mean, Dayton and BC are
30:38
clearly the postseason dominant. Team I mean it's and it is like
30:42
you also have to think about you know, there are women's
30:45
basketballs picking up in popularity rapidly and both of
30:48
those teams do not have a a great women's program, whereas
30:51
the Richmond Spiders have a great women's program.
30:54
Connecticut we're looking at you folks.
30:56
You want some competition in the Big East?
30:58
Bring in the latest. Yeah, that's right.
30:59
So if the Big East needs advice, they'll call ATV Executive, not
31:03
the Ohio and Missouri senators treating the biggies like a
31:06
suggestion box. So as I said, what's wrong with
31:10
you people? That was a good one.
31:12
That actually that was really good.
31:14
OK, so we'll move on from that and talk about the last game of
31:20
the week. The women have VCU at home in
31:23
the Big Red Out game. Game noon on Sunday, televised
31:27
on CBS. Yeah, we want there.
31:28
We want to get as many fans out to that, trying to get 5000 fans
31:32
after that game. We are.
31:34
I looked at today, I think we're 49.
31:36
The Bartovic, Yep, VCU is overall their record are 6 and
31:40
12. They're two and four in the 810.
31:43
Played Rhode Island tough last game.
31:44
Though they are ranked 228. Yep, They're they're a big
31:48
problem. Like when you first look at
31:49
their team, you see they have a super efficient player, a
31:52
Marianne, a sorry, A-57 senior. They announced I think right
31:56
before the Rhode Island game that she's out for the year with
31:58
a knee injury. So kind of they've lost their
32:00
best player. It's nice to know you kind of
32:02
they rallied around that. Looks like they slowed the pace
32:05
down against Rhode Island. It was a 46 to 41 game.
32:08
Yeah, I mean, they're, they're not a great team and they lost
32:12
their best player. And like you said, they they
32:15
played Rhode Island tight. So maybe there's a new strategy
32:18
as they've lost some firepower to really slow it down and buck
32:21
up the game. But you're looking at like we're
32:24
favored by a bunch, right? I mean, I, I, I doubt anyone's
32:27
given VCU women's team much of a chance.
32:30
Yeah, I mean, look. The the trap game for us was the
32:35
game against Dayton because we had such an emotional win over
32:38
Davidson and the ladies play so many minutes, then you're
32:41
travelling on the road. To play a team that could.
32:43
Beat you on a given night. That was the trap.
32:45
Game VCU is going to be emotional, it's going to be a
32:48
wave of red in the Robin Center and there are crosstown rivals.
32:52
They've had the best of us on the men's side and we've had the
32:55
best of them on the women's side, so.
32:57
It'll be it'll be an intense game, I would say.
33:00
You know, if you're a fan of basketball, come out support our
33:03
ladies. They definitely could use it for
33:05
that game. Wear red.
33:06
It's the red out event. We want to fill up the Robin
33:08
Center with red. To thank this this team for
33:12
their epic run over the last several years, I mean Maggie and
33:14
Rachel as I said, have I think 6 home games left.
33:16
Less than that now, right? Yeah.
33:18
And it's not just those two, it's.
33:19
Sam Dewey, it's Jada Green. I mean, there's just a lot of,
33:22
there's just a lot of folks that, you know, we, we have that
33:26
we need to thank. And so I'm going to be there.
33:30
It's going to be fun. I'm just really looking forward
33:32
to it. Yeah, so big weekend, man.
33:35
Got a super tough game on Saturday and hopefully we see
33:41
you all at the Robin Center on Sunday to watch the women get
33:45
another home victory. I was thinking before we wrap
33:47
up, remember my New Year's resolutions.
33:51
I think it was one of them that we only have one more loss in
33:54
the Robin Center across both teams and the men got that one
33:57
loss. Yeah, so no more allowed.
33:58
So no more, no more home losses allowed, both for the men and
34:02
the women and and then I'll be happy.
34:04
Anything else you want to chat about today?
34:06
No, I mean I think thanks for all you guys who are listeners.
34:09
Thanks for coming up and telling us your ideas as well.
34:13
We got some great ideas from you from you folks.
34:16
One question we had that I told a listener we would address is
34:19
so scripted. And so do you have two seconds
34:21
to talk about the level of scripting we do for these
34:23
things? Yeah, and it's evolved a lot.
34:25
So I think I. When we did our first episode,
34:27
it was probably, you know, a third scripted and now it's
34:29
going to 1% scripted. You know, we, we decide who's
34:33
doing what when it comes to being, let's say, the owner of a
34:36
game that happened or the scout of a game that's going to
34:39
happen. And then we're taking notes.
34:41
So I like, I put them on a little notebooks.
34:44
Porter often has his computer out with stats and a few notes.
34:48
But it's really, you know, we're doing our job getting our notes
34:52
prepped and then we're trying to and then some BS our way to the.
34:56
End of an. Episode and then Tom will tell
34:57
me, hey, I'm going to do what's wrong.
34:59
With you people. And I just sent him a text
35:00
saying, oh boy, here we go. Like and I have no idea.
35:04
What he's going to say, right? And then I, you know, and then I
35:06
do some. Editing and try to cut Porter as
35:08
much as I can and if you guys ever look at the YouTube.
35:11
Channel, by the way, Tom's got a little.
35:13
Personal joke on me. He literally.
35:16
Picks the worst possible position my face could be in and
35:19
makes that the cover coming in. So I'm always like, I just like
35:22
smiling at the camera. It's great.
35:23
I don't do that. It's just.
35:25
Clearly, if you took on an average photo over 30 minutes,
35:30
you do 100% of the time. It's going to learn how to do
35:32
that. You're always.
35:33
Smiling at the camera and I'm. Always in some some some state
35:37
of disrepute. Hey, make a dumb look right now.
35:39
No, I'm not going. To do that.
35:40
OK, well, until next time This is dumb.
35:42
Yeah, this is Porter and this is spiders sounding.
35:45
Oh.