In Game: vs. Richmond

[Waitress]

I think Brizzi played because he is quicker than Kochera and had a better chance of staying in front of the Richmond guards who were short but quick.

Connor has a better chance of scoring than Brizzi at this point in time, but i believe coach thought we needed the defense.

Inserting Durkin in the starting lineup means that Connor guards a guard and not a small forward when the Cats also have two "bigs" in the game.

That strategy did not work well because King scored all the overtime points. Coach would have been better off starting Kochera and Logan in OT. Bailey was having one of his off games. Kochera or Grant could have covered King farther outside knowing that if you got beat, you had a pretty good shot blocker standing in the lane to stop the easy bucket. Our defense plays better with Logan in the game.

We had no answer for that pull-up jumper from the elbow.

[citycat]

We don't have a guard who can stay in front of a quick guy. Defensive quickness is not something we value or look for in recruits.

One of their former little guards, Jacob Gilyard, is playing in the NBA.

[quickcat]

We had no answer for that pull-up jumper from the elbow.

Matt talked about this in the post-game. It was a specific play where they would ball screen for King to go left, we’d cover that, and he’d turn around and go right back by the same screener to the right and we’d be lost.

I couldn’t tell if he was saying the coaches didn’t have an answer or if the players were getting fooled. To my eye it looked like we had King covered if he went back right and drove to the basket, but he was shooting the 18 footers wide open. For most that is a bad shot, but apparently not for him.

[collegecoach8502]

At the end of the day, it’s the Jimmy’s and Joe’s, not the X’s and O’s. Matt’s tenure will be defined by how he and his staff do evaluating and recruiting talent. The clock is ticking. GO CATS!

Guessing since they were the ones that did the evaluating and recruiting for Bob, they will do okay.

[i77cat]

Got to reach higher than that. We haven't won an NCAA tournament game since 2008. The talent level of the last 15 years hasn't been enough to accomplish that goal. We have to find better players.

[citycat]

i77cat is correct. We didn't move to the A10 to stand pat. It was to improve our basketball teams and draw more interest and spectators.

[MLC67]

Recruiting legally is an art, not a science. Now with the wide open pay to play NIL wild west, we are at the greatest disadvantage we have ever been. And remember, it is mostly 17 year old kids making their own choices. So please cut our coaches some slack here. Our recruiting challenges are not impossible, but they are definitely daunting.

[DC69Wildcat]

i77cat is correct. We didn't move to the A10 to stand pat. It was to improve our basketball teams and draw more interest and spectators.

And we had been doing that until last season. Since we joined the A10 for the 2014-15 season, we have made the NCAA Tournament 3 times. Only Dayton (4) and VCU (6) have more NCAA appearances than Davidson, and 2 of our 3 tournament teams lost by 1 point. Sure, our goal is to make the tournament every season, but VCU is the only A10 team to come close to that, and even with the Rams' 6 appearances, they've only won 1 game.

[citycat]

i77cat is correct. We didn't move to the A10 to stand pat. It was to improve our basketball teams and draw more interest and spectators.

And we had been doing that until last season. Since we joined the A10 for the 2014-15 season, we have made the NCAA Tournament 3 times. Only Dayton (4) and VCU (6) have more NCAA appearances than Davidson, and 2 of our 3 tournament teams lost by 1 point. Sure, our goal is to make the tournament every season, but VCU is the only A10 team to come close to that, and even with the Rams' 6 appearances, they've only won 1 game.

We're not doing it this season. We're regressing. Richmond won a game in 2022. St. Bonaventure won a play in game in 2018.

As to our seeming inability to compete in the NIL wars; late in our Southern Conference stay, a men's hoops player's grandparent was concerned about the team missing class when they were going to leave campus to play Chattanooga or Samford on Thursday and the other school on Saturday. The SoCon told the opponents to take buses.

The grandfather asked the coach's permission to check with some friends who had access to jets. One of his friends with a Davidson connection offered to let the team use his company's jet for a greatly reduced charge. Rather than make one trip and miss class Thursday and Friday, the team flew to the first game and back Thursday night. They attended class Friday and flew to the second city Friday afternoon.

The SoCon Commissioner and opponents weren't happy, but it didn't break any rules.

We have some well connected alumni and fans who should be able to contribute some NIL money. There's a car dealership whose name appears frequently on the board in front of the scorer's table. Divert some of their contribution toward NIL.

Harris Teeter is a notable sponsor. Why not have a portion of every Davidson fans' money spent at Harris Teeter go to a NIL fund? If you're a Davidson fan in south Charlotte, there aren't many competing grocery stores.

[chucktowncat]

I beg to differ with the talent stuff. This team in their 4 losses in A-10 has shot 59% from the charity stripe. I can't remember a poorer shooting Davidson team. That is not due to lack of talent but rather lack of practice.

[ScootCat]

Wake Forest just received a $5 million gift which, as I understand it, levels the NIL playing field for them in basketball. His name is Mitt Shah, and he is a Winston-Salem native and Wake grad. Shah is a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks, and owns a real estate/hotel development firm in Atlanta called Noble Investment Group. He is very wealthy, and relatively young. Mr. Shah is a huge Wake basketball fan and has donated many other millions to the athletic department there. Surely we have someone amongst Davidson's storied alums who could do the same (#30 seems like an obvious possibility). Wake appears to be on a pronounced upward trajectory in basketball now, and their fans are excited to come watch for the first time in many years. Let's hope we can say the same about the Wildcat program in the next few years. Go Cats!

[stevelee]

I guess it is hopeless for regulations that limit NIL money to legitimate product endorsements and use of name on items for sale.

[DC69Wildcat]

I guess it is hopeless for regulations that limit NIL money to legitimate product endorsements and use of name on items for sale.

One could argue (and probably has already) that putting a player's name on the back of a school's jersey and trotting him onto the court on national television qualifies as an NIL deal.

[BaseRich306]

As the kids say, the "vibes" are off. It doesn't feel like there's are a lot of excitement around the program.

[ScootCat]

One of the reasons the so-called vibes are off, is that the forward looking view is very murky. Fans typically like to project forward, based on the next year’s returning talent; and for us that is problematic. One of the reasons we’ve struggled this year is because our portal transfer guys do not yet appear ready to contribute in any meaningful way. If that same circumstance presents itself again next year, with whoever we bring in from the portal, the program is going to be seriously challenged to stay competitive, in my opinion.