Atlantic 10 Non-Conference Grades: Richmond Spiders

[adaisey]

The Spiders finished up non-conference play this past weekend where they lost to Alabama by 12. Richmond stands at 10-3 as conference play begins this week having lost 2 straight (Radford & Alabama).  Considering that they finished up non-conference play at 6-8 just a year ago, this is a huge jump for Chris Mooney’s squad.   Richmond grabbed a few wins that will look good come March, but also lost 1 that won’t help.
Good Wins
Richmond did a good job early on of shooting the deep shot.  They had stretches at home where it felt like they just wouldn’t miss.  When they had these stretches, it felt as if they wouldn’t lose.  Richmond’s first big win of the year was at home vs Vanderbilt in OT.  Beating SEC schools will never hurt you when it comes to fighting for an at-large bid.  Defeating Wisconsin, who just beat Tennessee by 20 in Knoxville, is easily the Spiders best victory of the year.  Beating Boston College by 20 at home was a big morale boost for the squad as well.  Due to...

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[BonaCommenter]

I have to say I was skeptical about how much Spidey would improve at the start of the season, but I think they've proven themselves to be a top 4 team at the end of OOC. I worry about how Bona's can close out on all those shooters.

 

[glabedz]

I have to say I was skeptical about how much Spidey would improve at the start of the season, but I think they've proven themselves to be a top 4 team at the end of OOC. I worry about how Bona's can close out on all those shooters.

Real streaky though. Like a lot of past Davidson teams, Richmond worries me on off-nights from three. Also, defensive rebounding is an issue when Grant Golden isn’t on the floor. But this is the type of team that could win the A-10 Tournament with some hot shooting over a couple games.

 

[SFspidur]

Big picture, it looks like a solid OOC performance, but the way the Spiders ended it makes me nervous...escaping a bad ODU team thanks to a Golden three nearly at the buzzer, losing handily to Radford, and then never really being able to stay within striking distance of Alabama.

 

[BonaCommenter]

Real streaky though. Like a lot of past Davidson teams, Richmond worries me on off-nights from three. Also, defensive rebounding is an issue when Grant Golden isn’t on the floor. But this is the type of team that could win the A-10 Tournament with some hot shooting over a couple games.

I have full confidence that Gilyard and Golden will combine for 11/13 from 3 at the Reilly Center on 2/22...