Richmond Spiders
2014-2015 Overall Rank: #35
Conference Rank: #3 Atlantic 10
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Richmond deserves a lot of credit for hanging in there last season. In mid-February this was a team competing for an NCAA Tournament spot, but an injury to star Cedrick Lindsay and the departure of Derrick Williams left the Spiders reeling. The team did win their next four of five after losing that duo, but lost their last four games heading into the A-10 Tournament and that took them out of the postseason. Guard Kendall Anthony stepped up his game and the guard knocked down 82 three-pointers and averaged 15.9 points per game. The diminutive 5-8 guard will have to be the leader of the team this year.
2013-14 Record: 19-14, 8-8
2013-14 Postseason: None
Coach: Chris Mooney
Coach Record: 166-132 at Richmond, 208-171 overall
Who’s Out:
Losing Lindsay was absolutely massive. The 6-1 guard averaged 18.3 point per game before his injury and few players in the A-10 attacked the basket as effectively as Lindsay. Williams was not having a great senior season before he left for family reasons. A three-year starter, the 6-8 forward did average 11.4 points per game during his junior campaign. The only departed player that Richmond had at the end of last season is Wayne Sparrow. The guard, who is transferring to UMBC, saw his minutes increase when Lindsay went down, but he still rarely put up big numbers.
Who’s In:
Coach Chris Mooney needs some depth in the backcourt and he hopes four freshmen guards can help. Of Chandler Diekvoss, Khwan Fore, Joe Kirby and Kadeem Smithen, it is Diekvoss who should be ready to contribute. The lanky 6-6 wing could be a solid shooter off of the bench. The frontcourt adds Niagara transfer T.J. Cline and freshman Paul Friendshuh. Cline had one successful season with the Purple Eagles and hopes to continue that trend with Richmond. The 6-8 forward is a tough rebounder and, in traditional Spiders fashion, can step outside and knock down some three-pointers.
Who to Watch:
Despite the losses, Richmond returns five players who started at least a dozen games. And that does not include sophomore ShawnDre’ Jones who has the most upside of them all. Jones almost exclusively came off of the bench as a freshman, but he was playing great basketball in February and March. Jones is a great outside shooter and despite being just 5-10, is capable of being one of the better shooting guards in the conference. Trey Davis figures to start beside Jones on the wing. Davis is not a great scorer, but he is a great rebounder and a solid defender. With Anthony and Jones providing virtually no rebounding, Davis will have to keep up his rebounding effort this season. Terry Allen, Alonzo Nelson-Ododa and Deion Taylor rotated through the starting jobs in the frontcourt. Allen is the best interior scorer of the bunch and averaged 10.2 points per game. Nelson-Ododa is tough on the glass too, but his biggest asset to the team is his 2.4 blocks per game.
Final Projection:
Coach Mooney knows how to develop his talent and the program appears ready to get back to their win totals of 2010 and 2011. Anthony is the only impact senior on the roster, so it is feasible that the expectations will be even higher in 2015-2016. But, for now, the expectations should be quite high as well. The Spiders will compete in the tough A-10 and the conference should get three or four teams into the NCAA Tournament. One of them will likely be Richmond.
Projected Postseason Tournament: NCAA Tournament
Projected Starting Five:
Kendall Anthony, Senior, Guard, 15.9 points per game
ShawnDre’ Jones, Sophomore, Guard, 6.4 points per game
Trey Davis, Junior, Forward, 5.0 points per game
Terry Allen, Junior, Forward, 10.2 points per game
Alonzo Nelson-Ododa, Junior, Forward, 6.2 points per game
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 66.5 (277th in nation, 13th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 65.2 (52, 2)
Field-Goal Percentage: 42.2 (273, 10)
Field-Goal Defense: 41.2 (65, 2)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 6.3 (153, 6)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 32.2 (254, 8)
Free-Throw Percentage: 66.9 (268, 10)
Rebound Margin: -6.0 (334, 13)
Assists Per Game: 10.6 (313, 13)
Turnovers Per Game: 10.6 (44, 1)
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