A-10 Basketball: Way-Too-Early 2019-2020 Power Rankings

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 13: Maceo Jack #14 of the George Washington Colonials handles the ball against Carl Pierre #12 of the Massachusetts Minutemen in the second half during the first round of the 2019 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament at Barclays Center on March 13, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images) /

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 13: A detail view of the Richmond Spiders logo on the shorts of a player in the first half against the Fordham Rams during the first round of the 2019 Atlantic 10 men’s basketball tournament at Barclays Center on March 13, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images) /

8. Richmond Spiders (Tier-3)

There’s no reason that the Spiders shouldn’t be one of the more improved teams in the conference next season. Chris Mooney is not as atrocious as some make him out to be as a coach and leader (although he’s obviously not fantastic, either), and he’ll have one of the most talented cores in the conference to work with.

Grant Golden and Jacob Gilyard would both be acceptable inclusions on any list of the league’s top fifteen players, and they’ll be aided by a (hopefully) fully recovered Nick Sherod (12.7 points per game before a season-ending injury early on) and the now eligible Blake Francis, who averaged 17.3 points per game and shot 40.2% from three in his most recent season at Wagner.

Depth will likely continue to be an issue for Mooney and co., but I’m confident that the Spiders have the talent at the top of their rotation to overcome some of those deficiencies. The Davidson Wildcats are a similarly composed team in terms of their limited rotation and star-power, but of course, they also have Bob McKillop and the helm, and there is only one of him. Still, I expect this team to be one that plays every team tough and sometimes even beats the top dogs when their stars get hot. If the new players can mesh well with the returning ones, and if a few players off of the bench can overachieve, don’t be surprised if the Spiders finish even higher than this, but their ceiling caps out in the 5-6 range.

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