Atlantic 10 Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 17: Hasahn French #11 of the Saint Louis Billikens celebrates a basket against the St. Bonaventure Bonnies during their Atlantic 10 basketball tournament Championship game at Barclays Center on March 17, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

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WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 12: Nathan Cayo #4 of the Richmond Spiders (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

2. Richmond Spiders

The Richmond Spiders have been picked in the preseason to win the Atlantic 10 by many. The Billikens and Spiders have emerged into the conference front-runners going into the 2020-21 season. The Spiders have clearly the most talented team in the conference on the offensive end. There’s not really much to dislike about this team on paper.

As far as depth, the Spiders have Grant Golden, Nick Sherod, Jacob Gilyard, and Blake Francis who all combined for 56.5 points per game last season and will all be returning as seniors. Tyler Burton and Nathan Cayo were both versatile defenders who can pick up the slack on offense whenever the stars are struggling to find a rhythm. Connor Crabtree is another solid bench option, the Tulane transfer had a promising freshman campaign averaging 7.1 points per game while shooting 37 percent from deep.

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We can expect the Richmond Spiders to get on a roll quickly if everyone remains healthy and performs at their best ability.

The Richmond Spiders do have their weaknesses when it comes to defense and rebounding for this talented Richmond squad. There aren’t many weaknesses, but if they are still out there in force, they are not as prominent as the Spiders went 14-4 in conference play last season. A healthy Spiders roster may have the strongest case for the #1 spot this upcoming season.

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