Richmond Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Spiders
Bench
Two of the three players off the bench who have a stake at small forward are returners Andre Gustavson and Souleymane Koureissi. Joining them and Burton in the battle for the position is Tulane transfer Connor Crabtree, who will offer a different look than the other three options.
At 6-4, Gustavson, who saw considerable time at shooting guard last season, posted identical shooting numbers to Burton (both were 50-111 from the floor) in 177 more minutes. He is a bit deceptive for his size, having blocked seven shots and hauled down 84 boards while collecting 23 assists and 23 steals, but he will have to work on his shot from beyond the arc, which was an abysmal 16% last season.
Koureissi is an athletic 6-9 forward who, like Burton, would provide a significant increase in size in the frontcourt. Kourissei did not take many shots last season – only 32 – despite playing in 214 minutes but was one of the team’s best shooters at 53%. He will have to work on limiting his turnovers – he recorded ten less than Sherod had all season – but he should see an increase in minutes with Sherod’s injury.
While Burton, Gustavson, and Koureissi supply Mooney with reliable inside shooters of varying height, he also loses a dependable outside shooter. This is where Crabtree enters, eligible for the first time at Richmond after a stellar freshman campaign at Tulane in 2018-19.
Having played in 30 games and starting in 15 of them, Crabtree was Tulane’s fourth-leading scorer and the sixth-highest scoring freshman in the AAC in 2018-19, averaging 7.1 points per game on 43% shooting.
Where Crabtree differentiates himself from Burton, Gustavson, and Koureissi is his three-point-shooting. While those three either did not shoot much or were not effective shooters from beyond the arc, Crabtree was while at Tulane, finishing second on the team at 37% behind a 29-79 performance.
For context, using last season’s stats, those 79 attempted shots would rank fourth on Richmond (behind Francis, Sherod, and Gilyard) – that is just two less than Burton, Gustavson, and Kouressei attempted combined. Additionally, Crabtree’s 29 makes are 11 more than those three made, combined, last season.
Crabtree’s three-point prowess will be looked to in replacing the hole left by Sherod, and will, subsequently, offer Mooney a different look than what he will get from Burton, Gustavson, and Koureissi. Additionally, however, the most reliable long-range shooter off the bench last season, Jake Wojcik, has transferred out, leaving a hole on the bench.
There is an argument to be made for keeping Crabtree as the premier shooting option off the bench in order to supply a boost when needed, and I think that is what Mooney will opt for if Burton, Gustavson, and Koureissi are unable to produce from beyond the arc and provide that spark off the bench.
In addition to those three, the Spiders will also welcome back Matt Grace, who played 226 minutes last season, primarily at power forward. A 6-9 junior, Grace did not provide much of a scoring boost – only 27 points on the season – but did perform well in other areas, gathering 38 caroms and dishing out 21 assists.
Mooney and his staff are also bringing in a recruiting class of four, with the most notable being guards Isaiah Wilson and Dji Bailey. Wilson, the No. 5 recruit out of Pennsylvania and no. 35 point guard recruit in the class of 2020, will receive quality guidance from Gilyard. Bailey, meanwhile, is the no. 15 recruit out of North Carolina, and originally committed to Wake Forest before being released after Danny Manning’s dismissal.