Busting Brackets
Fansided

Richmond Basketball: 2021-22 season preview for the Spiders

By Jake Verboven

Nov 27, 2020; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Richmond Spiders forward Grant Golden (33) talks to a referee after receiving a technical foul in the first half against Morehead State at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 27, 2020; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Richmond Spiders forward Grant Golden (33) talks to a referee after receiving a technical foul in the first half against Morehead State at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
Richmond Basketball
Richmond Basketball and the Northern Iowa Panthers in the first half at Robins Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

The hype was real for Richmond Basketball the 2020-21 season. After dismantling an NCAA tournament team in Morehead State, they went into Rupp Arena and took down Calipari’s collection of 4 and 5-star recruits. They followed that performance up with two more close wins at home. Chris Mooney had the Spiders ranked 19th in the country, and those fans and alumni that were screaming for his firing just a year ago were awfully quiet.

Richmond then ran into Bob Huggins for a top 20 showdown in Morgantown. West Virginia’s pressure pushed the Spiders’ guards out towards half-court for 40 minutes, disrupting the fluidity of their Princeton offense. The size and physicality of WVU were ultimately too much for the smaller guards of Richmond, ending in a 16 point loss.

The Spiders were never quite able to recover after that loss, going 9-7 in their next 16 games including a first-round exit in the A-10 tournament to a .500 Duquesne team. There is good news though as every player that played 10 or more minutes, with the exception of Blake Francis, is ready to run it back for the 2021-22 season. Along with the return of former starting guard Nick Sherod. Making Richmond’s 8-man rotation have an average age of 22.3 years old for this upcoming year.

The experience and chemistry of the Spiders are not to be overlooked as they give it one last go all together in Richmond for the 2021-22 campaign. We have been through this pre/early season hype for two years in a row now, can Chris Mooney finally breakthrough with his most deep and experienced team to date. Let’s take a look at this year’s Richmond squad.

Home/Atlantic 10