Atlantic 10 Basketball power rankings: UMass tumbles while Dayton soars up

7. Richmond Spiders – 11-7 (2-3)

After a rough start to the season, it looked as if Richmond had everything figured out, winning six straight games to end the non-conference. Unfortunately, the Spiders weren’t ready for league opponents, suffering a humiliating 27-point home loss to Saint Joseph’s to open things up.

It didn’t get much better a couple of days later, falling on the road at Saint Louis. Richmond did get wins against UMass and Fordham but also lost to Davidson to have an under .500 record to this point.

There has been a reversal in regards to who leads the team offensively. In the non-conference, NBA Draft prospect Tyler Burton was averaging around 18 ppg as a breakout star in the league. But in five games through league play, that number has dropped to fewer than 13 ppg. Meanwhile, point guard and all-time steals leader Jacob Gilyard went from around 12 ppg in the non-conference to putting up 18.6 ppg in the past five games.

Richmond would prefer that both players do well, along with the supporting case outside of big man Grant Golden, who has been consistent on offense. At this point, it looked like the Spiders’ at-large hopes are close to dead but they have a chance to get some wins, facing La Salle and Rhode Island up next on the road.