University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Practice Underway For 2008-09 Season
10/19/2008 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 19, 2008
SpiderTV: SPIDERS OPEN PRACTICE 
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - Chris Mooney's first team at Richmond had zero scholarship guards. In his second season the team's top four scorers were freshmen. Last year, with 81 percent of the scoring coming from freshmen and sophomores, the Spiders finished fourth in the Atlantic 10 and earned a bye in the conference tournament.
It has taken three years to climb out of the difficult situation Mooney inherited, but in 2008-09 he now has at his disposal an experienced team with depth at every position. While only one senior scholarship player will be on the 2008-09 roster (Jarhon Giddings), the Spiders were to return five players who had started at least 23 games in their careers.
Junior Dan Geriot, a third-team All-Atlantic 10 selection last year who had started 52 games in two seasons and already has 798 career points (13.1 ppg), tore his ACL in the summer and is lost for the year.
But even without Geriot in the lineup, the Spiders will have more depth and experience than last year. Most importantly, they will have more players who can score. On a trip to Europe in August, the Spiders averaged 91 points per game in four games. Sophomore Kevin Anderson, the 2008 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, averaged 23 points per game on the European trip, including a 35 and 30-point effort.
"We have a lot more depth this year, at any given time we will usually have five guys on the court who can score," Mooney said. "We have guys that can score in the post, guys that can shoot. That makes us difficult to defend."
Junior David Gonzalvez, who has started 51 games and has 641 career points (10.7 ppg) will join Anderson in the backcourt. Anderson averaged 10.7 points per game as a freshman last year on his way to conference Rookie of the Year honors.
While Richmond received key contributions from freshmen forward Kevin Smith (13 points vs. Virginia Tech) and Anderson, look for their classmate Justin Harper to have a breakout year in 2008-09. Harper is a 6-foot-10 forward who might have the best outside shot on the team (16 treys in 2008-09) and has a knack for making shots (45% FG). He scored 17 points in the Spiders' opener in Spain and had 13 in the second game, before missing the last two games with a rolled ankle.
Richmond has a strong three-player recruiting class coming in with 6-foot-11 Australian big man Francis Cedric Martel. Duinker has been practicing with the team since January and received a redshirt.
While the Spiders finished 16-15 and 9-7 in the Atlantic 10 last year, Richmond was 15-12 and 8-5 in the conference, before dropping two games to NCAA Tournament teams Xavier and Saint Joseph's, and losing to Virginia 66-64 in the College Basketball Invitational. The Spiders had big wins over Virginia Tech, then No. 16 ranked Dayton and Atlantic 10 Champion Temple.
The key to the 2008-09 season will be maintaining consistency over the course of entire games, and throughout the entire season.
Richmond opens the regular season against Randolph-Macon on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. in the Robins Center, before heading to the Carrier Dome to face Syracuse on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
