University of Richmond Athletics
Spiders Open Practice Friday With Even More National Hype
10/16/2009 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 16, 2009
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - As practice starts Friday for the 2009-10 season, the Richmond men's basketball team continues to receive national hype, being picked to make the NCAA Tournament by USA Today and getting mentioned in Fox Sports top-45 team's in the nation.
In picking the field for the 2010 NCAA Tournament, USA Today's College Basketball Preview had the Spiders as the No. 11 seed in the Midwest Region, playing No. 6 Louisville. The USA Today bracket included Xavier as a No. 11 seed and Dayton as a No. 5 seed.
Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports picked his Preseason Top-25 for the 2009-10 season and then included the Spiders in his list of Twenty More To Watch.
Earlier in the week, Goodman had included Richmond senior guard David Gonzalvez as No. 39 on his list of the Top 50 shooters in the nation. Gonzalvez enters his senior year fifth on Richmond's all-time career list for three-pointers with 161, needing just one three to tie Ken Atkinson for fourth. He also ranks 21st on Richmond's all-time scoring list with 1,216 points, five points behind Eric Poole for 20th.
Goodman along with ESPN's Andy Katz and Jay Bilas have mentioned the Spiders three top returning players, Gonzalvez, Kevin Anderson and Dan Geriot, numerous times in their preseason blogs. Anderson was picked as the No. 17 ranked point guard in the country and Geriot was picked as the No. 23 best center by Lindy's College Basketball Preview.
Practice starts Friday for the Spiders, who open the season Nov. 13 against Lehigh in the Robins Center.
Game times for the 2009-10 season were also announced today.
