University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Announces Atlantic 10 Dates
09/04/2009 | Men's Basketball
Sept. 4, 2009
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The University of Richmond announced the dates of its 2009-10 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball schedule on Thursday.
The Spiders had already announced the 15-game non-conference schedule, which has been called the toughest non-conference schedule in school history. Game Times for all 31 games will be announced at a later date.
Richmond will play home and home series with Charlotte, George Washington and Saint Louis, while playing the remaining 10 teams once.
The Spiders open Atlantic 10 play on Jan. 6 at Duquesne and conclude conference play on March 6 at Charlotte. The 2010 Atlantic 10 Tournament will open on Tuesday, March 9 with the First Round being played at campus sites. The top four teams in the league receive First Round byes.
The quarterfinals (March 12), Semifinals (March 13) and Finals (March 14) will be played at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. for the third-straight year. The Atlantic 10 Championship game will be broadcast nationally by CBS on Sunday, March 14
"We are looking forward to another challenging season in the Atlantic 10," Richmond head coach Chris Mooney said. "The league has consistently been one of the best leagues in the nation and it looks to be as strong as ever this year."
Richmond, which finished fifth in the Atlantic 10 last season and fourth the previous year, is one of just four Atlantic 10 teams (Xavier, Temple, Saint Joseph's, Richmond) to finish in the top-5 in the conference in each of the past two seasons.
The Spiders return all but one regular off of a team that won 20 games last year and Richmond adds 2008 Atlantic 10 All-Conference selection Dan Geriot. The 6-9 center missed last year due to a knee injury, but led the Spiders in scoring as both a freshmen and sophomore. He has bulked up to 255 pounds - from 230 when he played in his last game in March of 2008 - and says he feels 100 percent one year after undergoing surgery.
The Spiders return the all-conference guard combo of Kevin Anderson (Second-Team All-Atlantic 10) and David Gonzalvez (Honorable Mention All-Atlantic 10). Anderson was seventh in the Atlantic 10 in scoring last year (16.6 ppg) and Gonzalvez was eighth (16.0 ppg). With Geriot, Gonzalvez and Anderson, Richmond boasts three of the nine returning all-conference players in the Atlantic 10.
