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Scouting Richmond at Xavier!! A-10 Armegedon!!!
By
Andy Mac Williams,
2/26/2010
Richmond certainly is "for real" this season and has Xavier's full respect and attention. The Spiders are nationally rated (23rd in AP-24th in USA Today). The Muskies can't say that although they probably will crack the Top 25s with a win over UR Sunday at Cintas (1PM-ESPN2). Rich has it all - experienced super quick accurate shooting guards - a bevy of athletic big guys-a deep bench - experience galore - a cerebral coach (Chris Mooney is a Princeton grad and former Tiger star player) - a quirky style (match-up zone coupled with a Princeton-like motion offense featuring back door cuts and plenty of 3 pointers).
The Spiders sit at 22-6,11-2 in the A-10, tied for first with XU and Temple (the Owls play at LaSalle Sunday at 2PM). And UR is rolling with 8 straight wins (4 on the road-GW,St Joe's,Rhody,St Bonnies) and 4 at home SLU, Temple, Fordham and GW. They beat St Louis by a whooping 26 and Temple by 17.
And, Richmond is rested. They last played a week ago Saturday, besting GW 74-70 at the Robbins Center. Coach Mooney has been building this team for 5 years and they've arrived. Their non-conference resume includes neutral court wins over Mississippi State, Missouri, and the Florida Gators. Their losses are basically at tough road venues - William & Mary, VCU (their crosstown shootout), South Carolina (they beat Kentucky) and Wake Forest in OT (sounds familiar). In the A-10 UR lost at St Louis (everybody has except XU) and home to Charlotte.
Remember last March 7th!! I do and I imagine the Muskie players do also. XU had boxed Dayton's ears 76-59 in a late start ESPN game Thursday nite at Cintas - great emotion - much energy expended. X had to play at Richmond 44 hours later and they found out before the game they had already clinched the outright league title due to a Rhode Island loss. UR won 80-75!
They played well. PG Kevin Anderson dropped 29 pts on XU. Rich shot the lights out. Forward Justin Harper had a career game (20pts - 9 rebounds). X couldn't stop their guards from penetrating the Pack Line so they were forced to play a bunch of zone and Richmond then thrived with offensive rebounds to keep possessions going. Still the Muskies took the game almost to the buzzer.
Much has been said and blogged about the Spiders being rested for this game with 8 days between games. If they were waiting for Xavier in Richmond then - Yes! that would be a huge factor. The schedule has the creepy crawly ones coming to Cincy though where X has been known to flourish (22 straight wins overall - 30 in a row against A-10 opposition).
XU won at St. Louis Wednesday night then chartered home. That victory is a good thing-a motivator for a bunch of 20 year olds not a drain on their batteries.The players are also on Spring Break which means near total basketball focus on Richmond.
Chris Mack is actively seeking to pump up Sunday's Cintas crowd. Some students will be gone. It is an early start time. Everyone is asked to wear BLUE and stay standing and behave raucously!! Mack is promising the most fun ever at a Muskie game!! Lets deliver for him and the players who've performed so brilliantly.
UR has two veteran guards as talented as any in D-1 PG Kevin Anderson is a two time A-10 Player of the Week this season. He can beat anybody off the dribble and averages 18 PPG-3 assists-3 rebounds. Shooting guard David Gonzalvez is a 4 year starter (14PPG-4 reb-3 assists-2 steals). 6-10 forward Justin Harper killed XU last season(10PPG-6R). 6-9 Darrius Garrett moved into the starting line-up in January. He blocked an incredible 14 shots in one game. Sr Ryan Butler is the other starter at 6-7.
6-9 JR Dan Geriot missed all last season with a knee injury. He's also troubled by a shoulder but he can score inside and out. Kevin Smith and Francis Martel supply bench depth. The UR guards play heavy minutes.
X needs to wear Anderson down with a double dose of Terrell Holloway and Mark Lyons. I like XU in a match-up of Gonzalvez vs Jordan Crawford although I imagine Dante Jackson may guard Gonzalvez a lot. Xavier needs to be patient against the match-up and pound it inside to Love and McLean and Frease.
UR may steal a few passes but the Muskies can't fall back and live off the 3 pointer. Holloway again will need to attack and force the tempo up as he did at SLU. Richmond wants to win 65-60. XU needs the game in the 70's or 80's and they should be able to deliver their pace at Cintas with the crowd behind them and their comfort level at home.
I like Xavier's chances as always. This team continues to get better. The poise and enthusiasm they showed at Florida, Charlotte and St Louis was very impressive. They're not going to stumble now at home even against a very solid opponent an NCAA team like Richmond.
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