Atlantic 10
best regular-season finish in the A-10.
The Spiders received 19 first-place votes inthe preseason poll. They return three players who ranked in the top 20 in the league in scoring: guard Blake Francis (17.7 points per game); forward Grant Golden (13.4); and Jacob Gilyard (12.7). Their other top returner, guard Nick Sherod, suffered a season-ending ACL injury in October.
“Obviously, Nick’s injury is devastating personally for Nick, and it really impacts our team in a great way,” Mooney said, “butwe really do have very good depth, and during the course of the season, especially as it looks this season, that’s going to be very important for teams to have quality depth and be able to play a lot of guys.”
Richmond received 19 votes in theAssociated Press preseason poll, which was released Monday. The only other A-10 team to receive voteswas Saint Louis, which received four votes andwas picked second in the A-10 poll. The Billikens received seven first-place votes.
Rounding out the poll were: No. 4 St. Bonaventure; No. 5 Duquesne; No. 6 Rhode Island; No. 7 Davidson; No. 8Massachusetts; No. 9 Virginia Commonwealth; No. 10 George Mason; No. 11 George Washington; No. 12 Saint Joseph’s; No. 13 La Salle; and No. 14 Fordham.
Mooney expects several teams picked near the top of the poll to contend.
“I think UMass is going to be really good and has one of the best players (Tre Mitchell), and I don’t think they’re in the topfive,” Mooney said. “Rhode Island, I thinkCoach (David) Cox does a tremendous job. They play so hard. They’re elite defensively. They’re very talented and have guys who are really high-level players. I don’t think they’re picked in the top five. VCU’s been a great program for a long time. I don’t think they’re in the top five. When you have those
types of teams that aren’t preseason top five, you can tell this is an incredibly, talented, deep impressive conference.”
Dayton senior guard Jalen Crutcher was named to the A-10 preseason first team. He made the first team last season along with Obi Toppin, who left Dayton to enter the NBA Draft.
Crutcherwas the onlyDayton player to earn a preseason honor. Joining him on the first team were: Davidson senior guard Kellan Grady; Rhode Island senior guard Fatts Russell; sophomore center Tre Mitchell, of UMass; Richmond senior guard Jacob Gilyard; and senior guard Jordan Goodwin, of Saint Louis.
The preseason second team includes: Duquesne senior forward Marcus Weathers; Richmond senior guard Blake Francis; Richmond senior forward Grant Golden; St. Bonaventure junior guard Kyle Lofton; Saint Joseph’s redshirt senior guard Ryan Daly; and Saint Louis senior forwardHasahn French.
The third team includes: Duquesne junior guard Sincere Carry; George Mason senior guard Javon Greene; George Mason redshirt senior forward AJ Wilson; St. Bonaventure junior forward/center Osun Osunniyi; Saint Louis senior guard/ forward Javonte Perkins; and VCU sophomore guard Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland.
The all-defensive team included: Wilson; Gilyard; Osunniyi; French; andGoodwin.