Men's basketball brings momentum to Brooklyn

Update (Thursday, 5:01 p.m.): VCU defeated Fordham 63-57 Thursday, setting up a quarterfinal showdown between VCU and Richmond.

When Richmond men’s basketball plays its first Atlantic 10 tournament game in Brooklyn Friday, senior leader Kendall Anthony will be looking to secure one of the few things he has yet to accomplish at Richmond: a conference championship.

“Winning a conference championship is the thing I set out to do when I first got here,” Anthony said Tuesday. His previous three Atlantic 10 tournaments all ended in disappointment.

This year, however, a conference championship looks well within the Spiders' reach, especially given how they have played in the last month. Richmond brings a six-game winning streak with it to Brooklyn, marking the first time it has had a winning streak greater than two games since December. The recent winning streak helped Richmond secure a fourth seed and a bye before Friday’s quarterfinals.

“We had a slow start,” Anthony said, “but we picked up when we really needed to.”

Richmond is getting healthy at just the right time, too. Defensive stalwart Alonzo Nelson-Ododa has missed eight games since suffering an eye injury and a concussion in a loss to Rhode Island, but he will be back on the court for the Spiders in Brooklyn, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Richmond is playing well and has momentum, and its likely quarterfinal opponent would love nothing more than to squash the Spiders. Richmond looks set to face fifth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth University for the third time this year Friday, barring an upset of VCU.

The Spiders faced the Rams in the quarterfinals last year too, and the Rams pounded the Spiders from start to finish, giving VCU a three-game sweep over Richmond. This season, however, Richmond would be the team looking to secure a season sweep.

But Richmond has much more at stake than bragging rights.

The Spiders’ winning streak has brought an NCAA Tournament berth within sight, but the Spiders still have work to do. Richmond would have to at least reach the conference championship to have a reason to watch Sunday’s Selection Show, but even that might not be enough. Winning the conference championship would be the only sure way Richmond could gain a spot in the 68-team field, but that’s far from out of the question.

Every team the Spiders will face this weekend is a team Richmond has shown it can beat. Richmond hammered top-seeded Davidson in January, and the Spiders fell in close games to Dayton and Rhode Island, the second and third seeds, respectively.

In “a tournament setting, you never know what’s going to happen,” head coach Chris Mooney said. “But for us, we feel like we are playing well, and we have opportunities, so we’re confident going in.”