Next 4 games

[Longtime Spider]

This team is very exciting to watch, and we have put together a strong non-conference schedule. However, several of the quality teams we beat have seen their NET rankings decline over the first third of the season. Our best win so far is Columbia, currently ranked #70 in the NET.

That makes the next four games especially important, as we will face two teams with higher NET rankings than our best win to date. We are currently ranked #43 in the NET, which places us squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. If we can secure a road win at Rhode Island (#50) and a home win against Davidson (#54), it would significantly strengthen our case that we deserve an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

 

[PhillySpider]

As I mentioned on another thread, I think we have used up pretty close to all our runway on an at-large. I think to be serious contenders for an at-large, we need to win the A-10 regular season (and do so pretty convincingly - - no more than 3 losses) and then make the tourney final but lose (a 4th conference loss and 7 overall). Anything less will be very tough. And we need to hope we aren't against Fairfield for an at-large (and preferably because they win their conference tourney).

As noted above, we don't have a signature win and likely won't have one by the end, so we are going to have to make a statement by doing very well against a good overall schedule. We also don't have any bad losses which is good, but the Fairfield loss still isnt great. So really, every game becomes important now - - we really can't afford any bad losses and will need to win a solid percentage of our "peer" games (e.g. URI and Davidson games mentioned above).

 

[RichmondNative]

The Fairfield loss was a tough one. The good news is the team has been challenged along the way and knows it will be circled on the calendar for every A10 team. Will have a tough road game against URI and hope they can prevail as it would be a key win as discussed here.

 

[Wood Hall]

Fairfield has already beaten Villanova and South Florida, has a quality loss to UNC, is punching well above its weight class and will probably win the MAAC with 23+ wins. I know the MAAC isn't great, but Quinny made the Sweet 16 recently so it's not an awful conference.