A week till the season and we’ve got the latest on Richmond. The series so far……W&M, ODU, Liberty, JMU, Virginia, George Mason, VCU . . . Tech is next!
Goings
Janelle Hubbard: 5-8 guard graduated as the fifth leading scorer in Spider history with 1,717 points; averaged 14.1 ppg last season; playing professionally in Spain
Dazia Hall: the 5-9 guard from Ashburn who played sparingly graduated
Lauren Tolson: started 11 times last year, averaging 9.7 ppg; leading rebounder (6.7 rpg); played in 23 games before her career ended due to a knee injury; knee also cost during her junior season; scored 1,012 points in her career
Tuuli Menna: Finnish native started nine games last season as a sophomore; transferred to Manhattan
Taisha Murphy: sparingly used guard from Clayton, N.C. is no longer on the roster
Cori Chambers: the Georgia star and former WNBA player has left coach Michael Shafer’s staff after four seasons
Comings
Alex Parson: 5-6 guard from 5A state champion Monacan High in nearby Chesterfield; played alongside the nation’s top recruit Megan Walker, now at UConn; younger sis of junior Micaela Parson
Tonysha Curry: 5-10 guard from Louisville; named Seventh Region Player of the Year by the Kentucky Association for Basketball Coaches after averaging 11.3 ppg and 9.8 rpg last season; hampered by injuries in preseason; will be a key defender when healthy
Autumn Truedale: 6-foot forward recorded 26 double-doubles at The Berkshire School; also hampered by injury in preseason
Kailyn Fee: the 5-6 guard averaged 8 ppg for an Oakton High team that finished 29-1, falling in the state semifinals; stat line include 53 triples
Martina Wood: graduate assistant at Kansas who spent two seasons at Bucknell; on back-to-back Final Four teams at North Carolina; joins Shafer’s staff as an assistant
Injury woes and offensive struggles last season hampered a Richmond team that finished 13-17, a second straight season below .500. Along the way, the Spiders twice battled losing streaks of three games (including one to start and one to finish the season). The middle of the season featured a four-game losing skid.
What changes? Another Parson sister for one. Coaches are often reluctant to tout their freshmen too much. But ask Shafer about Alex Parson and he’s not bashful. He can’t say enough about the playmaking ability of the kid who starred alongside UConn freshman Megan Walker.
“Today what we’re seeing is a kid who doesn’t defer to the No. 1 player in the country because we don’t have her,” he said. “If it comes down to hitting big shots, Alex wants it, even as a freshman. She doesn’t get rattled. She plays within herself. She rarely makes turnovers in practice despite playing fast.
“Today as a freshman, she’s as good as we’ve had in a long time.”
Older sis Micaela Parson averaged 11.4 ppg and 5.4 rpg last year, putting her 181 points shy of a career 1,000. Her leadership, skills she learned from the conference leadership council over the spring, will be invaluable for a team that struggled to collect itself at times last season
The sisters, no surprise, are often the first two in the gym, playing one-one, and yes it’s competitive.
“They’re pushing each other,” Shafer said. “I think they’re really going to enjoy the opportunity to play together.” (Want more on the Parsons? We’ve got a feature on them slated for next week.)
Shafer sees two speeds for these Spiders — quick and quicker. They’ll go at least 10 deep under the motto “embrace the pace.” Four freshmen and four sophomores make up the group, but they are minus a single senior. As for depth, Shafer is talking about five sets of fresh legs subbing in all at once — a concept that requires the Spiders to be in top shape.
Shafer got buy-in from the palyers over the spring and looks forward the faster pace these Spiders should produce.
They will continue to rely on Kylie Murphree, who led the Atlantic 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio in 2016-17. Murphree and Parson each handed out more than 100 assists also. Guard-heavy again, the Spiders led the league in turnover margin — will the youth be able to be as reliable as graduated vets Tolson and Hubbard? We’re waiting to see.
Perhaps the freshman we’re most juiced about is Fee. She’s not overly tall or physical, but, man, can she shoot, Shafer says.
“She knows people say she can’t play at this level,” he said. “She plays with a chip on her shoulder, and she knocks down shot after shot after shot. If she misses five in a row, she’s still shooting, which has been a problem with our basketball team.”
(By the way, take a walk with the Richmond frosh.)
Picked ninth in the A-10, the Spiders open with a pair on the road, against Fairfield and Columbia, respectively. Old Dominion and William and Mary are also on the schedule, which includes a home date with NCAA tourney darling Quinnipiac on Dec. 1.