The boys from Blacksburg went a bit bipolar looking for any conference to join and try to move up and join their rebel brethren.   The Spiders got tired of the politics of the Southern and brought a group of Virginia schools together to form their own conference.  These ‘little sisters of the ACC’ included former Southern programs William and Mary and East Carolina but also gobbled up some lower Division schools to complete their 8 team league.  Old Dominion, James Madison, George Mason, rival VCU and UNC-Wilmington (yes there are two Carolina schools) rounded out the 8 team league.  This conference, like their big brother, emphasized basketball and in this region where hoops is king the conference made a big splash in the basketball world by playing anyone, anywhere and more often than not knocking some of those big dogs off the porch.  The key to the success of this conference was the great coaches they brought in to take these programs to the next level.  None of these were more important to the team’s success than the Spiders’ Dick Tarrant.  

Tarrant, who was once coached on the hardwood by none other than Vince Lombardi (yes that guy the football trophy is named after) and learned some disciplinary tactics from him.  This long time High school Coach from Jersey loved the game and would watch endless games picking up things as he watched especially from the other coaches.  He finally got his chance to coach down south, as an assistant at first, and leaped at it.  When the old coach (ironically a former student) resigned right before the start of the season he got his chance.  This was the best bit of fortune this program ever had.   Tarrant is a former scout who can evaluate other teams for strengths and weaknesses about as well as anyone in the country.  Tarrant knows how to put in a game plan to beat just about anybody on a given night.  And he does it with players that either did not make it somewhere else or nobody else even wanted and on the East Coast there are plenty of good players wanting to play.  Tarrant has recruited the wildest mix of scorers you can possibly imagine.  He has a plethora of players on the team who are unabashed shooters who will fire it up from anywhere.  The hardest thing about this group was getting them to share and to play other facets of the game.  Especially defense!  But, when you can shoot you can beat anybody and this team could flat beat anybody!  And of course the flip side is also true.  Especially when you have an almost non-existent inside presence.  But, folks, that is how the game is played now and Tarrant was just ahead of the curve on that and so many other things.  That is why you can never count this team out.  Even if does not have a true center.  Or Power forward for that matter! 

Tarrant did have a group of carryover players with which to start the year and yes these Spiders can spin a web.  The back court trio of Ed Harrison, Johnny Moates and Warren Mills were ‘terrific’ players back in the heyday of the Southern Conference but to be honest the Colonial is one step beyond that conference.  The talent and competition are a little higher for the most part with most of those teams playing a similar brand of basketball as the Spiders.  With that in mind Tarrant has brought in some back court studs to challenge the old guard.  Sophomores Greg Beckwith, Kenny Atkinson and Kelvin Johnson tore up the JV last year and are chomping at the bit to get varsity time.  Beckwith is your quintessential 5’10 pain the ass point guard who can dish and defend with the best of them.  He does not score much but he is a glue leader good teams need to compete.  Atkinson is also a point guard but scores often or at least tries often.  A new breed volume shooter who does have range this 6’0 plays the fire at will style Tarrant loves though somebody has to pass the ball now and then.  Johnson is more physical as this 6’2 185 pound kid from the streets of DC brings a different style to the Spiders.  He will muscle inside with the big boys and draw fouls but can also defend the perimeter.  Still, Moates and Harrison will continue their now three-year battle to start next to Mills and both can really score.  But can they defend at this level?  The free for all games featuring as many threes as you could fire up fit with these new and old Spiders but in this league you had to have some defense on the perimeter and especially down low as there were some monsters in the paint in the Colonial. There is one kid on the roster that does both fairly well and has already become the vanguard for this program is just one year.     

When you say Newman in Richmond it is not with the disdain that Jerry might say it.  It is with the honor and respect of the best basketball player in this conference.  Sophomore Johnny Newman is the quintessential give me the ball guy.  He loves to shoot jumpers and may be as gifted as anyone on the East Coast at making them but he also can score in other ways such as getting to the hoop and making free throws.  This Virginia High Schooler got overlooked by the ACC and decided to come to Richmond and play for Tarrant (one of his first recruits).  The rest is Spider history.   Newman earned the 2nd team All-Colonial in his first year and deservedly so.  He is already the best wing player in the league and he is as consistent as any scorer on the East Coast.  He was second in the league in scoring starting all 30 games and only having two games in single digits.  The 6’7 210 pound kid from just up the road in Danville also helps out on the boards (not his thing or any other Spider for that matter) and he does play solid defense but his calling card is his shooting.  Newman is without question the most consistent and best of all the Spider players and there is no way this team would have a chance of even competing in the CAA without this kid leading the way. 

Fellow Sophomore Peter Woolfolk took a step back from scoring and became the kind of role player this team needed to do the little things every team needs to win games.   A good rebounder (the exception proves the rule) who is not afraid to mix it up even though he only goes 6’5, he was perfect for this unit.  He did not need to score, though he could as he showed with a 21 point performance in the classic semifinal loss against VCU, but relished the fact he was setting the screens and getting the outlets so his teammates could shine.  Every team that is going to be successful needs players like Woolfolk who are unselfish and do the little things so the stars can get the headlines.

Sophomore Mike Perry stepped into a different role as this season progressed.  A gifted scorer, Tarrant asked Perry to be the leader of this band of fire throwers off the bench since he and Newman play the same spot.  Tarrant had tried to get these two terrific scorers on the court together starting Perry at the two for a minute when Moates went down but that just did not work.  The 6’5 210 pound hometown kid is all about the Spiders so accepted his role as super sub and responded with a great season. A great all-around player who is a terrific scorer, Perry took a few less shots and grabbed a few more boards to compliment his teammates as the season progressed.  He will once again fill this role as to be honest this team is full of great small forwards and they can’t all start but in Tarrant’s scheme there really are no positions and that definition fits Perry to the P.   

The key to the team was going to be point guard and Tarrant knew this.  Senior Warren Mills was the incumbent but was not big enough for this level.  He is a legend around these parts, however, and replacing him will not be easy.  First, Mills is the team captain and the fans love him.  Second, he is adept at getting the ball to the right guy and knows how to push the ball up the court which is what Tarrant preaches.  Third, he might be the best big game player in the league so unless Tarrant has Magic Johnson hitting the transfer portal the job is probably his.  Speaking of big point guards, the Spiders have their own version of Magic with senior Art ‘Butch’ Lambiotte coming back one more year to play in the Robins Center.  At 6’5 Lambiotte is a terrific passer who uses his height to throw it over smaller players and loves to post up smaller guys.  Butch was a bit of an anomaly when he got to Richmond as a 6’5 point guard but the world has caught up (like they are doing with the three-ball game this program has always played) and his defensive deficiencies (he is better guarding forwards than guards) have caught up with him but he still has a shot at getting some minutes.  Sophomore Scott Stapleton is another big point guard, 6’4, but he barely played behind Beckwith and needs another year of seasoning on the JV. 

The center position will be the most watched battle of the offseason as the Spiders need to get bigger and tougher underneath.  Tarrant has an eight-legged combination of seniors coming back to try to wrap up the opponents but none of them are near the talent or size of the boys from ODU.  Seniors big men Ken Daniel, Buster Batts, Wilton Ford and Walt Lysaght split minutes and though physically overmatched still performed well.  Daniel was big on the glass the first ten games before he took a seat down the stretch with the advent of some new younger talent. At 6’5 he is too small for the post at this level. 6’8 Buster Batts has the size but has not developed much of a game outside of taking up some important space.  Ford is 6’6 (so they say) and has had some huge games but is wildly inconsistent.  The second half of last year he showed an ability to score that was not there before and has put him in the mix though he is not really a center (or even a power forward).  Lysaght is the best of the bunch or at least the most consistent.  A 6’5 banger, Lysaght will board and score some but is not exactly a rim protector.  Defending seven footers is hard when you are six five but somebody has to do it around here.  Or do they?   Sophomores Billy Flye, Jeff Pehl and Mike Wienicki split the two post spots on the JV and will give the Spiders a bit more size if they beat out the incumbents.  The most aptly named Spider, Flye is the best of the cluster but is not the most physical guy in the world.  A 6’9 220 pounder from Middletown Ohio, Flye looks the part of a well flycatcher underneath but does block many shots and is not a big board man.  He can shoot (who can’t in Richmond) but this team needs some boardmen.  Pehl is even bigger at 6’10 but even less physical as he only goes 200 pounds.  He does board some and can block a shot but unless he gets thicker no way he bangs down low with the Monarch bigs.  Wineikci is 6’8 but more of the same style which does not help.  The best chance might be sophomore Steve Kratzer who does not score much and is just okay on the boards but is a ‘terrific’ low post defender. Though not an overwhelming shot blocker.  If offensive minded Tarrant can handle a guy who does not shoot much Kratzer might be the answer!  Ha, I am poet and don’t know it!  

The Spiders have solid role players who stepped up when called upon.  An entire senior group of forwards have been productive but their time has probably come and went as new guys step in.  Tom Green, Tom Tenwick, John Telelpo, Bobby Witt and Jim ‘King Baby’ Gahigan have done yeoman work but most of them will not make this year’s roster.  The one that has a chance in the one with the nickname of a famous 70’s crooner.  Green, known as Barry Manilow which was coined on a long road trip for his warbling on the bus, is 6’6 stud who will get some minutes.  The ‘Bristol Blade’ can score and might just start at the 4 unless Mandy comes back.  Sophomore forward John Davis stepped up to the plate at least on the JV and has a chance as a defensive stopper.  Fellow sophomore wing John Schweitz made solid a contribution at both ends of the court throughout the year and would have got more minutes if he was not stuck behind Newman and company.  Still, he was productive and is a complete player who gives Tarrant options especially when he goes small which of course with this team he does often.  Oh, and he can shoot.  If you are wondering why there are no juniors on the returning that is because the coach who came before Tarrant did not recruit well and this set this program that has been around for almost a century way back.  Tarrant is supposedly bringing a crew of sharpshooters to fill the void.  Tarrant has another entire group of freshmen forwards coming in that has the same kind of game as the guys playing before ready to continue the Spider tradition at this position.  The success of this program will only breed more talent coming to the former Capitol of the Confederate states but this time for something other than War. 

Tarrant used a fluid approach to his team.  With nobody on the team above six foot seven all the parts were interchangeable.  He would put in lineups that included five guards or five forwards, it did not matter to him.  The biggest issues for this team was always stopping the other team especially down low and rebounding.  Tarrant pulled every trick out of his bag to work around the Spiders lack of height and it shows how much of a magician he was with their overall record.  The late season run once he figured out how to move around all of his pieces showed what a master Tarrant was at the chess game as well.  He got his rotation down to nine guys and they all knew their role and all knew the first rule of Richmond basketball.  If you got a good look at the hoop let it fly!  We will deal with the rest of the game later! 

The Richmond Spiders are right where they want to be after a few years of sinking to the bottom of the Colonial pool.  A new coach gave the team energy and has continued the program’s run and gun philosophy which implies that the only bad shot is no shot!  It seems like a long time since the Spiders ran out the starting lineup of Mills, Harrison, Witt, Daniel and Lysaght that shocked the Southern League with an improbable run that was that close to knocking the Tar Heels off their throne.  That was right before the Spiders got dropped from the league and though all five of those players have one year left here the chances of all of them starting let along making the team are about as plausible as a 15 seed beating a 2 seed. If any team could do that it would be someone like Richmond who have a legacy of being able to score with anybody on any given night.  They showed that last year.  An incredible offense with a plethora of gifted shooters led to a ten game winning streak that had the Spiders ‘from Mars’ on the verge of qualifying for either the Big Dance or at least the NIT.  That did not happen but this year Richmond is expected to compete with co-favorites acronyms ODU and in city rival VCU for the CAA crown.  Coach Dick Tarrant has got this team on track to be an elite program and no matter what the ACC thinks these Spiders can play ‘guitar.’  And with the schedule Tarrant has put together for the upcoming year the ‘Big Dogs’ on the porch better be ready for these little Spiders to knock them off because nobody loves shocking the world as much as these kids.  And they have just the kind of ‘radiant’ leader to do it!