UR basketball notes

Hovde breaks ankle, may miss 10 weeks

University of Richmond senior Kevin Hovde broke his ankle during a recent Spiders workout and is expected to miss at least 10 weeks, according to UR coach Chris Mooney.

Surgery was performed.

Hovde, 6-6 and from Kennett Square, Pa., played in 24 games last season for the 20-16 Spiders, averaging 5.8 minutes.

"It's so disappointing because of how hard he works and how much he cares about this program," Mooney said. "For a guy who was a walk-on and became a scholarship player, it's just terrible luck for him in his senior year that that would happen."

Mooney said a medical redshirt year for Hovde is a possibility. "I'm going to let Kevin bring that up to me, and we'd be extremely open to that," Mooney said.

Experience is additive that's new to group

The fifth year of the Chris Mooney Era includes 13 scholarship players. All but freshmen 6-3 Darien Brothers and 6-5 Greg Robbins have at least 12 games of college experience. In Mooney's first year, the Spiders had seven healthy scholarship players during the season's second half. The next year, freshmen were the team's top four scorers.

In 2007-08, UR had 10 freshmen and sophomores.

"When I first got here, the veterans on the team were just a year older than I was," said Kevin Smith, a 6-5 junior forward. "A lot has changed from then."

The Atlantic 10 Conference will announce its predicted order of finish today. UR, coming off a 20-16 season, likely will be projected third, behind Dayton and Xavier.

"We're not sneaking up on anyone, and we know that we're not sneaking up on anyone," Smith said. "So you have to come in with the mindset that you're a dangerous team, and you have to be willing to take on dangerous teams yourself."

Coach expects more physical play on glass

The Spiders were outrebounded by an average of about five boards last season, and that continued a trend.

Because UR uses a variation of the Princeton offense depending on big men who can pass and shoot, "Rebounding has been something for us that has been difficult," Mooney said. "We go out and recruit these guys who are skillful, and if you went to a playground, the most skillful kid probably doesn't get the most rebounds."

Mooney hopes the return of 6-9 center Dan Geriot, now 255 pounds after missing last season with a knee injury, and the improvement of 6-9, 225-pound Justin Harper will help.

Also, returning Spiders focused on strength gain during the offseason for this reason:

"When we've taken the court against some of the very best teams we play, including Wake Forest, Xavier, and Dayton, we feel we're just as fast and just as skilled, just as good as basketball players," Mooney said. "The one thing is, we're just a little bit thinner."

Increased strength should help in rebounding and, said Mooney, improved "ability to match a team a team for entire 40 minutes physically." -- John O'Connor