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By staying put, Richmond's Geriot went far

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Four years ago, few shining moments interrupted Richmond's season. The Richmond Spiders weren't just dropping games, but losing players. The rumor had gotten out that Dan Geriot, then a freshman center, was thinking of leaving, even after leading the Spiders in scoring his first year.

Dan Geriot (far left) and No. 12 Richmond take on No. 1 Kansas Friday night in the NCAA Tournament. (AP Photo)
Dan Geriot (far left) and No. 12 Richmond take on No. 1 Kansas Friday night in the NCAA Tournament. (AP Photo)Read more

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Four years ago, few shining moments interrupted Richmond's season. The Richmond Spiders weren't just dropping games, but losing players. The rumor had gotten out that Dan Geriot, then a freshman center, was thinking of leaving, even after leading the Spiders in scoring his first year.

The rumor had been true.

"If everyone was leaving, I wasn't going to be the one who stayed around - almost that kind of feeling," said the Springfield (Delco) High graduate, whose No. 12-seeded team will face the Morris twins - Marcus and Markieff - and top-seeded Kansas on Friday in the Southwest Regional semifinals at the Alamodome.

Sometimes the biggest moments for a rising program occur behind closed doors. Geriot said he helped talk another top player, David Gonzalvez, into staying, which convinced him to also stay. There was no news conference, but that was a huge key to Richmond's future success - a crisis averted. The Spiders began their rise, and now, on their second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, are making the second Sweet 16 appearance in the school's history.

Gonzalvez is gone. He graduated last year as Richmond's fifth-leading scorer of all time. Geriot, a 6-foot-9 center, is the old man of this group. He's a fifth-year senior after sitting out the 2008-09 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. When he returned, he had a different role, no longer expected to be the top scorer, as he had been as a sophomore, too. Geriot was fine with it. He said he recognized that a young guard, Kevin Anderson, who showed up the year after him, was special.

"He was the best player, and he didn't even know it - he didn't have any idea at the time," Geriot said of Anderson, who went on to be the Atlantic Ten Conference player of the year last season. Another current senior, forward Justin Harper, kept improving and now is the legitimate NBA prospect on the team, averaging 17.5 points a game.

Geriot's role evolved. He has averaged 9.7 points this season, less than he did as a freshman or sophomore, yet he seems ideally suited for Richmond's Princeton-style offense, which prizes a big man who can pass and shoot outside. Geriot does both exceptionally well. This season, he averaged 2.8 assists a game and made 42.3 percent of his three-point shots.

Geriot knew that Chris Mooney's offense was a good fit for him. Springfield High had used a Princeton-style offense. That had factored into his decision to go to Richmond.

The bigger adjustment was on defense. As is the case with most high school stars, that wasn't Geriot's first thought.

"I had to learn, I had to really learn, a lot on defense: how to guard big men, how to box out the right way, how to make sure our defense worked the best way," Geriot said. "For a while, we were getting blown out, basically because we couldn't stop big men. I knew that was on me."

That was a long time back. Geriot is now a key to Richmond's defensive success.

"He has an unbelievable sense for how to play basketball," said Spiders teammate Kevin Hovde, a Unionville High graduate. "He's had it his whole life. You can just tell he's been playing his whole life. Even though he's not a great athlete, obviously his overall sense for the game is terrific. He has perfect positioning for our defense. On the back line, he's calling out the switches. There couldn't be a more perfect place for him to play."

Friday will be a Ph.D.-level test for Geriot. The Morris twins of Kansas and North Philadelphia have been the most unstoppable inside force in this tournament, combining for 72 points through their first two games. Geriot knows what he's up against.

"I saw them a lot on the circuit," he said, when the twins played for Hunting Park and he played for Team Philly. He also faced them in the summer Sonny Hill Future Stars tournament at Temple's McGonigle Hall.

"I remember them being obviously super athletes," Geriot said. "They were aggressive. They're tough. They get their rebounds."

It hasn't been hard to keep up with their game, he said.

"They're Philly guys. I'm always watching them," Geriot said. "Kansas is always on TV."

His own toughness isn't questioned in Richmond's locker room. In a first-round victory over Vanderbilt, Geriot took an elbow from Vandy center Festus Ezeli with 4 minutes, 9 seconds remaining in the first half. The blow dropped him. Geriot eventually got up and staggered to the bench, aided by a trainer, leaving a trail of blood from both his nose and his lip. He reentered the game with 2:50 left in the half.

Recovering from the torn ACL was the biggest test of his career. He had suffered it on a summer tour of Spain after his sophomore season. He told the Richmond Collegian, the student paper: "Looking back on it, it's really easy to do well in rehab, and it's easy to come back and almost be the leader I was. But it's hard to be good at basketball again."

Yet here he is, having the time of his life. The guy who once thought about leaving kept using the word perfect to describe the last month of his college career.

"I would tear my ACL over again to do this," Geriot said.