Atlantic 10 Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 19, 2026 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for All of our Preseason Coverage, Including Interviews, Podcasts, and Conference Previews

JON TEITEL IS AT A10 MEDIA DAY!! CLICK HERE TO CHECK HIM OUT!!

ATLANTIC 10 MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. VCU
  2. Saint Louis
  3. Dayton
  4. George Mason
  5. George Washington
  6. Saint Joseph’s
  7. Fordham
  8. Davidson
  9. Richmond
  10. Duquesne
  11. Loyola Chicago
  12. Rhode Island
  13. La Salle
  14. Saint Bonaventure

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-A10 1ST TEAM:

-Amael L’Etang – JR, F – Dayton
-Jaiden Glover-Toscano – JR, G – Saint Joseph’s
-Trey Green – JR, G – Saint Louis
-Kellen Thames – SR, G – Saint Louis
-Lazar Djokovic – SR, F – VCU
-Nyk Lewis – SO, G – VCU

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-A10 2ND TEAM:

-Josh Scovens – SR, F – Davidson
-Rikus Schulte – SR, F – Fordham
-Baraka Okojie – SR, G – George Mason
-Rob Dockery – JR, G – La Salle
-Amari McCottry – JR, G – Saint Louis
-Brandon Jennings – JR, G – VCU

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-A10 3RD TEAM:

-Brayden O’Connor – SR, G – George Mason
-Jean Aranguren – SR, G – George Washington
-Jonah Hinton – SR, G – Rhode Island
-Jahmere Tripp – Sr, G/F – Rhode Island
-Aiden Argabright – SO, G – Richmond
-Ishan Sharma – JR, F – Saint Louis

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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-Other than the Big East, I have always felt the A-10 was the best non-football conference, and always felt it should be better than what it is. The schools and programs that make it up, and the markets that it is in, should have them putting more teams in the NCAA Tournament and into the national rankings.

-Phil Martelli Jr. had a fantastic year in his first year at VCU, winning 28 total games and advancing to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Expectations are naturally high once again with three of those starters back along with some guys who were key role players off the bench. They do have to replace some of their better players. Nyle Ralph-Beyer transfers in from Sacred Heart where he was a fantastic scorer and outside shooter, and Torey Alston from Middle Tennessee is also a solid portal pick up for the frontcourt. Michael Belle also returns to the starting lineup giving the Rams a strong presence underneath. This is a team that can get back to the NCAA Tournament and get beyond the Round of 64…again.

-Saint Louis was last year’s 1st-place team. They won 29 total games and made it to the Round of 32. With three starters back the expectations for the Billikens are once again very high. Josh Schertz has done a fantastic job as coach and has another strong squad this year. Trey Green and Kellen Thames make up a strong backcourt and they should be solid enough in the frontcourt to have enough balance to once again make the NCAA Tournament and go beyond the Round of 64.

-Dayton is a team that I am tired of picking to do well because they always seem to underachieve. That may sound like a silly thing to say about a program that routinely wins 20+ games a year, and who actually won 25 last year, but this team never feels like they are as good as they should be. They really have not broken through nationally since the 2020 season that was tragically cut short due to COVID and they have had some talented rosters during that stretch. They once again have some talented players this year. Amael L’Etang returns and is joined by Zaide Lowery who transfers in from Marquette as well as a few others. Given the combination of their resources and talent, this is a program that really should be having success on a national level. I do not mean to imply that they are bad bad. 20+ wins a year and constantly finishing 3rd/4th/5th in the A-10 is solid…but it still feels like this program should be better. After last year, I promised to stop picking them to win the league. They were picked to finish 3rd by the voters, and that is about where I think they will land. I would actually have them one spot lower.

-Tony Skinn enters his 4th season as coach at George Mason, and has won 20+ games in each of his first three seasons. They are having to rebuild their roster this year, but they have some really sold players from Under the Radar schools coming in. Baraka Okojie was a fantastic player for Mercer who averaged just under 20ppg, Lilian Marville was a solid contributor for UNC Greensboro and Makhai Valetine put up good numbers at Northern Illinois. Elijah Jones averaged double-figures for UTEP and Emmet Adair did the same for Loyola MD. I like Skinn as a coach and I think Mason can be in the mix this year.

-Chris Caputo has had a couple of solid seasons at George Washington, winning 19 games last year and 21 the year before, but they are once again having to rebuild. Just one starter is back and they will have to rely on guys they picked up from the portal that played limited minutes at bigger programs. I like the progress this program is making, but this year their ceiling may be the middle of the standings.

-Saint Jospeh’s has quietly won 20+ games in each of the last three seasons including 24 last year. They finished 3rd in the conference, which as a really solid year for the Hawks. They do return a couple of starters and picked up Logan Carey in the portal, who was a solid player for Maine. They do not appear to have any prolific scorers, but they should still be a solid team this year.

-Fordham won a very respectable 17 games last year, was 8-10 in A-10 play, and was not playing bad at all down the stretch. They have three starters back and they picked up two really solid players from Under the Radar schools in the portal in Amir Lindsey from UAlbany, who averaged just under 18ppg and Lateef Patrick Jr. who was a very solid player on a really good Stephen F. Austin team. I feel crazy saying this, but I like this Fordham roster. I also think Mike Magpayo did a very solid job in his first year as coach last year. I actually like this Fordham team. I don’t think they will win the league, but I think they will finish higher in the standings than where they are being picked.

-Matt McKillop is coming off a 20-win season, which was his best since taking over at Davidson, but he has his work cut out for him this year. Just one starter is back in Josh Scovens, who is a solid all-around player. Roberts Blums transfers in at guard from Penn State and he should be able to contribute. They do appear to have some really good outside shooters and if this squad can play together then they may be able to exceed expectations.

-Every year Richmond is my dark horse. I absolutely love their style of play and am a big fan of Coach Chris Mooney. It makes me sad that a system that is so much fun to watch and that can be so effective is also unfortunately heavily reliant on development and experience from year to year, and in this era of college basketball that is almost impossible. Richmond has just one starter back. They did pick up a couple of nice players in the portal, but are they familiar enough with this system to step into it and be effective? I am guessing not: I just cannot get behind Richmond this year.

-Duquesne had a very solid 18-win season last year and finished 9-9 in A-10 play, but their roster took a hit as four starters have moved on. Two new players to watch are Josh Smith from West Georgia (who averaged over 16ppg and is a solid outside shooter) and Yoav Berman (who had a productive year for Queens). The Dukes do have a couple of pieces, but it will be hard for them to finish in the top half of the standings.

-Loyola Chicago had a miserable year last year going just 4-14 in A-10 play. They have rebuilt their roster this year. Eddie Ricks III comes in from a pretty good James Madison team, Xavier Amos returns to the backcourt after a solid year last year, Donald Hand Jr. was a contributor for Boston College, and Dayan Nessah was a very strong frontcourt player for Cleveland State who can also hit from the outside. I think Loyola has some pretty good pieces and will show some improvement this year.

-Rhode Island kind of fell apart down the stretch last year, which may explain why they are picked to finish so low this year. They do return a couple of starters and also add a couple of solid transfers in Jahmere Tripp and Jonah Hinton, both of whom averaged double-figures for A-10 schools last year, so they do have some pieces to work with.

-La Salle won just 9 total games last year and was 5-13 in league play. They do have two starters returning, but most of the roster has been overhauled and they do not appear to have much in terms of D-1 experience, so I can see why the voters are not expecting them to be competitive in A-10 play this year.

-Saint Bonaventure is picked to finish last, and that makes me kind of sad. They were a respectable 17-17 overall last year, but went just 4-14 in A-10 play. They have just one starter back and a new coach in Mike MacDonald. Their roster…well…seems to be lacking in solid D-1 players. There are few programs in the nation that are as fun as Saint Bonaventure is when this team is actually winning. The fans are incredible and it is a unique type of venue and atmosphere. Remember Beer Hat Guy?? He was awesome! And the fanbase and culture that the Bonnies have is among my favorites in all of college basketball. If this team ever did go on an NCAA Tournament run, they would almost assuredly become the nation’s favorite team by the end of that first weekend. That is how much fun they are. Sadly, I do not see this as being their year.

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West Coast Conference Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 19, 2026 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for All of our Preseason Coverage, Including Interviews, Podcasts, and Conference Previews

WEST COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Santa Clara
  2. Saint Mary’s
  3. San Francisco
  4. Seattle U
  5. Pacific
  6. LMU
  7. Pepperdine
  8. San Diego
  9. Portland
  10. Denver

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL WCC TEAM:

-Joshua Dent – JR, G – Saint Mary’s
-Jake Ensminger – SR, G – Santa Clara
-Sash Gavalyugov – JR, G – Santa Clara
-Will Heimbrodt – SR, F – Seattle U
-Carson Johnson – JR, G – Denver
-Petar Majstorovic – JR, F – Pepperdine
-Will McClendon – SR, G – Pepperdine
-Ndewedo Newbury – SR, F – San Francisco
-All Wright – JR, G – LMU
-Junseok Yeo – SR, F – Seattle U

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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

-With Gonzaga gone, the WCC just does not feel like the WCC anymore. We at HoopsHD still look at it as a multi-bid league and not an Under the Radar league (for now), and with teams like Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s it should still put teams inside the bubble, but it is not the same.

-Santa Clara had a fantastic year last year with 26 wins and appeared to have Kentucky beat in the Round of 64, but a beyond half-court shot at the buzzer tied it and the Broncos lost in OT (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB3iWzEXtY8). The problem is that just one starter is back from that team, so the cohesiveness that helped them a year ago may be an issue this year with so many new players. The players they have returning were largely role players a year ago. David Castillo comes in from Kansas State and should help them out. I cannot question the coaching, as I love the job Herb Sendek has done with this team, but I question their roster. I actually question a lot of things. I have more questions than answers when it comes to this team.

-Saint Mary’s has been one of the better teams in the conference. They were clearly Gonzaga’s biggest rival and have been regulars in the NCAA Tournament for the last couple of decades. This year things will be much different. Randy Bennett has moved on as have most of their key players from a year ago. Mickey McConnell takes over as head coach and Joshua Dent returns to run the point. Myles Che comes north from UC Irvine where he had a very solid year and Darius Bivins looks to be a very talented freshman (and is the only McDonald’s All-American to commit to a mid-major program). They do have a few pieces, but will they take a huge step back from what we are used to seeing from them?

-San Francisco won just 17 games last year after a solid run of 20+ win seasons and may be taking another step back with all five starters being gone from a year ago. Some of the new players look impressive as they put up solid numbers internationally or at the JUCO level, but can they come together and win in the WCC?

-Seattle U is picked 4th. I am unsure if that is low enough to be considered a dark horse, but I really like this Seattle team this year. They won 21 games a season ago and while they kind of fell apart in the middle of conference play, they looked pretty solid down the stretch. Will Heimbrodt and Junseok Yeo are both back and they make up what should be a formidable frontcourt. Jaden Bailes, who is admittedly just a freshman, looks like he will be a talented guard. Coach Chris Victor has done a good job with this program and I think this could be a breakout year for them…so Seattle is my pick to win the league!

-Pacific is having to rebuild their roster after all five starters from last year moved on. Jason Edwards comes in from Providence after averaging 16ppg last year, so he is a huge addition, but he will need some help if Pacific is going to contend in the league this year.

-LMU’s All Wright, who transferred in from Xavier, was named to the preseason all-conference team. I do not know if that is due to his unique name or because he is expected to be a major impact player. He averaged 7.5ppg last year, which was kind of meh, but he will have the opportunity to step into a bigger role this year. Jasai Miles (Indiana) and Mazi Mosley (LSU) are among the transfers who saw very limited minutes at bigger programs and are likely looking for more playing time. We will see if they can step up this year.

-Pepperdine won just nine games a year ago and with all five starters moving on it is easy to understand why they are being voted to finish this poorly. Having said that, I really like some of their players. Will McClendon was a key contritbutor and double-digit scorer for a good North Texas team, Jahari Williamson was a solid player for Kent State, Petar Majstorovic was a really good player for Long Beach State, and Youri Fritz is a good /rebounder from Northeastern. You never know how so many new players will be able to play together, but I think Pepperdine’s talent is much better than what the voters are giving them credit for. I think they can finish in the top half of the league. Maybe close to the top of the league. Like the Wave this year!

-JR Blount takes over a San Diego team that won just 5 WCC games a year ago and lost all their starters. They did get two solid players out of the portal in Davion Hill from Ball State and Marqui Worthy Jr. from UC Riverside, so that is at least a somewhat-solid nucleus to where we may see some improvement this year.

-Portland dealt with injuries last year, so just being able to stay healthy should lead to at least a few more wins. Riley Parker is a player to watch: he averaged over 13ppg last year and is a very good outside shooter. Portland does appear to have a solid frontcourt. Jaxon Olvera comes in from Louisiana where he also averaged over 13ppg and was a fairly solid rebounder, so the Pilots do have some pieces to work with.

-Denver joins the conference after regularly struggling in the Summit League, and chances are they will continue to struggle in the WCC. They do have an outstanding player in Carson Johnson, who may be one of the best players in the conference. The question is: can the rest of the roster give him enough help for this team to be successful?

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All-Access at A-10 Media Day in DC: Morning Session

Posted on October 19, 2026 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. However, since the A-10 was kind enough to hold its media day just a few blocks from his apartment on Monday, he was in attendance at the Westin for press conferences with a player/coach from every team. See below for some Q&A from the morning session, and check back later today for some Q&A from the afternoon session.

It is a rare occurence for fellow HoopsHD podcaster Rocco Miller to leave the comfy comfines of the Pacific time zone, but he made the cross-country trip today to give our website not 1 but TWO representatives in the house!

Since there were not individual breakout rooms for media members like myself, I spent the day trying to squeeze in 1 question at all the press conferences. I asked Davidson SR SG/SF Katie Donovan how she could possibly improve her long-distance shooting since her 45.8 3P% last year was #3 in the nation. She said her team has some great assistant coaches, and because she does not expect to get many open looks this year, she has been working on her catch/shoot skills.

I wondered how impressed Dayton SR F Jaiun Simon and Coach Anthony Grant were with Landen Joseph’s standout play during the Flyers’ 1st 2 exhibition games. Jaiun was most impressed with his growth: he said that Landen was stressed at 1st and a little overwhelmed by everything that Coach was asking him to do, but has responded to that adversity very well. Coach Grant said that Landen has some innate talent that will become evident as he gains more experience, and was impressed that Landen is more than willing to grow/learn/listen/adapt/adjust.

GW women’s coach Tamika Williams-Jeter appears to have more Canadians on her roster than anyone else in the US so I wanted to know how that happened. She said she had an assistant coach who was Canadian and her campus is only a 6-hour drive from Toronto. There are 3-4 schools in that area that produce kids who play at a high level. They got lucky when they signed Liv Leung, and look where she is now: people want to play with her so she is a magnet. They were in gyms by themselves up there because the players were very under-recruited. Tamika played in the WNBA with Lindsay Whalen, who coached 1 of her current Canadians at Minnesota (Ajok Madol), and it meant a lot to Ajok to go from 1 coach she trusts to another coach who she can trust. As you get a couple of Canadian players, experience matters, and more of them want to keep coming here.

I noticed that JR PG Izaiah Pasha will face 1 of his old schools in December (Delaware) so I inquired whether it was circled on his calendar. He smiled and admitted that he was kind of excited to see the Blue Hens on the schedule. He is always trying to prove himself, so it is definitely on his radar. Since Coach Dru Joyce III had a high school teammate you may have heard of (LeBron James!), I figured I would see if he was stunned that LeBron is still active in the NBA. He explained that while it might not make sense from an age perspective, it certainly makes sense based on his love of basketball. He is so impressed by LeBron’s will to keep playing at a high level…and is very excited that LeBron is now on the East Coast in Philly so that he can watch his games on TV at a reasonable hour.

I asked Duquesne JR G (and Hagerstown, MD native) Gabby Grantham-Medley how excited she was to return to the DMV for media day. She said it is great to be back: she got to walk around the city last night, enjoyed all the architecture, and even got some ice cream.

St. Bonaventure has a new coach in Mike MacDonald, who might have to respond to adversity for the 1st time in awhile after going 61-3 during the past 2 years at D-2 Daemen. He joked that after they lost a 3-PT exhibition game to Penn State the other night, 1 of his assistants noted that they had not lost a lot of games recently! It is part of the growth process: they will get better and there will be adversity regardless of whether they are picked 1st or last in the preseason poll (spoiler: they were picked 14th out of 14).

The St. Bonaventure women improved from 6 wins in 2025 to 16 wins (including 1 in the WNIT) in 2026, so I was curious what the next step on the trajectory is for coach Jim Crowley and JR G Mackenzie Pettinelli. Coach said that the next step is consistency, which is more about the “eye test” rather than a specific number of wins. Mackenzie said it is about how hard they are playing each night and showing effort.

St. Louis coach Josh Schertz had great success in Year #3 at both of his previous stops (Lincoln Memorial/Indiana State), so I went fishing for a prediction on whether he can repeat this pattern. He said that he would prefer to do it in Year #1 (rather than wait until Year #3), but he has a blueprint for building his culture. They had a great year last year with a great group of guys: he talks about being focused on the process over the outcome, stacking days, competitive humility, and prioritizing winning. The retention piece gives him an opportunity; nothing is a given in sports so rather than an “expectation” of success he talks about the “possibility”. He hopes that by Year #3 his core values are well-embedded in what they do on a daily basis.

GMU women’s coach (and Mount St. Mary’s Hall of Famer) Vanessa Blair-Lewis will host her alma mater for an exhibition game this Saturday, and I was curious whether it was a weird situation for her. She said she has very good feelings about the place that she came from and said this is the 3rd time she will face them. It was weird the 1st time, but once the ball is tipped off it is just a game.

That is a wrap for now, but check back later today for more coverage from media day.

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The Hoops HD Report: SEC Preview

Posted on October 18, 2026 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for All of our Preseason Coverage, Including Interviews, Podcasts, and Conference Previews

For the SEC Media Day Recap and Response – CLICK HERE

The SEC is perhaps the strongest conference in the nation, and it’s home to Florida, which is perhaps the strongest team in the nation. Chad and the panel look at what is a talent stacked conference with as many as 8 teams that we could see in the Top 25 and as many as 12 teams that could make the NCAA Tournament. Texas has a stacked roster. Tennessee has a very talented roster, but will it fit Rick Barnes’s style? Can Texas A&M surprise some people? Can Arkansas keep pace with the rest of the league with their youth? We run through and assess every team.

And for all you radio lovers out there, below is an audio only version of the show…

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Hanging with the Hoyas AND Revolutionaries: Exhibition Edition

Posted on October 17, 2026 by Jon Teitel

HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. The regular season does not start until next month, but he was in attendance Friday night for the Hoyas’ exhibition game against GW at the Charles E. Smith Center and prepared this photo essay.

The diverse selection of pregame meals at Georgetown can be anything from Italian to Mexican to chicken, but GW remains very consistent: pizza and water. I have been coming here to watch games for the past 20 years but tonight featured the most people that I have ever seen in the Smith Center for a variety of reasons: Alumni & Families Weekend, rain in the forecast for those who had planned an outside adventure, and a Friday night game in a gym that is located closer to the Georgetown campus then Capital 1 Arena is:

If you are willing to remain upright for 40 minutes in the student section then you get to wear 1 of these neat tricorns!

Georgetown coach Ed Cooley and GW coach Chris Caputo have both been in this business a long time…and considering they work within walking distance of each other, I wish they would play each other in the regular season every year (more on that during the postgame press conference):

I did not think the NCAA trotted out its A-list referees until November, but I noticed that Roger Ayers has graced us with his prolific presence in mid-October:

Kentucky transfer Jaland Lowe only played 9 games last year due to injury but started out strong for the Hoyas with 7 PTS in the 1st 7 minutes:

Pitt transfer Omari Witherspoon only shot 28.7 3P% last year but has apparently been practicing a lot as he had 13 PTS in the 1st half (including 3-3 3PM) to keep GW in the game:

I expected the home team to get most of the calls, but despite Georgetown’s huge FTA advantage (14-2), GW took full advantage of its filled-to-capacity gym to tie it up at 38-all heading to halftime. The Hoyas made a nice run to start the 2nd stanza and built a 12-PT lead before the under 12-timeout. GW big man Lovro Urbiha has spent his entire career in Slovenia, but appears to have made an above-average adjustment to America. He scored 15 PTS, made 4 shots from behind the arc, and grabbed a team-high 8 REB to help the Revs almost pull off the comeback, but they came up just short as the Hoyas hung on to win it by the score of 76-68:

In the postgame press conference I learned (sadly) that I too am still in preseason form. I was planning to ask Coach Cooley about the improvement of backup PG Gabriel Landeira and/or whether he would be willing to face GW during the regular season, but the 2 media members called on ahead of me asked those exact 2 questions, so when I finally had the chance to ask a question the best I could come up with was getting his take on Vyctorius Miller’s foul trouble. Cooley said that he and his staff have talked to Miller about why/where he is fouling: he is an astute student-athlete so it will just take time and they just want him to “chill out a bit”:

I asked Witherspoon about his 3-PT improvement, expecting 1 of those “I got a bunch of shots up over the summer and it is nice to see all my hard work paying off”. However, he shared the nuance that he used to pump-fake a lot when he was at Pitt, but the GW coaches helped train him to not do that…so he put in a lot of hours behind the scenes and it showed today:

After Coach Caputo discussed the unbelievable atmosphere at the game, I followed up to see if he would like this to become an annual regular season game and whether he would have to move heaven and earth to make it happen or if the ball in Georgetown’s court because he is willing to play them anytime/anywhere. He confirmed that Cooley wants to do it, then stated he is happy to do it as a home-and-home in the regular season. He already has a home-and-home scheduled with other power conference teams like BC. “Tonight was a homerun for GW: if we were making a commercial about why someone should come here, we would just show clips of the environment today”:

That is a wrap for now but check back next month when the regular season tips off!

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The Hoops HD Report – ACC Conference Preview

Posted on October 15, 2026 by David Griggs

CLICK HERE for All of our Preseason Coverage, Including Interviews, Podcasts, and Conference Previews

Duke is not only the favorites to win the league, but perhaps the favorites to win the national championship. Virginia and Louisville also have excellent teams and we take a close look at those two as well. North Carolina has a new coach and an overhauled roster, so we debate on what kind of a season they might have. Miami FL is a potential dark horse and should be a fun team to watch. We break down the entire conference and run through each team!

And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…

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