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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Saint Bonaventure
- Richmond
- Saint Louis
- VCU
- Dayton
- Davidson
- Rhode Island
- George Mason
- UMass
- Saint Joseph’s
- Duquesne
- La Salle
- George Washington
- Fordham
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE 1ST TEAM:
-Hyunjung Lee – JR, G/F – Davidson
-Jacob Gilyard – SR, G – Richmond
-Grand Golden – SR, F – Richmond
-Osun Osunniyi – SR, G – Saint Bonaventure
-Kyle Lofton – SR, G – Saint Bonaventure
-Javonte Perkins – SR, G/F – Saint Louis
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE 2ND TEAM:
-James Bishop – JR, G – George Washington
-Tyler Burton – JR, F – Richmond
-Jaren Holmes – SR, G – Saint Bonaventure
-Taylor Funk – SR, F – Saint Joseph’s
-Jordan Hall – SO, G/F – Saint Joseph’s
-Vince Williams – SR, F – VCU
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL CONFERENCE 3RD TEAM:
-Luka Brajkovic – SR, F – Davidson
-Mustapha Amzil – FR, F – Dayton
-Toumani Camara – SO, F – Dayton
-Josh Oduro – JR, F – George Mason
-Jeremy Sheppard – SR, G – Rhode Island
-Hason Ward – JR, F – VCU
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-It’s been a long time since the expectations for Saint Bonaventure have been this high. All five starters are back from a team that finished in first place and won the conference tournament. They will actually begin the season ranked in the top-25, and by the end of the year they could be ranked in the top-ten. How?? Well, why wouldn’t they?? The majority of the A-10 is decent enough to not be considered under-the-radar cupcakes, but no one appears to be as good as the Bonnies. By the time conference play starts, there really isn’t anyone that would be favored to beat the, so like we’ve seen in the past with teams in that situation, they just continue to move up and up and up in the rankings each week as the teams in front of them do get beat. All five starters are back, all can score, and they’ve got enough depth to where others can step up The Bonnies could REALLY be going on an exciting ride this year!
-I was big on Richmond going into last season, and things appeared to get off to a great start with some big early season wins, but all of the interruptions made it difficult for them to get into a rhythm. Pretty much all of their key players are back, they have a ton of experience, and it’s hard for me to not like them again. This is a fun team to watch, I like Chris Mooney as a bench coach, and I this team will be dancing come March.
-Saint Louis has some really good pieces, and I don’t want to completely write them off from having a chance to make the NCAA Tournament, but they appear to have had some bad luck in terms of staying healthy, and that will certainly make the road for them much more difficult.
-VCU had a good season last year where they were selected for the NCAA Tournament, but unfortunately didn’t get to play their game due to COVID protocol. They also lost one of their best players from last year and those will be some big shoes to fill. On top of that, injuries appear to also be something they’re going to have to deal with early on. You want to root for this team because of how last season ended, but it’s certainly going to be tough.
-After only making the NIT last year, Dayton is in reset mode with just one starter back. All the key players from their top five team two years ago are gone. Most of their current roster just haven’t played big minutes or produced big results at the D1 level. This is another team that you want to root for because of how they were robbed of the chance to strut their stuff in the NCAA Tournament two years ago, but it may be a bit of a building year for the Flyers.
-Davidson looks to have lost their top two players from a year ago, but with the other three starters back there is some reason to be optimistic. That, and Davidson seems to have a good history of developing players as they step into new roles.
-Rhode Island has four starters back, and there is reason for the expectations to be higher than they were a year ago. Having said that, last year’s results weren’t exactly stellar. They finished the season losing seven of their last eight, and their days of being a fixture in the top-25 seem like a distant memory right now.
-Kim English takes over as head coach at George Mason and there is some excitement around seeing what he can do. Unfortunately, he really has his work cut out for him. Just one starter is back from last year so it could turn in to a rebuilding year. They will be relying on several transfer players this year to get it going.
-UMass has made noticeable improvements over the last two years. They are still a long way from being considered an NCAA Tournament caliber team, but they are no longer a sub-200ish team in the ratings either. While their best player did transfer out, they have three starters back, a pretty solid backcourt, and could once again make a big stride forward this season.
-Saint Joseph’s has four starters back! The bad news is that they won just five games a year ago. The experience should result in at least some improvement, but I still think the Hawks will be closer to the bottom of the league than they will be to the top.
-I still like Keith Dambrot as a coach, and while Duquesne hasn’t broken through and become a program that commands national respect, I do think he’s done some things that have made them better. This year, though…it’s gonna be rough. Just one starter is back, most of their top scorers are gone, a lot of their better bench players are gone, and Duquesne is basically starting completely over. They have guys that could end up developing, but just haven’t been proven yet.
-La Salle has four starters back, but it’s hard to be all that optimistic considering that they lost sic of their last seven last year, and didn’t really show any signs of being able to perform at a high level at any point.
-George Washington has been really bad for four straight years, and has all the signs of being really bad again this year. They had a good player last year in James Bishop (despite being a really bad team), but I don’t see them being any better this year.
-Fordham is perhaps the most consistently disappointing program that is not classified as an Under the Radar Program. They are terrible. It’s hard to imagine how a school that’s located in New York City, and has the alumni presence that it does, could be as bad as they are as often as they are. If Fordham were to move to the Northeast Conference, or the Patriot League, or the Metro Atlantic, I’m pretty sure they’d fail to finish in the top half of it. They won just two games last year. Perhaps they can improve upon that this year, but I wouldn’t bet on it.