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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Dayton
- Saint Louis
- VCU
- Loyola Chicago
- George Mason
- Davidson
- Richmond
- UMass
- Rhode Island
- Saint Bonaventure
- Fordham
- George Washington
- Saint Joseph’s
- La Salle
- Duquesne
PRESEASON ALL-ATLANTIC TEN 1ST TEAM:
-Foster Loyer – SR, G – Davidson
-DaRon Holmes II – SO, F – Dayton
-Josh Oduro – SR, F – George Mason
-Tyler Burton – SR, F – Richmond
-Yuri Collins – JR, G – Saint Louis
-Ace Baldwin Jr. – JR, G – VCU
PRESEASON ALL ATLANTIC TEN 2ND TEAM:
-Toumani Camara – JR, F – Dayton
-Malachi Smith – SO, G – Dayton
-James Bishop – SR, G – George Washington
-Noah Fernandes – SR, G – UMass
-Gibson Jimerson – SO, G – Saint Louis
-Javonte Perkins – SR, G/F – Saint Louis
PRESEASON ALL-ATLANTIC TEN 3RD TEAM:
-Darius Quisenberry – SR, G – Fordham
-Braden Norris – SR, G – Loyola Chicago
-Brayon Freeman – SO, G – Rhode Island
-Erik Reynolds – SO, G – Saint Joseph’s
-Francis Okoro – SR, F – Saint Louis
-Jayden Nunn – SO, G – VCU
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
Overall, I am a huge fan of the Atlantic Ten. Always have been. Outside of the Big East, it is hands-down the most successful conference that is totally basketball-centric. It has great fanbases at programs like Dayton, Saint Louis, and Saint Bonaventure. It has ties to the Big Five in La Salle and Saint Joseph’s. Programs like VCU and Richmond also have good fan support and are unique and fun to watch. I think this league deserves more national attention than what it typically gets. So….we at Hoops HD are here to bring it to you!!
-Dayton should be more than just an A-10 frontrunner. They should be a top-25-caliber program all season long, and good enough to go as far as the Sweet Sixteen or further. In terms of basketball, perhaps no program got kicked in the stomach during COVID harder than Dayton. They were ranked in the top-five, and appeared to be on pace for a #1 or #2 seed, and many thought they could potentially go to the Final Four. For a fanbase that really is amongst the most passionate in the nation to be experiencing a much higher level of success than what they were used to, and then suddenly have it yanked away from them was just beyond cruel! But, there is reason to be excited again. Dayton brought in an outstanding recruiting class a year ago. They were very young and, like a lot of talented teams that are young, wildly inconsistent. They had a two-week-stretch early on where they lost three home buy games, and then won an exempt tournament in Orlando by knocking off Miami and Kansas (who won it all). This year all of that talent is back, and they are experienced, and judging how well they were playing down the stretch last year they should be very dangerous this year. Keep in mind that had you taken out the second week of the year last year where Dayton lost three home buy games, they probably go to the tournament.
-Saint Louis is another team that is good enough to be dancing this March. Four starters are back from a team that won 22 games last year, and have some talented players who can shoot. Their issue may be depth. Once you get past the top-five or six of their rotation there just is not a whole lot of experience.
-VCU has just two starters back, but one of those is Ace Baldwin Jr. who was one of their most effective players a year ago. If they are going to have any sort of consistent success some players will need to step up in their new roles.
-As good as Loyola Chicago was last year, I was actually expecting a little more out of them. They did a lot. They won 25 games, they won a game in the NCAA Tournament, and were a KenPom top-30 team, but I guess I was expecting them to be a protected-seed-caliber team, which was perhaps not realistic. This is their first year in the Atlantic Ten and they are in a bit of a rebuild mode. Just two starters are back and only five players total from last year’s team. They do add a couple of good looking freshmen, as well as a couple of grad transfers, so they do have some potential.
-George Mason is getting some love at media day for a program that, quite frankly, has not looked that good for the past several years, and did not look good at all in the second half of conference play last year. Josh Oduro is a fantastic player, but he cannot finish 5th on his own. He will need some help.
-Davidson is a team that I always seem to overvalue. They are coming off a year where they made the NCAA Tournament and lost to Michigan State by just 1 point in the Round of 64. The problem is they have lost a lot from that team, but Foster Loyer is back and I think they have guys who can step into new roles. It is kind of crazy to call a team that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago a “dark horse” but I am expecting them to finish a lot higher than 6th: maybe 3rd!
-Richmond is a team that I simply love watching, and because of that they are probably another team I overvalue. All year long last year I felt that they should have been better than what they were, and we FINALLY saw that when they won four games in a row to win the Atlantic Ten Tournament and then upset Iowa in the NCAA Tournament. They can be hard to defend and hard to play against and you NEVER want to count them out. Having said that, only two starters are back (although one of them is Tyler Burton), and it may take the rest of the players a while to get used to their new roles.
-UMass hit an absolute home run when they hired Frank Martin as head coach. ‘Angry Frank’ is beloved here at Hoops HD! This is his first year and he definitely has his work cut out for him, but I absolutely believe that given time he will build them up. We may see some improvement this year, but not so much that they are likely to be a conference contender or an NCAA Tournament-caliber team. They have a good PG in Noah Fernandes, but they will need more than just him.
-The days of Rhode Island being a regular top-25 team and NCAA Tournament participant were not that long ago…but it sure feels like it was. They won just 15 games last year, and it appears like they will struggle again this year.
-Saint Bonaventure, as a program, is a college basketball gem. The fans are great, the venue is great, the Beer Hat Man is great, and even though they do not spend a whole lot of time in the national spotlight the fans stay with them. Last year was a year where this should have been a top-25 team (or at least that is what I thought) so to see them not even make the NCAA Tournament was hugely disappointing. Things could be even more bleak this year. All five starters are gone. 11 players from last year are gone. They are basically starting completely over. While they did hit the transfer portal and bring in some guys that were key role players at other programs, it may be a long year.
-Fordham, for the longest time, has been head-scratching-awful. For years I have been asking how they could be so bad?? It’s not that they are never good: it is that they ALWAYS STINK!! Like, in most years you get the sense that they would not finish in the top half of the NEC if they were to play in that conference. Well, last year, they won 16 games, which was a noticeable improvement. Keith Urgo comes in as a first-year head coach, and with some key players back from a team that actually won as many games as it lost last year (including an outstanding player in Darius Quisenberry), there is reason to think that Fordham is FINALLY moving in the right direction!!
After that, it starts to get a little rough…
-George Washington had an unspectacular season last year, and even though three starters are back they still look to be a team that will struggle again this year.
-The Phil Martelli days at Saint Joseph’s now seem like they were eons ago. They won just 11 total games last year, and while that was an improvement, the odds of them finishing anywhere close to the top half of the league this year seem to be long.
-Their Big Five rival La Salle does not look like they will be much better. They also won just 11 games a year ago and it looks like they have a lot of work to do.
-Duquesne is another program that kind of perplexes me. How is it that they always seem to stink?? I still think Keith Dambrot is a good coach, and in his first few years with the Dukes he appeared to be turning them around. But they won just six total games last year, and do not appear to be heading anywhere other than the basement of the league this year.