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ATLANTIC 10 MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Dayton
- VCU
- Saint Bonaventure
- Duquesne
- Saint Joseph’s
- Saint Louis
- Fordham
- Loyola Chicago
- George Washington
- George Mason
- Richmond
- Davidson
- UMass
- Rhode Island
- La Salle
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-A-10 1ST TEAM:
-DaRon Holmes II – JR, F – Dayton
-Dae Dae Grant – SR, G – Duquesne
-James Bishop IV – SR, G – George Washington
-Daryl Banks III – SR, G – Saint Bonaventure
-Erik Reynolds II – FR, G – Saint Joseph’s
-Gibson Jimerson – JR, G – Saint Louis
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-A-10 2ND TEAM:
-Malachi Smith – JR, G – Dayton
-Jimmy Clarke III – SR, G – Duquesne
-Maximus Edwards – SO, G – George Washington
-Khalil Brantley – JR, G – La Salle
-Philip Alston – SR, F – Loyola Chicago
-Max Shulga – SR, G – VCU
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-A-10 3RD TEAM:
-Ronald Polite III – SR, G – George Mason
-Matt Cross – SR, F – UMass
-Neal Quinn – SR, C – Richmond
-Chad Venning – JR, F – Saint Bonaventure
-Cameron Brown – SR, G – Saint Joseph’s
-Sean Bairstow – SR, G/F – VCU
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
As a whole, the Atlantic 10 is a league that should be better than what it is. It has some quality programs and is rich with what I think is a lot of unique traditions/cultures. Saint Bonaventure is a unique place with a great fanbase and a great venue, Davidson has great fans and some rich history, VCU is the same way, Richmond is fun to watch, Dayton has some of the most rabid and passionate fans in the entire country and saying that is NOT hyperbole, Saint Louis is a great program, there is a Philly Big 5 presence in the conference, Rhode Island has had some success in recent years and also has a rabid fanbase. It is a great league! Or, at least, it should be. So…why is it not better?? Why does it seem like in recent seasons it has collectively underperformed, and at the same time why do college basketball fans not have more appreciation for it? Last year, we at Hoops HD actually relegated this league to being Under the Radar…and it was well deserved. Not one team ended up inside the bubble and the only team they got into the NCAA tournament was the conference tournament winner.
-Dayton is once again the preseason favorite. While they had a decent year last year, it was not a good year and certainly not a year where they ended up being a top-25-caliber team that was capable of making the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament like we were expecting. They were just 12-6 in the A-10, 22-12 overall (which is decent, but not good, especially given their schedule) and were not even close to the NIT. I do not know why they were not better: they certainly should have been. Just two starters are back from a recruiting class that garnered them national attention when it first enrolled at the school a couple of years back, but one of them is DaRon Holmes II, a fantastic frontcourt player who averaged over 18ppg/8rpg. Enoch Cheeks, who was a standout guard at Robert Morris last year, has transferred in and should give them some strength in the backcourt, so there are a few pieces. They do appear to be good enough to win the league. The question is whether or not they (or anyone else in this conference) is good enough to make it to the NCAA Tournament without the automatic bid.
-After a 27-win season last year where VCU finished in first place and then went on to win the conference tournament before falling to Saint Mary’s in the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament, Mike Rhoades left to take the job at Penn State and all of his starters either transferred or graduated. It is odd to see a team that lost that much be picked to finish as high as 2nd in the preseason poll. Ryan Odom, who did an outstanding job at both UMBC/Utah State, takes over as head coach, and he has done an amazing job building the roster. Max Shulga/Sean Bairstow were two standout players on Utah State’s NCAA Tournament team last year, and they have some quality freshmen and other P5 level transfers joining a completely revamped roster. It is hard to say exactly how this team will play together until we actually see them play, but I am impressed with the roster that they were able to build.
-Saint Bonaventure had what most considered a disappointing season last year, and they certainly were not impressive in the stretch run at the end of the season. All five starters are back including Daryl Banks III, who is an outstanding guard, and with that experience we should see some improvement. Mark Schmidt is a really good coach but his program has declined somewhat. Two years ago we were expecting a top-25-caliber team and they ended up in the NIT, and last year they were just 14-18 overall, so the pressure may be on a little bit for the Bonnies to produce this year.
-Duquesne is picked to finish 4th in the league: I cannot remember them ever being picked to finish this high…but it is warranted! The Dukes won 20 games last year after winning just 6 the year before, and Dae Dae Grant returns as one of the best guards in the A-10. Two other starters are back as well including Tre Clark, who I would best describe as a frontcourt player with range. Picking Duquesne 4th just feels odd largely because it is Duquesne, but I am going to go even crazier: this Duquesne team can WIN THIS LEAGUE!!!! They are good on both the offensive/defensive ends, and while depth may be an issue they appear to have enough of it to where they can at least have guys come in and contribute quality minutes. Keith Dambrot is an outstanding coach who took over an impossible situation when he accepted the Duquesne job, and this is a year where they really could win a conference title.
-The days when Saint Joseph’s was an NCAA Tournament regular under Phil Martelli, and even rising to the #1 ranking at one point, almost now feels like it happened in another lifetime. Over the past five years they have ranged between between mediocre and awful. That being said, while I do not feel this is an NCAA Tournament or even NIT team this year, I do think we will see some improvement. All five starters from a year ago are back, and they will have a really good backcourt with both Erik Reynolds II/Cameron Brown. As far as the paint goes…yeah, they are a little thin so that will be an issue, but this program has slowly improved in each of the last two seasons and we should see that continue this year.
-We are used to seeing Saint Louis win 20+ games a year and finish at or near the top of the standings, but with just one starter back from a year ago it looks to be a rebuilding year for Coach Travis Ford and company. They do have a couple of double-digit-scoring D1 transfers (Mike Meadows from Portland/Tim Dalger from Tulsa), so those two should be able to contribute and help keep the Billikens in the top half of the standings, but winning 20+ and being a conference frontrunner is unlikely this year.
-In a year where the A-10 was a collective disappointment last year, one of the great stories from last season was Fordham. A school with no recent basketball success or culture other than being a running punchline had a breakout year, won 25 games, finished 2nd in the conference standings, and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. Coach Keith Urgo did the best coaching job out of anyone in the conference and it really was not even close. He and three of his starters are back, so I am a little puzzled to see them picked so low. They are losing their two biggest stars/two leading scorers, but they also add two D1 transfers in Japhet Medor (UTSA) and Josh Rivera (Lafayette) who were standout players and double-digit scorers. Granted, the caliber of play where those two guys are coming from was not at the level of the A-10 but these are guys that can contribute. I do not expect the Rams to be as good as they were a year ago, but I do expect them to be better than where they are currently being picked to finish.
-Loyola Chicago entered the A-10 with a lot of excitement and expectations given their recent NCAA Tournament success. Last year, they were just 4-14 in league play and finished in last place. It was a massive decline from back-to-back seasons where they were a solid top-40ish team. All five starters are back…but is that a good thing? They do appear to have some quality pieces, and I do think they will be better than they were a year ago. However, since they were literally last last year, that is not saying much.
-George Washington has been very mediocre for the last five or so seasons, and once again appears to have the makings of another mediocre year. Chris Caputo is in his second year as head coach, and they do appear to have a really strong backcourt with James Bishop/Maximus Edwards, so if they can get some guys to step up in the frontcourt then we could see this team exceed expectations and surprise some people.
-Kim English departed George Mason to take the head job at Providence and he took some of their better players with him, so Tony Skinn (the hero from the George Mason Final Four run) takes over as a first-time head coach, and he is tasked with rebuilding…well…everything. Ronald Polite is their top returner, and he does have a supporting cast that is transfer-heavy, but wins may be kind of hard to come by this year.
-I have always been a fan of Richmond, always liked Chris Mooney as a head coach, and always expect them to be better than they are. This year…I give up. Not even I think they will be any good. Just one starter is back, and while this always seems to be a disciplined team that moves the ball well and makes cuts to the basket, I can understand why the expectations are not higher. They do add some quality transfers, most notably Jordan King (who was a standout player at East Tennessee State), and if they can take to Mooney’s system then this team could end up being better than expected. I mean…they are tough to play against! They can end up finishing a lot higher than where they’re being picked! And…oh crap, I am doing it again!! I have a soft spot for the Spiders. I just love how they play. Win or lose, they are always destination viewing for me whenever they do play.
-With the exception of a 27-win season back in 2021-2022, Davidson just hasn’t been themselves lately, and it does not look like they are going to get back to the top this year. Matt McKillop enters his second year as head coach after taking over for his father who had a Hall of Fame-caliber career. Just two starters are back from a team that was just .500 on the season a year ago and the roster is looking pretty thin.
-If you have followed Hoops HD for a while then you know that we all love Angry Frank!! Frank Martin is an outstanding coach with an amusingly and cartoonishly-bad temper who is entering his second year at UMass, and while I do think he will turn this program into a conference contender it is hard to see a whole lot of potential this year. Just one starter is back from a team that went 6-12 in conference play, but the addition of Josh Cohen (who is transferring in from Saint Francis) should give them at least one standout player. When you look at the rest of the roster, though, not much jumps out. It will likely be a long season for the Minutemen.
-Archie Miller is a pretty good coach and Rhode Island is a program that has experienced a fair amount of success in the not so distant past, so it is kind of crazy to see them in such rough shape. They won just nine games last year, they have no starters back from that team, and the roster that they do have doesn’t seem to be capable of bringing them a whole lot of success.
-La Salle is a program that is routinely outside the top-200 of most of the metrics and from all accounts they appear to be heading there again. They do have a pretty solid player in Khalil Brantley, but not much else.