Early in February, it looked like the Atlantic 10 Conference would get five or six teams in to the Big Dance, and we thought they could and should replace the Pac 10 as one of the Tier One conferences. While I can still argue the latter, the former looks like it’s been cut in half. Temple, Xavier and Richmond appear safe heading towards next Sunday’s selections, but there are plenty of teams who can right their season in Atlantic City by going on a little win streak. The A10 has been a tremendous conference this season, and this tournament shapes up as a pretty wide open contest that should be exciting to follow all weekend long.
One change to note – This year’s opening round of the A10 tournament will occur on the campuses of teams seeded five through eight before resuming on the ocean in New Jersey. Nothing like a little home court advantage for going 7-9 in conference! (All times Eastern)
Tuesday, March 9
G1 – #9 Duquesne @ #8 St. Bonaventure – 7:00
G2 – #12 St. Joseph’s @ #5 Rhode Island – 7:00
G3 – #10 George Washington @ #7 Dayton – 7:00
G4 – #11 Massachusetts @ #6 Charlotte - 7:00
Friday, March 12
G5 – #1 Temple vs. Duquesne/St. Bonaventure winner - noon
G6 – #4 St. Louis vs. St. Joseph’s/Rhode Island winner – 2:30
G7 – #2 Xavier vs. George Washington/Dayton winner – 6:30
G8 – #3 Richmond vs. Massachusetts/Charlotte winner – 9:00
Saturday, March 13
G9 – Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner – 1:00
G10 – Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner – 3:30
Sunday, March 14
Atlantic 10 Championship Game – 1:00
Sleeper – Dayton Flyers (19-11, 8-8)
If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that I would be labeling Dayton as a sleeper in the A-10, I would have thought you were crazy. A team that was arguably the favorite to win the conference and with what some publications labeled as the preseason Player of the Year in
Chris Wright has simply not had any breaks. The Flyers come in to Atlantic City having lost seven games by four points or less and may be lacking the confidence needed to win close contests. So what makes me feel confident they can win four games in this deep conference? Quite simply, I think they are the only team capable of winning four games. Dayton has 11 players who average nine or more minutes, and seven who average 20 or more. And while the tournament schedule means they don’t have to win four games in four days, the depth of the Flyers cannot be matched. Additionally, they lead the conference in rebounding margin at +6.5 and average 12.3 offensive boards (prior to Saturday nights game w/Saint Louis). These extra chances go a long way in breaking an opponents will, or stopping an opponents run. The have the size in the frontcourt to bang with anyone, and they have a quick backcourt that can keep anyone in front of them defensively. The talent is clearly there to make a run through the tournament, and a win Tuesday would go a long way from a confidence standpoint. A potential second round matchup with in state rival Xavier is appealing, and the Flyers crushed Xavier in their most recent meeting. Of course, this team has lost four of their last five, but I would be surprised if the don’t make a run here.
Bust – Rhode Island Rams (21-8, 9-7)
This was a really tough call. I didn’t want to call a team that plays in the opening round a bust, but I don’t see many other options. I had pegged Saint Louis here and I even thought about my hometown Richmond Spiders whose first game will be against UMass that gave them all they could handle or a Charlotte team that beat them once and took them to overtime in the season finale. But, I’ve settled on Rhode Island. This is a team that came out of the gates as hot as anyone in the nation and thought they had punched their Dance card early. After starting conference play 7-2, the Rams have dropped five of their last seven and appear to be in a tailspin. I don’t think they will struggle at home against St. Joe', and as much as I’d like to pick them to beat Saint Louis, I just can’t. One and done for the Rams, and it’s off to the NIT.
Players to watch
I’ve lumped these two together for a few reasons. First off, they should both be first team All-Conference and you need to know who they are! Secondly, they play each other in round one, which means one of these great players are guaranteed to play twice, in what should be a national coming out party for the winner.
I would assume most folks in fantasy circles know a good bit about
Damian Saunders as he is a stat stuffing machine. He leads the conference in steals (2.8 per game) blocks (3.2) and rebounding (11.4) while adding 14.8 points to boot. And he is only a junior! Mix in the occasional blowup from either
Melquan Bolding (who scored 32 in the season finale) or
Bill Clark (whose season-high is 34) and you have a team that is capable of springing an upset. The Dukes don’t have any notable conference wins, but in a conference that is known for its lower scoring style, Duquesne is the polar opposite. Absolutely enjoyable to watch if you like a little more offense and they have a game changer who can make his presence felt in a variety of ways. That’s a recipe for viewership!
In upstate New York, the Bonnies might be hiding one of the best players in America. I can tell you
Andrew Nicholson is my favorite player in the conference (whatever that’s worth!) On the year, the 6-foot-9 sophomore averaged 16.2 points, 7.1 boards and 1.8 blocks while shooting a ridiculous 57.8% from the floor. To be blunt, the import from Mississauga, Ontario is the type of program changing individual the Bonnies need to repair their national image following its demise because of academic scandal. Nicholson’s physical development in his two years on campus has been remarkable, and a second round matchup with bruiser
Lavoy Allen would be fun.
Head to head stats in their two matchups: Saunders – 16.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.0 block. Nicholson – 25.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 2.0 blocks while shooting 62% from the floor!
The Musketeers tied for the regular season conference championship, and Crawford leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring. That should be enough to get Crawford on this list. The 6 foot 4 sophomore simply knows how to put the ball in the bucket. Averaging 19.7 points, Crawford dropped 30 on Wake Forest earlier this year, and has been in double-figures in all but one contest – a Nov. 26 matchup with Marquette. The Indiana transfer has quickly established himself as a terrific scorer and the nation needs to know he isn’t just the guy who caused Nike to steal tapes when their superhero Lebron James was posterized by Crawford. This kid is more than a mythical dunker.
In a conference that his it’s share of stars, Allen might be the hottest heading in to the tournament. He wasn’t super in his last game against GW, but over his last five outings, Allen is averaging 14.4 points and a ridiculous 13.4 rebounds. This guy is a monster on the glass as he has 19 double-digit rebounding games highlighted by the 21 he pulled down at La Salle. With all due respect to the top portion of this bracket, Temple has won seven straight and the Owls will enjoy watching the bottom half of this bracket beat each other up while UT should make its way into Sunday’s championship with little resistance.
I would not be doing my job if I didn’t introduce you to the best guard in the league and a player that should be the conference’s player of the year. Anderson leads the Spiders and is fifth in the conference in scoring, putting up 17.6 each time out. He is a small guard whose strength is getting into the lane and making difficult layups and floaters. Having watched him all season, I’ve only seen one team be able to consistently keep him out of the lane, and that was Dayton who he still scored 24 on! Anderson has failed to reach double-figures in scoring just three times all season, and as hot as I mentioned Temple was, U of R may be even hotter. The Spiders have won 10 of their last 11 and that one loss was a double overtime defeat at Xavier, the toughest place to play in the A10, and was by a mere two points. Anderson and backcourt mate
David Gonzalvez won’t have an easy path, but they have to be begging for another crack at the Musketeers.