2010 Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament: A-10 Basketball Tournament Preview

We want to say “don't call it a comeback,” but the basketball renaissance that took place in the Atlantic 10 this season was one of the best and most-welcome comebacks that we've seen in recent seasons. Time was, the Atlantic 10 was routinely a league that sent several teams to the Big Dance. In the good ol’ days, those teams actually won games once they got there, too. In 1996, four Atlantic 10 teams went to the Big Dance. Five Atlantic 10 teams went dancing in both 1997 and 1998. And then, the league, along with every other league that isn't a party to the BCS, was banished to the Big Dance wilderness.

Since the 1997-98 season, the last time the Atlantic 10 got five invites to the Tournament, the league has had two seasons when only one team went; two seasons when it only got two invites; and six seasons when only three of the league's 14 teams went. That could all change this season.

The 2009-10 season saw four different A-10 teams make appearances in the Top 25 (even if some of those turned into cameos), and as many as six different A-10 teams seemed on the verge of going to the Big Dance in early February. Given the depth and quality of the league, it shouldn't be that surprising that the several top sides - Temple, Xavier, Richmond, Rhode Island, Dayton, Charlotte, St. Louis - spent February beating one another. What may be surprising is that teams like St. Bonaventure, Duquesne, and George Washington sprung February upsets that knocked some of the A-10's top dogs out of at-large consideration for the most part.

While the A-10 may have gone from a six-bid league to a four-bid league because of wins by the likes of the Bonnies and Dukes, the fact is that said victories - by those hitherto down-on-their-luck sides - speaks even more to the A-10 comeback than do the multiple top 25 appearances and multiple invites to the Dance. The best leagues go eight to 10 teams deep. The A-10 might just be on its way there.

Consider the A-10 Tourney, then, to be the test of just how deep the league is.

(1) Temple (26-5, 14-2)

Last 10: 9-1

It took some time, but Fran Dunphy has the Owls back to where they once flew during John Chaney's best years at the helm of the program. Creative sophomore guard Juan Fernandez gets lots of ink, but senior guard Ryan Brooks actually leads Temple in scoring. However, Temple doesn't hang its hat on the offensive end. The Owls are all about getting stops, and nobody in the A-10 is more efficient on the business end of the court or better at making opponents miss.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... Should the seeds hold in the A-10 tourney, it will be because Temple's “il catanaccio” was in full effect for three straight games in Atlantic City. The Owls were the best team in the league from start to finish, and no one in the A-10 had a better win than Temple’s triumph over mighty Villanova back in December. Dunphy’s dudes are primed to make a run at a tourney title on top of their regular-season crown.

(2) Xavier (23-7, 14-2)

Last 10: 9-1

You can always count on some things in March: the Oscar telecast being an overhyped, bloated mess, and Xavier being in the thick of things in the A-10. Coaches change, student-athletes move on, the kids that sit in Xavier Nation at the Cintas Center get jobs and gravitate towards center court, but the Musketeers’ position in the A-10 doesn't. This latest edition is a quintessential Xavier squad. 6-4 sophomore Jordan Crawford is a do-everything perimeter player while 6-9 senior Jason Love paces a an active frontcourt that is arguably the best rebounding side in the A-10 (1st in rebounds per game and 2nd in rebound percentage).

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... They make their shots. Xavier is the best-shooting and most efficient offensive team in the A-10. Only Richmond might put more pressure on opponents by consistently executing their O.

(3) Richmond (24-7, 13-3)

Last 10: 9-1

Despite having a rich history of being a March darling, the Spiders really haven't been in a position to make this kind of noise, well… ever... in our humble opinion. College ball, particularly the A-10, is rife with great guards, yet Richmond coach Chris Mooney may have the best backcourt in the entire nation in Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez. Only Xavier shoots the rock better and only Rhode Island takes better care of the orange than the Spiders do. Throw in Richmond's athletic and sizable frontcourt, paced by 6-10 junior center Justin Harper and forwards Ryan Butler (6-7) and Dan Geriot (6-9), and it's pretty easy to see why nobody would be shocked if Richmond wins the A-10 and goes on a deep run in the Big Dance.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... the big five don't get burnt out. Richmond isn't a deep team; the average playing time of its bench is in the bottom 25% of all D-1 teams. Chris Mooney will need to get some production from his bench if the Spiders are going to win three games in a row over three days.

(4) St. Louis (20-10, 11-5)

Last 10: 8-2

And here's the interloper. At one point this season, Rick Majerus's Billikens were 12-8 and 3-3 in the A-10 and sort of stumbling along on their way to another pedestrian A-10 finish, when something happened: The Billikens started winning. Given St. Louis's relative youth - the Billikens are the 346th most youthful team in the country per Ken Pomeroy (and that’s out of the 348 teams who play Division I-A basketball) - what likely happened is that they started getting it. Majerus has always been known as a great, if demanding, teacher of the game. Having uber-talented pupils like sophomore guard Kwamain Mitchell and young bigs Willie Reed and Cody Ellis on hand certainly makes it a lot easier.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... Of the top teams in the A-10, St. Louis probably has the smallest margin of error in each game it plays in the tourney because it struggles to score and rarely gets easy buckets, due to the fact that the Billikens don't run. Lockdown “D” and timely playmaking from Mitchell, one of the better clutch players in the A-10, form the recipe for a St. Louis victory.

(5) Rhode Island (21-8, 9-7)

Last 10: 5-5

If St. Louis was the interloper that crashed the A-10's upper echelon, Rhode Island was the team that once inhabited such a spot, but didn't get the memo indicating its regular season ended on March 6, not February 6. On the latter date, the Rams were flying high with a 19-3 (7-2) record. A month later, they had lost five of seven and had stumbled into the unenviable position of needing to win the A-10 to go dancing. With prolific scorers like Akeem Richmond, Delroy James, and Keith Cothran, Jim Baron's Rams have the firepower to make some noise in Atlantic City.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... The Rams are not an A-10 team that can win games if they're defensively-oriented and slow-paced. Richmond and Co. need to force tempo and speed the game up if they're going to cut down the nets on Sunday. The Rams should have little trouble dispatching St. Joseph's on Tuesday. A quarterfinal matchup against St. Louis on Thursday would be a true clash of styles. It's a game the Rams can win.

Meet A-10 team number two that played its way out of the at-large discussion, ladies and gentlemen. Much like Rhode Island, the 49ers seemed to think the season ended on February 6, at which point they were 18-5 (8-1). One month later, and the 49ers are playing host to Massachussetts on Tuesday in a first-rounder they never expected to bother with. Outstanding junior wing Shamari Spears and emerging sophomore star Derrio Green don't figure to allow the 49ers to lose to an underwhelming Minutemen side on Tuesday.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If...Tough to see how that happens, although Charlotte would seem to have a better than average chance of beating Richmond in the A-10 quarterfinals on Thursday, since they split with the Spiders this season. A semifinal scrap with Xavier is an entirely different story, but isn't that what March Madness is all about?

Stumbling down the stretch, the Flyers are the third A-10 team to have decisively played its way out of at-large bid consideration in the final month of the season. What differentiates Brian Gregory's Flyers from the 49ers and Rams is that Dayton doesn't seem to have the profile of a team that should've wilted the way it did. The Flyers are an experienced and deep side. However, they also morphed into one of the A-10's most inconsistent teams. The same Dayton team that lost 49-41 to Temple in an exceedingly ugly affair, blitzed UMass 90-65 the next time out. I guess you could consider the Flyers to be the A-10's Jekyll and Hyde.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If...if there's a darkhorse in Atlantic City, the Flyers are it. Should they survive their opening round game against an equally enigmatic George Washington side, the Flyers would face Xavier in the A-10 quarterfinals on Thursday, an eminently winnable game since Dayton split the season series with the Musketeers. A potential semifinal scrap with Richmond or Charlotte also falls into the winnable category. I'd keep my eye on the Flyers.

They're getting there, folks, the Bonnies are getting there. St. Bona closed the season on a 4-1 tear to solidify its slot in the A-10 tourney and look just dangerous enough for the top four sides in the A-10 to hope the Bonnies don't crash the party in Atlantic City. With rapidly-emerging A-10 star Andrew Nicholson anchoring the middle, and seniors Jonathan Hall and Chris Matthews starting to produce on a consistent basis, Mark Schmidt's squad could be a contender.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If...Just about everything goes right. St. Bona beat Duquesne 92-80 when the two teams played a week ago, so dispatching Duquesne at the Reilly Center tomorrow shouldn't be too tough a task. Beating Temple in the quarterfinals, on the other hand, could be a bridge too far for Bona. But it is March, so you never know.

Ever since some boneheaded thugs decided to wantonly open fire on several members of the Duquesne basketball team in September 2006, most college hoops fans have wanted the Dukes to do well. And they have to an extent, winning 17 and 21 games the past two seasons. A total of 16 wins in 2009-10 could seem like a step back, but six of the Dukes' top seven players are underclassmen, so 16 wins figures to be just a starting point for what seems to be a talented group.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... They won't. Even if Ron Everhart's squad beats St. Bonaventure in Olean on Tuesday, it doesn't seem to have the toughness or experience to bang with Temple for 40 minutes in the quarterfinals.

These aren't the run-and-gun Colonials that came to the attention of the college hoops world when they reeled off three 20-win seasons in a row, beginning with the 2004-05 season. Instead, Karl Hobbs' squad is a team in transition. GW’s second-leading scorer is freshman Lasan Kromah, and sophomore guard Tony Taylor is running the show for a team that finished in the top half of the A-10 in defensive efficiency.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... The other A-10 teams get lost on their way to Atlantic City. Fact is, the Colonials just don't have the chops to beat a decent Dayton team at Dayton on Tuesday. Maybe next year.

Senior guard Ricky Harris is a special player. Unfortunately, he's the Minutemen's do-everything dude on a team that coach Derek Kellogg is trying to rebuild. Harris is the only senior getting significant burn for a UMass side that counts four frosh and two sophs among its top eight scorers.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... Not going to happen. Charlotte beat UMass in Amherst, 72-58, the last time the two teams played. There’s no reason to think that outcome will be reversed when the teams meet in Charlotte.

It’s been a long year on Hawk Hill for the St. Joe's faithful. Phil Martelli's side seems to have some talented players, especially junior big Idris Hillard and senior guard Darrin Govens, but an overall lack of height and interior toughness seemed to render the Hawks flightless this season.

Will Cut The Down The Nets If... Martelli has a good recruiting class and we're writing this post about the 2011 Atlantic 10 Tournament. St. Joseph's has virtually no chance at winning the A-10 tournament… the 2010 version, anyway.

Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Fans

Atlantic 10 Tournament Preview