This Week in the A-10
By: Chris DiSano, Christian Marge & Doug Tifft
Photo Credit: Atlantic 10 Conference Media Relations
Note: College Chalktalk's week runs from Monday to Sunday because of the release of 'This Week in the A-10' each Monday morning.
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Team Capsules
Charlotte: (19-11, 9-7), The skinny-
The Niners wrapped up what was a nice bounce-back season on a down
note, dropping their final three regular season contests, including
a heartbreaking 89-84 overtime loss to Richmond on senior
night. Despite the senior night fanfare, Charlotte
was led by a junior (Shamari Spears) and a freshman (Chris
Braswell) with 19 points each. As a result of the late slide
to end the season, the Niners locked up the sixth seed in the
upcoming A-10 tournament, and will face off against 11th seeded
Massachusetts on Tuesday night at Halton Arena. The teams
squared off just once during the regular season, a 14 point win for
Charlotte on the road. At the time, the Niners were playing
their best basketball... and the win against the Minutemen was
number five of their season-best seven-game winning streak.
Derrio Green netted his season-high in the contest, scoring 34
points. His scoring has simmered down considerably since
then, so perhaps seeing some UMass red will awaken him. If
the Niners are to advance to Atlantic City, they will square off
once again with Richmond.
Dayton: (19-11, 8-8), The
skinny- The Flyers limped to the finish line with a
pair of losses in the final week of the season - at Richmond and to
Saint Louis at UD Arena. With an RPI of 50 and its only four road
wins coming against teams outside of the RPI top 150 Dayton knows
that it has to win the A-10 Tournament to get back to the NCAA. To
do so they will have to deal with the up-tempo style of the young
George Washington Colonials - a style of play that should suit UD
at home, as it did in a 66-51 win earlier in the season. UD head
coach Brian Gregory will likely want to get his point guard play
set in the GW game, as seniors Mickey Perry, London Warren and Rob
Lowery have all been juggled in and out of the starting lineup in
the last few weeks. If Gregory can find the right combination it
will set his team up well for round three with Xavier in Atlantic
City. UD lost 78-74 at Xavier in January but rebounded with a 90-65
blowout victory over the Musketeers in February.
Duquesne: (16-14, 7-9), The skinny-
Melquan Bolding and the Dukes finished off the regular season with
a bang this week, as they handed Fordham their 21st consecutive
loss, and scored 111 points in the process. Bolding led the
onslaught by netting a season-high 32 points. Eric Evans
added a major assist by recording a 23 point, 10 rebound
double-double, and Bill Clark was the third Duke to reach the 20
point mark in the game, as he finished with exactly that
many. The victory earns the Dukes the ninth seed in the
A-10 tournament, and they will head to Olean to face off against
St. Bonaventure in a first round game. The Dukes and Bonnies
each won home contests against each other earlier this season, with
the Bonnies winning in Olean just five days ago. The Dukes allowed
the home team to shoot the rock at a 56% clip for the game, and at
50% (9-18) from deep while allowing 92 points. We know the
Dukes can score the ball, but defense will be the key if
they are to advance. If they are able to move on to Atlantic
City, things will not get any easier, as the top seed Temple Owls
await the winner.
Fordham: (2-26, 0-16), The skinny
- The Fordham men's basketball season mercifully came to an
end on Saturday, as the Rams dropped their final contest of the
season, 111-100 to Duquesne. The 100 points scored was the first
time the Rams have hit the plateau since a 110-73 win against
Quinnipiac in 1999. It certainly would have been easy for the
Fordham players to just go through the motions, take their loss and
call it a season, but the team showed heart in competing to the
end. In fact, the Rams held a five point lead in the second half
before succumbing to the Dukes. As has been the story all
season, the Rams were led by Brenton Butler (29 points) and Chris
Gaston (21 points, 18 rebounds). The 21 points for Gaston
gave him 504 for the season, breaking the freshman record at
Fordham, which was held by Bevon Robin (495 points in
'97-'98). Gaston will return next season and be joined by
what looks to be a quality recruiting class, which recently became
stronger with a commitment from point guard Danny Lawhorn, who
had received interest from both Boston College and
Connecticut.
George Washington: (16-13, 6-10), The
skinny- After a few tough recruiting years,
Karl Hobbs seems to have turned the ship in the right direction at
GW. The Colonials did rely on senior Damian Hollis for 13.1 points
and 4.8 rebounds per game. Yet, other than that Hobbs ran a mostly
youthful squad out there, even finding a diamond in the rough in
freshman Lasan Kromah - an A-10 & College Chalktalk
All-Rookie selection. Although the Colonials did hold a plus-4.4
rebounding edge over opponents on the season, they were
outrebounded 43-25 in a 66-51 loss to Dayton on Jan. 20. While the
Colonials do not mind running a bit, they will likely have to slow
the game down and control the ball - and the glass - to have a
chance to pull the upset and move on to play Xavier in the
quarterfinals.
La Salle: (12-18, 4-12), The skinny-
From pre-season predictions of challenging for the conference
title, to not even qualifying for the Atlantic 10 tournament.
It's been a sad season in Philadelphia for coach John Giannini and
his Explorers, who were never really able to field the full team
due to injuries. Knowing that they must win their final
regular season game to qualify for the A-10 post-season, the
Explorers got back seniors Kimmani Barrett (who had been out since
Jan. 10) and Yves Mekongo (out since Feb. 6), who most certainly
were not fully healed from their injuries, but didn't want their
senior season to possibly end without post-season play.
Despite their efforts, along with the efforts of fellow senior
Rodney Green, the Explorers dropped their final contest of the
regular season to Big 5 rival, Saint Joseph's. Green finished
the game with 12 points, giving him 1,914 for his career, good for
ninth place all-time at La Salle. Green also became just the
second player ever to be in the top 10 all-time in both scoring and
assists, as he finished his career with 390 helpers, also the ninth
highest total in La Salle history.
Massachusetts: (11-19, 5-11), The
skinny- Senior night at the Mullins Center will be
one to remember for Ricky Harris. With his Minutemen playing
essentially for their A-10 post-season lives, Harris sank a
layup with 3.5 seconds remaining to give UMass a 69-67 win over
Rhode Island. Harris finished the game with 28 points, and
moved into third place all-time at UMass, with 1,917, passing Lou
Roe in the process. The Minutemen had dropped their last four
contest before pulling off the upset on senior night. With
the win, the Minutemen secured a place in the A-10 post-season as
the 11th seed, and will face off against Charlotte on Tuesday
night. The teams played once during the regular season, with
UMass falling at home to the Niners. The Minutemen will have
to shoot the ball better from deep this time around if they are to
advance to Atlantic City. In their first meeting, UMass shot
just 14% (4-28) from behind the arc. The winner of this game
will square off against the third seed, Richmond, in the
quarterfinals.
Rhode Island: (21-8, 9-7), The skinny -
Marquis Jones had luck hitting a three-pointer in the
final seconds of a game against Dayton earlier in the
season, but against UMass, his last second attempt to win the game
for the Rams clanged off the rim, and URI lost their final regular
season contest to the Minutemen. With the loss, the Rams have
completed what has to be considered the year's largest
collapse in the A-10, and all but eliminated themselves from any
consideration of an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament after
having been a virtual lock three-plus weeks ago. It appears
the only way the Rams will be able to punch their ticket to the Big
Dance is via an A-10 Tournament Championship as the fifth
seed. That road begins on Tuesday with a home contest against
Saint Joseph's. The Rams and Hawks squared off at the Ryan
Center earlier in the season, with URI dominating the game by
shooting 53% from the field, and nailing 12 triples in the
process. If the Rams do advance on to AC, the Saint Louis
Bilikens, a team URI lost to in their only previous meeting this
season, will be awaiting their arrival.
Richmond: (24-7, 13-3), The
skinny - Chris Mooney has locked up his
first NCAA trip in his tenure at Richmond after a season where the
Spiders flirted with an A-10 title and made a brief foray in the AP
top-25. Much of the success can be pinned on the best backcourt in
the conference, with College Chalktalk Player of the Year Kevin
Anderson paired with senior David Gonzalvez. The duo has helped
Mooney run his Princeton offense and matchup zone defense to
outscore opponents by 7.7 points per game and earn an RPI of 24.
The Spiders are likely a top-seven seed in the NCAA Tournament, but
can bump themselves further up in the bracket with a run in
Atlantic City. That will begin with a matchup against the winner of
the Charlotte-Massachusetts game. Richmond defeated the Minutemen
70-63 in early January, and split the season series with
Charlotte-with each team winning on the opponents' court.
Saint Joseph's: (11-19, 5-11), The
skinny- Entering the year without Ahmad Nivins and
Tasheed Carr, Phil Martelli knew that there would be struggles for
his Hawks. SJU got consistently pounded on the boards-ending the
year with a minus-9.2 rebound per game differential. They also
struggled to find an offensive flow at times, shooting only 39.9
percent on the year, as Martelli wondered at times if he simply did
not have Division I athletes. Still, for his team to make it to the
conference tournament is a minor achievement, as the Hawks knocked
off George Washington and crosstown rival La Salle to sneak into
the No. 12 seed in the final week of the season. Their prize is a
trip to the Ryan Center to play a hungry Rhode Island team that
they lost to 101-74 in early January. SJU was only outrebounded
35-32 in that game and will need to keep a similar pace if they
hope to advance to the quarterfinals to play Saint Louis.
Saint Louis: (20-10, 11-5), The
skinny- In a season of surprises in the
A-10, Rick Majerus' club has to head the list of eye-poppers. A
team that many people picked to finish 11thin the
conference cemented its No. 4 seed in the A-10 Tournament with a
win at UD Arena on Saturday, the fifth conference road win of the
season for the youngest team in the country. The Billikens have
done it with defense, as they lead the conference in three-point
defense at 26.5 percent and are second in scoring defense with 59.5
points allowed per game. The Bills have been a different team since
6-foot-8 freshman Cody Ellis became eligible at the midseason mark.
Ellis has opened up the floor, allowing the slow-paced Bills to
score 63.8 points per game and shoot 44.4 percent from the floor in
conference play. Ellis' nine points and seven rebounds helped SLU
knock off Rhode Island at Chaifetz Arena on Feb. 17, a feat that
the Billikens will hope to repeat in Atlantic City if the
fifth-seeded Rams are able to slide past Saint Joseph's.
St. Bonaventure: (14-15, 7-9), The
skinny- If one had told Mark Schmidt three
years ago when he took over in Olean that he would be a top-eight
seed in the conference tournament in his third year he likely would
have responded with some version of elation delivered in a Beantown
accent. Yet, here the Bonnies are, one game under .500 and hosting
Duquesne in the first round of the A-10 Tournament on Wednesday.
SBU looked to be on the bubble to even make the conference
tournament a few weeks ago, but the school's first four game
conference winning streak in almost a decade-including an upset win
over Rhode Island-sent the Bonnies to a 7-9 conference mark.
Leading the way, as usual, for SBU has been sophomore Andrew
Nicholson. The big man has begun to demand the ball in the post,
getting 12 shots per game over the last five games. The second-team
all conference pick posted 16.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and an A-10
best 57.7 percent shooting on the season, including 25 points and
seven rebounds per game in two contests with Duquesne-a 70-69 loss
in January and a 92-80 win this past week. With the Dukes on the
schedule again, Nicholson will need another big night to help
Bonaventure advance to play top-seeded Temple in the quarterfinals.
Temple: (26-5, 14-2), The
skinny- "This is the time we've waited for a
little bit now. Now that it's here, we're going to take it
seriously." Those were the words of Temple's leading scorer,
Ryan Brooks, following the Owls 70-57 defeat of George Washington.
The time that Brooks was referring to is the post-season, something
the Owls have known they will be a big part of as far as the A-10
goes. The win on senior night clinched the top seed in the
A-10 tournament for Temple, who has won the last two Atlantic 10
tournament titles, but neither came as the top seed. The
Owls won't have to sweat out Selection Sunday even if they are to
lose in the A-10 tournament, as most prognosticators have the Owls
around a 5-seed in the NCAA's. As the trendsetter in the
A-10 tournament, the Owls will await the winner of the St.
Bonaventure-Duquesne game on Tuesday night. If recent history
is any indicator, Temple shouldn't have much trouble advancing past
either opponent, as they averaged wins of 17 points between the
two. From there, the Owls would most likely face off against
either Rhode Island or Saint Louis in the semifinals.
Xavier:
(23-7, 14-2), The skinny- The
Musketeers polished off their fourth consecutive season with at
least a share of the A-10 regular season title this week with easy
wins at Fordham at home against St. Bonaventure. The wins extended
XU's winning streak to seven games-and 11 of their last 12. A big
part of the surge has been junior Jamel McLean, who has averaged
11.6 points and 9.7 rebounds over the last nine games. After the
Musketeers knocked off Bonaventure XU head coach Chris Mack praised
McLean for his ability to handle double teams in the post by
controlling the ball effectively, and called him one of the best
power forwards in the conference. McLean's defensive ability will
likely be tested in the first round of the Tournament in Atlantic
City, as No. 2 seed Xavier will get the winner of the Dayton-George
Washington matchup. Whether it is Dayton's Chris Wright or GW's
Damian Hollis, there will be a skilled power forward to match up
against, with McLean's defensive ability serving as a major
determinant in the game. The trip to AC will also be the last of
Jason Love's four year career at Xavier, and after celebrating his
fourth regular season title the senior said that he wanted to
experience one thing that he never has while at XU: a conference
tournament title.
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