Atlantic 10 Notebook
By: Ian Nolan
Leading Off- Week 2 Storylines
- Xavier's resurgence continues. Xavier found the mojo this week after its road loss to La Salle a week ago, first blitzing Duquesne 78-50 on Wednesday and then giving St. Bonaventure similar treatment in a 77-64 victory that was never in doubt. Xavier's backcourt was back in form on Saturday against the Bonnies, as Holloway and Lyons combined to score 33 points on 5-9 shooting from three.
- Andrew Nicholson appears to have found his game. Nicholson scored 30 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and blocked six shots during the Bonnies win over Dayton on Wednesday, easily his best effort of the season. Nicholson wasn't as impressive against Xavier, but his 20 points and eight boards are still commendable.
- Charlotte comes back to earth. The 49ers started league play 2-0, went 0-2 this week in losses to UMass and Saint Louis. Charlotte fell to SLU by just a point on Saturday, and was not aided by freshman point guard Pierria Henry's team high eight turnovers.
- Rhode Island and George Washington's slide continues into league play. A combined 1-5 in league play, these two clubs have established themselves as the clear-cut favorites if you will, to miss the A10 Tournament. GW suffered a 21 point loss to Harvard over the weekend, while Rhode Island played hard, but turned in a seven point setback at the hands of Duquesne.
- T.J McConnell continues to impress. McConnell notched 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the Dukes' win over Rhode Island on Saturday. McConnell can fill the stat sheet as well as any guard in the league.
- UMass continues to show that its for real. The Minutemen improved to 3-1 on the year after downing Saint Joseph's on Saturday night via a 71-62 win. UMass trailed big early, but connected on 11 three pointers to produce 38 second half points, fueling the victory.
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Required Reading
UMass had to climb out of a huge hole to down Saint Joseph's this weekend. Learn more about the comeback here inside the Worcester Telegram and Gazette.
As everyone inside the Atlantic 10 knows, La Salle is having a special season. Read about it here, via Comcast Sportsnet.
Charlotte's hot shooting was voided by the inability to take care of the basketball in its loss to Saint Louis, per the Charlotte Observer.
Duquesne used a balanced scoring attack to pull away from the Rhode Island Rams on Saturday. Read about the Duke's offensive attack, visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
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Power Rankings
(Power rankings are a list of the top five teams in the league not solely according to record, but rather a combination of record, talent, momentum and other intangibles)
1. UMass (14-4, 3-1) UMass continues its charge up the
power rankings this week by grabbing the top spot after a 2-0 week
that included home wins against Charlotte and Saint Joseph's.
Raphiael Putney continues to make his case as breakout player of
the year up in Amherst. Putney scored 19 points and pulled
down 10 rebounds against Charlotte, and then scored 17 points
on Saturday to help best the Hawks. After playing three of its
first four at home, UMass will play four of its next five on the
road. Next Up: Wednesday @ Duquesne, Saturday @
Richmond.
2. Xavier (12-5, 3-1) I took some heat for
not having X in my top five last week, but the power rankings are
not just about which squad has the most talent on paper (read above
if you need a refresher). After some inspired play and the
results to back it up, Xavier appears at number two this week.
Xavier simply took apart Duquesne on Wednesday before doing the
same to St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon. Tu Holloway and Mark
Lyons led the way for the Musketeers on the offensive end, as they
combined to score 44 points in the two games. Also of note, Brad
Redford scored 10 points in 16 minutes off the bench against
the Bonnies; his most productive outing since injuring his knee
over a year ago. Next Up: Wednesday vs.
Saint Joseph's, Saturday @ Dayton.
3. Dayton (13-5,
3-1) Dayton fell from our top spot
last week in large part because of its loss at St. Bonaventure.
However, forward Chris Johnson did not play due to a concussion;
which didn't help the Flyers' effort to slow down Andrew Nicholson.
Like any good team, which Dayton is at this point, they rebounded
with a quality home win against La Salle (as noted above). Good
news for the Flyers as Johnson was able to play Saturday
night, scoring five points in 17 minutes. His return will help a
short UD bench that only played three men against the
Bonnies. Next Up: Saturday vs.
Xavier.
4. La Salle (13-5, 2-1) La Salle downed
city rival Penn on Wednesday before traveling to Dayton to play a
Flyers club who had just lost to St. Bonaventure. La Salle finds
themselves behind Dayton here in the power rankings because of that
head-to-head loss to the Flyers. UD Arena and forward Matt
Kavanaugh were simply too much in the match-up. Dayton raced out to
an 11 point halftime lead and Kavanaugh scored a career high 23
points and pulled down nine boards. The Explorers actually played
fairly well in the loss (50% shooting, 44% from three, just 12
turnovers) but were ultimately done in by Dayton's double-digit
rebounding margin and inability to slow the Flyers in the paint.
Next Up: Wednesday @ Temple, Saturday vs. Rhode
Island.
5. Saint Louis (14-4, 2-2) Faced with
the task of handling Temple mid-week the Billikens failed to earn a
win before escaping Charlotte with a one point victory on Saturday.
The three headed monster of Conklin (14 points), Mitchell (13
points) and Ellis (17 points) were joined by Mike McCall (16
points), accounting for nearly all the offense in the Billikens win
against he 49ers. Saint Louis will need to start earning some
signature wins if they want to re-enter the NCAA Tournament
discussion. They'll have their chance next weekend. Next
Up: Vs. Duquesne on Wednesday, @ Xavier on
Saturday.
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What I Should Have Known...
I should have known that Charlotte wasn't quite ready to surge up the power rankings after starting league play 2-0. The 49ers downed Richmond and Saint Joseph's to turn heads in week one, but UMass and Saint Louis proved too much to handle this time around. The 49ers were faced with a difficult week two slate: on the road against UMass and home against Saint Louis. Charlotte has, by most accounts, played above expectations to date, but may find success tougher to come by in league play given its scoring deficiencies. Charlotte ranks 12th in field goal percentage, 10th in scoring offense and 10th in three point field goal percentage. If the Niners are to make some headway in the standings, Alan Major's club will do it with defense. Charlotte ranks sixth in the league in field goal percentage defense and second in steals with just under 10 per contest.
What I knew...
I knew that St. Bonaventure forward Andrew Nicholson was going to have his way against a short-handed Dayton club on Wednesday night in the Reilly Center. Nicholson scored 35 against the Flyers last year at UD Arena, and with no Chris Johnson (and even even shorter bench as a result), there was no doubt Nicholson was going to dominate. Matt Kavanaugh and company were unable to contain the big man as he went for 30 points, 13 boards and six blocks in what was his best effort of the year. The Bonnies will take the win, but they also got Dayton at the right time. Dayton will continue to struggle to defend quality bigs inside without Benson, and Matt Kavanaugh will see an increased role in the UD offense as a result.
Stat of the Week...
This week, several big men from around the league turned in noteworthy performances. Dayton's Matt Kavanaugh turned in his best single game effort scoring 23 points, and grabbing nine rebounds against La Salle. Prior to his solid scoring effort, Kavanaugh was a victim of Andrew Nicholson's break-out game as the Canadian forward scored a season high 30 points, hauled down 13 rebounds and blocked six shots against the Flyers. At Rhode Island, freshman Jonathan Holton scored 21 points and hauled in 12 rebounds in a losing effort against Duquesne. Charlotte forward Chris Braswell scored 31 points and grabbed nine boards during the 49ers loss to UMass while upping his scoring average to over 14 and a half points per game. In Saint Louis, Brian Conklin (14 points six rebounds) and Cody Ellis (17 points, seven rebounds) provided the interior game the Billikens needed to topple Charlotte by a point. In that same contest, forward Javarris Barnett of Charlotte, scored a team high 23 points, while collecting seven boards. Finally, on Saturday, Richmond sophomore forward Derrick Williams scored 18 points and hauled in 13 rebounds during the Spiders winning effort against Temple.
Heat Check: Who's Hot and Who's Not
For this week's edition of
whose Hot and whose note, we delve into some of the most noteworthy
three point shooters in the league.
Hot: Langston Galloway
of Saint Joseph's leads the league in three point shooting
percentage to date, currently connecting on 51% of all attempts
from behind the arc. While Galloway was expected to shoulder a
heavy scoring load from deep this year, the next four players on
that list are more of a collection of surprises. Darien
Brothers (49%), T.J. McConnell (48%),
Sam Mills (below, 44%) and Luke
Fabrizius (44%) are all quality outside shooters, who have
played above and beyond expectations this year in terms of shooting
the basketball from long range. Take 
Darien Brothers for example. Brothers shot just 42% a year ago
from three, and has become one of the top deep ball men in the
league. Like Brothers, Luke Fabrizius shot 35% from three last
season, marking a nearly 10% increase in accuracy. Finally, Sam
Mills has averaged nearly seven points more per game this year than
last, and continues to shoot the deep ball with nearly the same
accuracy (43% last year, 44% this year) giving La Salle another
three point threat inside its four guard offense that has taken
them to the top of the standings.
Not: Last season, Rhode Island forward Nikola Malesevic took the league by storm with his massive scoring average leap, which was largely fueled by a deadly three point shot (45%). This year, Malesevic is shooting just 33% from deep, only adding to the Ram's struggles (Note: Malesevic has been out since December 23rd with a broken hand). Down in the nation's capitol, forward Nemanja Mikic has also struggled shooting the ball after his breakout campaign last season (44%). The 6'8" sophomore is shooting just 30% from three this season, leaving coach Mike Lonergan wondering when his imported sophomore will start heating up. Finally, up in Olean, sophomore Matthew Wright has struggled to shoot the ball since taking over the starting duties from a new injured Michael Davenport. Known for his shooting ability, Wright has failed to take a leap forward as big time guard (shooting just 30% this season). Although he's playing 14 more minutes per contest, Wright is only scoring 3.4 points more per game, and has already taken just four less shots than he did all of last season.
Nolan's Take
In the Atlantic 10 Conference, parity inside the league is not
always viewed in a positive light by outsiders. Having nearly
half a dozen teams sitting at 2-2 through two weeks of play, leads
many hoops fans believing that the conference is down this
year.
There are no true dominant teams.
Xavier is not 16-2. Temple is not 14-3. St. Bonaventure hasn't had a dream season as many of their fans had hoped. There are no teams from the league ranked inside the top 25 and, to be honest, there is no team that is seriously threatening to crack it at this point in time.
No two or three teams are running away with the league and hiding from the pack.
No one expected La Salle and UMass to be sitting inside the top for of the league come mid January. Most fans expected Temple, St. Bonaventure and George Washington to be sitting somewhere above the middle of the standings. Xavier and Saint Louis were thought to be he two most likely undefeated and ranked squads.
But this is the 2011-2012 season, and the Atlantic 10 is as wide open as ever. The expression "It's anyone's league", literally applies.
A case could be made for roughly half of the league, that their team could win the conference. Xavier fans will point to their talent and pre-season expectations, Saint Joseph's fans will cite the Hawks' backcourt, La Salle fans can boast about new four guard system and improved defense, Dayton has a new signal caller in Kevin Dillard and a great home-court advantage, UMass is a different team with Chaz Williams and company, Temple has experience, coaching and once they get back Michael Eric...the list goes on and on.
The downside to this wide open league is that the Atlantic 10 is not the Big East.
ESPN will not be calling the A10 "deep" and "tough from top to bottom". The A10 doesn't have half a dozen teams ranked, and they don't have several schools planning on punching their ticket to the Big Dance come March.
However, fans of the league should benefit from now until the second week of March when the conference tournament is in full swing whether the league is "down" or not.
Parity in the league has created excitement and inflated expectations from schools' fans all around the conference. A sense of hope and optimism can be felt by fanbases which, in previous years, haven't had such high hopes. Schools around the league should be able to market their club as "in the hunt" for a league title, and not be accused of providing false hopes in doing so. Students should pack their arenas in support of a team that has the real potential to make a run late in the season and punch their ticket to the dance. Players from teams up and down the league will feel the pressure of playing their best each game, knowing that they've got a chance to win this thing. There is no more room for nights off in this league. Anyone can beat anyone. That's a great thing.
Fans and students should take in the excitement and enjoy the ride.
In years past the final destination or outcome of the league seemed a forgone conclusion by January: We'll see Xavier and Temple down in AC in the Conference Finals. Now, the final outcome is anything but assured for any team in the league, and the journey to Boardwalk Hall promises to be filled with unexpected turns in nearly every week.
Who wouldn't prefer a season like that?
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Braswell photo courtesy
Charlotte Athletic Media Relations; Mills photo courtesy
La Salle Athletics; Greg Carroccio, Sideline Photos
