Atlantic 10 Notebook: Don't sleep on Temple; Advantage Dayton...
By: Ian Nolan
Leading Off- Dayton Downs Xavier, Adds to
A10 Confusion
When the Xavier Musketeers boarded their bus and hopped on their chartered flight back to Cincinnati on January 4th, they were just handed a 10 point loss by the La Salle Explorers and had lost five of six.
Chris Mack's club was spinning out of control, looking nothing like the team that had earned a top 10 ranking and preseason accolades from coast to coast. Tu Holloway looked lost running the offense, they were getting beaten to loose balls and their defensive effort was anything but what you'd expect from a Xavier team.
Mack was left wondering just where his team was headed.
As that same Xavier club stepped onto Dayton's Blackburn Court at UD Arena on Saturday afternoon, it was a club that had once again found the swagger. Winners of four straight league games, Tu Holloway and company had not only started a winning streak, they had done so in impressive fashion, winning three straight by no less than 13 points. Xavier looked like a team that had been wounded but recently found out how to fight again.
X had the mojo back, for lack of a better term.
Xavier had come to UD Arena to remind the league that order had been restored in the Atlantic 10.
That is, until the Dayton Flyers used an explosive offense and hot shooting to build a 13 point halftime lead they would never relinquish. The Flyers led the game wire to wire, proving that this race is still wide open.
Dayton was led, once again, by Kevin Dillard who ran the UD offense with precision and poise, scoring 16 points and dishing out eight helpers. Unable to defend ball screens and stop the penetration of Dillard, Xavier fell behind early and never found its footing. Dayton big man Matt Kavanaugh scored 20 points, having his way inside with the Xavier bigs; a sure sign that the Flyers were going to roll over X.
Archie Miller's club produced a balanced offensive attack that had open looks, specifically from three, all game long. The end result was an 87 point outing with major contributions from Dillard and Kavanaugh, as well as Paul Williams (13 points) and Josh Parker (16 points). UD caught fire early and never looked back in nearly blowing out its rivals.
Just when it seemed things could be sorted out inside the league, Dayton proved once again that it should not be overlooked.
All this without forward Josh Benson, whose loss has not slowed down Dayton in its hopes of winning a league title.
Armed with a tremendous home court advantage, a dangerously balanced offense and a terrific floor general in Dillard, Dayton can officially throw its hat in the ring for challenger of the league's title. Beating their long-time rival only makes them that much more confident.
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Required Reading
Chaz Williams led the UMass Minutemen to a nine point road victory in Richmond this weekend, Click here.
To read an Ohio version recap of the Xavier vs. Dayton game, check out this link here to visit the ohiotv.com website.
George Washington has climbed back to .500 inside the conference, and to learn more about their latest win on the heels of Nemanja Mikic's 19 points, visit the Washington Post Online.
Saint Louis completely dominated the Duquesne Dukes this weekend, to get up to speed check out the Saint Louis Today website.
Finally, to read about how St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt motivated his team to crush a short-handed Fordham squad on Saturday, check out the Buffalo News Online.
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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. Dayton (14-5, 4-1) The road loss to St. Bonaventure
aside, Dayton has simply been the best team in the conference and
proved it again this weekend by downing Xavier with ease on their
home floor. Matt Kavanaugh's recent
solid play has been a surprising lift for a club that has played
shorthanded lately with Chris Johnson's concussion issues. If
Kavanaugh continues to fill Josh Benson's void, Dayton has the
homecourt advantage, point guard and balance scoring potential to
remain at the top of the table. However, UD is a different club on
the road, so let's see how they handle their test this week in
Philadelphia coming off a massive win. Trap game?
Next Up: Wednesday @ Saint Joseph's,
Saturday vs. Rhode Island.
2. Xavier (13-6, 4-2) Xavier isn't going
to freefall here in the Power Rankings just because of one
recent loss to a rival on the road. But, let's see how Xavier
reacts to having its momentum stopped briefly by the Flyers. X
is a team that thrives on confidence and momentum, so winning again
soon is going to be key for this club who has already dealt with so
much adversity. Big man Kenny Frease needs to
get it going again; he's scored just 18 points in Xavier's last
three games and hasn't pulled down more than nine boards since the
Cincinnati game on December 10th. Next
Up: Wednesday vs. Saint Louis, Saturday @
Charlotte.
3. UMass (15-5, 4-2) UMass may be 4-2, but in
speaking with people around the league there doesn't seem to be a
groundswell of believers in the Minutemen. Four wins have come
against, generally speaking, lesser foes: Fordham, Charlotte, Saint
Joseph's and Richmond. UMass has faced La Salle on the road, but
came up short in a seven point loss. The Minutemen get the chance
to prove they're for real next Saturday when they play host to
Saint Louis. Derek Kellogg's club will be able to use their first
bye week to prepare for one of the better offensive clubs in the
league in terms of execution. Next
Up: Saturday vs. Saint Louis.
4. Saint Louis (15-4, 3-2) Saint Louis must have
used its bye week to prepare well for Duquesne because the
Billikens simply blew out the Dukes at home on Saturday via a 68-41
win. Five players scored in double figures for SLU who collected 10
steals and blocked seven shots in the win. Much like Xavier needs
Kenny Frease, SLU needs forward Rob
Loe to begin producing down low if the Billikens are
going to gain momentum in the next two months. Loe,
who has shown flashes of an offensive game has become almost
non-exsistent of late on that side of the ball. The sophomore has
scored just a combined 23 points in league play and has made just
two field goals in SLU's last three games. Next
Up: Wednesday @ Xavier, Saturday @
UMass.
5. La Salle (14-6, 3-2) La Salle entered its
match-up on Wednesday night at Temple with more confidence than
ever under coach John Gianninni. La Salle students even made the
trip, feeling a victory over Temple was finally coming. It was not
to be. La Salle shot just 5-15 from three, and was out rebounded by
nine on the glass. Big man Jerrell
Wright was limited to just 17 minutes because of foul
trouble, which may have been the difference because the Philly
native was having his way early against the Temple front line.
Then, as everyone has done in the league so far, the Explorers got
fat against Rhode Island at home over the
weekend. Next Up: Wednesday vs.
George Washington, Saturday @ Duquesnse.
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What I Should Have Known...
I knew that Chris Gaston was an incredibly important cog in the Fordham program, but maybe I didn't realize just how valuable he really is. Gaston was suspended for the Rams' games this weekend against St. Bonaventure for throwing a punch against Rhode Island on Wednesday and the result was ugly; A 44 point loss on the road in Olean. St. Bonaventure sported a 31 point lead at the break and finished the game out-rebounding the Rams 42-25 and shot 44% from three point land en route to their largest ever margin of victory against a conference foe. Andrew Nicholson scored 19 points and had nine boards in only 24 minutes of work, and both walk-ons scored in a game that became a laugher by the second media timeout. So next time someone tries telling you Gaston is overrated because he just stuffs the stat sheet on a bad team, please point them to this complete blowout loss to the Bonnies as evidence he is not.
What I knew...
I said earlier in the season that I loved the talent of
the Saint Joseph's Hawks but that the depth,
or lack thereof, would eventually slow the Hawks down in
league play as legs grew tired against tougher foes two times a
week. On that note, after their hot start to the season (10-3) the
Hawks are just 2-5 in their last seven. A road loss at #23 Harvard
may have clipped the Hawks' wings, as they have looked like a
different team in league play. Carl
Jones, too, has seemed to have lost his scoring punch
of late. Jones sat the Xavier game with an ankle injury, but he
scored just four against UMass, 11 against Fordham and 14 against
Charlotte. The Hawks have lost to Charlotte, UMass and Xavier, had
to produce a fantastic comeback to defeat Duquesne, and just lost a
road game to city rival Penn of the Ivy League. The bad news is
that the road isn't getting any easier for Phil Martelli's thin
club. Up next, vs. Dayton then a bus ride over to Temple. It will
be interesting to see if this club can find its second wind
soon, because with a pair of losses this week, SJU would be sitting
at 2-5; it's a long way to the top from there.
Stat of the Week
Holton is Hot...Rhode Island freshman forward Jonathan Holton is a highly touted prospect coming out of Miami, so Rams fans were expecting big things from the 6-foot-9, 220 pound big man whose game plays both inside and out. Although early returns were less than stellar from Holton, he has turned a corner of late, and it can only be attributed to planting himself in the paint and avoiding the tempting three ball that he has shot very poorly on the year. In his last three outings, Holton has pulled down a ridiculous 47 rebounds. Prior to these three games, Holton only reached double digits in rebounding twice this season, and one of those games was the Rams' opener against George Mason. If the athletic forward continues to play down low, Jim Baron may have the second coming of Chris Gaston on his hands. In other words, a double-double machine.
Heat Check: Who's Hot and Who's Not
Hot: After battling back from a torn ACL, George Washington guard-forward Lasan Kromah has begun to show signs of a full recovery in terms of production. An Atlantic 10 All Rookie selection two years ago, Kromah scored a season high 25 points, grabbed six rebounds and collected four steals against Richmond last week while shooting 11-15 from the field. Kromah has scored in double figures in three of GW's last four games. While his 10.6 points and 5.4 rebounds won't garner many All Conference team votes, Kromah has come back strong from his injury and has given fans in Foggy Bottom reason to believe his best basketball is still in front of him.
Not: Briefly touched on before, but worth noting again, Xavier center Kenny Frease has simply not produced lately. Frease's scoring has dipped, along with his rebounding, field goal percentage and minutes played in this, his senior season. While Xavier's offense is predicated around guards Lyon's and Holloway, Frease is a key cog who sets the screens and helps to open up the paint for their scoring wings. If Xavier can get Frease back on the floor more often (averaging five minutes less per game) should see increased production from all parts of the offense. While Frease is not the most important player in the Musketeers' system, he is a large piece of the puzzle none the less and his production could be the difference in a good versus great stretch run.
Nolan's Take
This year, the city of Philadelphia has played host to some terrific basketball.
La Salle is having a season unlike any other in recent memory to those around Germantown, PA. Saint Joseph's, despite its recent struggles, turned heads with a fast start. Even outside the league, Drexel is a serious contender for the CAA Title and Penn is a quality club inside the Ivy League who recently downed the Hawks.
Villanova, well, not so much.
But where does that leave Temple?
The Owls are 13-5 and 2-2 in the Atlantic 10 but those in Philadelphia and around the league seem to have forgotten about Fran Dunphy's club. Winning three of the last four league titles can make for complacent fans.
However, Atlantic 10 foes should be aware of the Owls who are even more dangerous now that they seem to be overlooked by so many.
Temple has five players averaging in double figures, led by Ramone Moore (17 points), and Khalif Wyatt (16.4 points). The Owls are also getting big time contributions from Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson (10.1 points, 6.4 rebounds), Aaron Brown (7.6 points) and freshman forward Anthony Lee (5.9 points, 7.1 rebounds in just 22 minutes).
With center Michael Eric (10.5 points, 11.3 rebounds) out with a knee injury, Lee (6-9) has had to step up and shoulder the load inside on both sides of the ball. He has performed admirably. Lee is long and super athletic, possesses good shoot blocking ability and scores well around the rim despite needing to add some muscle (but what freshman forward doesn't).
Hollis-Jefferson (6'6") has also had to do more work down low than Fran Dunphy would probably like, but RHJ has faired well. Despite having to defend forwards and centers with more size and muscle, RHJ has used great foot work and quick hands to provide quality defense while playing out of position. Against La Salle this past week, Hollis-Jefferson was asked to defend Jerrell Wright and forced a steal on the first possession and an offensive foul a few later which sent Wright to the bench.
Temple is a team that seems to always receives contributions up and down the roster and this year is no different.
Already having downed a top five team in Duke, Saint Louis and most recently La Salle, the ability is there. Once Eric returns, an already dangerous team becomes even more scary given the Owls' depth, experience and balance offensive firepower.
Let's not forget that senior point guard Juan Fernandez still has the savvy play, excellent decision making and clutch time ability to take this Owls team deep into the conference tournament.
In years past the bullseye has usually been on the Cherry and White. They responded like champions in three of the last four seasons.
This year, Temple can attack the league from a different position, and could even be more dangerous than in the past.
The message? Do not sleep on the Owls.
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(Photos courtesy of Temple and Saint Joseph's Sports Information Departments)
