The Atlantic 10 Thread

[Mxracer23x]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Umass lost possesion of 2nd place in the a10 by a buzzer beater by URI. Umass is 2 buzzerbeaters away of being 6-0 in the A10

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Those Xavier and UMass losses aren't good for the conference. The teams behind GW keep beating up on each other, might end up with only one bid to the big dance(if GW wins the A10 tourny) if the rest of the teams keep this up.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Rumor has it that Dickie V will be the color analyst at the Cintas Center for XU's showdown with GW on ESPN2 Thursday night. Can't wait for that game. Should be a good one!

[laf837]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

That should give GW some good pub. Should be a great game but at X has always been a sort of house of horrors for the Colonials. X matches up well with GW on the interior (I'd give X a slight edge based on Thornton's consitency). With Pinnock, Elliot, and Rice GW is better on the outside. I'm afraid that X will re-discover their 3pt shooting if we start to collapse inside. Burrell usually steps up in these games. We'll see. It would be good to see GW put two halves together, if they do they should win.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

Rumor has it that Dickie V will be the color analyst at the Cintas Center for XU's showdown with GW on ESPN2 Thursday night. Can't wait for that game. Should be a good one!

Going to be a great game. It will be interesting to see which Xavier team shows up. GW ranked #10 now, a huge game.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

A little bump here....

Updated standings through most of the 2/4 games. Rhode Island and UMass play later tonight.

George Washington 7-0 17-1
Charlotte 6-3 13-8
Rhode Island 5-3 11-8
Saint Louis 5-3 11-9
Temple 5-4 12-8
Fordham 5-3 10-11
Richmond 4-3 11-9
Xavier 4-3 13-5
Temple 5-4 12-8
La Salle 5-4 13-7
Massachusetts 4-4 9-9
Saint Joseph's 4-5 10-9
Dayton 3-6 11-12
Duquesne 1-8 3-17
St. Bonaventure 0-8 6-13

Not looking good for more than 2 bids right now. Temple was making a nice push until a stumble today at La Salle. St. Joe's is actually 3rd in the league in terms of RPI sitting at 4-5. Xavier is still in good shape overall and RPI wise, they need to finish in the top 3 of the league though. Charlotte & Rhode Island are both done RPI wise, even though they may be tied for 2nd at the end of the day.

GW is in.
Xavier is in if they finish high in the league and make a good run in the A10 tourny, their RPI is just bad enough to make them not a sure bet.
Temple needs to finish 2nd or 3rd to have any hope, they have the RPI, but they aren't going to hit 20 wins.
St. Louis is in better position than Charlotte or Rhode Island, but unless SLU only loses 1 or 2 more, they aren't in.
Charlotte is out
Rhode Island is out
Everybody else is out.

So much for that rebound from last season. This seems to be a lock for a 2 bid conference this year, with another 1-bid year a very real possibility. The best hope for 3 bids is Temple and Xavier both winning out and facing in the A10 Tourny Championship game. If GW continues dominating and wins the A10 tourny one bid is very likely.

[elicoleman]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I really think Xavier will make it, barring a regular season collapse or early round exit in the A-10 tourney.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I really think Xavier will make it, barring a regular season collapse or early round exit in the A-10 tourney.

They were 51 in the official RPI before the GW loss. With GW only at 44, that will hurt them more than a loss to a top 10 team normally does. The only team they play with an RPI above them is St. Joe's. They really can't afford a loss looking at their schedule playing against 4 teams above them in the standings. Two more losses in the regular season puts them in a big hole. They need to finish in the top 3 and make a run in the tourny. I like their team a lot, they are very talented, but they definitely have work to do at this point.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I guess one of the bright spots in the A-10 this season in my mind, with the exception of Duquesne and St. Bonaventure, is how competitive the league has been. 12 of the 14 teams have at least 10 wins. I mean Dayton is a very good 11-12 (3-6) team. They'd be better if Trent Meachem didn't transfer, but I digress. Anyway, the balanced competition in the league doesn't help on the national stage though, especially when everybody didn't do their part in OOC. I called 5 bids (I think) before the year started but I didn't take into account everyone beating on each other so much and thought some of those teams like Xavier, Temple, UMass, St. Joe's, etc, would win some big OOC games. Well, the A-10 tourney should be fun to watch. I think just about anyone can win that, but GW obviously has to be the favorite at this point.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I guess one of the bright spots in the A-10 this season in my mind, with the exception of Duquesne and St. Bonaventure, is how competitive the league has been. 12 of the 14 teams have at least 10 wins. I mean Dayton is a very good 11-12 (3-6) team. They'd be better if Trent Meachem didn't transfer, but I digress. Anyway, the balanced competition in the league doesn't help on the national stage though, especially when everybody didn't do their part in OOC. I called 5 bids (I think) before the year started but I didn't take into account everyone beating on each other so much and thought some of those teams like Xavier, Temple, UMass, St. Joe's, etc, would win some big OOC games. Well, the A-10 tourney should be fun to watch. I think just about anyone can win that, but GW obviously has to be the favorite at this point.

All very true words. I"m still not convinced GW is head and shoulders above the rest of the league as standings and records would indicate, but they are definitely the favorite.

[elicoleman]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I don't get it....Xavier plays GW so well, then comes out and gets kicked in the mouth by SLU, 61-47.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I don't get it....Xavier plays GW so well, then comes out and gets kicked in the mouth by SLU, 61-47.

Agreed, it is really amazing. There goes X's at-large chances for now. Need to run the table with their schedule and make the A10 championship game to have a shot now.

Temple is the only team left in any realistic position of getting a second at-large bid from the league, and even they can't afford more than a loss or two. Looks like another 1 bid year unless somebody knocks GW out of the A10 tourny.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

X isn't going to get an at-large bid now. No chance. Like I said in the XU/GW thread, something is wrong with this team. They have the talent to win the league, they can play with, and can beat, an Illinois or a George Washington, but they lose twice to St. Louis. I'm telling you, it's part coaching and lack of senior leadership. It took Lionel Chalmers half of his senior year to figure out that this was probably it for him so he cranked it up and took over the team. Xavier doesn't have a guy like that. Dedrick Finn should be that guy, but he has regressed from his sophomore year. He was fine with Chalmers and Sato around him. No pressure then. The last two years he's had to take a larger role and has not stepped up. Brian Thornton should be taking 10-20 shots a game down low but he isn't given the ball enough. David West was getting the ball about 20 times a game his junior and senior years. I don't know what to think of the coaching staff. Sean Miller basically said that everyone's starting job is open this week.

Something is seriously wrong. There is no fire with this team whatsoever. Honestly, this could turn out to be the most disappointing season for me as a Xavier fan. There is too much talent this year being wasted.

[CM1847]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I don't think they are out of it yet. From a dissappointed fan of course it seems like all hope is lost, but they have 13 wins, only 6 losses and their RPI is still top 70. They need a lot of W's and probably only one loss, but they aren't out of it. Hit 20 wins on the season including a run to the A10 title game(and a loss to GW there) and they will have a nice resume with the way they played Illinois & GW plus the Cinci win.

Actually winning all of those games is another story, but they aren't mathmatically eliminated as Baseball Tonight would probably put it.

On the bright side, the A10 might dominate the NIT this year.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: The Atlantic 10 Thread

I know they're kind of still in it, and I haven't given up all hope, but they just haven't looked good winning or losing. It's interesting that I believe 5 of their 6 losses have been by 5 points or less. They could just as easily have a similar record as GW. But having watched them for so many years, and so much this season, something isn't right with them. They've had teams in the past with similar records at this point of the season, but there wasn't as much talent and depth on those teams like their is this year. If I remember correctly, the Xavier team that had Lenny Brown, Gary Lumpkin, and James Posey when they were seniors that finished 3rd in the postseason NIT finished the season about 20-10 or so. If they started the NIT right now, I don't think this team has the fire to make a run like that Muskies team did.