November 2018 in the A10

[Taj79]

The first month of the A10 is history and what have we learned ......

Davidson is currently #1 with a record of 7 and 1.  So far, they have met my expectations.  They will only go as far as Grady and Gudmundsson take the,.  Brajkovic is a decent third player but somewhat soft on the interior.  Not surprising for a European.  KiShawn Pritchett and Luke Frampton are wildly inconsistent but sophomore Carter Collins has shown some promise off the bench.  He has been THE BENCH for Coach McKillop until Saturday when Jon Axel came off the bench instead of starting.

Fordham is six and one, but has played no one.  They closed out November with a'nice' win on the road at Manhattan with Nick Honor hitting a floater in thelane with three seconds to go to win by one.  But Manhattan dropped to 2 and 5 in that one.  Not like they won at at Cameron or in Chapel Hill.  Honor has been a nice find and is averaging almost 18 ppg but it hasn't been against the best of competition.  Freshman Cobb and Senior Portley are averaging over 10 ppg, but see above.  I expect them to fade.  They've played CCNY, Columbia, Alabama A&M, Youngstown State and Florida International, all at Rose Hill and got beat on the road by Houston Baptist.  

VCU is 6 and 2, and Rice transfer Marcus Evans is the real deal.  Can't wait for him to meet Javon Bess.  Isaac Vann is having a nice year after using last year to transition from Maine but the rest of their backcourt is streaky.  Someone will go off like Jenkins, or Simms, or Crowfield so you have to be ready.  Their front line of Mobley, Santos-Silva and Gilmore are still pedestrian at best. But it's early.

Duquesne is 4 and 2 after getting shellacked by 21 by Pitt in their crosstown shootout.  Duqesne has won at home against meh opponents but lost essentially on the road at Notre Dame and at the new igloo with Pitt.  Against Pitt, Mike Lewis II again with a stellar two-point performance.  This preseason Top 25 A10er is really bad and uninvolved right now.  Sophomore center Michael Hughes appears to be a decent find; but Sincere Carry is the very definition of streaky.  Dambrot is working his tail off to acclimate all these transfers.

Umass went 5 and 3 and is in the same boat at Duquesne with the only difference being that their Top 25 player, Luwane Pipkins, is doing well.  Umass destroyed SIU, gave #6 Nevada a game but also lost at home to the likes of Harvard and Howard. Pipkins is near 20 ppg and they have three other guys at over 10 ppg.  It just isn't veryconsistent right now.  Another team incorporating loits of transfers.

Dayton is 4 and 3 ....the feel good A10 win over Butler long evaporated.  After beating Butler,  they have now lost three in a row ----but tough contests to #4 Virginia, Miles Reynolds and Oklahoma, and then Friday in Daytron to #25 Mississippi State.  I expected them to struggle because they are just not deep enough, and Anthony Grant brought Josh Cunningham off the bench against Miss State.  Jordan Davis still can't find the bottom of the net, Obi Toppin is raw, and Trey Landers is a good energy man, maybe a seventh or eighth man,who is starting.  They can never be taken lightly in Dayton but they are who I thought they'd be right now. For as good as Dayton likes to think they are, they haven't beaten a ranked team at home since 2011-2012.  I'll be there on 2/23 /19 when the Bills come to town.

Two teams really at a loss right now are the 4 and 4 Joeys and the 2 and 3 Rhode Island Rams.  The Joeys are Charlie Brown and Lamar Kimble and evewn if both go off on a given night, the supporting cast remains relatively weak.  On Saturday, Temple went to Hawk Hill and won 77 to 70.  Jared Bynum is trying.  The four-star freshman has 25 and Brown had 19 or so with Kimble with 12.  Still lost.  Again, one injury will likely cream this team.  Rhodey went to Providence and lost their cross state rival on Saturday as well.  Cyril Langevine and Jeff Dowtin are doing very well, but Fats Russell is finding the early going tough.  There is no EC Mathews or Jared Terrell occupy your time and then have Fats be the secret weapon.   Four-star power forward Jermaine Harris is off to an extremely minor college career.

Disappointment rules for Mason (4 - 5), the Bonnies (3 - 5)  and Richmond (3 - 5) so far.  Mason got off to a really slow team start, dropping 5 of their first 7 and while they have won two in a row now, its against Morgan State and Bill & Mare.  They did beat Bill & Mare on the road, something the Joeys couldn't do.  Still no signature opponents of which to speak, ergo no significant wins.  Cortney Stockard and LaDarien Griffin returned for the Bonnies after they started 1 and 4.  Stockard has played three games to date but Griffin only one.  Jacob Gilyard is back for Richmond but Nick Sherrod is gone with an ACL tear.  Still, they just beat Wake in Richmond by ten.  Which leads me to ask,just how bad is Wake this year? Wake lost to the Joeys and now Richmond.  Not a real good ACC team there I guess.

The bottom feeder are who we thought they'd be .... George Washington (1 - 7) and La Salle (0 - 8).  Although ...LaSalle did give Nova a stern test at the Palesra Saturday before fading 85 to 78.  And this was done without La Salle's #1 guy, Pookie Powell, who is out injured right now.  Now that would have been a real upsetting upset.

Not a lot in signature wins for the A10.  We have Seton Hall and Butler.  Davidson beat Wichita State.  Dayton beat Butler --- has to count so as not to lessen our win.  As noted, Richmond and the Joeys beat Wake.  VCU beat Temple.  Otherwise not a lot of good news on that front.

Welcome to December.

 

 

[cheeseman]

1 hour ago, Taj79 said:

The first month of the A10 is history and what have we learned ......

Davidson is currently #1 with a record of 7 and 1.  So far, they have met my expectations.  They will only go as far as Grady and Gudmundsson take the,.  Brajkovic is a decent third player but somewhat soft on the interior.  Not surprising for a European.  KiShawn Pritchett and Luke Frampton are wildly inconsistent but sophomore Carter Collins has shown some promise off the bench.  He has been THE BENCH for Coach McKillop until Saturday when Jon Axel came off the bench instead of starting.

Fordham is six and one, but has played no one.  They closed out November with a'nice' win on the road at Manhattan with Nick Honor hitting a floater in thelane with three seconds to go to win by one.  But Manhattan dropped to 2 and 5 in that one.  Not like they won at at Cameron or in Chapel Hill.  Honor has been a nice find and is averaging almost 18 ppg but it hasn't been against the best of competition.  Freshman Cobb and Senior Portley are averaging over 10 ppg, but see above.  I expect them to fade.  They've played CCNY, Columbia, Alabama A&M, Youngstown State and Florida International, all at Rose Hill and got beat on the road by Houston Baptist.  

VCU is 6 and 2, and Rice transfer Marcus Evans is the real deal.  Can't wait for him to meet Javon Bess.  Isaac Vann is having a nice year after using last year to transition from Maine but the rest of their backcourt is streaky.  Someone will go off like Jenkins, or Simms, or Crowfield so you have to be ready.  Their front line of Mobley, Santos-Silva and Gilmore are still pedestrian at best. But it's early.

Duquesne is 4 and 2 after getting shellacked by 21 by Pitt in their crosstown shootout.  Duqesne has won at home against meh opponents but lost essentially on the road at Notre Dame and at the new igloo with Pitt.  Against Pitt, Mike Lewis II again with a stellar two-point performance.  This preseason Top 25 A10er is really bad and uninvolved right now.  Sophomore center Michael Hughes appears to be a decent find; but Sincere Carry is the very definition of streaky.  Dambrot is working his tail off to acclimate all these transfers.

Umass went 5 and 3 and is in the same boat at Duquesne with the only difference being that their Top 25 player, Luwane Pipkins, is doing well.  Umass destroyed SIU, gave #6 Nevada a game but also lost at home to the likes of Harvard and Howard. Pipkins is near 20 ppg and they have three other guys at over 10 ppg.  It just isn't veryconsistent right now.  Another team incorporating loits of transfers.

Dayton is 4 and 3 ....the feel good A10 win over Butler long evaporated.  After beating Butler,  they have now lost three in a row ----but tough contests to #4 Virginia, Miles Reynolds and Oklahoma, and then Friday in Daytron to #25 Mississippi State.  I expected them to struggle because they are just not deep enough, and Anthony Grant brought Josh Cunningham off the bench against Miss State.  Jordan Davis still can't find the bottom of the net, Obi Toppin is raw, and Trey Landers is a good energy man, maybe a seventh or eighth man,who is starting.  They can never be taken lightly in Dayton but they are who I thought they'd be right now. For as good as Dayton likes to think they are, they haven't beaten a ranked team at home since 2011-2012.  I'll be there on 2/23 /19 when the Bills come to town.

Two teams really at a loss right now are the 4 and 4 Joeys and the 2 and 3 Rhode Island Rams.  The Joeys are Charlie Brown and Lamar Kimble and evewn if both go off on a given night, the supporting cast remains relatively weak.  On Saturday, Temple went to Hawk Hill and won 77 to 70.  Jared Bynum is trying.  The four-star freshman has 25 and Brown had 19 or so with Kimble with 12.  Still lost.  Again, one injury will likely cream this team.  Rhodey went to Providence and lost their cross state rival on Saturday as well.  Cyril Langevine and Jeff Dowtin are doing very well, but Fats Russell is finding the early going tough.  There is no EC Mathews or Jared Terrell occupy your time and then have Fats be the secret weapon.   Four-star power forward Jermaine Harris is off to an extremely minor college career.

Disappointment rules for Mason (4 - 5), the Bonnies (3 - 5)  and Richmond (3 - 5) so far.  Mason got off to a really slow team start, dropping 5 of their first 7 and while they have won two in a row now, its against Morgan State and Bill & Mare.  They did beat Bill & Mare on the road, something the Joeys couldn't do.  Still no signature opponents of which to speak, ergo no significant wins.  Cortney Stockard and LaDarien Griffin returned for the Bonnies after they started 1 and 4.  Stockard has played three games to date but Griffin only one.  Jacob Gilyard is back for Richmond but Nick Sherrod is gone with an ACL tear.  Still, they just beat Wake in Richmond by ten.  Which leads me to ask,just how bad is Wake this year? Wake lost to the Joeys and now Richmond.  Not a real good ACC team there I guess.

The bottom feeder are who we thought they'd be .... George Washington (1 - 7) and La Salle (0 - 8).  Although ...LaSalle did give Nova a stern test at the Palesra Saturday before fading 85 to 78.  And this was done without La Salle's #1 guy, Pookie Powell, who is out injured right now.  Now that would have been a real upsetting upset.

Not a lot in signature wins for the A10.  We have Seton Hall and Butler.  Davidson beat Wichita State.  Dayton beat Butler --- has to count so as not to lessen our win.  As noted, Richmond and the Joeys beat Wake.  VCU beat Temple.  Otherwise not a lot of good news on that front.

Welcome to December.

 

 

What about Richmond  beating Wake Forest

[Quality Is Job 1]

13 hours ago, cheeseman said:

What about Richmond  beating Wake Forest

It's in there.  Second-to-last line.