Around the A10 20-21 season

[Reinert310]

Just now, wgstl said:

Good point, but I would think the eye test will still show where the A10 really stands. 

Maybe it will. But it’s not MBMs, but national “experts” who are all saying how strong the league is this year. Obviously, that narrative could shift as the season goes on, but right now, I think that the (possibly false) perception helps us. At least for now.

[wgstl]

2 minutes ago, Reinert310 said:

 But it’s not MBMs, but national “experts” 

Maybe thats the problem, we the people. 

[Reinert310]

5 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Maybe thats the problem, we the people. 

Agree. But the opinions of “national experts” tend to hold more weight than our opinions...which seems crazy, I know, but it’s the world we live in.

[basebill123]

The Athletic mail bag makes a good point about SLU's "eye test" as well.  Our offense this year helps us pass the eye test more than any Billiken team of the past would.  We've never had more 3 or dunk potential meaning we're more fun to watch for the casual fan or analyst.  Great defenses gives you chances for top tier wins but all else equal, doesn't help you pass the eye test as much as great offenses do imo.  

[The Wiz]

42 minutes ago, wgstl said:

Wiz, what would you grade the top 6 or 7 A10 teams currently? or compared to the top 6 or 7 last year?

Here is what things look like so far.....Change from last year is the grade change....so +2 for the Bills indicates 2 notches up ...B to A-

 

This year...............change from last year........................Last year

St. L.....A-......................+2..................................................Day...... A+

Rich......A-......................+1..................................................Dav.......B+

Day.......B+.....................-3...................................................RI...........B+

RI..........B+......................0....................................................Rich.......B+

VCU....B+........................0....................................................VCU......B+

St. B.....B.........................+1...................................................St. L.....B

Dav......B..........................-1...................................................Duq.......B-

Duq......B-........................0......................................................St. B.....B-

A-10.....B+........................0.......................................................A-10.....B+

A few notes......

A-10  has historically (since the Bills joined ) have been between  A- and B-....with an average around B+

If you add up the change in the top 7 teams...it comes out to zero...which correlates with the unchanged status of the A10.

The Bills had a B at the end of the season but were trending much higher but that never came to fruition as the season ended abruptly.

So far the Bills are the most improved team.

And finally to be fair, we are comparing a few games this year to an entire season last year.   3 teams haven't even played yet.  Most teams need about 3-6 more games to have a big enough sample size. Be that as it may, there is enough data to show how things are trending and they are trending well so far for the Bills.

[HoosierPal]

2 hours ago, Pistol said:

You don't have to change a lot of results for the narrative to shift. If you just switched those Penn State and BC losses for VCU and Rhody to wins, and if Dayton and Duquesne had beaten SMU and Little Rock, suddenly we have four unbeatens and a couple 4-1 teams with losses only to ranked teams. Then I'd buy it. As it stands, though, I don't think we have a case to make right now for the league being any stronger than in an average year.

Shows what a fine line our league will always be walking.

I agree with this post, we are walking a fine line.  Add to your list that Davidson was 2 shots, maybe 5 seconds, from being undefeated.  Yeah, could of, would of, should of.....but a loss is a loss.  No asterisks appear in the standings. 

Sure Dayton should of (could of) beat SMU, but SMU today is 54 in KenPom.  Not a horrible loss, but it would have been a decent win.

Rhody is slowly gelling all of their transfers.  They are very deep.  (It will be interesting to see if they can hang with Wisconsin tonight.)  VCU is a young team and will improve with experience, but last season's collapse is still vivid.

UMass and St. Bonnie are very much behind the curve.  They are likely top half A10 teams.  When UMass does kick off their season, they will have one OOC game, unless they get one of those Pop Up Games.  St. Bonnie has 4 OOC still on their schedule. They need those to tune up for the conference.

For me, still too early to label the A10 as better or worse than last season.

 

[VeniceMenace]

1 hour ago, basebill123 said:

The Athletic mail bag makes a good point about SLU's "eye test" as well.  Our offense this year helps us pass the eye test more than any Billiken team of the past would.  We've never had more 3 or dunk potential meaning we're more fun to watch for the casual fan or analyst.  Great defenses gives you chances for top tier wins but all else equal, doesn't help you pass the eye test as much as great offenses do imo.  

Best offense ever and lots of options this season. The D isn’t too shabby but not up to par with Majerus lockdowns. That being said, if I were to pick a team to replay Louisville to get to the sweet 16, it would be this one. No way this one goes 0-15 from 3.

[wgstl]

28 minutes ago, VeniceMenace said:

Best offense ever and lots of options this season. The D isn’t too shabby but not up to par with Majerus lockdowns. That being said, if I were to pick a team to replay Louisville to get to the sweet 16, it would be this one. No way this one goes 0-15 from 3.

If the team two years ago had either Jimerson or Perkins, they would have punched their ticket mid season instead of the last day.  amazing how fast the offense has changed in such a short time. Another gold star for coach.

[HoosierPal]

36 minutes ago, VeniceMenace said:

Best offense ever and lots of options this season.

It certainly is fun to watch.  Highest Offensive Average in past 50 years was Spoon's 93-94 team with Dobbs, H, Claggs and Highmark at 80.6 ppg.  Let's see if this team passes that mark.

[wgstl]

5 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

It certainly is fun to watch.  Highest Offensive Average in past 50 years was Spoon's 93-94 team with Dobbs, H, Claggs and Highmark at 80.6 ppg.  Let's see if this team passes that mark.

Id be a little surprised if they didn't beat out that 93 team.  I understand that the 93 ppg wont continue, but I dont see it coming down 13 ppg. 

[Taj79]

La Saller finally dispatched DII Lincoln University from down the road inOxford, Pa.  The HBCU kept it close but La Salle will win 80 to 62 when all is said and done.  

La Salle remains Scott Spencer and Christian Ray for the most part.  Indiana transfer Clifton Moore had a nice game with some decent blocks and throwing down 10 points.  Another freshman to watch might be Anwar Gill, a 6'4" freshman from DC.  Has a nice game ala Maceo Austin at Duquesne and Tyler Burton at Richmond.  But like both needs to mature some.  Still remain largely unimpressed with David Beatty.  All in all, this is a bottom feeder team but you can't overlook them.  If Ray and Spencer go off together, it could be a disaster for the opponent.  They will surprise someone or two along the way.  Lead assist man SO Ayinde Hikim did not play today.  Don't know why.  La Salle's leading scorer coming in was 5'9" freshman PG Jhamir Brickus who didn't score today (4) but did assist a lot (8).  This is a PIG candidate no matter how you cut it.

[MichaelC]

Dayton picking where they left off the other day. Look sluggish on offense and being careless with the ball, 4 turnovers already, down 6 to Northern Kentucky with 14 minutes and change left in the 1st half. 

[3star_recruit]

4 minutes ago, MichaelC said:

Dayton picking where they left off the other day. Look sluggish on offense and being careless with the ball, 4 turnovers already, down 6 to Northern Kentucky with 14 minutes and change left in the 1st half. 

Until they can figure out a way to get some easy buckets, this is their new normal.

[3star_recruit]

57 minutes ago, 3star_recruit said:

Until they can figure out a way to get some easy buckets, this is their new normal.

Dayton turns up the defense and getting a lot of points off of turnovers.  That's changed the momentum of the game and now they're up by 13 early in the 2nd half.  Nice response by the Flyers.

[3star_recruit]

1 hour ago, 3star_recruit said:

Dayton turns up the defense and getting a lot of points off of turnovers.  That's changed the momentum of the game and now they're up by 13 early in the 2nd half.  Nice response by the Flyers.

Saw during Billikens halftime that Dayton hung on for 6 point win.  Dayton went scoreless for 3 minutes and allowed a very mediocre NKU squad back in the game.  The Flyers will have to do it with defense for the foreseeable future.  

[Taj79]

Watched the entire first half before our game and caught the end at halftime of ours.  Second time seeing SVU and again, they are who we thought they are.  Three guys ...Watson, Crutcher and Johnson .... scored 52 of their 66 points.  That's 79% of their total.  Chatman remains an enigma on the offensive end;  Crutcher ran point more times than not and i got the feeling that was because he wanted the ball and Chatman is not an offensive option.  Crutcher appears to be pressing here early on.  Watson reminds me a lot of Jacobs.  He can go by you and he can spot up for the three. He seems more inclined to shoot from distance right now.  Made two of three threes.  Overall, Dayton is light on shooting skills ... this is not last year's team where it's layup after Obi dunk.  They shot a collective 31% from three and that is all Crutcher and Watson.  Chase Johnson continues to make a nice return from his medical issues but he is not a star to build around right now.  Tshimanga is a foul machine but does give 110% when out there.  The bench remains non-existent, RJ Blakeney gave them 21 minutes and six points but thew rest (Sissoko, Wilson and Nwokeji) are just stealing minutes to give the starters blows.  They contributed 1 reound, one block, one turnover and six fouls for their minimal time on the court.

Going to be a long year in Dayton this year.

More viewing today .... Rhodey at Wisconsin (-10.5) at 4:30/3:30 on the Big ten network; Northrn Iowa at Richmond (-8) on ESPN+ at 6/5; and VCU (NL) hosting North Carolina A&T at 7/6 also on ESPN+

[HoosierPal]

Looks like LaSalle pulled one out yesterday, defeating Lincoln HS, who were are reminded is in PA.

[HoosierPal]

 

[Littlebill]

Rhody getting outclassed by Wisconsin early

[bauman]

13 minutes ago, Littlebill said:

Rhody getting outclassed by Wisconsin early

29-14 with just under 4 left in the half.  A game like this really hurts the A 10's evaluation and is certainly not good news for the Bills

[Cowboy]

-it's not halftime yet

[almaman]

49 minutes ago, Littlebill said:

Rhody getting outclassed by Wisconsin early

they should get pasted by team  Blue

[3star_recruit]

39 minutes ago, bauman said:

29-14 with just under 4 left in the half.  A game like this really hurts the A 10's evaluation and is certainly not good news for the Bills

Wisconsin throttled Tennessee by 20 in the noncon last year at Tennessee.  That defense can be a shock to the system if you've never played it before.  But losing to Wisconsin may actually be better for their NET than beating a cupcake.

[VeniceMenace]

Saw that in the Richmond win that Northern Iowa’s bench outscored Richmond’s 26-7. 

[Taj79]

Watched Rhodey get beat by Whisky. Call me unimpressed actually with both.  Rhodey has basically the same guy playing inside, just with different names on their jerseys ---- Mitchell, Mitchell, Walker, Johnson, Martin.  And then they will get another back in Harris.  They all do the same thing --- lumber towards the basket.  There was little perimeter skills showed and I can't think of one that took a jumper.  Their external game might come around with Sheppard and Leggett.  Cary shows signs but he is more of a driver.  Right now, its Fatts team but Fatts is playing point and I think he's still tryng to get comfortable.  Last three years, he ran alongside Dowtin and it was Dowtin's team.  He looks alot like Crutcher ---- trying to do way too much and carry the team.  He went something like 3 of 14 with zero of four threes.  Rhodey looks too one-dimensional right now.  And the Mitchell's look Hasahn-like at the FT line going 8 of 15 with a few front ends missed.  They made itr close at the end but it was no real contest the second half.

Richmond did enough to beat UNI.  TylerBurton had his first double double and looked pretty good in doing so.  Golden also had a double double as did Gilyard with points and assists.  Once again, no bench.  They are a nice team ---- Gilyard distributes and steals,Golden scores and passes well, Burton is coming on, Cato cleans up the garbage and Francis hasn't found a shot he doesn't like.  Francis is the guy you can't lose on defense.  He follows the play and pretty much plays catch-n-shoot when he gets it.  They run a nice offense and look a lot like Dayton did last year in sharing the ball.  

VCU waxed NC A&T who lost the night before at Longwood.  Bones came out with 30 but noone else broke double digits.  Didn't really have to.   They continue to be young and learning.

Today get to see Umass (-6.5)open up at 1:30/12;30 against Northeastern  Then tonight Davidson (-13.5)  hosts Georgia Southern. Both on ESPN+.  Geedubya (+2) travels e to Delaware but no TV there.