KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

I was looking at a stat site, and pulled these numbers.

The average number of A10 conference wins, each season, over the last five years.

VCU.....12.2
DAYTON.....12.0
DAVIDSON.....11.3 [4 YEAR AVERAGE]
URI.....11.0
RICHMOND.....9.8
ST. Bon.....9.8
ST. JOE.....9.8
GW.....9.8
ST. LOUIS.....7.2
LASALLE.....7.0
UMASS.....7.0
G. MASON.....6.8
DUQUESNE.....5.4
FORDHAM.....5.0

A lot of coaching changes last year, and this year coming. Will the balance of power change?

CTRamfan wrote:I was looking at a stat site, and pulled these numbers.

The average number of A10 conference wins, each season, over the last five years.

VCU.....12.2
DAYTON.....12.0
DAVIDSON.....11.3 [4 YEAR AVERAGE]
URI.....11.0
RICHMOND.....9.8
ST. Bon.....9.8
ST. JOE.....9.8
GW.....9.8
ST. LOUIS.....7.2
LASALLE.....7.0
UMASS.....7.0
G. MASON.....6.8
DUQUESNE.....5.4
FORDHAM.....5.0

A lot of coaching changes last year, and this year coming. Will the balance of power change?

Two teams jump out to me as taking a step forward: Richmond and St. Louis. Both have very young and talented rosters coming back.

St. Joe's and VCU will both be healthy and should be near the top of the league.

I expect Davidson and Bonnie's to take a step back.

As many have stated already, a reasonable goal for us would be a top-4 finish and bye in the tourney.

Of course Duquesne and Fordham bringing up the rear

mstyles22 wrote:

CTRamfan wrote:I was looking at a stat site, and pulled these numbers.

The average number of A10 conference wins, each season, over the last five years.

VCU.....12.2
DAYTON.....12.0
DAVIDSON.....11.3 [4 YEAR AVERAGE]
URI.....11.0
RICHMOND.....9.8
ST. Bon.....9.8
ST. JOE.....9.8
GW.....9.8
ST. LOUIS.....7.2
LASALLE.....7.0
UMASS.....7.0
G. MASON.....6.8
DUQUESNE.....5.4
FORDHAM.....5.0

A lot of coaching changes last year, and this year coming. Will the balance of power change?

Two teams jump out to me as taking a step forward: Richmond and St. Louis. Both have very young and talented rosters coming back.

St. Joe's and VCU will both be healthy and should be near the top of the league.

I expect Davidson and Bonnie's to take a step back.

As many have stated already, a reasonable goal for us would be a top-4 finish and bye in the tourney.

I'd agree on all but Davidson. Great coaching, plus a bona fide star in Grady. Can't see them having a substantial swoon.

Charlie Brown is back for St Joe’s, too. I’d pick them as the early favorites.

URI

I'm guessing St. Louis, GW and UMASS will improve. However Fordham, Duquesne, Mason, and LaSalle will make little progress.

CTRamfan wrote:I'm guessing St. Louis, GW and UMASS will improve. However Fordham, Duquesne, Mason, and LaSalle will make little progress.

Think so? George Mason returns pretty much everyone from a team that finished 5th this year.

PillPushr wrote:

CTRamfan wrote:I'm guessing St. Louis, GW and UMASS will improve. However Fordham, Duquesne, Mason, and LaSalle will make little progress.

Think so? George Mason returns pretty much everyone from a team that finished 5th this year.

Beat me to it. Mason has some talent.

early early guess

- Grady is a monster, I think he has a legit chance at being a 3x POY
- Richmond bring back a lot of talent no one is talking about. Golden and Gilyard are sophs, Sherod and Buckingham are Jrs
- I'd have SLU in the top 4, but who knows what that roster will look like

1. DAV
2. RICH
3. GMU
4. URI
5. SJU

I'm not going to make any predictions, but I think it is exciting that the league will be as wide open as it has been since I can remember. I think you could make a case for a half dozen teams having a legit shot to win the league (URI among them, believe it or not), and I think you could have 10+ teams better next year than they were last year. Not a prediction but what I believe is an attainable goal for next season: be alive for a top-4 seed and a double bye going into the final week of the season.

URI will STILL have the best potential talent overall.....but the frosh will have to acclimate quickly.....

As long as the entire recruiting class comes of course...and whoever can be added with the open roster spot [or 2]

Top 4 is a reasonable goal/prediction I agree. But I think Cox will have our guys shooting for the top spot, and I believe that's definitely doable.

I don't see why they can't win it again .I see astep back for VCU the Bonnies and Davidson .St. joes should be slightly better and maybe SLU and Dayton , but none better than URi . Probably won't be 15- 3 again, but 13-5 might get it done.

League definitely looks better next year hopefully 3 solid at large candidates

I'm predicting 5 teams to the NCAA's for the A10 next year....

1) Richmond
2) St Joes
3) URI
4) Davidson
5) GMU

1 and 2 are probably interchangeable as are 3-5.

I think St. Louis is going to be pretty good, too.

Yeah, I think SLU will be pretty solid. I think Davidson is right out of the top 5 at 6, I am not following their incoming class but I see them being decent with Grady being a one man show, but not a top 4 or 5 A10 team next year, especially if you can contain him (who else will step up)

1) Richmond
2) St Joes
3) URI
4) SLU
5) GMU

wpbrown8267 wrote:Yeah, I think SLU will be pretty solid. I think Davidson is right out of the top 5 at 6, I am not following their incoming class but I see them being decent with Grady being a one man show, but not a top 4 or 5 A10 team next year, especially if you can contain him (who else will step up)

1) Richmond
2) St Joes
3) URI
4) SLU
5) GMU

Gudmundsson, expect him to slide right into being their next Aldridge. Similar scoring and rebounding compared to Aldridge so far, and he is a far better passer, (Aldridge has a high of 2.2 apg)

8/4/4 as a freshman
13/6/5 last year as a sophomore

He also posted a 50/40/80 shooting line last year (51.3 from 2, 40.6 from 3, 79.6 from ft)

But Gudmondson is a 2G and Aldridge is a classic stretch 4. Maybe he will pick up some of his production if that is what you mean, but in terms of filling his shoes I don't think so. Aldridge was a tough cover due to his size and ball skils, Gud doesn't present that same problem. That said still a very good player.

ahh ok, i thought Gud was a senior for some reason. Yeah dont think he can completely replace production from Aldridge, but that does change my expectations for them next year with Grady and Gud

Sorry about that

URI is my favorite going in. We will be bigger and more physical.

The only thing without experience is the coach. I would be shocked if one of the 3 big guys on the bench didn't take on a bigger role.

I beat the Berry drum for years until he started on a championship team. Nobody saw that coming. This is championship level basketball and the guys on the bench are working. Expect the big 3 to step up JD/FR/CL. Thompson will make good on his potential (he already was before he got hurt and edged out of the rotation). That is 4. Expect the freshman to battle and expect the mikes and preston to really battle as they start to become short timers.

The difference between Berry and those other 3 bigs is Berry beat Dayton single handedly at Dayton when they were good. That was a feather in his cap. Preston we know is a leaper and has a soft jumper from his spots. LAysard we know is big. Shoots it alright and seems to really hustle.

My sauces tell me Tertsea doesn't have it. But I have not seen him play myself.

Davidson loses a lot (Aldridge, Margarita, Michelson and Reigel) and hard to tell what they have coming for reinforcements. Per Verbal Commits, they have 4 guys signed (or verbaled) for the 2018 class, but none of them even have profiles on rivals or 247 and only one has a profile on ESPN (Michael Jones, who is unranked). That would seem like a problem, except that their whole team is like that. Grady was a 4-star player, and Aldridge was a borderline 3-star. Otherwise, they are really dependent on identifying players for their system and coaching them up. It works for them. I remember when they came into the league, they were picked to finish close to last and ended up finishing in first place. You can't usually judge them only on their roster, but we'll see next year.

Davidson loses Rusty. They're done.

wpbrown8267 wrote:Yeah, I think SLU will be pretty solid. I think Davidson is right out of the top 5 at 6, I am not following their incoming class but I see them being decent with Grady being a one man show, but not a top 4 or 5 A10 team next year, especially if you can contain him (who else will step up)

1) Richmond
2) St Joes
3) URI
4) SLU
5) GMU

Don’t ever underestimate a McCillop coached team.

Rhody74 wrote:

wpbrown8267 wrote:Yeah, I think SLU will be pretty solid. I think Davidson is right out of the top 5 at 6, I am not following their incoming class but I see them being decent with Grady being a one man show, but not a top 4 or 5 A10 team next year, especially if you can contain him (who else will step up)

1) Richmond
2) St Joes
3) URI
4) SLU
5) GMU

Don’t ever underestimate a McCillop coached team.

I guess you didn't see my post following this, that I thought Jon Axel Gudmondson was a senior this year, I kind of retracted my earlier statement and said they could be in the mix then. BTW i don't underestimate McKillop teams, he's one of the best coaches the A10 has

I don’t see any reason why URI if DC is hired that they won’t win the A-10 next year. Returning 3 critical pieces, nice depth returning, and a top 30 national freshmen class. By the time conference play starts roles will be defined and inexperience will be as much an issue.

At what point will the A-10 ever take a look at Duq and Fordham and say "if you don't commit to improving your programs, your getting the boot".

Duquesne imo is committed to improving with Dambrot as coach and money on facilities.

It's LaSalle and Fordham that need to go bye bye.

LaSalle because they can't, and Fordham because they won't.

rambone 78 wrote:Duquesne imo is committed to improving with Dambrot as coach and money on facilities.

It's LaSalle and Fordham that need to go bye bye.

LaSalle because they can't, and Fordham because they won't.

Sadly as one who likes both La Salle and Fordham I have to finally agree with you.

So much potential but clearly now need to drop down a level or two.

Very disappointing......

Yeah LaSalle doesn't have the money to commit to improving......Fordham is loaded but doesn't have the will to commit to improving.

Maybe it would make my dream tournament more likely....

Co St, VCU, URI and Fordham.....

It will happen!

Definitely would strengthen the league to drop down to 12 and eliminate 2-4 200 RPI games (Lasalle and Fordham)from everyone’s schedule. If your top half teams than replace those with Top 50-100 games, middle to bottom teams with top 75-150 all ships rise. In the new world order scheduling strategy is a huge aspect of getting to March from our league.

You would think Bernadette and co. would see this and at least tell those 2 schools shape up or ship out.

I think LaSalle will be leaving soon though. Fordham needs to get shoved out the door.

I’m not familiar with the A-10 membership charter or the agreements by and among the schools (if anyone knows where I could find it, please let me know), but I’m not sure there would be a mechanism to remove member institutions absent some egregious behavior on their parts. So I wouldn’t read inaction by the league office as a lack of desire to do something - they may not have the ability to reduce membership.

TruePoint wrote:I’m not familiar with the A-10 membership charter or the agreements by and among the schools (if anyone knows where I could find it, please let me know), but I’m not sure there would be a mechanism to remove member institutions absent some egregious behavior on their parts. So I wouldn’t read inaction by the league office as a lack of desire to do something - they may not have the ability to reduce membership.

The criteria for kicking out a school may be serious, but that wouldn't stop the commissioner and/or one or two influential college presidents to have a long talk with Fordham and LaSalle.

I wonder -- would the other schools contribute to a buyout fund? In theory, getting rid of two bottom-feeders would help everyone's RPI, increasing our chances of getting more teams in the NCAA, meaning more money for the conference, meaning it could pay for itself.

Totally agree with that. I think that can and should be done, and for all we know maybe it has been. Who knows how those schools would react?

LaSalle could use the money. Fordham does spend money on their program and they pay their HC well....but get no results.

Playing in a barn does not help, and their admin shows no interest in a new arena. Of course where would they put it?

There was national noise on twitter that the ACC had no backbone if it didn't kick Louisville out.

And now Louisville has Chris Mack and people are ready to act like everything there is fine because Pitino is gone.

Bobby Petrino remains..

TruePoint wrote:Totally agree with that. I think that can and should be done, and for all we know maybe it has been. Who knows how those schools would react?

.......just asking, how would we have felt and reacted to an offer like that coming our way, during our down years.....?

section(105) wrote:

TruePoint wrote:Totally agree with that. I think that can and should be done, and for all we know maybe it has been. Who knows how those schools would react?

.......just asking, how would we have felt and reacted to an offer like that coming our way, during our down years.....?

I think we'd have been insulted. The problem is, Fordham's "down years" have been the entirety of their time in the conference, and La Salle is not significantly better. URI would have been insulted if the league came to us in 2012 and said "shape up or ship out," because we were not that far removed from at least being competitive and, more importantly, history would have justified our indignity because we very quickly turned it around. URI has been up and down over the past 20 years, which has been annoying to our fans at times, but our overall record in the conference during that time is not even close to the bottom.

I have the same sentiment. But, cannot think of a situation where a team was dismissed from a conference for poor performance. It usually is the opposite - seeking better competition and improve one's financial situation.

For now the A10 is our home, and our 13 brethren.

Personally, I think Fordham and LaSalle should look at the MAAC or CAA.