A-10 Conference Overview

One of the benefits is that the Big 5 will definitely run through the A-10 as 3 of those 5 teams (Temple, St. Joe’s and now LaSalle) reside here.  There is not a clear cut megaprogram in this league but the two co-favorites are both from Philly as Temple and La Salle ranked 1 and 2 in the preseason rankings and both made the top 25 in the national polls. 

The Explorers get one more glorious year of one of the greatest and most complete players in college basketball history. Tom Gola will once again play just about every position and will be one of the best scoring, passing and especially rebounding forwards you will ever want to watch.  He is a preseason All-American and deservedly so as he almost singlehandedly has put Philly basketball on the national map and has made LaSalle a real contender since he got there.  Nothing will change this year except for the fact the players around him have gotten much better.  How much better?  Well, La Salle might have the best returning group of players anywhere on the East Coast besides their All-American Gola including senior posts Larry Foust and Ken Durrett plus junior stud forward Michael Brooks and sophomore wunderkid wing Lionel ‘the L train’ Simmons.  The key will be who runs the team as Coach Ken Loeffler must decide who to hand the keys to for this high-powered team.  He has solid choices plus solid role players but a lack of size might eventually catch up with them especially in this league filled with great big men. 

The Temple Owls like their brethren from Philly also do not have a plethora of gifted big men.  They do have lots of size but most of these players are green and two dimensional (defense and dunks) and have no one that can match up with a Bob Lanier but then again who does? Coach John Chaney will rely on his patented hard-nosed defense and superior back court and wing play to win once again this year in the A-10.  You see the Owls have been the dominant program in the A-10 forever and they are not happy about their marauders from around the corner trying to steal their thunder.  The gifted back court players are numerous including three seniors, deft lefty point guard Guy (a boy amongst men) Rodgers, scoring two guard Hal Lear and the aptly nicknamed Owl without a vowel Bill Mlkvy.   There are plenty of others that will be competing for minutes back here as Temple seems to find wings and guards growing on trees around Philly.  Senior John Baum is however the only real returning post and he is bit overmatched at times physically and is not a great defender which will get you in the mercurial Chaney’s doghouse quickly.  That is a place you do not want to be I guarantee you.  Chaney has many more players to choose from up front and the challenge will be how does he distribute the minutes and can someone take over the post where guarding the rim is the prime mandate. 

The Scramble for Third

After those two there will be a scramble with almost everybody else being capable of being a top tier team in this league and thus getting a post season berth (the A-10 is usually either a two or three team league when it comes time to picking teams for the BD). 

Dayton has the most coming back with a veteran team led by senior forward Don May.  May is a gritty but undersized forward adept at corner shooting and his sidekick in crime up front, Sophomore Roosevelt Chapman, is a great post player but is also way undersized at six four.  Size could be the Achilles heel for Don Donoher’s Flyers except for the fact they have a gifted if unorthodox seven-footer in Hank (laces in) Finkel.  He does not look like he can walk and chew gum but Finkel can play and will platoon with almost as big Bill Uhl at center (both are seven foot plus) who looks like scary as hell (Frankenstein anyone?) and uses his wide shoulders well in the dungeons underneath.   There are some other big guys as well though some like Monk Meineke and John ‘the Vertical Hyphen’ Horan might be a bit too skinny for the trenches of the A-10 though neither will give an inch and both can board and bang (Meineke in particular does not mixing it up as he fouled out of 7 games last year and averaged only 22 minutes a game).  The back court is in solid hands with juniors Jim Paxson at the two and super quick Johnny Davis at the point.  These two have now played together for two years and complement each other perfectly.  Donoher does have depth everywhere but the guy who could be a difference maker for the Flyers might not get to play this year.  Senior Roger Brown has been suspended indefinitely for bogus gambling charges and is a long shot to play this year but if he does this master of the isolation the Flyers will become instant not just A-10 but national contenders.  The Raja is that good!  Pittsburgh is also represented in the A-10 and well as the Duquesne Dukes have a group of upperclassmen that could carry them out of the steel city to the BD.  Potential superstar Sihugo Green on the wing is the real deal.  A bit undersized (6’2) the explosive scorer can do it all and just needs some national exposure to get the attention Gola gets up in Philly.  That, my friends, is the difference between a football and a basketball town.  Dick Ricketts is another solid senior who can do a bit of everything at the forward spot though some say basketball is just his second-best sport (the 6’7 lefty can flat fling it off the mound).  Undersized fellow seniors Chuck Cooper and Jim Tucker will be tested in the post but the 6’5 studs have grit and are not afraid mixing it up in the key.  Guard Willie Somerset is another senior can score and dish but coach Dudey Moore has moved him to the two guard to take advantage of a young up and comer.  The kid that replaced him at the point is Magic.  Junior Norm Nixon could be the quickest guy on the east coast and will lead this team which promises to compete in this league if they get a bit of help from their recruits coming in.  Love to see Green match up with a player like Magic Johnson to show he belongs at that elite level but I will tell you the country might not know who he is but the pro scouts are salivating to get him at the next level! 

The Hokies of Virginia Tech will rely on great shooting and veterans under Charlie Moir to compete.  The gypsies are not looking to stay long here as they have made it clear they are trying to work their way up the current and get to the promised-land of the ACC to be with their Virginia brethren.  Glen ‘the Kentucky Rifle’ Combs, Dell Curry and Bimbo Coles can flat shoot and if they get solid post game down low from Chris Smith, Allan Bristow (who can also let it fly) and company they could surprise.  The most dominant player in the Big East resides in Northwest New York.  Big Bob Lanier for St. Bonaventure is a six foot eleven man child who dominates the paint like no one in this league.  With an assortment of sweeping left-handed hooks and a solid mid-range jump shot plus brute force on size 19 sneakers Lanier will be playing at the next level soon but for now his goal is to take his Bonnies to the BD.  He has a solid supporting cast especially at forward where no more than six guys can and will play including fellow senior stud Tom Stith but the problem is the back court and unless they improve there the Bonnies are destined for the second division of this league no matter how good Lanier is.  And he is that good! 

Rhode Island has a great history and their senior class has achieved much but no other program in the country has fallen behind the evolution of the game as much as the Rams.  Legends Stan Stutz, Ernie Calverley, Steve Chubin and Art Stephenson are gifted players but nowhere near the modern players who dominate the sport.  Undersized and nowhere near athletic enough, the Rams have been passed by.  Though they will score often, their only chance of competing at this level is an infusion of younger, more athletic talent.  Legendary Coach Frank Keaney, who implemented their fast break style which became the rage a few years back, had a good recruiting class with his sophomores and supposedly had a great group coming in including a troubled stud from Queens who initially was going to join the Runnin’ Rebels in Vegas but got caught up in some trouble (at UNLV no way) and headed this way.  If he is half as good as he is supposed to be this team has a chance but it’s just as likely he misses half of the year going to brothels but at least he has got that going for him.  The last of the Philadelphia threesome is in a similar position as the Rams as they have done well in the past but the upperclassmen are not up to snuff in this talented of league.  The senior studs that have carried this program to their success are not past their prime, but more so just getting passed by with more athletic and much bigger players.  Leading the way is superstar and high scoring senior George Senesky.  This 6’2 kid can do it all on the court as he can flat score when he wants to but has become more of a facilitator as his teammates have improved around him.  Don’t get me wrong George will still fire it up as he averaged over 20 a game again last year but he might be the most complete player in the league and that includes his long-time Philly rival Gola.  Fellow Seniors including George’s brother Paul (no these are not the Moptops), Matty Guokas, Cliff Anderson and junior Mike Bantom, the nucleus of this program for so many years, are not going to be able to compete at this level every night.  Coach Jack Ramsey has a plan and is bringing in some new blood in a move to make this program better and much more athletic.  The key to this season is if these new guys blend with the old guys and the Hawks can play the same style of basketball that has succeeded in the past.  That is a big if? 

The Xavier Musketeers are another program trying to reload and bring their talent level up to snuff in the tough A-10.  New Coach Pete Gillen has brought in a slew of new kids to try to get this Cincinnati based team into the elite group of the A-10.  The Muskies do have some talent returning such as senior stud two guard Steve Thomas and sophomore Byron Larkin.  Problem is these two, who are arguably the best players on the team, play the same position and neither is moving to point guard which is a big need here.  Gillen will play a three-guard set like many programs do at the lower levels but to compete here that must change as wing play is where basketball is at and Gillen has got some studs ready to step in there.  The Muskies do have some size with some workmanlike big men including seniors Dave Piontek, Luther Rackley and Bob Pelkinton but the future is players like Tyrone Hill who brings toughness and a bit more size which relates to great defense and rebounding down low.  Rumors have it that Gillen has some even better players coming down the pike in a ballyhooed freshman class.  The Musketeers are tired of being second fiddle ala St. Joe’s (who just might be fifth in Philly) and want to show the world they are every bit as good as the powerhouse Bearkats from the Queen City and their matchup in game three is must watch since there is no love lost here.  Of course, until they find a player who can match up with the Big O in talent the Musketeers know they will be the afterthought in the city ruled by the Communists er Reds! 

Speaking of unworldly talent the Minutemen of UMASS have at least one player that can stand (and some say fly) with anyone in the country (or the Universe for that matter).  Julius Erving (he’s got a name so cool he doesn’t even need a nickname) is a six foot six forward who has honed his skills at Rucker Park in Harlem has developed the reputation as a kid who can flat jump to the moon and can finish around the basket with anyone who has ever played this game.  The problem is playing for a program that has been down and out for so long he has been required to do things a wing player should not be doing such as banging with the big boys in the paint.  Erving, still only a junior, is so good he has done well here even averaging a double/double in points and boards but it has not led to much success nor notoriety.  Coach Jack Leaman has a two step plan this year to fix this.  First and foremost is to bring in not just more talent but some size underneath to complement Erving and allow him to be the full court player he should be.  Bringing in an almost seven foot shot blocking and rebounder supreme from Connecticut named Marcus Camby fits that bill and that kid will start right away.  Second, to get this team some national attention and with Erving around it seemed every program with a great wing that could fly wanted to play UMASS.  A hugely important part of program building is making the schedule that gets your team in the ‘spotlight’ and the Minutemen have achieved that as they have games with potentially Indiana State and the much more hyped Larry Bird or San Francisco and the great Bill Russell, Memphis State, NC State (David Thompson versus Erving is a must see) and Georgia with Dominique ‘the human highlight film’ Wilkins and that does not even include the first game with Florida State in their own Beantown tourney at the ‘Garden’ to open the season.  It really helps if you win some of those games and unless the Minutemen’s freshman class has a pair of guards that are much better than what they have on their roster right now that is going to be a difficult task.  But one thing is for sure the country will know the name Julius Erving and how great of an individual talent he is by the end of the season! 

Newbies Fordham have had much success as an Indy and in lower leagues but Coach John Bach’s team is in for a rude awakening in the A-10.  Their best player in the Bronx is power forward Ed Conlin who is a good all-around player but is nowhere near the talent level of an Erving or Gola and that seems to be the case for the rest of the roster, an experienced but old school brand of players.  Charles Yelverton, Ken Charles, Jim Cunningham and the aforementioned Conlin are legends on the Hill but might not be quite up to snuff in their new neighborhood.  George Washington is the opposite in that they are one of the original members when this conference came into being (along with UMASS and Duquesne) and though they have had moments of glory they have never been able to seriously compete for league titles.  This year is no different.  Don’t get me wrong the Colonels have always competed and will again this year but Coach Bill Reinhart is trying to change things quickly around especially upgrading the talent base but that will take time.  The upperclassmen including rebounding machine Joe Holup will be challenged for playing time and Jarvis will almost forsuredly will lean towards the new guys he has recruited.  The one thing the Colonels do have is some size as there are some seven footers (or near seven foot) upperclassmen who will challenge for minutes but none of these guys are even close to Lanier in talent.  Sophomore Mike Brown might be the best of the bunch but like most of these GW players are more workmanlike then superstar.  Reinhart wants to change that and get some kids who can play his vaunted fast break style which he has morphed into his own style from Keaney’s lead.  The Coach implemented his style out in Eugene teaching Ducks to run and like his time in the PAC-10 he has went out of the box and recruited foreign born players and some kids you might not think were ready for the big time.  Reinhart has a plan to build a program and if he has to take some kids off the streets of DC to run his system, he will do that too.  The future is not now in the Nation’s capital but it could be if Reinhart has his way and these new, extremely raw talents produce.  

The A-10 might not be the Big East but this conference has plenty of talent and with an ongoing influx of new programs looking to move up the food chain this league will continue to thrive.  Due to its competitive balance this league does not get its due or national recognition but it has ‘12’ programs that will battle with not only themselves but anyone else for the college basketball supremacy.  Up and down this league these teams can compete with any other league on a given night and if the games are in Philly (which the first two rounds are this year in the historical Palestra) then I wouldn’t bet against them, especially when your top two teams are the cornerstones of the Big 5 in the City of Brotherly Love and that does not include the hugely popular Hawks from St. Joe’s who are not exactly minced meat.