Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket prediction on ESPN.com includes one A-10 team, Davidson, as the automatic qualifier in late December, and only one A-10 team, St. Bonaventure, listed among the teams close to the bubble.
With A-10 play beginning Thursday with two games — five were cancelled for COVID-19 reasons — here’s a review of how the A-10 did in non-conference play:
Best team: Davidson leads A-10 teams in the NCAA Evaluation Tool with a No. 44 ranking. It owns one of the league’s best victories, against Alabama, which ranked 10th in the Associated Press poll and now ranks 23rd in the NET. It lost to the two other highest-ranked teams on its schedule: No. 33 San Francisco and No. 82 New Mexico State.
Most improved team: Rhode Island, which finished 10-15 last season when it was 3-4 in non-conference play, finished 8-3 in non-conference play. The Rams had the second-best field-goal percentage defense (62.4) in the conference behind Virginia Commonwealth (56.7).
Most disappointing team: St. Bonaventure (8-3), the defending A-10 champion and preseason favorite, started the season ranked 23rd in the Associated Press top-25 poll and climbed to No. 16 in Week 3 before dropping out with a 90-80 loss at home to Northern Iowa. The Bonnies have four top-100 victories against Boise State, Clemson, Marquette and Buffalo but ended non-conference play with losses to Connecticut and Virginia Tech. St. Bonaventure lost its top player, Kyle Lofton, for three games, including the Connecticut loss, because of an ankle injury.
Top scorer: Richmond junior forward Tyler Burton leas the A-10 in scoring with 18.8 points per game. He averaged 12.0 points last season.
Top rebounder: Fordham’s Chuba Ohams, a sixth-year player who played in one game last season after suffering a knee injury in the 2019-20 season, averaged 11.3 rebounds in the first 12 games.
Top point guard: Saint Louis junior Yuri Collins averaged a league-best 7.9 assists in the first six weeks.
Best defender: Richmond fifth-year senior Jacob Gilyard set the NCAA career record for assists in December. He averages a league-best 3.4. He has 402 steals in his career.
Best true freshman: Dayton point guard Malachi Smith won three rookie of the week awards in a four-week stretch. He averaged 10.0 points per game in the first 13 games and ranked fifth in the A-10 in assists per game (4.7) and third in steals (2.0). He had the best offensive ratings (117.9), according to KenPom.com, of any true freshman in the conference.
Most improved player: George Mason forward Josh Oduro averaged 17.4 points in the first 12 games after averaging 10.0 points in 22 games last season.
Best transfer: Foster Loyer, who played the last three seasons at Michigan State, led Davidson with 52.2 percent shooting (35 of 67) and delivered the best single-game performance in the A-10 with 35 points against Northeastern on Dec. 12. It was one of five 30-point performances in the league. He averages 15.4 points.
Best victory: Dayton beat No. 4 Kansas 74-73 on a last-second shot by Mustapha Amzil on Nov. 26 in the semifinals of the ESPN Events Invitational. It was one of the league’s three victories against ranked opponents. Davidson beat No. 10 Alabama 79-78, and George Mason beat No. 20 Maryland 71-66 on Nov. 17. Kansas ranks seventh in the NET.
Worst loss: Fordham lost 75-73 in double overtime to No. 341 Maryland Eastern Shore on Nov. 19.
Best shooting team: Davidson led the league with 42.4 percent shooting from 3-point range.
Best rebounding team: Saint Louis had a rebounding margin of 7.4. Oregon transfer Francis Okoro led the Billikens with 6.8 rebounds per game.
Worst injury: Saint Louis lost fifth-year senior Javonte Perkins, one of the top returning players in the conference, to a season-ending knee injury in an exhibition game in October.
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