“If you’re picked at the top,” then Dayton coach Archie Miller said in 2016, “to me you have to have a sense of pride and feel good about that because there’s some people who really know what’s going on within our league who feel we’re pretty good.”
Entering the 2025-26 season, the people who know the league well know less than ever. Roster turnover has made preseason predictions as accurate as half-court shots.
Dayton, for example, has eight newcomers among its 12 scholarship players. Most of the teams in the league, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary Tuesday and throughout the 2025-26 season, have similar rosters.
Here’s a breakdown of what fans should know about the A-10:
Likely favorite: Despite the uncertainty surrounding rosters in the age of the transfer portal, voters picked the correct champion last year, naming Virginia Commonwealth the preseason favorite.
VCU likely will be the preseason favorite again this year, even though it lost its top five scorers and has a new coach, Phil Martelli Jr., and many new faces. VCU is the easy choice because it is the most consistent A-10 program. The Rams keep winning — no matter who coaches them.
Over the last 19 seasons, VCU has not missed the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons. Martelli is the sixth coach VCU has had in that span.
Most improved team: George Washington was picked to finish third in the A-10 behind Saint Louis and VCU by the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. That would be a big jump for a program that has not finished in the top four in the last 11 seasons.
George Washington returns three of its top five scorers, including senior forward Rafael Castro (14.0 points per game).
Team that could surprise: Rhode Island made small improvements in each of coach Archie Miller’s first three seasons. It finished 5-13, 6-12 and then 7-11 in the A-10 in that stretch.
Miller’s fourth team has eight new transfers, including two guards who were double-digit scorers last season: Myles Corey (South Alabama); and RJ Johnson (Charleston Southern).
Team facing most adversity: Saint Joseph’s lost coach Billy Lange in mid-September. He took a job with the New York Knicks. The Hawks turned to associate head coach Steve Donahue, a former head coach at Cornell, Boston College and Pennsylvania.
Team most likely to finish last: Two seasons after finishing fourth, Fordham slipped to last place this past season. That’s where it has finished eight times in the last 15 seasons.
Fordham fired the 2023 A-10 Coach of the Year, Keith Urgo, and replaced him with Mike Magpayo who was 89-63 the last five seasons at UC Riverside.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Top returning big man: Saint Louis forward Robbie Avila ranked seventh in the A-10 in scoring during league play (17.2) as a junior.
Top returning guard: Deuce Jones II averaged 12.5 points as a freshman at La Salle, winning the A-10 Rookie of the Year Award, and then transferred across town to Saint Joseph’s.
Top returning shooter: Cam Crawford, a fifth-year guard at Duquesne, led the A-10 in 3-point field goal percentage last season (43.1, 44 of 102).
Top new transfers: Dayton forward Keonte Jones ranked 57th on On3.com’s list of the top 2025 transfers. He averaged 13.1 points last season at Cal State Northridge.
• Tyrell Ward, a 6-6 forward, averaged 9.1 points two seasons ago at LSU. He redshirted last season for mental health reasons. Now he’s a junior at VCU, which added seven transfers. Ward was the No. 23 recruit in the class of 2022, according to Rivals.com.
• Martelli also brought two of his best players from Bryant to VCU: 6-8 senior forward Barry Evans (13.3 points per game); and 6-11 junior forward Keyshawn Mitchell (8.5).
• Davidson added Penn transfer Sam Brown, a 6-3 guard who averaged 13.9 points last season as a sophomore, and Army transfer Josh Scovens, a 6-4 forward who averaged 15.2 points as a sophomore.
• George Mason’s top-scoring transfer is Jermahri Hill, a 6-5 guard who averaged 15.8 points as a junior at Ball State.
• Jean Aranguren, a 6-3 junior, transferred to George Washington after averaging 14.2 points at Hofstra.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Top transfer class: Dayton led the way, according to 247Sports.com with six commits, including two four-star recruits (De’Shayne Montgomery and Jones).
Best freshman: VCU’s Nyk Lewis, a 6-1 guard, ranked 56th in the class of 2025, according to 247Sports.com. No other program had a top-100 recruit.
Top players returning from injury: George Washington forward Garrett Johnson was a four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week two seasons ago but missed last season with an ACL tear.
• St. Bonaventure senior Dasonte Bowen averaged 11.1 points in 10 games last season before suffering a season-ending foot injury.
• Duquesne guard Jake DiMichele averaged 10.9 points in seven games as a sophomore last season before suffering a season-ending injury.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Longest-tenured A-10 players: Dayton has two players who have been with the program three seasons: senior guard Javon Bennett; and redshirt sophomore forward Jaiun Simon. That’s typical of rosters throughout the A-10.
Jalen Crutcher, a 2021 UD graduate, was the last Flyer to start and finish his career at Dayton while playing the traditional four seasons.
VCU has one player who fits into that category this season: 6-10 senior center Christian Fermin, who averaged 4.2 points over the last three seasons.
Duquesne also has a rare senior who will start and end his career with the program: 6-9 forward David Dixon, who has averaged 5.9 points in his career.
Biggest fan news: Jean Dolores Schmidt, the famed Loyola Chicago fans known as “Sister Jean,” retired earlier this month as a campus minister and chaplain of the men’s basketball team. She turned 106 in August.
“While Sister Jean is no longer able to be physically present on campus, she remains a beloved friend, trusted advisor, and loyal Rambler,” Loyola President Mark C. Reed wrote on social media after her retirement.
About the Author
