McGlade has had a front-row seat for all of it and thinks the A-10 is set up well to compete under her successor, whoever that may be, in the years to come.
“There’s been a very public commitment from all of our institutions that they are going to step up at whatever level it takes for them to be able to remain nationally relevant,“ McGlade said, ”and I think that’s what it takes. You have to have the commitment institutionally, not only from a staffing standpoint, but the ability to have the infrastructure and the financial backing and the ability to be able to schedule nationally, to recruit, and then to be able to provide your student athletes with the opportunities through NIL that every student athlete, quite frankly, is looking for today. So I feel like it’s tremendously positive."
Conference play starts Tuesday with one game: Davidson at Duquesne. The other 12 A-10 teams play their first league games Wednesday. The Dayton Flyers (9-4) open with Fordham (9-4) at 2 p.m. on New Year’s Eve at UD Arena.
Every A-10 will play 18 league games in a 10-week stretch after 13 non-conference games.
According to KenPom.com, Saint Louis is the favorite. It’s predicted to finish 14-4. Virginia Commonwealth, the favorite in the preseason poll in October, is predicted to finish 13-5. Dayton is predicted to finish third with a 12-6 mark, the same record it has posted in two of the last three seasons.
Before moving into A-10 play, here’s a breakdown of how the A-10 performed in the non-conference season.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Best team: Saint Louis (12-1) is the highest-ranked A-10 team in the NCAA Evaluation Tool and the Ken Pomeroy ratings at No. 26. No other team is in the top 50.
The Billikens have two victories against teams that rank in the top 100 of the NET: 78-64 at home against No. 97 Grand Canyon on Nov. 15; and 71-70 on a neutral court against No. 89 Santa Clara on Nov. 27.
Saint Louis would be undefeated if not for a 78-77 loss to No. 76 Stanford on Nov. 28. Stanford won the game after missing a free throw with four seconds remaining, getting the rebound and then making a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Most improved team: Saint Louis also wins this category. It finished 7-6 in non-conference play last season in coach Josh Schertz’s first season.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Most disappointing team: Loyola Chicago (4-9) lost seven games in a row after beating Cleveland State 91-88 on a 3-pointer at the buzzer in its opener. Loyola did show signs of life in its last non-conference game, beating No. 89 Santa Clara 80-78 on Dec. 20.
Best resume: Saint Louis didn’t play a strong non-conference schedule — it ranks 320th in the country — but it dominated most of the teams on its schedule. It ranks third in the nation in scoring margin (plus 27.0) thanks in part to a 114-33 victory against Principia, a Division III program, on Sunday. It was the largest blowout in school history.
Saint Louis leads the A-10 in strength of resume (No. 43 in the country, according to ESPN) and in the wins-above-bubble stat (plus 1.0, according to BartTorvik.com). Only George Mason (plus 0.40) and St. Bonaventure (plus 0.20) have positive WAB numbers. Dayton (minus 0.9) has the sixth-best mark.
George Mason (12-1) matched the Saint Louis win total in non-conference play but also played a low-ranked schedule (No. 348).
Top scorer: George Mason junior Kory Mincy, a 6-foot-5 guard, leads the A-10 in points per game (18.1). He played the last two seasons at Presbyterian.
Best shooters: Richmond guard David Thomas, a 6-2 junior, leads the A-10 in 3-point shooting percentage (14 of 28, 50%). He played his first two seasons at Mercer and DePaul.
Top rebounder: St. Bonaventure’s Frank Mitchell, a 6-8, fifth-year forward, ranks fourth in the country in rebounds per game (11.4).
Assists leader: Fordham guard Christian Henry, a 6-3 senior who played at Eastern Michigan last season, averages 5.5 assists per game.
.Best true freshmen: Two true freshmen have scoring averages above 10.0 points per game: Aiden Argabright, a 5-11 guard at Richmond (10.6); and Nyk Lewis, a 6-1 guard at VCU (10.1).
Best 3-point shooting team: Davidson ranks 36th in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (106 of 280, 37.9%).
Most prolific 3-point shooting team: VCU ranks 39th in the country in 3-pointers made per game (10.5). It shoots 37.7%.
Best victories: The top five A-10 teams in the NCAA Evaluation Tool are 0-7 in Quadrant 1 games: No. 27 Saint Louis (0-0); No. 59 VCU (0-3); No. 75 George Mason (0-1); No. 80 George Washington (0-2); and No. 90 Dayton (0-2).
Two A-10 teams have Quad 1 victories:
• No. 106 Rhode Island won 86-77 at No. 49 Yale on Nov. 18.
• No. 91 Richmond won 84-76 at No. 50 Belmont on Dec. 3.
The league is 2-17 in Quad 1 games overall.
Credit: David Jablonski
Highest-profile victories: Dayton beat two Big East teams (Marquette and Georgetown) and one Atlantic Coast Conference team (Florida State). The rest of the conference was 2-11 against the five highest-ranked conferences: the Big East; ACC; Big Ten; Big 12; and SEC.
Worst losses: Fordham lost 72-61 at home to the New Jersey Institute of Technology in its opener Nov. 4. NJIT (4-9) is No. 343 in the NET.
Fordham also lost 70-69 at home to No. 312 Holy Cross on Dec. 6.
Loyola lost 84-75 at home to No. 315 Chicago State (2-11) on Dec. 14.
Biggest roster news: Saint Joseph’s announced that leading scorer Deuce Jones II was “no longer a member of the team” on Dec. 23. Jones, a sophomore guard, led the Hawks in scoring (15.8) through 10 games.
Jones played his freshman season at La Salle and was named the A-10 Rookie of the Year last season.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Best job by a new coach: VCU, the A-10 preseason favorite, is 9-4 in Phil Martelli Jr.’s first season.
The results have been mixed for the Rams. They lost to the three-highest ranked teams on their schedule: Vanderbilt, No. 8 in the NET; No. 18 Utah State; and No. 31 North Carolina State. Their best victories are against No. 62 Virginia Tech and No. 65 South Florida. Their worst loss came at home on Dec. 10, 81-78 to No. 57 New Mexico.
The other first-year coaches are: Fordham’s Mike Magpayo (9-4); La Salle’s Darris Nichols (4-9); and Saint Joseph’s Steve Donahue (7-5).
NEXT GAME
Who: Fordham at Dayton
When: 2 p.m., Dec. 31
TV: Spectrum News 1
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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