Reacting to the Preseason Poll: Part III

The last two days we’ve taken a look at the teams ranked 1-10 in the A10 Preseason Poll and made a case for and against each team. Today we finish with the final five in the preseason poll: Richmond, Davidson, UMass, Rhode Island, and La Salle.

Richmond:

After a stellar 2021/22 season that saw them get hot late, win the A10 Tournament, and then upset Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Tournament the Spiders had a rebuilding season in 2022/23. It appears that the Spiders are headed for another rebuilding season in 2023/24.

There are definitely reasons to feel optimistic if you’re a Richmond fan. First off, Head Coach Chris Mooney has returned to his post after having to undergo heart surgery at the end of last season. Having the longtime head coach back and healthy on the sidelines should be a welcome sight not only for Richmond fans but everyone around the A10. Secondly, Richmond returns a few standout players and adds a few as well. The big returner, both literally and figuratively, is 7’0 260 lb senior center Neal Quinn. Quinn averaged 9.5/5/3 last season after transferring from Lafayette and is a perfect fit in Mooney’s Princeton Offense. Don’t be surprised if Quinn has a really good season as he’ll have an increased role and should be more comfortable in Richmond’s complex offense after a full season of experience in it. Centers also have a way of breaking out in college in their later seasons and Quinn is entering his 5th, so that’s something to keep an eye on as well. Other noteworthy returners include Junior wing and 3-point sharpshooter Jason Roche and exciting Graduate wing Isaiah Bigelow, who was known for multiple astounding flashes of talent. If Bigelow can turn those flashes into consistent success, watch out.

Richmond also went into the portal and came out with Tyler Harris, Jordan King, and Delonnie Hunt. Tyler Harris is a 5th year Graduate Guard who transferred from Western Carolina where he was a role player. King, a 5th year Graduate guard who transferred from ETSU (after starting at Siena), has averaged 15/3/3 over his past 3 seasons and shot 37% from 3 on almost 7 attempts per game, and made all-conference teams in both the MAAC and SoCon. Delonnie Hunt is more of the same, as he’s a 4th year senior who’s averaged 10/3/3 for his career, was the 2020/21 NEC ROY, and made an all-NEC team last season. Adding 2 all-conference guards who have each started at least 60 games in their career is an incredibly impressive haul for Richmond and should give Spiders fans some real hope going into next season. King’s efficient and volume-heavy 3-point shooting is also really intriguing additions to an offense that creates a lot of good looks from beyond the arc.

Unfortunately there are reasons to be pessimistic as well. Richmond finished just 14-17 last season, 11th in the A10, and 150th in KenPom (a pretty respectable number considering how awful the A10 was). From that team they lose their undisputed best player and star Tyler Burton, standout freshman point guard Jason Nelson, and key role players including Matt Grace and Andre Gustavson. Burton in particular will be hard to replace as he averaged 19 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, both which led the team (no one else averaged more than Quinn’s 9.5/game), and he was Mooney’s best defender. Nelson was also a very exciting player with a lot of potential and losing him to VCU only adds injury to insult. Overall Richmond has a lot of unknowns outside their top 5 and will be relying on a lot of young and inexperienced players to make instant impacts.

Davidson

Similar to Richmond, Davidson followed up a stellar 2021/22 season with a rebuilding one. This was expected as the reigning A10 Regular Season Champions lost not only Bob McKillop, their legendary Head Coach who had patrolled the sidelines since 1989, but also an assistant coach and 8 scholarship players (including reigning A10 POY Luka Brajkovic). As with Richmond, Davidson again appears about to embark on another rebuilding season.

We are going to do a deeper dive on the reasons Davidson fans should feel optimistic but for now the primary hope for a better season revolves around Matt McKillop and his staff recommitting to the skills and fundamentals that have made Davidson a perpetual winner in the past. Over the course of the offseason (and in January) Davidson added 6 recruits and transfers. 4 of these players are considered above average to elite 3-point shooters, and all 6 are expected to improve the team defensively and on the boards. Rebounding and 3-point shooting in particular are areas where Davidson typically excels but struggled mightily last season. With the current roster though, Davidson will once again be able to put 4 and sometimes 5 plus 3 point shooters out on the floor at once again and should have the beef down low to capture rebounds and limit opponent’s second chances.

There’s also a hope that with Brizzi and Huffman, both long, athletic, and physical guards, the backcourt defense will make strides forward as well. Davidson will also need some breakouts from guys on the roster, Reed Bailey and Sean Logan in particular, to shore up the low post defense which was abysmal last season. Luckily the word out of Davidson, North Carolina has been positive so far. Ultimately, early returns from those around the program is that the pieces fit much better than they did last season and that this team should look a lot more like what Davidson and A10 fans are used to from the red and black.

The flipside of all of this is that the Cats finished just 16-16 (Davidson's worst season in over 2 decades) and lose 3 of their 4 best players: Foster Loyer, Sam Mennenga, and Des Watson. Ultimately, the pieces may fit better but there is a very valid argument that the overall talent level of the team has decreased. Whether or not Davidson outperforms expectations will depend on whether the guys have the skill to run the patented McKillop offense more effectively this season and if the team can get the breakouts from guys like Angelo Brizzi and Reed Bailey that it desperately needs.

UMass

UMass had a wild season in 2021/22. They started off on fire, going 7-1 and winning the Myrtle Beach Invitational but then things went downhill fast. Their Head Coach Frank Martin threatened to fight critical fans and actually fought with fans on twitter, subtweeted his players on twitter, and had some odd, angry press conferences. Then the injuries started to pile up as well and a 7-1 start gave way to an 8-15 finish, 13th place in the A10, and an embarrassing 38-71 pillow fight loss to Richmond in the A10 Tournament.

The main reasons for optimism in Amherst center around the talent Frank Martin has been able to reel in. Not only does he have 6’7 Junior Forward Matt Cross returning, he also landed 6’10 Center Josh Cohen in the transfer portal. Cohen was ranked among the best transfers in all of college basketball and should form a deadly duo with the sweet-shooting Cross as both players are clear all-A10 type talents. On top of those two, Martin also landed 6’0 PG Jaylen Curry and 6’6 SF Robert Davis out of high school. Both players have been lauded so far and many UMass loyalists think they could have immediate impacts as freshman. Rahsool Diggins can’t be forgotten either, as the talented transfer from UConn spent last season getting his feet wet but should be poised for a lot more production this season.

Finally, Martin is also a good, experienced head coach. It may not seem like it to many after what happened last season, but he’s made a final four and won over 300 games in his career (most coming at the Power 5 level). If he can achieve some sort of soft reset with the fanbase and stop tweeting, he would be viewed in a much more positive light than he is currently.

The main reason for pessimism comes from the fact that the UMass program has felt very messy for a while now. Of course there was Martin’s behavior last season that rubbed many fans and analysts the wrong way, but UMass also lost a lot of talent from last year’s roster which only contributes to the program’s seeming instability. In fact, star point guard and leader Noah Fernandes left, All-A10 Freshman (and UMass’s best player over the course of the season) RJ Luis left, and highly touted 4-star Tafara Gapare left as well. With everything that’s gone on as of late, many are questioning if Martin is the guy to reverse the Flagship’s torturous recent history that has seen them fail to win 20 games in any of its last 10 seasons, 8 of which have resulted in sub .500 records.

Rhode Island

Archie Miller made his return to the A10 after 4 disappointing seasons in Bloomington, Indiana and Rhode Island fans hoped that he would be able to quickly recreate the level of success he had at Dayton. Instead things never really got going as one of his key transfer pickups, Anthony Harris from UNC, was declared ineligible and never played a minute for the Rams while another, Brayon Freeman from GW, left the program midseason. Ultimately, Miller’s first season in Kingston was a disappointment and finished 9-22 and second to last in the A10.

It’s clear though that Miller won’t accept the level of losing he and his Rams endured last season and he went to work on changing his roster, adding 9 players both from high school recruiting, the transfer portal, overseas, and the JUCO ranks. The biggest transfer pickups were Jaden House, a senior guard from High Point who averaged 17/4/2 last season, and Zek Montgomery, a 6’6 guard from Bradley who averaged 8 & 3 on 42.2% shooting from 3. The hope is that House will be able to finetune his game under Miller and make his scoring a bit more efficient, while Montgomery looks primed for a breakout season. Luis Kortright, who put up 10/4/4 at Quinnipiac last season, and foreign recruit David Fuchs are notable pickups as well. Miller did a good job recruiting high school players too, as true freshmen Connor Dubsky and Cam Estevez come in with some acclaim. There is hope that this influx of talent and overhaul of the roster will let Miller start fresh and concoct a better, more successful mix for this upcoming season.

Pessimism for Rhode Island comes mainly from the fact that Rhode Island loses its best players from last season, including Ishmael Leggett, and were already starting from a low point, finishing 255th in KenPom. Additionally, there are questions about how Rhode Island’s transfers, in particular House and Luis Kortright, will handle moving from small-major conferences to a mid-major conference after both struggled with efficiency at their previous stops (House shot just 43% from the field last season while Kortright was at 39%). House did finish nearly 50% of his shots from 2-point range though, so the task may be as simple as getting him to shoot less 3s. Rhode Island’s other additions will also be asked to step up big time in competition level as two arrive from JUCO schools and one from Louisiana Tech. It would not be a surprise if this season is more of Miller setting a foundation for the future rather than competing at the top of the league. Still, many are pointing to Miller’s past record as a very valid reason why they believe in these Rams.

La Salle

La Salle received a lot of flak for hiring Fran Dunphy last offseason, mostly due to his age, but the man can flat out coach and he made the Explorers a lot better last season, improving their win total by 4 games and making them much more competitive. Coupled with the newly announced renovations for Tom Gola Arena worth tens of millions of dollars and La Salle fans have a reason to be optimistic for seemingly the first time in a long time.

The main reason for optimism in Philly is Fran Dunphy. The guy can absolutely coach and his record shows it, as he’s won almost 600 games in career (at a 63.4% clip too). If there is any talent or ability in this roster Dunphy will find a way to maximize it. Fortunately for him he does have some talent as well! La Salle returns 2 of its 3 best players, guards Khalil Brantley and Jhamir Brickus as well as some more role players too, including Daeshon Shepherd, Rokas Jocius, and Anwar Gill. Jocius in particular is a player that A10 twitter loves and has its eye on for a possible breakout campaign this season. Teaming up with the returning players most notably is Swedish import Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi. Tunde is an extremely talented 6’8 forward who averaged almost 20 points per game at the 2022 FIBA European Championship. Tunde is also a productive member of Sweden’s U20 National Team. It’s fair to question just how much he will be able to contribute immediately as a freshman, but he’s an exceptionally talented scorer with all the physical tools to be really, really good in the A10.

La Salle was not immune to losses over the offseason though, as their second-best player, Josh Nickelberry, and key rotation players, the Drame twins, departed. La Salle will need unproven players to step up and replace those experienced players in the rotation. There are also many who think that La Salle and Dunphy need more time to build its talent base in order to be able to compete in the A10. At the end of the day, Dunphy will have his hands full trying to guide La Salle to their first season over .500 since 2014/15.