coreyschucky
11-08-2004, 01:34 PM
From CBSSPORTSLINE.COM
Atlantic 10 Conference preview
By Tony Mejia
SportsLine.com Staff Writer
Stock Chart
Team Stock
East
1. Saint Joseph's
2. Massachusetts
3. Temple
4. Rhode Island
5. St. Bonaventure
6. Fordham
West
1. Xavier
2. George Washington
3. Dayton
4. Richmond
5. Duquesne
6. LaSalle
The publicity Saint Joseph's gained for the A-10 with last year's dream season hadn't been felt since the days when UMass and Temple went at it hard on the court and in press conferences.
Saint Joseph's will benefit if defensive ace Dwayne Jones can increase his production on offense.(Getty Images)
Xavier made it a 1-2 punch with their impressive trek through the NCAAs, reaching the Elite Eight and nearly taking out Duke.
What are we to expect for an encore? A big fat dose of "wait until next year?"
The Hawks and Musketeers will still be pretty good. In fact, they're our favorites in their divisions, but until Charlotte and Saint Louis join the fray and give the conference a couple more heavyweights, the conference will slip back to territory where the line blurs between major and mid-major.
Such is life in a league where there are no blue-chippers-in-waiting eager to help replace a Jameer Nelson. Or a Delonte West. Or even a Lionel Chalmers. In an ACC or Big East, new memory-makers seemingly grow on trees. Here, the accomplishments of those three reached legendary status.
Sometimes, legends are never replaced.
EAST DIVISION
Saint Joseph's
Top three: C Dwayne Jones, SG Pat Carroll, PG Dwayne Lee.
On the decline: Phil Martelli knew he'd be losing Nelson, as irreplaceable a player as there has ever been in this league, but the loss of West came as a mild surprise. The lefty, projected to help handle some of the point-guard duties, also drew professional interest and became a first-round pick of the Boston Celtics, going just a few selections after his more accomplished college teammate.
Lee, Nelson's little-used backup the past two seasons, will get first crack at running the offense, although freshman Abdulai Jalloh, Martelli's top recruit, is also a possibility. Carroll and Chet Stachitas, who feasted on open 3-pointers because of Nelson's penetration, will be called on to man the wings.
Inside, Jones will be the guy, as the Hawks hope the 6-11 junior can come into his own and complement his strong rebounding and shot-blocking with some offense. Pat Calathes, a 6-9 wing with point guard skills, offers an interesting variable.
The Hawks became Philly's team last season. As unfair as it may seem, they'll need to keep winning to continue to be embraced as the city's program and not be written off as a one-year wonder.
Massachusetts
Top three: C/F Rashaun Freeman, PG Anthony Anderson, SG Art Bowers.
On the rise: Steve Lappas hasn't had much success since arriving in Amherst, and time is running out for him to get things turned around. If there's a year for him to get it done, this would be it. The East is wide open and he has all five starters back.
The key is Freeman, the A-10's reigning top rookie, who might just be the best post player in the conference. He's a bull inside and should be better rested thanks to the arrival of a host of newcomers who figure to improve the team's depth down low.
Another asset is senior lead guard Anderson, who has been Lappas' floor general from the moment he stepped on campus. He figures to have more capable help as well, with wings Bowers and Maurice Maxwell becoming sophomores. Maxwell has a potential assault and battery charge hanging over his head for an off-campus incident in late October.
Temple
Top three: PG Mardy Collins, G/F Dustin Salisbery, C Keith Butler.
On the decline: For the past few seasons, Temple has become an afterthought, an institution featuring one-man shows (Lynn Greer, David Hawkins) that occasionally scares good teams and struggles to reach the NIT.
Out of respect for John Chaney, we wish we could say this year will be different, but odds are it won't be. Collins steps into the role of one-man show, and as if this Temple version of Groundhog Day is scripted, it looks like he'll be taking over at the point, too.
Around him, Chaney will play massive big men Butler and Wayne Marshall, giving him over 14 feet and 550 pounds of center. The arrival of freshmen Mark Tyndale and Chris Clark should help, and as in all years, the Owls will be better at season's end than they are at the beginning. But that will likely be because the level of competition will be lighter in league play. On the non-conference slate: Auburn, South Carolina, Duke, Maryland, Alabama and Wake Forest.
Rhode Island
Top three: SG Dawan Robinson, SF Scott Hazelton, PF Jamaal Wise.
On the decline: There has been a lot of news out of Kingston since the season ended, and none of it has been good.
Dustin Hellenga was dismissed because of academic problems. Leading scorer Robinson had foot surgery on Oct. 22 and will be out indefinitely. Wise, perhaps the most consistent forward on the roster, has a tibia stress fracture and is also out for an extended period of time.
Losing Robinson hurts the most, as he would've eased the transition of freshman Jon Lucky, who is expected to take over at the point. If he misses significant time, URI may start an all-freshman backcourt with Parfait Bitee moving into the lineup. Up front, Hazelton, a former UConn recruit who never panned out, is being tried at small forward and could flourish. With all the chaos facing Jim Baron's team, it's hard to envision the Rams duplicating last year's 20-victory season and NIT bid.
St. Bonaventure
Top three: G Ahmad Smith, F/G Patrick Lottin, F Michael Lee.
On the decline: Anthony Solomon will trot out nine scholarship players, four of them freshmen, for his second season with the probation-ridden program.
Marques Green, the school's all-time leader in points and assists, won't be one of them, having exhausted his eligibility. Making matters worse, Florida transfer Mario Boggan was booted from the team and leading returning scorer Lottin tore an ACL in the spring and will have to work his way back slowly.
The Bonnies will be best served giving freshmen Lee and Isiah Carson on-the-job training as they continue a lengthy rebuilding process.
Fordham
Top three: PG Derrick Breland, F/C Mushon Ya'akosi, G Jermaine Anderson.
On the decline: Fordham loses top scorers Michael Haynes and Mark Jarrell-Wright from a squad that struggled to a 6-22 mark in Dereck Whittenburg's first season as coach.
Whittenburg, being counted on to turn the Rams around as he did in his first coaching stop at Wagner, jettisoned a couple of other holdovers in the offseason and will build around his six-man recruiting class in what is sure to be a season filled with lots of growing pains.
WEST DIVISION
Xavier
Top three: PG Dedrick Finn, F Justin Doellman, F Brian Thornton.
On the rise: Will Xavier best last year's magical NCAA run? No, probably not. Are they going to miss Thad Matta, who took over at Ohio State? Sure. So how can the X-men be a team with brighter days ahead?
Simple. They have officially arrived as a national program.
When it first burst on the scene, it was guys like Tyrone Hill, Lenny Brown and Brian Grant that most identified Xavier with. Now, it's the uniform. Despite losing All-American David West, Lionel Chalmers and Romain Sato over the past two seasons, the Musketeers keep reloading.
New coach Sean Miller has the makings of a superb young frontline with versatile players like Doellman, Vanderbilt transfer Thornton, Justin Cage, Brandon Cole and Will Caudle. In the backcourt, it's Finn, instrumental in last year's late push, teaming with a pair of heralded freshmen in Churchill Odia and Stanley Burrell.
Deep and talented, Xavier has found staying power.
George Washington
Top three: PG T.J. Thompson, C Pops Mensah-Bonsu, PF Mike Hall.
On the rise: Guess who's back? Like Mase, GW seemingly took five years off before re-emerging on the scene last season to notch 18 victories, reach the NIT and set up what should be a return to national prominence that hasn't been seen in D.C. since Mike Jarvis left.
Former UConn assistant Karl Hobbs returns the top seven scorers from last year's team, led by dynamic floor general Thompson, a 5-10 powerfully built jitterbug who can penetrate with the best of them. Mensah-Bonsu and Hall are expected to control the boards, and wing J.R. Pinnock, just a sophomore, is expected to flourish after an eye-opening debut campaign.
But Pinnock, Mensah-Bonsu and valuable wing Carl Elliott were involved in a fracas at an off-campus bar in early October, and criminal charges might be filed. Still, odds are good that the situation will be stabilized enough by the start of A-10 play and not be too damaging a distraction.
Dayton
Top three: SG Mark Jones, SF Monty Scott, F Norman Plummer.
On the decline: Brian Gregory did a wonderful job in his first season at Dayton, winning 24 games and reaching the NCAA Tournament. Those accomplishments came with Oliver Purnell's players. Now it's time to see what he can do with his guys.
Lauded as a big-time recruiter in his days as an assistant at Michigan State, Gregory didn't disappoint with his first big class at UD, hauling in five who will contribute immediately given the departure of mainstays Ramond Marshall, Sean Finn and Keith Waleskowski.
As many as three could start immediately, with point guard Trent Meacham and big men Plummer and Chris Alvarez looking particularly impressive in preseason.
Richmond
Top three: PG Daon Merritt, PF Gaston Moliva, C Kevin Steenberge.
On the decline: Tony Dobbins, Reggie Brown and Mike Skrocki eased Richmond's transition from the Colonial to the A-10 with their skill and savvy. You don't lose players of their caliber without feeling it.
The task for Jerry Wainwright is to get his holdovers to continue playing the type of defense that helped the Spiders become an instant contender in the league. There's talent returning, particularly Merritt and Moliva, who served as invaluable contributors on last year's veteran team. Courtney Nelson, Wainwright's prized recruit, will frequently join Merritt in the lineup, giving the Spiders a dual-point attack that can play strong on-the-ball defense.
Duquesne
Top three: G Bryant McAllister, PG Martin Osimani, C Kieron Achara.
On the rise: Duquesne has made nice strides under fourth-year coach Danny Nee, breaking the 10-victory plateau for the first time since 1997-98. Whether they can continue to build depends heavily on Achara, a gifted sophomore with a 7-4 wing span who shot over 60 percent from the field while blossoming at the end of his rookie season. He'll be required to help replace the production of departed big men Elijah Palmer and Ron Dokes, who combined for 22 points and 10 boards as seniors. It would really help if JC transfer Keith Gayden or freshman Sean McKeon can lend a hand up front.
Nee will have stabilizers in the backcourt with pass-only point guard Osimani back for his senior year and leading returning scorer McAllister growing increasingly more comfortable in his go-to-guy role.
LaSalle
Top three: PF Steve Smith, G Jermaine Thomas, PG Tabby Cunningham.
On the decline: Scandal rocked the Explorers earlier this year as top scorer Gary Neal and point guard Mike Cleaves were dismissed from the team after being charged with rape. Then, coach Billy Hahn resigned amid allegations he tried to sweep a 2003 alleged rape incident under the rug.
Stepping in to clean up the mess is former Maine head man John Giannini, who inherits perhaps the league's best all-around forward in Smith and little else. Only nine players are on scholarship, and there are no seniors on the roster.
Accolades
First team
F -- Justin Doellman, Xavier
F -- Steve Smith, LaSalle
C -- Rashaun Freeman, UMass
G -- Mardy Collins, Temple
G -- T.J. Thompson, GW
Second team
F -- Monty Scott, Dayton
F -- Brian Thornton, Xavier
C -- Dwayne Jones, Saint Joseph's
G -- Dedrick Finn, Xavier
G -- Pat Carroll, Saint Joseph's
Player of the year
T.J. Thompson, GW
Newcomer of the year
Brian Johnson, Xavier
Breakthrough player
Monty Scott, Dayton
Atlantic 10 Conference preview
By Tony Mejia
SportsLine.com Staff Writer
Stock Chart
Team Stock
East
1. Saint Joseph's
2. Massachusetts
3. Temple
4. Rhode Island
5. St. Bonaventure
6. Fordham
West
1. Xavier
2. George Washington
3. Dayton
4. Richmond
5. Duquesne
6. LaSalle
The publicity Saint Joseph's gained for the A-10 with last year's dream season hadn't been felt since the days when UMass and Temple went at it hard on the court and in press conferences.
Saint Joseph's will benefit if defensive ace Dwayne Jones can increase his production on offense.(Getty Images)
Xavier made it a 1-2 punch with their impressive trek through the NCAAs, reaching the Elite Eight and nearly taking out Duke.
What are we to expect for an encore? A big fat dose of "wait until next year?"
The Hawks and Musketeers will still be pretty good. In fact, they're our favorites in their divisions, but until Charlotte and Saint Louis join the fray and give the conference a couple more heavyweights, the conference will slip back to territory where the line blurs between major and mid-major.
Such is life in a league where there are no blue-chippers-in-waiting eager to help replace a Jameer Nelson. Or a Delonte West. Or even a Lionel Chalmers. In an ACC or Big East, new memory-makers seemingly grow on trees. Here, the accomplishments of those three reached legendary status.
Sometimes, legends are never replaced.
EAST DIVISION
Saint Joseph's
Top three: C Dwayne Jones, SG Pat Carroll, PG Dwayne Lee.
On the decline: Phil Martelli knew he'd be losing Nelson, as irreplaceable a player as there has ever been in this league, but the loss of West came as a mild surprise. The lefty, projected to help handle some of the point-guard duties, also drew professional interest and became a first-round pick of the Boston Celtics, going just a few selections after his more accomplished college teammate.
Lee, Nelson's little-used backup the past two seasons, will get first crack at running the offense, although freshman Abdulai Jalloh, Martelli's top recruit, is also a possibility. Carroll and Chet Stachitas, who feasted on open 3-pointers because of Nelson's penetration, will be called on to man the wings.
Inside, Jones will be the guy, as the Hawks hope the 6-11 junior can come into his own and complement his strong rebounding and shot-blocking with some offense. Pat Calathes, a 6-9 wing with point guard skills, offers an interesting variable.
The Hawks became Philly's team last season. As unfair as it may seem, they'll need to keep winning to continue to be embraced as the city's program and not be written off as a one-year wonder.
Massachusetts
Top three: C/F Rashaun Freeman, PG Anthony Anderson, SG Art Bowers.
On the rise: Steve Lappas hasn't had much success since arriving in Amherst, and time is running out for him to get things turned around. If there's a year for him to get it done, this would be it. The East is wide open and he has all five starters back.
The key is Freeman, the A-10's reigning top rookie, who might just be the best post player in the conference. He's a bull inside and should be better rested thanks to the arrival of a host of newcomers who figure to improve the team's depth down low.
Another asset is senior lead guard Anderson, who has been Lappas' floor general from the moment he stepped on campus. He figures to have more capable help as well, with wings Bowers and Maurice Maxwell becoming sophomores. Maxwell has a potential assault and battery charge hanging over his head for an off-campus incident in late October.
Temple
Top three: PG Mardy Collins, G/F Dustin Salisbery, C Keith Butler.
On the decline: For the past few seasons, Temple has become an afterthought, an institution featuring one-man shows (Lynn Greer, David Hawkins) that occasionally scares good teams and struggles to reach the NIT.
Out of respect for John Chaney, we wish we could say this year will be different, but odds are it won't be. Collins steps into the role of one-man show, and as if this Temple version of Groundhog Day is scripted, it looks like he'll be taking over at the point, too.
Around him, Chaney will play massive big men Butler and Wayne Marshall, giving him over 14 feet and 550 pounds of center. The arrival of freshmen Mark Tyndale and Chris Clark should help, and as in all years, the Owls will be better at season's end than they are at the beginning. But that will likely be because the level of competition will be lighter in league play. On the non-conference slate: Auburn, South Carolina, Duke, Maryland, Alabama and Wake Forest.
Rhode Island
Top three: SG Dawan Robinson, SF Scott Hazelton, PF Jamaal Wise.
On the decline: There has been a lot of news out of Kingston since the season ended, and none of it has been good.
Dustin Hellenga was dismissed because of academic problems. Leading scorer Robinson had foot surgery on Oct. 22 and will be out indefinitely. Wise, perhaps the most consistent forward on the roster, has a tibia stress fracture and is also out for an extended period of time.
Losing Robinson hurts the most, as he would've eased the transition of freshman Jon Lucky, who is expected to take over at the point. If he misses significant time, URI may start an all-freshman backcourt with Parfait Bitee moving into the lineup. Up front, Hazelton, a former UConn recruit who never panned out, is being tried at small forward and could flourish. With all the chaos facing Jim Baron's team, it's hard to envision the Rams duplicating last year's 20-victory season and NIT bid.
St. Bonaventure
Top three: G Ahmad Smith, F/G Patrick Lottin, F Michael Lee.
On the decline: Anthony Solomon will trot out nine scholarship players, four of them freshmen, for his second season with the probation-ridden program.
Marques Green, the school's all-time leader in points and assists, won't be one of them, having exhausted his eligibility. Making matters worse, Florida transfer Mario Boggan was booted from the team and leading returning scorer Lottin tore an ACL in the spring and will have to work his way back slowly.
The Bonnies will be best served giving freshmen Lee and Isiah Carson on-the-job training as they continue a lengthy rebuilding process.
Fordham
Top three: PG Derrick Breland, F/C Mushon Ya'akosi, G Jermaine Anderson.
On the decline: Fordham loses top scorers Michael Haynes and Mark Jarrell-Wright from a squad that struggled to a 6-22 mark in Dereck Whittenburg's first season as coach.
Whittenburg, being counted on to turn the Rams around as he did in his first coaching stop at Wagner, jettisoned a couple of other holdovers in the offseason and will build around his six-man recruiting class in what is sure to be a season filled with lots of growing pains.
WEST DIVISION
Xavier
Top three: PG Dedrick Finn, F Justin Doellman, F Brian Thornton.
On the rise: Will Xavier best last year's magical NCAA run? No, probably not. Are they going to miss Thad Matta, who took over at Ohio State? Sure. So how can the X-men be a team with brighter days ahead?
Simple. They have officially arrived as a national program.
When it first burst on the scene, it was guys like Tyrone Hill, Lenny Brown and Brian Grant that most identified Xavier with. Now, it's the uniform. Despite losing All-American David West, Lionel Chalmers and Romain Sato over the past two seasons, the Musketeers keep reloading.
New coach Sean Miller has the makings of a superb young frontline with versatile players like Doellman, Vanderbilt transfer Thornton, Justin Cage, Brandon Cole and Will Caudle. In the backcourt, it's Finn, instrumental in last year's late push, teaming with a pair of heralded freshmen in Churchill Odia and Stanley Burrell.
Deep and talented, Xavier has found staying power.
George Washington
Top three: PG T.J. Thompson, C Pops Mensah-Bonsu, PF Mike Hall.
On the rise: Guess who's back? Like Mase, GW seemingly took five years off before re-emerging on the scene last season to notch 18 victories, reach the NIT and set up what should be a return to national prominence that hasn't been seen in D.C. since Mike Jarvis left.
Former UConn assistant Karl Hobbs returns the top seven scorers from last year's team, led by dynamic floor general Thompson, a 5-10 powerfully built jitterbug who can penetrate with the best of them. Mensah-Bonsu and Hall are expected to control the boards, and wing J.R. Pinnock, just a sophomore, is expected to flourish after an eye-opening debut campaign.
But Pinnock, Mensah-Bonsu and valuable wing Carl Elliott were involved in a fracas at an off-campus bar in early October, and criminal charges might be filed. Still, odds are good that the situation will be stabilized enough by the start of A-10 play and not be too damaging a distraction.
Dayton
Top three: SG Mark Jones, SF Monty Scott, F Norman Plummer.
On the decline: Brian Gregory did a wonderful job in his first season at Dayton, winning 24 games and reaching the NCAA Tournament. Those accomplishments came with Oliver Purnell's players. Now it's time to see what he can do with his guys.
Lauded as a big-time recruiter in his days as an assistant at Michigan State, Gregory didn't disappoint with his first big class at UD, hauling in five who will contribute immediately given the departure of mainstays Ramond Marshall, Sean Finn and Keith Waleskowski.
As many as three could start immediately, with point guard Trent Meacham and big men Plummer and Chris Alvarez looking particularly impressive in preseason.
Richmond
Top three: PG Daon Merritt, PF Gaston Moliva, C Kevin Steenberge.
On the decline: Tony Dobbins, Reggie Brown and Mike Skrocki eased Richmond's transition from the Colonial to the A-10 with their skill and savvy. You don't lose players of their caliber without feeling it.
The task for Jerry Wainwright is to get his holdovers to continue playing the type of defense that helped the Spiders become an instant contender in the league. There's talent returning, particularly Merritt and Moliva, who served as invaluable contributors on last year's veteran team. Courtney Nelson, Wainwright's prized recruit, will frequently join Merritt in the lineup, giving the Spiders a dual-point attack that can play strong on-the-ball defense.
Duquesne
Top three: G Bryant McAllister, PG Martin Osimani, C Kieron Achara.
On the rise: Duquesne has made nice strides under fourth-year coach Danny Nee, breaking the 10-victory plateau for the first time since 1997-98. Whether they can continue to build depends heavily on Achara, a gifted sophomore with a 7-4 wing span who shot over 60 percent from the field while blossoming at the end of his rookie season. He'll be required to help replace the production of departed big men Elijah Palmer and Ron Dokes, who combined for 22 points and 10 boards as seniors. It would really help if JC transfer Keith Gayden or freshman Sean McKeon can lend a hand up front.
Nee will have stabilizers in the backcourt with pass-only point guard Osimani back for his senior year and leading returning scorer McAllister growing increasingly more comfortable in his go-to-guy role.
LaSalle
Top three: PF Steve Smith, G Jermaine Thomas, PG Tabby Cunningham.
On the decline: Scandal rocked the Explorers earlier this year as top scorer Gary Neal and point guard Mike Cleaves were dismissed from the team after being charged with rape. Then, coach Billy Hahn resigned amid allegations he tried to sweep a 2003 alleged rape incident under the rug.
Stepping in to clean up the mess is former Maine head man John Giannini, who inherits perhaps the league's best all-around forward in Smith and little else. Only nine players are on scholarship, and there are no seniors on the roster.
Accolades
First team
F -- Justin Doellman, Xavier
F -- Steve Smith, LaSalle
C -- Rashaun Freeman, UMass
G -- Mardy Collins, Temple
G -- T.J. Thompson, GW
Second team
F -- Monty Scott, Dayton
F -- Brian Thornton, Xavier
C -- Dwayne Jones, Saint Joseph's
G -- Dedrick Finn, Xavier
G -- Pat Carroll, Saint Joseph's
Player of the year
T.J. Thompson, GW
Newcomer of the year
Brian Johnson, Xavier
Breakthrough player
Monty Scott, Dayton