While most students were gone for winter break, the Saint Louis University men’s basketball team was hard at work finishWing their non-conference season and beginning their Atlantic 10 conference season.
After seeing the Billikens and most of the A-10 conference games, I believe that a few conclusions can be made.
1. The A-10 is going to be a lot crazier than expected.
According to Fox Sports Network in October, the A-10 was going to be a two-horse race of the traditional powers, Temple and Xavier. This, however, is not the case.
Before Wednesday’s games, there was a three-way tie for first place between Xavier, Massachusetts and Dayton, who all held a 3-1 conference record.
Massachusetts was projected 12th in October’s A-10 preseason poll. UMass is currently at 14-5 overall, which is tied for the most overall wins with SLU.
Dayton, who was projected sixth in the A-10 preseason poll, has beaten SLU in overtime and beat Temple on the road. Their overall record stands at 13-5.
Dayton is a strong team led by junior guard Kevin Dillard, as well as a strong and experienced front court led by senior forwards Chris Johnson and Luke Fabrizius and junior center Matt Kavanaugh.
Dayton is thriving even without their second leading scorer junior forward, Jon Benson, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.
The A-10 is crazy. La Salle, who was projected 13th in the preseason poll, briefly led the conference standings at one point.
Temple, a traditional A-10 power, is 1-2 in conference play, with their only win coming against SLU. Temple currently is without their leading rebounder forward Micheal Eric, who is recovering from a knee injury.
Xavier lost five out of six games after their infamous brawl with Cincinnati. They lost their first game in A-10 conference play to La Salle, but they have quickly turned around with four straight conference games.
And where is SLU in all of this mess?
SLU is currently is a seven-way tie for fifth place in the A-10 conference standings with Charlotte, George Washington, La Salle, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, and Temple.
After just four or five conference games for most teams, two things are certain: The A-10 is in for a crazy year with Xavier on top, but with more competition than ever before. Also, this has definitely provided reason to never trust preseason polls.
2. SLU has demonstrated ability to come back.
After being narrowly beaten in games against New Mexico, Dayton and Temple, the Billikens seemed to have a hard time coming back from a deficit.
However, all of that changed with the Billikens’ narrow victory over Charlotte on the road.
The Bills were down by 14 in the first half, but they came roaring back and had a 62-49 lead with 4:15 remaining.
Although they could not maintain that lead, the Bills at least showed they can come back and fight through adversity.
While it is concerning that they did not hold that 14-point lead, at the end of the day, win is a win.
3. The power of Xavier may not continue to reign over the A-10.
Even though Xavier still rules the conference, this year is the year that their grip on the A-10 might loosen.
The A-10 has many good and experienced teams. Temple, Dayton, SLU and St. Bonaventure all have a good chance to win the A-10 regular season title, and perhaps the A-10 tournament championship.
