A10 Champion Contenders

[MADXSTER]

Poll

The A10 has never seen an open race like this in a very long time if ever. 7, yes 7 teams are in position to garner a share of the A10 regular season Championship.

How many losses will the A10 Champion have this year.

As of 2/11/10

# of losses
(2) Xavier
(2) Richmond
(2) Charlotte
(2) Temple
(3) Rhode Island
(3) Dayton
(3) Saint Louis

[MADXSTER]

Still to play. *Contenders

Xavier
vs St Joes
@ Charlotte*
@ St Louis*
vs Richmond*
@ Fordham
vs Bonnies

Richmond
@ Bonnies
vs Fordham
vs George Washington
@ Xavier*
vs Dayton*
@ Charlotte*

Charlotte
vs Duquesne
vs Xavier*
vs St Joes
@ George Washington
@ Rhode Island*
vs Richmond*

Temple
vs Rhode Island*
@ Bonnies
@ St Joes
vs Dayton*
@ LaSalle
@ St Louis*
vs George Washington

Rhode Island
@ Temple*
@ St Louis*
vs Fordham
@ Bonnies
vs Charlotte*
@ UMass

Dayton
@ St Louis*
vs LaSalle
@ Duquesne
@ Temple*
vs UMass
@ Richmond*
vs St Louis*

St Louis
vs Dayton*
vs Rhode Island*
@ UMass
vs Xavier*
vs Duquesne
vs Temple*
@ Dayton*

[MADXSTER]

St Louis plays 5 contender games
Dayton plays 4 contenders games
The rest play 3 contender games

Temple has no back to back contender games
Xavier and Richmond play three contender games in a row

St Louis and Rhode Island's next two games are against contenders. Since they play each other in one of the games, someone is going to have at least 4 losses.

Dayton and Temple have 7 games to play while the rest have 6 games to play.

[Snipe]

It is an incredible race. We haven't seen any thing like this in A-10 play and it could be a long time before we do so again. This late in the season 1 game seperates 1st and 7th.

[dc_x]

I think X and Temple both finish at 13-3. I guess Temple would win the league with the tie-breaker.

X's loss will probably be @Charlotte. I'm not sure where Temple loses, but I don't think they run the table.

[Juice]

I think X and Temple both finish at 13-3. I guess Temple would win the league with the tie-breaker.

X's loss will probably be @Charlotte. I'm not sure where Temple loses, but I don't think they run the table.

If this happened would X get a share of the title and the #2 seed in the tourney because of the tiebreaker or does the A10 do tiebreakers to determine the champion as well?

[bourbonman]

I voted 2. Temple will not lose again. X needs to win @ Charlotte and shouldn't lose again to stay at two as well. I think X will be at 3. I hope I'm wrong, but their last 3 halves of basketball were not good.

[dc_x]

If this happened would X get a share of the title and the #2 seed in the tourney because of the tiebreaker or does the A10 do tiebreakers to determine the champion as well?

This is debated all the time. I think technically the A-10 says that the tournament champion is the champ, but Xavier has hung banners for regular season championships both outright and shared.

[BandAid]

This is debated all the time. I think technically the A-10 says that the tournament champion is the champ, but Xavier has hung banners for regular season championships both outright and shared.

Take away the NCAA berth aspect out of the A-10 tournament. Which would you rather win?

I'd rather win the regular season - more of an ironman award. Anyone can get hot for a few games.

[XUOHTX]

Take away the NCAA berth aspect out of the A-10 tournament. Which would you rather win?

I'd rather win the regular season - more of an ironman award. Anyone can get hot for a few games.

I think it was Jay Bilas who actually made a good point that NCAA berths should be given for regular season champions, not the tourney champion. The tourneys may give "everyone" (not in the A10) the chance to get to the NCAA's but winning the regular season seems like the real accomplishment if you ask me.

We should hang banners for regular season championships. What means more, winning more games over a 16 game span than anyone else in the league or 3-4 games over 3-4 days?

[Juice]

I think it was Jay Bilas who actually made a good point that NCAA berths should be given for regular season champions, not the tourney champion. The tourneys may give "everyone" (not in the A10) the chance to get to the NCAA's but winning the regular season seems like the real accomplishment if you ask me.

We should hang banners for regular season championships. What means more, winning more games over a 16 game span than anyone else in the league or 3-4 games over 3-4 days?

I agree with you guys. And not only is the regular season more of a grind, teams have to play games in other schools' gyms. The tournaments are often held in neutral locations or in one school's arena.

[SkyWalker]

I voted 2. Temple will not lose again. X needs to win @ Charlotte and shouldn't lose again to stay at two as well. I think X will be at 3. I hope I'm wrong, but their last 3 halves of basketball were not good.

Accurate observation about the last 3 halves not being good bourbonman. The five halves before that were possibly the best of the year even though the opposition was questionable at best. If X comes out and plays like the "5 halves" (Duq/Ford/UMass), running the table is possible and another A-10 title is on the horizon. Continue to play like the "last 3 halves" (UMass/Dayton) and it won't matter.

[Muskied]

Wouldn't it be great though, if UD ends up beating Temple, and clearing the way for our 4th straight championship?

Though they would probably hang a banner for A10 title too....justifying that they were solely responsible.

[PMI]

This is debated all the time. I think technically the A-10 says that the tournament champion is the champ, but Xavier has hung banners for regular season championships both outright and shared.

Ahhh, let's definitely not start this one again...

If we win our 4th straight in this, of all years, that would be one of the greatest accomplishments in program history, especially given everything that's happened over the past 9 months or so.

[ChicagoX]

Has there ever been a regular season A10 champion that did not make the tournament? I would think that in most or all cases, winning this league makes you a virtual lock for the NCAAs.

It's hard to argue that winning the conference tournament means more than winning the regular season if both are making the tourney. Plus, you earn your seeding during conf play and not so much in the conf tourney. It's only in the cases of a Cinderella (such as Georgia a couple years ago) that the conf tourney plays a bigger role. Teams come into the season wanting to win their league before any talk of winning their conference tournament.

[American X]

Two because where is Temple going to get a third loss?

@ Charlotte, @ SLU, and Richmond is a tough slate, but Xavier has a great chance to finish at the top also with just two losses.

Four-Peat!

[Snipe]

If we tie Temple for 1st it will still be a fourth straight championship. Tie breakers are used to award seeds in the A-10 Tourney, not for awarding the regular season champ. We would be co-champs, but still champs.

Now if we win the tie breaker I have a different take, and I would claim to be the sole champs. My rules are under a conditional/situational basis.

[danaandvictory]

Two because where is Temple going to get a third loss?

@ Charlotte, @ SLU, and Richmond is a tough slate, but Xavier has a great chance to finish at the top also with just two losses.

The way the two teams are trending, it wouldn't surprise me if Dayton gave Temple a run in Philly. Hell, they only beat us by 7 playing out of their minds. On second thought, it would surprise me, because Dayton always chokes on the road. Never mind.

[kyxu]

The way the two teams are trending, it wouldn't surprise me if Dayton gave Temple a run in Philly. Hell, they only beat us by 7 playing out of their minds. On second thought, it would surprise me, because Dayton always chokes on the road. Never mind.

Beat us by 5, actually.

Dayton, like Xavier, is a completely different team on the road.

[PMI]

If we tie Temple for 1st it will still be a fourth straight championship. Tie breakers are used to award seeds in the A-10 Tourney, not for awarding the regular season champ. We would be co-champs, but still champs.

Now if we win the tie breaker I have a different take, and I would claim to be the sole champs. My rules are under a conditional/situational basis.

This is true. In fact, in 06-07, our first of the three consecutive league titles, we were tied atop with UMass at 13-3 each, so we were technically co-champions. The 4-peat is very much attainable.

[AdamtheFlyer]

Leaning on the safe side, I say 4.

Rhody and Temple play Saturday, so either the Rams get their 4th loss or Temple gets their 3rd.

Charlotte will lose two more. That team is way too hot/cold, even moreso than X and UD.

No way UD wins out, too many road games left. They would have to win 10 straight overall to get to 13-3. Even if the last two games are an indication of a "run", it's asking too much to win that many games in a row in this league this season.

X has too many road issues for my liking. I see them losing at Charlotte, and I think their chances of winning both at SLU and Richmond at home are about 50/50. Richmond is the best road team in the league, IMO.

Temple has the best chance of going 13-3, but I don't know. They are certainly capable of losing 2 more. At SLU will be very tough. Dayton and URI at home are not gimmies.

Richmond hosts Dayton and travels to Xavier and Charlotte. I could see two losses out of those three.

I think we'll see 5-6 teams at either 12-4 or 11-5. 13-3 is a lot to ask of any A10 team this year.

[boozehound]

So could we have like 4 Co-Champions then?

[AdamtheFlyer]

Very possible. The A10 has 6 relatively even teams IMO, with a SLU team that's very hard to beat on their floor. These teams will lose to each other, and it's awfully presumptious to think there won't be any real upsets in the last few weeks. I'd say the chances of a team going into a prolonged slump are just as good if not better than a team winning all but one of their remaining games.

[boozehound]

It seems odd to me that they don't just go with the tie-breakers used for seeding when determining who the 'champion' is.

All that being said I think that the Muskies should still hang the banner, even if they are 1 of 4 'champions'!

[PMI]

Very possible. The A10 has 6 relatively even teams IMO, with a SLU team that's very hard to beat on their floor. These teams will lose to each other, and it's awfully presumptious to think there won't be any real upsets in the last few weeks. I'd say the chances of a team going into a prolonged slump are just as good if not better than a team winning all but one of their remaining games.

I pretty much agree with this. Someone is going to fall apart and someone is going to stay strong and only lose one more, two at most.

[DC Muskie]

That's a pretty tough run to finish up the season for Richmond.

[MADXSTER]

This race is getting very, very interesting.

[MADXSTER]

I think Dayton and Rhode Island are now out of the running for A10 regular season champs

[MADXSTER]

The A10 race is heating up and EVERY game is meaningful. Most people voted that the winner would have 3 losses. If this is the case then I would think that there will be co-champions. Their still is a possiblity that one of the teams with 2 losses could run the table.

With Dayton and Rhode Island losing this past week, giving them 4 losses each, I would say that they are probably out of the running for being contenders for the A10 regular season championship.

How many losses will the A10 Champion have this year. Saint Louis is still the dark horse but and we've seen crazier things happen.

As of 2/15/10

# of losses
(2) Xavier 8 wins
(2) Richmond 9 wins
(2) Charlotte 8 wins
(2) Temple 8 wins
(3) Saint Louis 7 wins


Schedule of contenders* with
Dayton** and Rhode Island** considered hard fought games to win.


Xavier
vs St Joes
@ Charlotte*
@ St Louis*
vs Richmond*
@ Fordham
vs Bonnies

Richmond
vs Fordham
vs George Washington
@ Xavier*
vs Dayton**
@ Charlotte*

Charlotte
vs Duquesne
vs Xavier*
vs St Joes
@ George Washington
@ Rhode Island**
vs Richmond*

Temple
@ Bonnies
@ St Joes
vs Dayton**
@ LaSalle
@ St Louis*
vs George Washington

St Louis
vs Rhode Island**
@ UMass
vs Xavier*
vs Duquesne
vs Temple*
@ Dayton**

[bourbonman]

I might wait for you to post so you do the typing and all I have to do is comment. :D

[MADXSTER]

I might wait for you to post so you do the typing and all I have to do is comment. :D

You are using better sources but we both are very, very interested in the same thing. This is one hell of a race and every game is sooo meaningful for the contenders.

[MADXSTER]

One interesting game going tonight will be Saint Louis vs Rhode Island. A Rhode Island victory would probably take Saint Louis out of the running for the A10 Championship.