QFT. There is nothing for certain in the A-10. Here's a look at each team's remaining schedule...Charlotte - 2/13 Louisiana-Lafayette, 2/17 at Rhode Island, 2/21 at Duquesne, 2/24 at Temple, 3/01 George Washington, 3/03 Saint Bonaventure
Dayton - 2/18 Massachusetts, 2/21 at Saint Louis, 2/24 Xavier, 2/28 at Temple, 3/03 Saint Louis
Duquesne - 2/14 at Richmond, 2/18 at Fordham, 2/21 Charlotte, 2/24 Saint Bonaventure, 2/26 Akron, 3/03 at George Washington
Fordham - 2/15 Massachusetts, 2/18 Duquesne, 2/24 at Rhode Island, 2/28 at Saint Bonaventure, 3/03 Temple
George Washington - 2/14 at Saint Josephās, 2/17 Temple, 2/21 Richmond, 2/24 at La Salle, 3/01 at Charlotte, 3/03 Duquesne
La Salle - 2/14 Temple, 2/17 at Saint Louis, 2/24 George Washington, 2/28 at Massachusetts, 3/03 Xavier
Massachusetts - 2/15 at Fordham, 2/18 at Dayton, 2/21 Saint Bonaventure, 2/24 Massachusetts, 2/28 La Salle, 3/03 at Saint Josephās
Rhode Island - 2/14 Saint Louis, 2/17 Charlotte, 2/21 at Xavier, 2/24 Fordham, 3/03 at Richmond
Saint Bonaventure - 2/17 Saint Josephās, 2/21 at Massachusetts, 2/24 at Duquesne, 2/28 Fordham, 3/03 at Charlotte
Saint Josephās - 2/14 George Washington, 2/17 at Saint Bonaventure, 2/22 Temple, 2/24 at Richmond, 2/28 at Xavier, 3/03 Massachusetts
Saint Louis - 2/14 at Rhode Island, 2/17 La Salle, 2/21 Dayton, 2/24 at Massachusetts, 2/28 Richmond, 3/03 at Dayton
Temple - 2/14 at La Salle, 2/17 at George Washington, 2/22 at Saint Josephās, 2/24 Charlotte, 2/28 Dayton, 3/03 at Fordham
Xavier - 2/17 Richmond, 2/21 Rhode Island, 2/24 Dayton, 2/28 Saint Josephās 3/3 at La Salle
Standings:
- Xavierā¦(4-1) 12-4 22-8
2. Rhode Islandā¦(3-1) 12-4 19-11 - St. Josephāsā¦(4-1) 11-5 19-11
- Massachusettsā¦(4-2) 11-5 21-9
- Daytonā¦(4-1) 10-6 20-9
- Fordhamā¦(3-2) 9-7 16-12
7. George Washingtonā¦(3-2) 9-7 18-10
8. Duquesneā¦(3-1) 9-7 14-14 - Saint Louisā¦(3-2) 8-8 18-12
10. Charlotteā¦(2-3) 7-9 14-15
11. Templeā¦(1-4) 6-10 12-17
12. St. Bonaventureā¦(0-5) 3-13 6-23 - La Salleā¦(0-4) 3-13 10-20
- Richmondā¦(0-5) 2-14 6-22
Hereās my own quickie predictions. I used HPās remaining schedule and put my predicted winners in bold and losers in italics. Of course, I have to echo HP about the uncertainty of the A-10
A few thoughts -
- I had little problem predicting that Richmond and St. Bonaventure would lose all their remaining games. La Salle is better than their RPI (losing a bunch of close games), but their schedule is tough enough to make it difficult for them to win again. But all 3 have something to play for, since none of them want to miss the A-10 tournament.
-Temple at 0-5? I donāt see it happening, but itās hard to predict wins for Temple on a game-by-game basis. They were on a 4 game winning streak before last night and the likeliest game that Temple will win is their home game vs. Charlotte. Iād be absolutely schocked if the teams on the bottom go 1 for 18 (or 0 for 19 like I originally predicted), but itās pretty tough to give them wins when looking at each individual game.
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Charlotte has a lot of trap games on the horizon, but they can win more than 2 games if they play well. Rhode Island seems to beat every single team that they are supposed to beat, so itās very tough to rationally predict that Charlotte would be the first bottom-half team to upset them. Duquesne is tricky. Number 1, you donāt know which Duquesne team will show up on any given night and number 2, the game last night showed exactly why they would be tough to beat. Richmond slowed it down, chipped away, slowed it down, and chipped away and built a nice comfy lead. Then Duquesne went on a 14-0 run at the end of the game. Since they can go on a scoring blitz at any given time, Charlotte would have to play the game without a single lapse of concentration. Temple is better than their record, is a road game against a hot team, and Charlotte would be one of their remaining games that they would expect to win. I want to believe that Charlotte can split the series with GW and beat St. Bonaventure.
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If Dayton reaches 20 wins, theyāre in the postseason, easily (most likely a good seed in the NIT). I gave them home wins vs. UMass and Xavier and a split with Saint Louis, but itās a tough upcoming schedule which could either be good or bad for them. They have an outside shot at an at-large with a combination of finishing very strong AND receiving a lot of help with losses from the current bubble teams. (Iām not holding my breath). Same with UMass, but I think UMass would have to win out before they can even start to think about it. (I donāt think it will happen)
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St. Joeās intrigues the hell out of me. Iāve called them my dark horse all year, and I see that their next 3 games are against Bonaventure, Temple and Richmond. 3 wins should not be too difficult and that would put them at 10-4. At that point, they would have games against Xavier and UMass and would probably be within striking distance of a #1 overall seed.