A10 in the Tournament

[HoosierPal]

The A-10 bias is blinding you guys. I don't have any going far but to say all but one will go down in the first round is foolish.

All have decent match-ups, and all 5 that got in last year won at least one game.

I have trouble seeing Dayton getting past Ohio St. although Dayton has been playing very well as of late and St. Louis has been looking very beatable lately but I think the rest get out of the first round.

VCU and GW are the only teams I have getting out of the round of 32 though.

Who's being blinded by their bias?

St. Joe's needed help from an injury to beat VCU. Expecting them to beat UConn, another top 25 team, seems unrealistic to me. They won't have the emotion of the conference tournament to help them. If anything, they may have a let down. GW faces another AAC opponent, who will confront them with a talent level that they haven't seen in the A10. UMass has been in a slide, losing 3 of their last 5 and struggling to get by Duquesne and URI in the 2 games they did win, while Tennessee has been red hot winning 5 of their last 6 with the only loss coming to Florida in the SEC tournament. VCU is dealing with a key injury, so I'll be surprised to see them beat UCLA in the 2nd round. Frankly, Stephen F. Austin is likely to give them all they can handle.

You can make equally subjective statements about UConn. They were readily handled by Louisville in the AAC Tourney. It was a 15 point game until Louisville started coasting with 2 min to go. They likely are downtrodden and may be emotionally spent.

Both statements are right and both are wrong. That's why they play the games. Watching St. Joe play twice this weekend, I'm certainly stating that they have a legitimate shot at UConn. [It's one of my games I still am undecided on.]

[Bill Marsh]

The A-10 bias is blinding you guys. I don't have any going far but to say all but one will go down in the first round is foolish.

All have decent match-ups, and all 5 that got in last year won at least one game.

I have trouble seeing Dayton getting past Ohio St. although Dayton has been playing very well as of late and St. Louis has been looking very beatable lately but I think the rest get out of the first round.

VCU and GW are the only teams I have getting out of the round of 32 though.

Who's being blinded by their bias?

St. Joe's needed help from an injury to beat VCU. Expecting them to beat UConn, another top 25 team, seems unrealistic to me. They won't have the emotion of the conference tournament to help them. If anything, they may have a let down. GW faces another AAC opponent, who will confront them with a talent level that they haven't seen in the A10. UMass has been in a slide, losing 3 of their last 5 and struggling to get by Duquesne and URI in the 2 games they did win, while Tennessee has been red hot winning 5 of their last 6 with the only loss coming to Florida in the SEC tournament. VCU is dealing with a key injury, so I'll be surprised to see them beat UCLA in the 2nd round. Frankly, Stephen F. Austin is likely to give them all they can handle.

GW will handle Memphis. Josh Pastner is a horrid coach, and his teams play streetball. I think that's the A-10's best bet of somebody winning 2 to 3 games. I just don't see a real deep run out of the league this year (as of this moment).

That street ball got them wins this year over over Louisville twice (once on the road), over Oklahoma State on a neutral court, and over Gonzaga and SMU, as well as a 2-point loss to Florida on a neutral court.

I expect a close game and agree that GW has the ability to win this game. The game will probably go to whichever team can hit its free throws since both of them are pretty bad at that (65%). I'm giving Memphis a slight edge because they're better at forcing turnovers (7th in the country in steals) and that can make a difference in a tight game.

[BillikensWin]

You actually bring up one really interesting point: Free Throw Shooting just about everywhere is an adventure. Will be an interesting watch in close games.

In terms of other relics, whatever happened to the back-to-the-basket 5 man?

[SCS]

I have GW, St. Joes, and St. Louis making it past the first round.

[Bill Marsh]

The A-10 bias is blinding you guys. I don't have any going far but to say all but one will go down in the first round is foolish.

All have decent match-ups, and all 5 that got in last year won at least one game.

I have trouble seeing Dayton getting past Ohio St. although Dayton has been playing very well as of late and St. Louis has been looking very beatable lately but I think the rest get out of the first round.

VCU and GW are the only teams I have getting out of the round of 32 though.

Who's being blinded by their bias?

St. Joe's needed help from an injury to beat VCU. Expecting them to beat UConn, another top 25 team, seems unrealistic to me. They won't have the emotion of the conference tournament to help them. If anything, they may have a let down. GW faces another AAC opponent, who will confront them with a talent level that they haven't seen in the A10. UMass has been in a slide, losing 3 of their last 5 and struggling to get by Duquesne and URI in the 2 games they did win, while Tennessee has been red hot winning 5 of their last 6 with the only loss coming to Florida in the SEC tournament. VCU is dealing with a key injury, so I'll be surprised to see them beat UCLA in the 2nd round. Frankly, Stephen F. Austin is likely to give them all they can handle.

You can make equally subjective statements about UConn. They were readily handled by Louisville in the AAC Tourney. It was a 15 point game until Louisville started coasting with 2 min to go. They likely are downtrodden and may be emotionally spent.

Both statements are right and both are wrong. That's why they play the games. Watching St. Joe play twice this weekend, I'm certainly stating that they have a legitimate shot at UConn. [It's one of my games I still am undecided on.]

Your point is well taken. Louisville absolutely destroyed UConn, who was never in the game, which is why I'm currently undecided on Louisville vs Wichita State.

And as you say, that is why they play the games.

I'm looking at the fact that Uconn was a much better team than St. Joe's all year. I'm looking at the fact that UConn is an excellent foul shooting team (76%) while St. Joe's is a poor foul shooting team (64%). I'm looking at the fact that UConn is top ten in both blocked shots and FG % defense. I'm looking at the fact that UConn has senior leadership - especially from Shabazz Napier, one of the best point guards in the country, who played starter's minutes on the national championship team. UConn has been to the tournament recently and St. Joe's has not. This one doesn't seem like a close call to me.

[bman95]

upon further review, I could see GW getting by Memphis so I switched them. But that could also come back to bite me on my a**. Memphis's bench is more talented than GW's starters.

[XUFan09]

In terms of other relics, whatever happened to the back-to-the-basket 5 man?

His name is Matt Stainbrook. Sorry you guys never had the pleasure of facing him in conference.

[ElDonBDon]

I got UMass and Dayton in my S16 (note that I'm a risk-taker and also, I hate Dayton).

I got St. Joe's losing to UCONN, VCU losing to SF Austin, and SLU losing to Lville, Memphis beating GW.

[ohiohsbball]

I haven't really filled out a bracket yet, but I think the A10 should do quite well based on matchups. I think Ohio State presents problems for Dayton and SF Austin presents issues for VCU. Other than that, I think the A10 should do quite well. St. Louis may have the best draw. No offense to X or NC State, but St. Louis is well rested losing early in the A10 tournament while X and NC State will have less than 48 hours to prepare and have to travel from Dayton.

[stever20]

I haven't really filled out a bracket yet, but I think the A10 should do quite well based on matchups. I think Ohio State presents problems for Dayton and SF Austin presents issues for VCU. Other than that, I think the A10 should do quite well. St. Louis may have the best draw. No offense to X or NC State, but St. Louis is well rested losing early in the A10 tournament while X and NC State will have less than 48 hours to prepare and have to travel from Dayton.

Only thing I'd say in each of the 3 years, 1 of the teams that won on Tue/Wed have gone on to make at least the 3rd round.
VCU 2011- final 4
USF 2012- rd of 32
LaSalle 2013- sweet 16

so it's not been just an automatic win for the team that has to play the winner of a first 4 game.