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Atlantic 10 College Basketball Preview

By Tom Knuppel

Posted on September 18, 2021

Basketball, NBA, NCAAB, CBB, College Hoops article at Knup Sports

Atlantic 10 College Basketball Preview for 2021-2022

Atlantic 10 College Basketball- It’s time to begin a look at the college basketball landscape and preview the teams. Today we feature the Atlantic 10 conference.Check out our other previews at Basketball Articles. Look here for the A10 composite schedule

Atlantic 10 College Basketball Rewind

Let’s look back at how they fared last year. (2020-2021)

Conf. Overall

1, St Bonaventure 11-4 16-5

2. VCU 10-4 16-7

3. Davidson 7-6 13-9

4. Saint Louis 6-4 16-7

5. UMASS 6-4 8-7

6. George Mason 8-6 13-9

7. Dayton 9-6 14-10

8. Richmond 6-5 14-9

9. Duquesne 7-7 9-9

10. Rhode Island 7-10 10-15

11. Geo. Washington 3-5 5-12

13. LaSalle 6-11 9-16

13. Saint Joseph’s 3-9 6-15

14. Fordham 2-11 2-12

Atlantic 10 College Basketball Projected Finish in 2021-2022

St Bonavenure- The Bonnies are loaded. All five starters return from this conference champion team of a year ago. Point guard Kyle Lofton averaged 24.4 ppg and over five assists per contest and Osun Osunniyi will control the paint with his 6’10” frame. Holes, Adaway and Welch are back and collectively they bring 37 points per game . Also, coach Mark Schmidt added Karim Coulibaly 6”8″forward who was a starter at Pitt last year. This is a good team and will open up at the Charleston Classic on November 18, 2021 against Boise State in the first game.
Richmond- The Spiders are loaded with older players Head Coach Chris Mooney welcomes back four supers eniors that have already totaled over 5,500 points for the team. Grant Golden, Nathan Cayo, Jacob Gilyard and Tyler Burton will be joined by super shooter Nick Sherod. Ten of eleven top scorers return. They will open up at the Veterans Classic in Annapolis,MD and take on Utah State on November 12, 2021.
VCU– Coach Mike Rhodes lost his top player to the NBA but brings back plenty of scoring and added some significant transfers in Marcus Tsohonis scorer from Washington. Ace Baldwin was lost to an Achilles injury during the summer and that role will turn over to Vince Williams.
Saint Louis– Javonte Perkins lead the team with a 17.1 ppg and may have to shoulder more of the load for coach Travis Ford. The squad will be guard heavy with Gibson Jimerson, Yuri Collins and Fred Hatch. The Billikens will look for Memphis transfer Jordan Nesbitt to add some inside presence along with Jimmy Bell and Francis Okoro. German Marten Linssen might turn out to be the shooter they hope him to be. They open conference play on December 30,2021 at UMASS.
Davidson- Kellan Grady is gone through the portal to Kentucky and now Foster Loyer, a transfer from Michigan State will be asked to accept some of that role. Michael Jones and Grant Huffman are back and need to step it up for head coach Bob McKillop. New Zealand native Sam Mennenga was a surprise last year and will see a significant jump in his role.
Dayton– Look for a small jump for this squad and coach Anthony Grant. With eight returnees, there are plenty of work to be done in securing a role for the players. Mustapha Amzil from Finland is back after finishing third in scoring for the Flyers. Sophomore Zimi Nwokeji showed he may be ready after scoring 29 points against a poor Rhode Island team last year. Pushing these eight include Georgia transfer Toumani Camara and DaRon Holmes out of Arizona and previously from highly touted Montverde Academy in Florida.
Saint Joseph’s– The best news for the Hawks came when Jordan Hall took himself out of the transfer portal and returned. He and Taylor Funk will form a nice combo for head coach Billy Lange. Vanderbilt transfer Ejike Obinna is thrown into the mix with Jack Forrest, Dahmir Bishop and Cameron Brown.
Rhode Island– Fatts Russell left for the transfer portal and is now with Maryland.This team now belongs to a trio of Ishmael El-Amin, Jeremy Sheppard (11.3 ppg.) and Ishmeal Leggett. Head coach for the Rams is David Cox. He will look for Jalen Cary and brothers Makhel and Makhi Mitchell to step up the program.
George Washington– The Colonials have relied heavily on the transfer portal to improve for this season as they have added Ira Lee from Arizona who was a prolific shooter in the Pac-12 and Bendan Adams from UConn along with Joe Bamisile of Virginia Tech. Also, the Georges return James Bishop and his 19.1 ppg and Ricky Lindo and his 11.4 ppg.
UMass- Tre Mitchell was Player of the Year but he is now at Texas. Buth Noah Fernandes and t.J. weeeks bring some offene to the squad. Head Coach Matt Mc Call has some transfers with Rich Kelly of Boston College along ith Trent Buttrick of Penn State and Michael Steadman from Montana.
Duquesne– The Dukes return Toby Okani and his team leading scoring. Seven new players enter the program with Kevin Easley from TCU will sdd instant credibility. This team is a long way from competing. They open against Rider.
George Mason- Four of the top five have left the program. Jamal Hartwell and Xavier Johnson return to the team with a slew of new players including Devonte Gaines of Tennessee. The Patriots will hang near the bottom of the Atlantic 10 conference.
La Salle– Sherif Kenney returns for coach Ashley Howard and JAck Clark, Christian Ray and Jhamir Brickus. Look for help coming from Louisvlle transfer Josh Nickelerry and freshman Deshon Shepherd.
Fordham- Kyle Neptuen is the new coach who comes in as an assistant at Villanova hoping to change the culture for the Rams. Jalen Cobb returns and transfer DJ Gordon from Penn State will likely be shining starts for this team.