Tag Archives: La Salle

Feb 25 2013

Atlantic 10 roundup, Volume 10

Saint Louis is on a 9-game winning streak and on top of the Atlantic 10. Photo courtesy MCT

Saint Louis is on a 9-game winning streak and on top of the Atlantic 10. Photo courtesy MCT

And just like that, we’re about two weeks away from Brooklyn and the Atlantic 10 tournament. In the great words of Bart Scott, “CAN’T WAIT!”

Countdown to the A-10 tournament at Barclays Center in Brooklyn: 17 days

Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 | Volume 6 | Volume 7 | Volume 8 | Volume 9

POWER RANKINGS

In 140 characters or less, like on Twitter, I’ll explain my picks.

1. Saint Louis h (21-5, 10-2 A-10): Last week, I guaranteed the Billikens would move to No. 1 here with wins over VCU and Butler. I’m true to my word.

2. Virginia Commonwealth (22-6, 10-3 A-10): Want to use this space to let you know that overcoming a 17-point deficit at Xavier is one of the hardest things to do in the country.

3. Butler (22-6, 9-4 A-10): Still wondering if Butler peaked too early. Also of note, they’re winless this season against teams in the top four of the A-10.

4. La Salle (19-7, 9-4 A-10): The Explorers are good — very good — but are they good enough to leap into the top three of the A-10? I can’t wait to find out.

5. Temple (19-8, 8-5 A-10): After losing to lowly Duquesne, the Owls have reeled off wins at UMass, vs. La Salle & at Charlotte to leap back into the NCAA tourney hunt.

6. Xavier (15-11, 8-5 A-10): I hate the loss against VCU, but XU played well enough to beat them for most of the game, which should count for something, IMO.

7. UMass (17-9, 7-6 A-10): The loss to the Bonnies could easily derail UMass’ NCAA tournament hopes. They’ll need a REALLY strong finish to get there.

8. Charlotte (18-8, 6-6 A-10): Consider this: The 49ers are 3-6 in their last 9 games. That’s not going to impress the selection committee.

9. Saint Joseph’s (15-10, 6-6 A-10): For as bad as this season has been for the Hawks, a win vs. SLU this week could give them some much-needed momentum for the home stretch.

10. Richmond (16-11, 6-6 A-10): The Spiders can easily win three of their last four here. A 9-7 record in this conference isn’t too shabby.

11. George Washington (12-13, 6-6 A-10): Colonials once looked like a sleeper, but now has fallen off. The game against Richmond this week is crucial.

12. St. Bonaventure (13-13, 6-7 A-10): Back-to-back wins this week, which is far more than I can say about the rest of this bottom tier.

13. Dayton (14-12, 4-8 A-10)
14. Rhode Island (8-18, 3-10 A-10)
15. Fordham (6-22, 2-11 A-10)
16. Duquesne (8-19, 1-12 A-10)

Continue reading →

Feb 18 2013

Atlantic 10 roundup, Volume 9

After wins over UMass and George Washington last week, Virginia Commonwealth is in sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10. Photo courtesy MCT

After wins over UMass and George Washington last week, Virginia Commonwealth is in sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10. Photo courtesy MCT

Crunch time. We’ve finally reached the part of the season when the top teams are beginning to separate themselves and we can make pretty accurate guesses as to who we will be seeing next month in Brooklyn for what should be one of the most exciting conference tournaments in the country. Buckle up your seat belts, folks, this is going to be an exciting few weeks of basketball.

Countdown to the A-10 tournament at Barclays Center in Brooklyn: 24 days

Volume 1 | Volume 2 | Volume 3 | Volume 4 | Volume 5 | Volume 6 | Volume 7 | Volume 8

POWER RANKINGS

In 140 characters or less, like on Twitter, I’ll explain my picks.

1. Virginia Commonwealth (20-5, 9-2 A-10): That’s right, for the first time all year, Butler is out of first here. The Rams were just way too good last week. At their peak.

2. Saint Louis (19-5, 8-2 A-10): SLU has won 7 in a row and playing as well as anyone. Wins against VCU + Butler this week will vault them to No. 1 next week, guaranteed.

3. Butler (21-5, 8-3 A-10): Did the Bulldogs hit their peak too early in the season?

4. La Salle (18-6, 8-3 A-10): The Explorers are quickly becoming a darkhorse to win the A-10 when the conference convenes on Brooklyn next month.

5. Charlotte (18-7, 6-5 A-10): I’m STILL not sold on Charlotte. After a huge win at Butler, the 49ers laid an egg at SLU. But they’ve played a brutal sched in February.

6. Temple (17-8, 6-5 A-10): The Owls saved face after giving Duquesne its first league victory with a clutch win at UMass. But the bubble is close to bursting for them.

7. UMass (16-8, 6-5 A-10): It’s danger zone for the Minutemen to make the Dance after losing to VCU and Temple. They can’t really have any more slip-ups.

8. Xavier (14-10, 7-4 A-10): The Muskies are technically 5th in the A-10 right now, which all things considered, is pretty amazing.

9. George Washington (11-12, 5-5 A-10): It’s honestly a crapshoot from 9-13. I’m not going to punish the Colonials for losing to VCU.

10. Saint Joseph’s (14-10, 5-6 A-10): No idea what happened to this team. They’re a real head-scratcher.

11. Richmond (15-11, 5-6 A-10): Despite this ranking, the Spiders have an RPI of 85. They’re capable, but they haven’t found much consistency this season.

12. Dayton (14-11, 4-7 A-10): The Flyers move up by virtue of beating Xavier and because St. Bonaventure lost twice.

13. St. Bonaventure (11-13, 4-7 A-10)
14. Rhode Island (8-16, 3-8 A-10)
15. Fordham (6-20, 2-9 A-10)
16. Duquesne (8-17, 1-10 A-10)

Continue reading →

Jan 30 2013

Halftime thoughts: UMass 33, La Salle 27

PHILADELPHIA — Some courtside thoughts at Tom Gola Arena as the UMass men’s basketball team leads La Salle 33-27 at halftime.

It starts on defense: Outside of a 6-0 La Salle run to end the half, UMass has done an outstanding job on defense thus far, holding the Explorers to 11 of 26 shooting and forcing them into four offensive fouls in what was a very sloppy first half. The Minutemen used defense to pull away nicely with a 11-0 run towards the end of the half before La Salle ended it on a run of its own.

Putney takeover: UMass junior forward Raphiael Putney has had a very up-and-down season, but put together maybe his best half of the season on Wednesday night. He leads the Minutemen with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, which included a 3-pointer that snapped an 0-for-14 skid from deep. Perhaps the most encouraging stat for Putney, however, is that he finished the half with no fouls. He has finished with at least four fouls in seven of the Minutemen’s 18 games this season.

Galloway and Duren in check: La Salle leading scorers Ramon Galloway and Tyreek Duren have been held to just three points combined on 1-for-6 shooting.

Follow @MDC_Sports and @steve_hewitt on Twitter for more updates from Philadelphia.

Jan 30 2013

Pregame notes: UMass vs. La Salle

Image

MASSACHUSETTS MINUTEMEN (13-5, 3-2 ATLANTIC 10) VS. LA SALLE EXPLORERS (14-5, 3-2 ATLANTIC 10)

GAME NOTES

  • The Minutemen will try to exercise some demons tonight at Tom Gola Arena, where they are 0-4 in the Derek Kellogg era, including an 82-75 loss to the Explorers last season.
  • Beating La Salle on the road certainly won’t be easy. The Explorers have an 8-1 record on their home floor this season, and have won 24 of their last 28 at Tom Gola Arena.
  • La Salle is coming off an impressive stretch last week in which it knocked off both Butler and Virginia Commonwealth, who were both nationally ranked. The week earned the Explorers three votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches polls.
Jan 27 2013

Rapid reaction: Dayton 83, UMass 44

Bryn Rothschild-Shea/Collegian

Bryn Rothschild-Shea/Collegian

Out of their league: Admittedly, today’s outcome wasn’t really much of a surprise. On the road against a the No. 17 team in the nation, the Minutewomen had the deck stacked against them coming in. But today was especially disappointing for UMass. Committing 31 turnovers is unacceptable against any opponent. The Minutewomen were visibly browbeaten at times today, and it showed in their efforts getting after loose balls, boxing out, etc. UMass coach Sharon Dawley probably wants to tear her hair out after this final. This might just be one of those games when the coaching staff burns the game film and moves on.

Harris makes the most of it: On a day when no single player really distinguished themselves, freshman Jasmine Harris put together a nice little afternoon, scoring eight points (including a 3-point make) and grabbing five rebounds in only 15 minutes. She had another excellent look from three, as well, but it rimmed out.

Watson frustrated: Five fouls, six points, 17 minutes. That line says it all.

Up next: UMass heads back home now to host La Salle on Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. at the Mullins Center.