Conference play is now well underway in the 2023-24 Men’s College Basketball season and things are ramping up. As we head into the month of February, teams are seeking to put themselves in a spot to make a run in March.
With the landscape of where each team stands becoming clearer, the Good Five Cent Cigar Sports Staff will get together every week and rank the 15 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Here’s how our rankings ended up for The University of Rhode Island men’s basketball team and rest of the the teams in the conference this week:
15th Place: Saint Louis (8-12, 1-6)
Saint Louis University was a team who had some fairly high expectations heading into the year, picked to finish sixth in the Atlantic 10 in the preseason poll. After a 4-0 start to the season, it looked like they may be well on their way to a good season.
But since conference play has begun, their season has gone off the rails a bit. They are 1-6 in conference and have lost four straight games. This past week, they lost two games by double digits at home to Davidson College (84-61) and the University of Massachusetts (84-73).
They will continue to search for answers to find that form from early in the season.
14th Place: La Salle (11-9, 2-5)
Like Saint Louis, La Salle University also had a 4-0 start to this season. Since then, it’s continued to get worse for the team. Four of their five losses in conference play have been by 12 or more points.
However, they were able to break a four-game losing streak this past weekend when they defeated George Washington University 80-70 on the road.
La Salle will look to carry that momentum from the George Washington game and string some wins together to climb up the Atlantic 10 standings.
13th Place: Davidson (12-8, 2-5)
Throughout conference play, it’s been tough to get a read on what kind of team Davidson truly is. The record isn’t great at 2-5, but they’ve gone to overtime with both the University of Richmond (69-64 loss) and George Washington (83-79 loss). They were also able to keep it close against the Virginia Commonwealth University this past weekend in a 63-58 loss.
In order to turn their season around, Davidson will need to start to find ways to play well down the stretch and win some close games. They’ve shown the ability to hang in there with some of the top teams in the conference, but don’t have the wins to show for it.
They have more than a week off following the VCU loss, so Davidson will have plenty of time to regroup. Their next game will be this coming weekend when they travel to play Loyola University Chicago on Sunday.
12th Place: Rhode Island (9-11, 3-4)
It’s been a very up and down past couple weeks for Rhode Island, to say the least.
After a disappointing non-conference slate that included losing five of their last six games in non-conference play, the Rams looked like a completely different team when conference play began. They ripped off three straight wins against Saint Joseph’s University, Davidson and Massachusetts. All of a sudden, they found themselves near the top of the A-10 standings after being picked to finish 14th.
But, the team has lost that form in recent games, losing four straight with the glaring problem being their defense. They have allowed 90+ in three of those four games, and lost to both St. Bonaventure University and the University of Dayton by more than 30.
Rhode Island will have an opportunity to right the ship with a couple of home games, where they are 8-3 this season, against a couple of teams towards the bottom of the conference in La Salle and Duquesne University.
11th Place: Duquesne (11-8, 2-5)
Duquesne came into this year with much higher expectations than the program has seen in recent memory, being picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll.
After a solid non conference slate of 9-3, conference play couldn’t have started worse for Duquesne. They dropped five straight games, and weren’t able to score more than 70 points in any of them.
The offense has remained a problem as they rank 14th in the conference in points per game, but they were able to get back to back wins against St. Bonaventure (54-50) and Fordham University (68-59). They will look to ride this momentum and find their footing led by their defensive play.
10th Place: Fordham (9-11, 3-4)
It’s been a very turbulent year for Fordham right from the start. They’ve struggled to build any sort of momentum, as they’ve only been able to win consecutive games twice this season and haven’t won more than two games in a row.
Last week, they found a way to get a big conference victory on the road in the battle of the Rams against Rhode Island. But, once again, they were unable to follow it up with another victory as they fell to Duquesne on the road a few days later.
Fordham continues to stay afloat in the A-10 standings, but they will need to start stringing some wins together in order to build some real momentum.
9th Place: George Washington (14-6, 3-4)
George Washington got off to a torrid start this season, beginning 11-2 in their first 13 games. Since conference play got underway, they haven’t been able to maintain that same pace.
One thing is for certain with this George Washington team: When you play them, you are likely to get a very close game. Five of their seven conference games have been within 10 points, and this includes a triple-OT marathon loss to Fordham and an overtime win against Davidson.
They are heading into the gauntlet of their schedule, with four of their next five games coming against teams currently sitting in the top five of the A-10 standings. This stretch will tell us a lot about what George Washington could be capable of in the final months of the season.
8th Place: University of Massachusetts (13-7, 4-4)
UMass is currently leading the conference in points per game, averaging 81.4. Their point differential is also second best in the conference. Despite all of this, they are still towards the middle of the pack in the standings currently.
It’s clear that their record may not indicate the talent level of this team, and this is largely due to close losses against Dayton (64-60), Loyola Chicago (79-78) and Saint Joseph’s (78-77). A couple plays go the other way in these games, and we could be talking about this team in a totally different way right now.
Still, the main thing that matters at the end of the day are the wins and losses. The Minutemen will search to find ways to close out these close games and catapult towards the top of the A-10 standings.
7th Place: Saint Joseph’s (13-7, 3-4)
Saint Joseph’s had some highlights throughout the early portion of their season. Many expected them to be destined for the top of the A-10 standings after a couple of signature non-conference wins against Villanova University and Princeton University.
Conference play hasn’t been as kind to them, but there have still been glimpses. They are third in both point differential and points per game in the conference, and did go on a three game win streak with wins against La Salle, Duquesne and UMass. That streak was snapped this past week with a 91-71 loss to St Bonaventure.
The Hawks will look to recapture some of that magic from the early part of the season and work their way towards getting over .500 in conference play.
6th Place: St. Bonaventure (12-7, 3-4)
St. Bonaventure has shown flashes of dominance during conference play with a 99-64 win against Rhode Island and a 91-72 win this past weekend against Saint Joseph’s. They have also suffered some disappointing losses, including a 80-74 loss to Fordham at home.
Still, the Cigar Staff believes in those dominating efforts enough to have them just outside of the top five in our rankings here.
They will certainly have a chance to prove themselves and climb the rankings with games coming up against two of the top teams in the conference in VCU and Dayton.
5th Place: George Mason (15-5, 4-3)
Kicking off the top five in our rankings is George Mason University. They started the year red hot, going 13-2 in their first 15 games and won their first two conference games.
Things got a little concerning when they dropped three straight games to VCU, Richmond and George Washington to drop to 2-3 in conference. Recently though, they have bounced back nicely with back to back wins against St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island.
They’ve shown the ability to play staunch defense, as they are fourth in the conference in opponents points per game, but they’ve also shown they can win shootouts like this past weekend when they defeated Rhode Island 92-84. With this combination, they could be a force to be reckoned with as conference play continues.
4th Place: Loyola Chicago (13-7, 5-2)
Loyola Chicago had a rough year a season ago, finishing last in the Atlantic 10. Heading into the offseason, they were searching for answers. Well, so far throughout this year, it appears they have found those answers.
They started conference play 5-1 before dropping a game to VCU, 74-67. Above all else, the thing that really stands out with this team is how close all of their contests have been. Every single one of their conference games have been within seven points so far. They’re middle of the pack in both points per game (12th in conference) and points allowed per game (eighth in conference). However, it’s already been made clear that the one thing that truly matters at the end of the day are the wins and losses.
With a couple of teams towards the bottom of the conference standings coming up in their schedule, Loyola Chicago could have a real chance of moving into the top three or even better of the A-10 standings.
3rd Place: VCU (13-7, 5-2)
There may have been a little concern among VCU fans when they dropped a couple of non-conference games as heavy favorites against McNeese State University and Norfolk State University. Fast forward to February, they’ve been able to bounce back from that and find themselves as a top three team in the conference.
Similar to the way they started their overall season, conference play also started out a little shaky for this VCU team. However, they have rattled off five straight wins and shown why they were picked to finish second in this conference in the preseason.
A huge matchup awaits them this coming weekend when they will play their in-state rival, Richmond, at home on Saturday.
2nd Place: Dayton (16-3, 6-1)
For just about the entire season, it would’ve been crazy to say that anyone besides Dayton was the best team in this conference. That was up until this weekend when they suffered their first conference loss of the year to Richmond, 69-64.
Still, Dayton finds themselves as the only team in the conference nationally ranked (#21 in the Associated Press Poll) and appear to be the only ones very much in play for an at-large bid in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament. They have a very impressive resume aided by standout non conference wins like the one against St. John’s earlier this season and have put themselves in a spot to potentially get a high seed when the tournament comes around in March.
Led by one of the top players in the country, third-year forward Daron Holmes II, and the best defense in the conference, the sky’s the limit for this Flyers team.
1st Place: Richmond (15-5, 7-0)
It has been an unbelievable run for the Richmond Spiders so far this season. They didn’t have too high of expectations as they were picked to finish 11th in the conference. This was largely due to the fact they lost their top scorer from last season, fifth-year forward Tyler Burton, to the transfer portal.
Despite the low expectations, they have shocked everyone, as they are now on a 10-game win streak capped off this past weekend with that massive 69-64 win against Dayton. Following this victory, they find themselves all alone at the top of the A-10 Standings.
We all know the saying “Defense wins Championships:” Richmond and Dayton both perfectly exemplify this. Richmond ranks just behind Dayton in points allowed per game. They also only turn the ball over 8.5 times per game, which is the best in the conference.
The Spiders have all the momentum in the world right now, and look like a team that could make some noise when March rolls around.