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The Atlantic 10 Conference is currently ranked 10th out of 32 conferences, per KenPom. You have to go back 11 years to 2007 to find the Atlantic 10 conference in this low of a position. This conference has regularly been ranked as the 7th or 8th best conference during this span. Now, the conference is closer to the 15th ranked Ivy League than they are to the 7th ranked American Athletic Conference. This is a pretty deep drop and you can certainly classify this as a down year in the conference. Pleasantly surprised that KenPom projects a 6-12 record in A-10. Frankly, I would have thought more like 4-14. I guess I didn't realize how the A-10 has dropped in stature of late. I could still see us having difficulty winning more than 1 or 2 games on the road however. This is not a knock on the Dukes. Just the reality of a still pretty tough conference where road wins will be few and far between. I agree about the improvement as the year goes on, remember other than Chas Brown to and to a point James , not many or these Dukes have played that many games in their career. This is due to class they are in or just not getting the P T under past coach. Right now, the A10 is in "Juan Bid" territory. The league has never truly replaced Xavier, and has been damaged by coaching changes at Dayton, and VCU. The shocking decline of Richmond has also damaged the league by adding another program to the bottom dwellers. Also, issues at SLU have prevented them from making the expected jump this season. Would be nice if we can begin our climb out of the abyss a year early. UMass and GW weren't able to capitalize on 2014 either. Never jump to concussions this early in the game. Yogi Bear said that, I believe. Not playing on the first day of the A 10 Tournament would be a huge boost for this team. Very doable apparently this year
CONGRATULATIONS COACH DRU JOYCE III
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A-10 Conference - Down Year
There is only one team ranked in the Top 50 (Rhode Island at 49) and a total of 4 in the top 100 (St. Bonaventure 66; Davidson 78; VCU 86). This is shaping up to potentially be a 2 bid conference; first time that has happened since 2007.
Right now, KenPom has the Dukes finishing 6-12 in the conference, matching the projected mark for Fordham and Richmond (who BTW is 1-8). Saint Louis and George Mason are projected with 7-11 records and UMass at 8-10. The other 2 schools with 150+ rankings are La Salle and GW, projected to finish 9-9.
Barring any more injuries, I would expect the Dukes to continue to improve and be playing their best basketball at the end of the year. Combined with the weakness of the A-10, the Dukes may have a chance to claw their way out of the basement in the A-10.
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Re: A-10 Conference - Down Year
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Re: A-10 Conference - Down Year
Others have told me the obvious about having a coach who knows how to win, Stetson cut a 18 point lead to 9 and although a media time out was but a few min away, KD called a time out to "stop the bleeding " a la Ray Goss and he stopped the momentum. The Hatters never go any closer and our lads went on to win the second in a row.
I think last year that game would have been lost........
A diehard fan since 1961
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Re: A-10 Conference - Down Year
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Re: A-10 Conference - Down Year
Bummer, both 2007 and this year we were/are in year one of a new coach and aren't in position to fully take advantage.
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Re: A-10 Conference - Down Year
Juan Bid featured in this article. •
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Re: A-10 Conference - Down Year
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Re: A-10 Conference - Down Year
Vicimus Atlanticum decem
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