Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein 13hThe talent upgrades by Fordham + Duquesne encapsulate the A 10. The league may have lost brand name schools, but everyone else improved.

I think his point is more that everyone in the league is getting better, but that there is def a bottom up movement that's improving the league overall. I think you could include GW, Rhode Island and Dayton in his list. Really the only two teams in the league that look considerably worse to me are Bona and St Joe's

Side note, Rothstein has been all over the A-10 and Big East so far this offseason not giving one more coverage than the other. Really enjoy following him on twitter.

rogabee wrote:

Why so high on Dayton?  I see them as falling off also.  Dillard did so much for that team, and there's nobody to replace him that I saw last year.  With a new PG in what even more looks like a guard oriented league than we even had before, and Dayton's lack of ability to defend, I don't see Dayton as up at all...

They have two highly reguarded players coming in who could handle the point for them immediately. I suspect one will and I think we've seen a recent track record of freshman PG's in the league able to come in an perform at a serviceable level even if they aren't going to win the A-10 for the Flyers.  They also have the kid, Sibert I think, transfering in from Ohio St. I have my concerns about their post play and defense, but I think they'll be a better team even if that doesn't translate to a huge jump in the standings.