Another season of Atlantic 10 basketball has come to a close following VCU and Saint Louis’ losses this past Friday night. What does that mean? We get to enjoy the rest of March Madness rooting on our brackets but not our teams. But it also means we have a long offseason ahead of us where … Read...
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A WAY too early look at the Atlantic 10 in 2019-20 and Power Rankings
1. VCU Rams
I’ve done a bit of a 180 on my preseason #1 pick after tweeting out initial power rankings a few weeks ago where I had Dayton atop the list. VCU returns all but 2.8 points per game (Michael Gilmore) and should be expected to take the league crown 2 years in a row. Despite a frustrating end to a very solid season, VCU should be more than happy to have gotten back to the big dance, and Marcus Evans’ health was certainly a question this past week; not to mention, an opening round NCAA Tournament loss to a very dangerous UCF team is nothing to be ashamed of.
I’d peg Marcus Evans as an early favorite to win Atlantic 10 Player of the Year in his senior season, likely duking it out with Jon Axel Gudmundsson — the winner of the title this year. VCU’s defense was what made the Rams elite during conference play, but if they want to see the 2nd weekend in the NCAA Tournament, the Rams will need some improvements on the other end of the floor. Evans shot just 27.3% from deep this year, a metric that can certainly be improved this offseason. As a team, VCU was barely 30% from long range, and they shot just 6/26 from three against UCF. In my opinion, VCU was a bit too reliant on the three as a team without a truly lethal outside shooter. Marcus Santos-Silva was arguably VCU’s most dominant player in the closing weeks of the season, and I’d look to his improvements inside as an indicator of the Rams’ success. Barring some crazy roster turnover (which is highly unlikely given VCU’s success this year), the Rams will be a deep, experienced team yet again and the favorites to win.