Atlantic 10 Basketball: Preseason rankings for 2018-19

2. Saint Louis Billikens

2017-18 season record: 17-16 (9-9)

Last season was supposed to be the breakout year for the program but off-the-court problems derailed things for the Billikens. Two transfers who were supposed to be a part of the program’s rebuild (Ty Graves and Adonys Henriquez) aren’t with the team for next season but head coach Travis Ford had plans to bring in even more talent.

First comes the recruiting class, which includes four-star big man Carter’Are Gordon. The Billikens were actually a good rebounding team despite the lack of size but essentially had little to no post scoring. He’ll join rising sophomore Hasahn French, one of the bright spots from last year’s team.

So was Javon Bess, a transfer from Michigan State who led Saint Louis in scoring. He rebounding (7.4 rpg) was also a nice surprise and he’ll be a senior leader on a team who’ll have a ton of roster overhaul once again.

He won’t be the only senior, as grad transfers Dion Wiley (Maryland) and Tramaine Isabell (Drexel) are joining the roster. Isabell scored 21.0 ppg while dishing out 3.4 apg last season, while Wiley was a solid role player for the Terrapins his first three seasons with them.

If rising sophomores French along with Jordan Goodwin continue their development, the Billikens will be an A-10 title contender for the next several years. And from a talent perspective, this is the best team on paper in the conference. But with there being so many new faces, there have to be chemistry concerns in the preseason. With the No. 1 team on this list, that won’t be an issue.