Atlantic 10 Basketball: Breaking down each program’s 2018 recruiting class

St. Louis Billikens

The Billikens are my, as well BustingBrackets’ bracketologist Lukas Harkins’, current favorite to win the A10. It would be a lie to say that the recruiting class is the primary reason why, but it is a significant one. After Rhode Island, St. Louis has the second best incoming class in the Conference (at least according to 247Sports).

The main reason for that kind of hype is the conference’s most highly-touted recruit, 6’8″ center Carte’Are Gordon (#73 nationally). A frontcourt duo of Gordon and Hasahn French will be, quite frankly, terrifying for opponents to run up against. Both of them are ferocious interior defenders with the strength and agility to dunk over anybody. When either of them run into foul trouble or are having an off night, 6’8″ KC Hankton will provide ample relief and throw off the defense with his outside shooting touch.

Set to join Jordan Goodwin in the backcourt are 3-star shooting guards Fred Thatch and Demarius Jacobs. Thatch is a scrappy playmaker who chose Travis Ford’s squad over Mizzou, and Jacobs was a 43% three-point shooter in high school (and the #4 player coming out of his home state of Arizona). The final piece of the class is Ingvi Gudmundsson, the 6’7″ brother of Davidson’s Jon-Axel Gudmundsson. If he is anywhere near his brother’s caliber as a player, he will be one of the better bench pieces in the conference.

With that roster coming into the season, you heard it hear (I would say “first,” but if you’re a fan of the A10, you’ve probably heard it already): watch out for the Billikens in March.