Atlantic 10 Basketball: Breaking down each program’s 2018 recruiting class
By Stu Luddecke
La Salle Explorers
La Salle is another team that people are lumping together with Fordham and GW as a probable bottom-4 team. They lost their best player in B.J. Johnson, and will be led by a first-year coach in Ashley Howard (former assistant at Villanova), two facts that don’t bode well for immediate success.
While the Explorers will get the return of Pookie Powell, who I gave #5 honors to in my returning top 10 A10 players list, and he should often be enough to at least keep them competitive, I would have liked to see them do more on the recruiting front. Their only 2018 commit is Jack Clark, a 6’5″ wing who chose La Salle over other A10 programs like Dayton and George Mason. Clark is another versatile, jack-of-all-trades, type of wing who should get significant playing time and wouldn’t surprise me by scoring 10 points per game. He probably won’t start right away, but La Salle’s depth issues and unknown identity should afford him plenty of opportunity to impress coach Howard and become a starter before long.
Overall, it will be an interesting year for the Explorers. There are a lot of question marks to accompany the excitement that comes with a promising new coach and a rebuilding program. Don’t expect the team to make much noise this season while they get things figured out, but expect Clark to play a significant role in any success that they do find.