Busting Brackets
Fansided

Atlantic 10 Basketball: 3 sleeper teams that could contend in 2018-19

By Stu Luddecke

LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: De'Riante Jenkins #0 of the VCU Rams leads the fast break during the first half of the game against the California Golden Bears during the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2017 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: De'Riante Jenkins #0 of the VCU Rams leads the fast break during the first half of the game against the California Golden Bears during the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2017 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 09: Virginia Commonwealth Rams fans cheer against the Rhode Island Rams during the first half in the Quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 9, 2018 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 09: Virginia Commonwealth Rams fans cheer against the Rhode Island Rams during the first half in the Quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 9, 2018 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Most people are predicting the same group of teams to fight for the Atlantic 10 Basketball title this season. These three teams are all being slept on in those talks.

The A10 is wide open this season. If you follow coverage of the conference that’s what you probably have been hearing and will keep hearing, all offseason. It’s true, there are no juggernauts that are poised to dominate like Rhode Island did last year. The name of the game this year is parity and competition. A lot of teams will be much improved and have strong cases to make for why they could win the Conference title.

Even though a lot is up in the air, there are a few teams that people consistently bring up as legitimate contenders for the A10 hardware. St. Louis is unanimously respected for the sheer amount of talent on the roster. George Mason is a favorite choice because of their experience and the fact that they lost no one over the offseason. UMass, Rhode Island, St. Joe’s, and Davidson are all part of the conversation as well because of coaching, depth, or the prowess of individual players (or a combination of those things).

The teams on this list are teams that I think deserve to be mentioned with the aforementioned six but are being slept on for various reasons. I’m not saying that I think any of them will win the conference title, but I think they’ll have real chances to contend for it.

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