Atlantic 10 Basketball: 4 biggest takeaways from opening night

Davidson will be just fine

Everyone knew that Davidson would have a killer backcourt – that was never in doubt. Kellan Grady is probably the best player in the league and will hear his name called in next year’s NBA draft, and Jon Axel-Gudmundsson is about as steady a point guard as they come. The doubts about Davidson being a possible tournament team had absolutely nothing to do with those two. What people, including myself, were more worried about was their depth. They entered this season without last year’s A10 co-player of the year Peyton Aldridge and a bevy of former rotational players like Oscar Michelson, Will Magarity, and Rusty Reigel. Even with the league’s best backcourt, that seemed like a lot for coach Bob McKillop to overcome

Last night, in the season opener against Cleveland State, we learned a couple of things. One is that we were absolutely correct in considering the Wildcat backcourt the best in the league. En route to an easy victory, Grady and Gudmundsson combined for a stat line of 40 points, 14 rebounds, and 9 assists and looked like they were in a different class than everyone else on the floor (which they were). What we also learned, however, is that McKillop has (I won’t say plenty) but more than enough other weapons around those two to make the team dangerous. The team’s third option, KiShawn Pritchett, did a little bit of everything with 9 points, 7 boards, and 5 assists, and the two highly touted freshman, big man Luka Brajkovic and guard Luke Frampton (redshirt) combined for 20 points and 8 rebounds. On top of that, Carter Collins and each played over 10 minutes and had 6 points apiece.

The bottom line is this: McKillop will make this work. It doesn’t matter if his rotation is only 7-8 guys. When you have two players like Grady and Gudmundsson, that’s all it needs to be. McKillop is a good enough coach to keep his team disciplined and effective under his system, and to have his other player’s producing enough to keep the weight off of the stars’ shoulders. I don’t expect Frampton, Brajkovic, or Pritchett to average 15 points per game, but as long as they play consistently and take turns having hot nights, watch out. For those that aren’t already, it’s about time to start considering the Wildcats among the two or three favorites to win the conference.