A-10 Basketball: Way-Too-Early 2019-2020 Power Rankings

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 13: Maceo Jack #14 of the George Washington Colonials handles the ball against Carl Pierre #12 of the Massachusetts Minutemen in the second half during the first round of the 2019 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament at Barclays Center on March 13, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images) /

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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 09: Nick Robinson #5 of the Saint Joseph’s Hawks rebounds the ball in front of Goanar Mar #0 of the George Mason Patriots 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) /

13. Saint Joe’s Hawks (Tier-5)

It’s undeniable that the Hawks have had the toughest offseason of any A10 team thus far. After Phil Martelli was let go, which was enough of a blow in and of itself to St. Joe’s fans, the top three scorers on the team, Jared Bynum, Charlie Brown, and Lamarr Kimble decided to either transfer declare for the NBA draft (Brown).

With Chris Clover graduating on top of all that, that’s 54.4 points (and more, including other minor contributors) per game that new head coach Billy Lange will have to find ways to replace. Fortunately for him, not absolutely everyone is skipping town (though almost everybody). He will still have three-point sniper Taylor Funk around to help him in the rebuild, and Delaware transfer Ryan Daly, who averaged over 17 points per game in the halfway respectable CAA, can be relied on for immediate production as well.

Still, even if the incoming and returning players overachieve, the aforementioned losses are ones that, unless Billy Lange is an actual wizard, will almost certainly have Saint Joe’s playing the Wednesday game in Brooklyn this season. I’m ready to be proven wrong, and there is plenty of time left for Lange and co. to make pickups on the grad-transfer and recruiting fronts that would change the Hawks’ immediate outlook, but it’s going to take a few years to build up a winning culture in Martelli’s wake. Even if they don’t finish last or second-to-last, this team is not escaping the bottom four.

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