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: Justin Kier #1 and AJ Wilson #12 of the George Mason Patriots celebrate against the Saint Joseph’s Hawks 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) /

7. George Mason Patriots (Tier-3)

The Patriots managed to turn their 2018-19 season around after a disastrous non-con, and they should be feeling confident as we move into this new campaign. The Otis Livingston era has ended – he’s moving on along with Jaire Grayer and Jarred Reuter – but many of the most exciting talents on Coach Paulsen’s roster will still be around and ready to fill the voids.

Justin Kier was one of the bigger surprises in the conference last season, and he seems poised to boost his 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game into first team all-conference territory this year (was second team this past season). Livingston’s confidence and emotional leadership at the Point Guard spot will be hard to replace, but Javon Greene has enough talent and ball-handling ability the ball to transition from the scorer that he has been to a more of a distributor if needed. Between those two and Jordan Miller (10.4 points, 7.1 rebounds as a Freshman), Paulsen has a core that he can be confident in, and the rotation below them is over ten deep of guys that can make meaningful contributions.

The bottom line for this Mason team is that they aren’t overwhelmingly talented or well-coached, but they are flat-out solid in almost every facet. I can’t imagine them finishing any higher than fourth, but they have one of the sturdier floors in the conference as well. Seventh seems like a reasonable expectation for now, but don’t be surprised by anything in the 4-9 range.

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