A-10 Basketball: 2019-20 tiered preseason power rankings

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 13: A detailed view of a Spalding basketball during a quarterfinal game between the Davidson Wildcats and La Salle Explorers in the 2015 Men's Atlantic 10 Basketball Tournament at the Barclays Center on March 13, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images) /

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 13: Ty Perry #10 of the Fordham Rams handles the ball against Jake Wojcik #11 of the Richmond Spiders in the first 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) /

Fordham Rams

All that really needs to be said about the Rams is that they were the worst team in the league last season, and their best player decided to transfer once it was over. Looking at this current roster on paper – it’s not absolutely devoid of talent, but it is incredibly inexperienced and not nearly skilled or deep enough overall to be competitive on a nightly basis. Jeff Neubauer has somehow managed to finish with fewer and fewer conference wins (8, 7, 4, and 3) every season since his hiring in 2015. Even if he reverses the trend and finds a way to come out 4-14 or even 5-13, the bottom line is that there’s no reason to think that the Rams will have a bye for the Wednesday game at the A10 Tournament. Antwon Portley, Chuba Ohams, and Jalen Cobb are all decent players, but a lot more will have to emerge from the woodwork if this team is to be even mildly relevant in the standings.

Saint Joe’s Hawks

Just as with Fordham, this Hawks team was bad last season and not poised to be any more competitive this time around. After legendary head coach Phil Martelli was let go following a 6-12 A10 campaign, the top three scorers on the team – Charlie Brown, Lamarr Kimble, and Jared Bynum, who combined for 45.9 points per game – all decided to follow suit.

Out of the returning players on the roster that new Coach Billy Lange will have to work with, only two averaged more than five points per contest: Taylor Funk and Lorenzo Edwards. The Freshman class is solid, and Delaware-transfer Ryan Daly should immediately be one of the team’s top options, but there will simply be too many obstacles for the Hawks to overcome in order to get out of the bottom four of the standings and likely even the bottom two.

Next. Preseason power rankings for 2019-20. dark

Their conference schedule will be no help at all either, as it starts off with an impossible six-game stretch with games at Richmond, vs. Dayton, vs. Duquesne, at Davidson, vs. Rhode Island, and vs. VCU. An 0-6 record is very foreseeable coming out of that, and even if things start to get better, it probably won’t be by much.

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