Atlantic 10 Basketball power rankings: Dayton, Duquesne and VCU on top

14. St. Joseph’s Hawks

2019-20 record: 3-14 (0-5)

Outside of the win against William & Mary, the Hawks have lost 13 of their last 14 games. The defense continues to be atrocious, ranked in the bottom-10 nationally with at 81.1 ppg allowed. That includes a whopping 108 points on the road at Temple. St. Joe’s offense is okay but heavily relies on junior Ryan Daly, who leads the team with 19.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 4.4 apg.

The opening schedule has been brutal for this team, facing only the top half of the A-10 in the first five games. It gets easier after facing Penn this weekend but the Hawks will have to win some road games to get out the basement. But unless the defense gets better, St. Joe’s will remain at the bottom.

13. Fordham Rams

2019-20 record: 6-10 (0-4)

A heartbreaking loss to Duquense this week keeps the Rams winless in A-10 play but the stout defense looks to be for real. Giving up just 60.5 ppg, Fordham is built to keep games competitive, despite having inferior talent. The problem has been the offense, scoring under 60 ppg, good for the bottom 10 in the country.

Finding ways to improve the offense gets even harder going forward, with Chuma Ohams, the team’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder (11.0 ppg and 8.2 rpg), is out for the rest of the season with an injury. That leaves guards Jalen Cobb and Antwon Portley having to pick up the scoring slack, with Fordham now having a big hole in the frontcourt. To get some wins now, the final score may will have to be in the low 50s.