Atlantic 10 Basketball: Ranking of top 50 returning players for 2020-21 season

#25: Jaren English, Guard (Saint Bonaventure Bonnies)

English is a player that can be somewhat easy to overlook because of how much talent the Bonnies have at the very top of the rotation, but he quietly has been and should continue to be an extremely reliable option on the wings for Mark Schmidt.

Last season, Englishes’ first one in Olean, he put up 11.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest, while shooting an extremely reliable respectable 45.3% from the floor and 40.0% from deep. He was also playing some of his best ball towards the end of the season, notching almost 15.0 points per game over the Bonnies’ final five games.

The team should be even deeper in this upcoming season, so English won’t be relied on to be a 20.0 point per game guy, but he still has the talent to step up and be that type of player when it’s needed.

#24: Jamison Battle, Forward (GW Colonials)

An A10 all-rookie selection in his debut season, Battle has to be considered a breakout star candidate heading into his second year with the Colonials. He’s not an incredibly polished athlete in terms of his speed and verticality, but he’s a naturally strong 6’7” forward with the confidence to take over seven three-pointers per game as a freshman (and hit a solid 36.6% of them).

He had a tendency to run a little bit hot and cold last year, but when he’s in the zone he can be a devastating offensive threat. GW fans should also be encouraged by the fact that Battle’s best scoring performances came against some of the toughest competition on the schedule; the six games in which he put up at least 18 points were against South Carolina, Harvard, Saint Bonaventure, Saint Louis, Duquesne, and Davidson.

Of course, there were some nights where he couldn’t find his rhythm, but that’s perfectly acceptable for a freshman three-point specialist. Don’t be surprised if Battle ends up averaging around 15.0 points per game this year for the Colonials as he continues to develop physically and in his ability to create his own shot.

#23: Dom Welch, Guard (Saint Bonaventure Bonnies)

Welch has been a balanced player across the board in his first two seasons with the Bonnies. He’s a 36.6% career three-point shooter, a solid perimeter defender and he’s coming off of a season in which he put up 11.8 points per game. Perhaps his most impressive attribute is his ability to punch above his weight on the glass.

As a 6’5” 198 pound guard, one wouldn’t expect him to have as many double-digit rebounding performances as he did last season, but he just has a knack for tracking down the ball. In four of the Bonnies’ A10 games, Welch pulled down at least 12 boards, and he ended up averaging 6.9 per game on the year.

Another great thing about Welch is his consistency — there were only 3 games last season in which he shot less than 30% from the floor, an impressive stat when considering that he averaged more than 10 shot attempts per contest.

#22: TJ Weeks, Guard (UMass Minutemen)

Tre Mitchell is obviously UMass’ best player, but it should be noted that TJ Weeks was leading the team in scoring (14.7 points per game) before he was sidelined for the year after just 10 games. His 48.5% shooting from three-point range will almost certainly decrease over the course of a full season, but in any case, it’s clear that he’s one of the best (if not the best) shooters in the conference.

It’s not common for any A10 player, let alone a freshman one, to go 6/6 from deep in a game as Weeks did against Rider in November. He’ll need to work on his efficiency inside the arc this season — he shot just 32.9% from there as a freshman — but just as his three-point percentage is bound to fall, he’s too good of a natural shooter for that two-point number not to climb over a more prolonged duration.

The bottom line is that the Minutemen will be much deeper this season, so there will be some nights that Weeks scores six points because he’s cold or that’s all the team needs from him, but there will also be nights where he can’t miss and puts up 30+.

#21: Javon Greene, Guard (George Mason Patriots)

Greene is inconsistent, but when he’s on, he’s one of the best pure scorers that the A10 has to offer. Not a lot of players in the league have the ability to put up 39 points as he did against a very good Richmond team in January. He’s prone to the occasional 3/13 or 4/15 type of shooting performance every now and then, but because of how good his best games are, he still managed to finish the year shooting a respectable 40% from the field and 34% from deep.

Outside of his consistency problems, Greene will also need to work on taking better care of the ball, as his assist to turnover ratio was less than 1:1, but he makes up for some of that with his intensity on the glass (5.6 rebounds per game) and the defensive end (1.8 steals per game).

If Mason is going to make the jump from middle-of-the-pack to a contender, they’ll need a few bona fide stars to emerge, and Greene has certainly shown flashes of being that type of player.