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Atlantic 10 Basketball: Richmond, Saint Louis on top in opening weeks

By Benjamin Zacher

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 09: The Atlantic-10 logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the George Washington Colonials andthe Dayton Flyers at the Smith Center on January 9, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 09: The Atlantic-10 logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the George Washington Colonials andthe Dayton Flyers at the Smith Center on January 9, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Atlantic 10 Basketball
Atlantic 10 Basketball Ty Perry Fordham Rams (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

14. Fordham Rams

  • 2020-21 record: 0-0; N/A until Dec. 19

The 2020-21 season has not been kind to the Rams, who were forced to cancel their first two games against Iona and Manhattan due to positive COVID-19 tests within those programs – and have now been paused themselves since the end of November due to a positive case.

Their pause will cease on Dec. 12, the same day they were slated to play the University of Maine – which means they will be forced to reschedule that game.  Currently, Fordham is scheduled to begin their season on Dec. 19 against Central Connecticut, with another game against Stony Brook scheduled before the holidays.

When the Rams return to action, sixth-year head coach Jeff Neubauer will have his work cut out for him.  Picked to finish last in the conference in the A-10 preseason poll, Fordham returns 75.5% of the scoring and 79.5% of the minutes played from a team that went 9-22 last season and has finished last in the A-10 three straight years.

They won just three games against A-10 competition last season – and all three wins came against George Washington.  To their credit, they fared much better than their record indicates – of their 22 losses, 15 came by single-digits.

Where they were fantastic defensively (10th nationally in scoring defense, 40th in FG percentage defense, and 42nd in 3PT FG defense), they struggled mightily offensively, ranking among the worst in Div. I (345th in scoring offense, 346th in FG percentage, and 319th in offensive rebounds per game).

With an overwhelming majority of last year’s team returning, it is imperative that Fordham fix their offensive woes.  They are fantastic defensively – and if they can get their offense to just be average, they should be a middle-of-the-pack team in the A-10.

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