Bracketology 2021: 10 biggest winners from opening month of season

8. Saint Louis

When Travis Ford was hired by the Billikens just over four years ago, this Saint Louis program was a shell of its former self. Ford went to work, finding talent, rebuilding this program bit by bit, and it paid off with an A-10 Tournament title two seasons ago. Now, his Billikens are in decent shape to emerge as the premiere team in the A-10, much like Dayton did last season.

The Billikens haven’t played the toughest schedule in the world, but do boast wins over LSU and NC State, which is a lot more than most mid-majors can say. They did drop their first game just before Christmas at Minnesota, but that was a tough hard-fought game that could have gone either way. They’ve avoided any missteps or poor efforts in their first eight games and that talent and consistency is helping them jump up the bracketology rankings.

Jordan Goodwin is putting up monster numbers and Javonte Perkins is doing just as great on the offensive end. Even while Hasahn French has been banged up, the Billikens have been humming along and taking care of business. While Richmond has gotten much of the early attention for their win at Kentucky, it certainly could be Saint Louis who emerges as this year’s standout A-10 team, especially if Goodwin and Perkins continue their prolific play as conference play begins.