A-10 Basketball: 7 positives and negatives from first month of 2021-22 season

The first two and half weeks of the season were far from ideal in A-10 Basketball, with the entire conference losing at least one game and fan focus being locked in on the negatives: Richmond’s inability to close games against quality opponents, Dayton’s three sub-200 home losses, VCU’s rough offensive performances in losses to Wagner, Chattanooga, and UConn, etc.

But there have also been some great wins, with Dayton stunning Kansas, St. Bonaventure walloping Marquette, and VCU beating Syracuse.  In fact, the Atlantic 10 is 12-9 vs Power 6 conference teams.

There has been continued excellence from the established senior stars (Lofton, Osunniyi, Golden), exciting transfers (Schwartz, Bamisile, Buttrick), and excellent breakout performances (Burton, Fernandes, Holmes), and most teams (sorry, Richmond) have had enough reasons to believe that they can still meet or exceed expectations.

To figure out which teams can turn it around, we need to look past the results on the schedule and focus on the other storylines that have begun to develop. I’ll dive into seven stories that have stood out to me in the early going and in the spirit of the holidays, focusing on the positives that could lead to a successful season.