Atlantic 10 Basketball: Davidson rises, St. Bonaventure falls in latest power rankings

10. Duquesne Dukes (5-7)

The Dukes are one of two teams under .500 (George Washington) but has also played a much harder schedule in the non-conference, while also having some bad luck, going 1-4 in games decided in the last minute. But taking Colorado to overtime and beating Big West favorite UC-Irvine shows the potential of this team.

There isn’t a “star” of the team but Duquesne does have four double-digit scorers, led by forwards Tre Williams and Kevin Easley. Leon Ayers leads the team with 12.9 ppg and freshman guard Primo Spears has had multiple 20+ point games so far. But this team has been bad shooting from the field and lacks size and health inside, limiting their overall ceiling going forward.

9. UMass Minutemen (7-5)

The Minutemen has dealt with a lot of games missed by players due to injuries and other absences so the numbers overall are a bit inflated. 10 players are averaging at least 4.0 ppg, led by Noah Fernandes with 16.8 ppg and 5.4 apg. Guards Rich Kelly and C.J. Kelly also are in double figures in the backcourt, along with big man Trent Buttrick (11.7 ppg and 4.6 rpg). Role players,  Javohn Garcia and Michael Steadman have missed time but look to be back for league play and the depth is a positive for this team.

The problem is that it seems none of them among that “depth” can play defense well. UMass ranks towards the bottom in almost every defensive category, giving up 78 ppg. In a conference the features a lot of talent backcourt players, the Minutemen will have to win a lot of shootouts if they want to finish in the top half of the A-10.