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

6. Rhode Island Rams (8-3)

The Rams have no bad losses but just a pair of wins over Boston College on the resume so far. So among the projected “top half” teams, this one may be the most likely to fall once they faced consistently solid opposition. This is a team that’s also different from the others in that they don’t have a star or even a guy you can expect to get 15 points on a given night. Jeremy Sheppard leads them with 11.8 ppg and 2.9 apg.

But what Rhode Island does have is plenty of depth, particularly inside. Makhi and Makhel Mitchell are second and third on the team in scoring, combining to produce 20.8 ppg and 12.1 rpg inside, while Antwan Walker and Malik Martin also provide an impact. This is a team that doesn’t shoot much from outside but is making 50% of their total shots overall. If they can continue having eight guys contribute meaningfully, they’ll in a good spot.

5. Dayton Flyers (8-5)

It’s well known at this point that Dayton lost three straight Quad 4 games at home, before winning the ESPN Events Invitational that including a big upset win over Kansas. After that stretch, the team went 2-2, including a win over Virginia Tech. Their resume still needs a lot of work but the non-conference showed that this team has a very high ceiling but also a very low floor, which isn’t a shock since this is a talented but very young roster.

The Flyers core includes forwards Toumani Camara and freshman Daron Holmes, along with freshman standout Malachi Smith. Those three are averaging right around 10.0 ppg, while five others averaging between 6.5-9.7 ppg. There isn’t a go-to scorer on the roster and are an average shooting team overall but when they get big contributions from several guys, they’re a tough out against any opponent. But the consistency issues remain a problem.