Atlantic 10 Basketball: Biggest cases to make for 2022-23 season

The Case For …Brayon Freeman As The Next Superstar

Archie Miller’s best teams have all been structured around a great point guard and in his first year at Rhode Island, he already has his roster centerpiece in Brayon Freeman.  He earned his way into George Washington’s closing lineup at the beginning of December and averaged 11.9 ppg and 4.4 apg over the rest of the season, despite being stuck in an isolation-heavy hellscape of an offensive system.

The Colonials were unable to highlight Freeman’s passing and catch-and-shoot ability (43.6% from three, 1.8 attempts per game) but he was still able to succeed thanks to unexpectedly strong off-the-dribble scoring.  Now in his second season, Freeman will be paired in the backcourt with a great stylistic partner in Ishmael Leggett.  Last year’s starting point guard, Leggett will go back to the wing and give Freeman plenty of easy assists off of his cutting, while also being the prime setup man for plenty of Freeman threes in Miller’s egalitarian offense.

All around, Freeman is the perfect candidate for a huge leap.  He’s skilled at every important part of the offensive game, he has a coach who will maximize those skills and a team that will fit well around him.  If he can up his three-point attempts, then Freeman will reach the high teens in scoring and should be near the top of the A-10 leaderboard in assists.

Fair or not, as a point guard Freeman’s accolades will likely be tied to team success and with a young roster around, he is likely destined for second or third-team all-conference this year but with an already strong recruiting class on its way to pair with an older roster, Freeman will be one of the three or four POY candidates come March 2024.

The Case For …Tyler Burton Leading The A-10 In Scoring

Six of the top seven scorers in the conference return for this season, with the top two, George Mason’s Josh Oduro and George Washington’s James Bishop, the likely favorites to win the scoring title.  Richmond forward Tyler Burton finished in third but was nearly a point and a half back of Oduro.

Last season, Burton dominated the non-conference slate, only to tail off in the second half. The biggest culprit, a drop in three-point shooting, from 40.4% to 31.3%. He shot around 36% for the full season after doing the same in 2020-21, and simply maintaining that percentage in A-10 play would have been enough to pass Bishop for second.  A slight bump from that level is absolutely in play from Burton this year and is essential for him to play his best.

Even though Burton is now the clear leader of the Richmond offense, the team is set to continue to get him quality looks. The phrase “best passing center in the country” is being thrown around for Lafayette transfer Neal Quinn and freshman point guard Jason Nelson spent last year learning from assist machine Jacob Gilyard.  If the role players, like Matt Grace and Citadel transfer Jason Roche (39.7% from three) can consistently hit from the outside, then an offense humming around Quinn’s passing will make double-teaming Burton a very risky proposition.

Burton is the best offensive talent in the conference and is primed to turn into a dominant force on that end of the court.  The necessary change is pretty simple, as more consistent shooting will have him close to 20 ppg this year and give him the scoring crown running away.  That would turn Richmond into a top-four contender in a reload year and put Burton on an NBA roster in 2023.