Atlantic 10 Basketball: George Mason, Fordham rise in latest power rankings

#4. Fordham (11-1)

I felt odd about putting the Rams here when they have played quite literally one of the softest schedules in America, but at a certain point, you have to respect a team whose only loss through 12 games is to #5 Houston. To the Rams’ credit, they’ve also passed the only other real test they’ve had by winning a road game at Tulane (86th on KenPom).

Darius Quisenberry is a legitimate all-conference player at the Point (in a conference that, for all of its flaws, has a bevy of exceptional Point Guards), and while the depth isn’t great, the top 4 or 5 of the rotation can carry the load on any given night. Georgia Tech transfer forward Khalid Moore (15.5 points, 5.8 rebounds) is particularly deserving of mention here.

#3. Dayton (6-5)

While the Flyers have failed to get the job done in any of their big-time games, those are also their only losses (0-5 in the KenPom top 100, 6-0 outside of it). Normally that wouldn’t be enough to have a team in the top 4 of the A10 at this point in the season, but their backcourt is in shambles with Kobe Elvis (10.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists) and Malachi Smith (5.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.0 steals) missing time due to injury.

Put those two back alongside guys like Toumani Camara and favorite for A10 Player of the Year Daron Holmes (20.8 points and 2.2 blocks over his last 5 games), and this team can certainly still win the conference.