Atlantic 10 Basketball: Recap of 1st and 2nd rounds of 2023 tournament

Looking ahead: Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 9th, 2023

After two days of fun, the Thursday slate of Quarterfinal games from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, is set. Let’s take a look at each of the upcoming matchups and what we can expect from this round.

(1) VCU vs (8) Davidson

Eight-seed Davidson is heating up at the right time; the Wildcats have won five of their last six games. While this is great news for head coach Matt McKillop, they will be tested by the top-seeded VCU Rams in this matchup.

VCU also ended the season on a high note, with a six-game winning streak dating back to February 15th when junior guard Zeb Jackson hit a buzzer-beater to beat Rhode Island on the road.

The Davidson Wildcats will need Foster Loyer, Sam Mennenga, and Desmond Watson to show up if they want to keep up with the Rams.

Coach Mike Rhoades and the Rams will be leaning on Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Ace Baldwin Jr to immediately impact their performance on both ends of the ball. They’ll also look for sophomore forward Jalen DeLoach, senior forward Brandon Johns Jr, and sophomore guard Jayden Nunn to be productive.

The Rams were victorious in both meetings with the Wildcats during the regular season. If the Rams can limit turning over the ball, they should manage to take down Davidson again.

(4) Saint Louis vs (5) George Mason

The Saint Louis Billikens entered the season looking like one of the biggest threats in the conference; however, injuries have prevented them from entirely living up to the hype they received in the preseason.

The Billikens lost Fred Thatch Jr to a season-ending ACL injury in January, which certainly hurt their depth, but they are running behind one of the best floor generals in the nation in Yuri Collins.

Unfortunately for Coach Travis Ford and Saint Louis, now is not the time to be excited about playing the George Mason Patriots.

The Patriots are currently on a seven-game winning streak and are led by senior forward Josh Oduro, who presents significant problems for opponents on both ends of the floor. He is averaging 15.6 points, eight rebounds, and shooting 55.4 percent.

I believe this will be an all-around good game, but the George Mason Patriots will pull off the upset to advance to the semifinal and play the winner of VCU and Davidson.

(2) Dayton vs (10) Saint Joseph’s

There’s no question that Erik Reynolds II has been one of the best players in the Atlantic 10 tournament thus far. The sophomore guard is averaging 23.5 points over the last two games and is a major reason why the Hawks are still alive after two rounds of play.

While the Saint Joseph’s Hawk’s success story is nice to see, their road to Sunday will get more challenging, and it starts against two-seeded Dayton.

Coach Anthony Grant and the Dayton Flyers have been very good throughout conference play; however, they have a few questionable losses to teams such as George Washington, Rhode Island, and St Bonaventure.

The last time they played Saint Joseph’s, it resulted in a 76-56 victory at home for the Flyers, so their losses should not affect their style against the Hawks as long as they can avoid foul trouble, especially from their forwards.

Dayton has one of the best frontcourts in the conference, which includes Daron Holmes II, Toumani Camara, Mustapha Amzil, and Mike Sharavjamts. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see high-percentage shots from their electric backcourt, consisting of Kobe Elvis, Malachi Smith, and Koby Brea.

If they can protect their forwards from fouling and their guards can feed the bigs down low in the paint, we can expect the Flyers to be heading to the semifinals.

(3) Fordham vs (11) La Salle

They save the best for last. The Fordham Rams are the talk of not just the Atlantic 10 but maybe Division I basketball.

The 24 wins for the Rams clinched the three-seed in the tournament and are the most wins since the 1990-91 season when the team won 25 games. Fordham is led by first-year head coach Keith Urgo, named this year’s Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.

One of the primary reasons for the Rams’ success is the trio of Darius Quisenberry, Kyle Rose, and Khalid Moore. Fordham will also look for senior center Rostyslav Novitskyi and junior forward Abdou Tsimbila, who leads the conference in blocks averaging 1.9 per game.

The La Salle Explorers, who have been rolling over the last two games, will look to Khalil Brantley and Jhamir Brickus, who have performed well as of late. Brantley is averaging 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists, and Brickus is averaging 20.5 points and shooting 62.3 percent this tournament.

I believe it will be a great battle, but the Fordham Rams will be victorious. We can expect a sea of maroon in the Barclays Center Thursday night from the Fordham faithful, supporting their Rams, who hope to make a push toward Sunday.