Key lineups, emerging players among latest Atlantic 10/ACC Basketball headlines

Both Feast Week and the ACC-SEC Challenge have come and gone, as the tiers of teams around college basketball begin to define themselves. We now know what teams have real NCAA Tournament hopes, who is just middling and which teams may just flat out stink. There are still some big non-conference games left to be played, mostly spread out across the next 3 Saturdays (and Sunday the 21st), but much of the next few weeks will act as preparation for the remainder of the season. With that in mind, this week's Three is on the most interesting lineup decisions to be hammered out in December.

Atlantic Ten

Three Lineup Quandaries:

-St. Bonaventure's young players: Mark Schmidt has gotten famous for not playing his bench once it reaches the middle of the season, since the Bonnies have been bottom 20 in the nation in bench minutes in 4 of the last 5 seasons. It turns out that some of those teams had some pretty awful options off the bench, but that run is also littered with mistakes of giving up on promising but raw talents (Barry Evans, Anquan Hill). This year's St. Bonaventure team seems to have a best 5 consisting of all veterans, but also features talented players such as Joe Grahovac (47.4% from 3, 2.0 bpg), Achille Lonati, Ilya Ermakov and Andrew Osasuyi, none of whom have been stringing together consistent runs of excellence.

But as the season goes on, that quartet will be at serious risk of having their rotation spot disappear in favor of the veterans ahead of them. Grahovac seems likely to stay in, but it would be a big mistake to move away from Osasuyi, who has acquitted himself as an excellent low post defender for his age when Frank Mitchell sits, or Lonati, who has the best shooting touch on the team, and unnatural footwork.

-Richmond: The Spiders' win over Charlotte features one of the most absurd minutes columns I've ever laid eyes on. All 11 Richmond players got between 13 and 21 minutes in that game, a formula that will simply never work long term. A logical change would have been downsizing the role of transfer guard Will Johnston after an awful start, but he just put up a season high 19 points in an MVP performance against Belmont (see more below). Meanwhile, an injury to Mikkel Tyne has dropped the perimeter rotation to 4 players and really simiplified it until his return.

The real mess is at power forward, where Collin Tanner, Jaden Daughtry, Apostolos Roumoglu and Jaylen Robinson are all splitting time. It doesn't make much sense to play any of them on the perimeter, given the quality of the guards, and Daughtry might be the only one who can masquerade as a small ball center. Plus, the Spiders can't play the two center lineup that they like to mix in. It's a problem with no easy cut, especially given that Daughtry (who was originally the 3rd string) is playing his best right now.

-George Mason injury returnees: The Patriots reached their second game of the season with 3 of their top 5 projected perimeter players out with injuries. During those absences, Jahari Long morphed into a proper starting point guard, Kory Mincy became a star and both Malik Presley and Devin Booker acquitted themselves well in their first significant college minutes (Presley started 5 games at Vanderbilt but didn't produce). Now, Masai Troutman has returned and found his jumper (9-15 from 3 in last 4 games), and Fatts Hill may be even better than expected (double digit scoring in 3 of 4 games).

All the while, George Mason is undefeated, despite playing without their potential best player, Brayden O'Connor. While his eventual return will be most welcome, it will create some awkward decisions. Booker has already been pushed out, the other guards are probably at their minimum acceptable minutes, and with the pride that Tony Skinn takes in rebounding and interior defense, small lineups don't seem too likely.

Game Of The Week: Richmond 84, Belmont 76

The highlight was a three-quarter court heave from Mike Walz before halftime that genuinely seemed to impact the momentum of the game. But the most significant storyline is Richmond breaking a 10 game non-conference road game losing streak with a victory over the Missouri Valley favorites. Will Johnston (19 points) finally had his breakout game, and David Thomas (18 points) was excellent in his first start of the season. Johnston was the driving force in crunchtime, with 9 points in the final 5:20 and a final minute 3 that pushed up a 1 point lead and kept Richmond in front for good.

Statline Of The Week: Keonte Jones (Dayton): 15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals in win over ETSU (88-71)

Weekend Game To Watch: Dayton vs Virginia (in Charlotte), Saturday at Noon on ESPN2

A meaningful game for two programs coming off of strong weeks, it may be the second best chance at a quality non-conference win for each (after both lost their best chance). The individual matchups. will be fantastic, and Dayton won't even have to guard out of position like they did against BYU. The A-10's best defender (so far) Keonte Jones up the against the former Spanish ACB starter and Virginia leading scorer Thijs De Ridder, and a battle of 5'10' guards in Javon Bennett and Chance Mallory promise to be absolute theater. A major question, can Virginia continue to generate extra possessions at an elite level against Dayton's pressure defense, thanks to the nation's second best offensive rebounding unit up against a long Flyer frontline that hasn't been the best at cleaning the glass?

Sickos Game Of The Week: St. Bonaventure at Buffalo, Saturday at 2:00 on ESPN+

Some extra juice for this rivalry, thanks to Buffalo' undefeated start to this season, coupled with St. Bonaventure's return to the top 100 (in NET). Expect a lot of points from a pair of excellent shooting offenses, neither of whom defend the arc well. But free throw disparity could be a source of consternation, since no one gets to the line as often as the Bulls (led by Ryan Sabol and Angelo Brizzi in that regard), while the Bonnies are 326th.

This week's 3 Bid League podcast is the recording of a live Twitter Spaces, recapping the Dayton, VCU and George Mason Feast Week performances and includes a live mailbag.

ACC

Three Lineup Quandaries:

-Surging freshmen point guards: For a few weeks now, Virginia freshman Chance Mallory has been the Cavaliers' best initiator, clearly outplaying the veteran Dallin Hall. The blowout of Texas did nothing to change that narrative, with Mallory coming off the bench to pitch in 16 points (with 9 ft attempts) and 3 assists in a mere 20 minutes. He's a great fit for that type of microwave role, but it's just a matter of time before Mallory is simply overqualified to be playing that little.

More recently, a potential change at the most important position now seems conceivable down the road at North Carolina. Freshman guard Derek Dixon has still yet to score more than 9 points in a game, but he replaced the struggling Kyan Evans down the stretch of the victory over St. Bonaventure, and then again in the huge win at Kentucky. There's not a glaring skill difference, but Dixon seems to be the only Tar Heels guard playing with real confidence in the big moments.

-Maliq Brown's position: It feels weird to say about an undefeated top 5 team, but Duke has some significant lineup questions. Think about which Blue Devils have truly been impressive so far. Cam Boozer and Pat Ngongba are clear stars, Isaiah Evans is terrifying when left open but is struggling elsewhere, Dame Sarr and Nik Khamenia have yet to really have a moment, and Caleb Foster is still a non-factor on offense (although I'm not sure many others in the country could strip Boogie Fland on the last possession of the game like Foster did in the Florida win.)

Amidst that lack of clarity, Maliq Brown remains one of the best defenders in college basketball, but his minutes have been capped by the starring performances of Boozer and Ngongba, who no well meaning coach should want to have off the court for a single second more than their necessary rest. The trio all playing together has just been too clunky in its limited minutes, but it's something that Jon Scheyer will be forced to use more, just to get his best players on the court together.

-Okorie's backcourt partner: As a former walk-on, Benny Gealer has earned every single opportunity he's gotten at Stanford, and his breakout performance following a sudden increase in minutes really helped to galvanize the Cardinal in ACC play last season. But he may be in the wrong role, constantly playing next to a fellow small guard in Ebuka Okorie.

Ryan Agarwal has become more consistent offensively and offers a lot more defensive size and versatility. Prized transfer addition Jeremy Dent-Smith finally went from an afterthought to an offensive juggernaut after his 12 points in the 2nd half of the comeback win over Saint Louis. Plus, Gealer is probably best suited to run the reserve offense any time Okorie is out. It's an interesting thought, and one that Stanford may consider with the next bump in the road.

Game Of The Week: Pitt 67, Ohio State 66

Pitt's struggling season got a big jumpstart when Demarco Minor dribbled past the halfcourt line and fired up a deep buzzer beater on Black Friday, reminiscent of the legendary Zack Austin buzzer beater over the Buckeyes from (*checks notes*), Black Friday 2024. Before that, the Panthers dominated the 1st half, blew a pair of leads, had to come back from down 5 at the last media timeout and surrendered a go ahead layup after dropping a defensive rebound in the closing seconds. Even beyond the shot, it was Minor's finest performance of the season, a stellar 18 point, 5 steal night where he completely controlled the court for nearly half of the game.

Statline Of The Week: BJ Edwards (SMU): 24 points, 13 assists, 10 steals in win over Arkansas State (100-69)

Weekend Game To Watch: #6 Louisville vs #22 Indiana (in Indianapolis), Saturday at 2:15 on CBS

The rivalry will return to the midwest for the 1st time since 2019, with both teams coming off of an upset loss on Wednesday. The real battle comes when the Cardinals have the ball, a showdown between a hyper efficient offense and a hyper efficient defense, although Arkansas did expose a great way to slow down Louisville, just make a lot of shots (all eyes will be on Tucker DeVries and Tayton Conerway for that). The Hoosiers don't let their opponents shoot much from deep, and once the ball gets inside, offenses are staring at the nation's 4th best interior defense.

Sickos Game Of The Week: Liberty at NC State, Wednesday at 7:00 on ACCN

The Wolfpack could really use a bad mid-major offense to get their defense right against this week. Liberty will not be that team. The veteran inside-out combo of Zach Cleveland and Kaden Matheny are just half of the Flames nationally ranked 2 point shooters. NC State will be the bigger team, but the Seton Hall game proved that doesn't necessarily matter, and if they get bullied in this one, the excitement of the Will Wade era may really grind to a halt.

This week's Up The Coasts podcast provides the biggest reactions and overreactions coming out of the ACC-SEC Challenge.