A wide-open season in the A-10 extends not just to the standings but also to the player awards. There is a lack of a dominant superstar at the top of the conference, and some of the best teams are winning thanks much more to a multitude of high-quality players as opposed to a single elite talent. This made it the perfect season to revive a top thirty players ranking, but the depth is so great that I felt the need to extend it to fifty.
Now, there are some noticeable drops in talent that created a few natural tiers. #1-#9 are the first-team all-conference contenders. #10-#22 are the current best bets to make a lower all-conference team, while there is yet another tier drop-off into more traditional "role players" starting at #38. While A-10 play is still slightly less than half of the season, I did weigh it more heavily, given the larger importance of the games. It is serving as a better indicator of performance over the regular season's final month.
There is a pair of players left off the list who may be considered surprising. Miles Rubin (Loyola) continues to excel as a shot blocker, leading the A-10 in that category, but he's still one-dimensional offensively and hasn't rebounded well in conference play (4.4 rpg). Jahsean Corbett (Duquesne) looked like a star after a twenty-nine-point performance against Davidson, but he's scored single-digits in each of the eight games since. Honorable mentions go to Justice Ajogbor (St. Joe's), Daeshon Shepherd (La Salle,) and Posh Alexander (Dayton), along with Kobe Johnson (SLU), Daniel Hankins-Sanford (UMass) and Luke Bamgboye (VCU), as the latter trio has been much improved the last few weeks, but not enough to make a list.
*All stats as of 2/6
50. Jonah Hinton (St. Bonaventure) - 8.5 ppg, 34.6% 3pt
49. Kareem Rozier (Duquesne) - 7.4 ppg, 3.7 apg
48. Zeb Jackson (VCU) - 10.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg
47. Amael L'Etang (Dayton) - 7.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg
46. Cam Crawford (Duquesne) - 7.8 ppg, 43.5% 3pt
45. Kalu Anya (SLU) - 7.5 ppg, 9.0 rpg
44. Brayden O'Connor (George Mason) - 9.8 ppg, 2.7 apg
43. Jayden Dawson (Loyola) - 11.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg
42. Jaden House (URI) - 11.7 ppg, 47.5% fg
41. Joshua Rivera (Fordham) - 10.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg
A pair of bench players make it, thanks to Rozier's elite ability to take care of the ball and play make, while Jackson is a top-level defender who gets red-hot scoring every few games. L'Etang is rising quickly in his newfound starting role and is the best bet to make a huge jump in next year's rankings. His 13-point, 13-rebound performance versus Davidson is just the start. Anya is third in the A-10 in rebounding and anchors a top-three defense in league play. O'Connor is the superglue in George Mason's offense, a conduit who moves the ball and can score at all three levels. Rivera is in the midst of a career breakout, averaging 14.5 ppg and 6.0 rpg over his last six games.
40. Sheldon Edwards Jr (Loyola) - 12.0 ppg, 37.7% 3pt
39. David Green (URI) - 14.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg
38. Javon Bennett (Dayton) - 10.2 ppg, 39.8% 3pt
37. Connor Kochera (Davidson) - 14.2 ppg, 50.7% fg
36. Malachi Smith (Dayton) - 10.1 ppg, 5.7 apg
35. Christian Jones (George Washington) - 9.0 ppg, 1.7 spg
34. Jared Billups (George Mason) - 5.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg
33. Dusan Neskovic (Richmond) - 13.8 ppg, 86.6% ft
32. Lajae Jones (St. Bonaventure) - 10.6 ppg, 43.5% 3pt
31. Gerald Drumgoole Jr (George Washington) - 13.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg
Kochera and Smith would have been top twenty a month ago but are both mired in horrible slumps in A-10 play, Kochera is shooting 25% from three and getting to the line less than twice a game. Smith is still racking up assists but is shooting 34.6% from the field and not even closing games. Christian Jones is the opposite after making his first start in early January and has brought his best against the best, scoring 16.4 ppg against the current A-10 top-five teams. Billups is the best rebounding guard in the conference and the best perimeter defender on the A-10's top unit. Lajae Jones is the league's most terrifying heat-check guy and a quality rebounder to boot.
30. Jaylen Curry (UMass) - 12.7 ppg, 4.0 apg
29. Des Watson (Loyola) - 12.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg
28. Darren Buchanan Jr (George Washington) - 12.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg
27. Tre Dinkins (Duquesne) - 12.3 ppg, 2.8 apg
26. Corey McKeithan (La Salle) - 15.1 ppg, 2.7 apg
Curry is still a streaky shooter but is learning to become an under-control point guard, with just ten turnovers in ten A-10 games. Part of Loyola's crew of playmakers, Watson has returned to his old role as Loyola's most reliable scorer in the last month. Buchanan was the toughest to rank on the entire list, as he was headed straight for All-Conference before an injury opened the door for Rafael Castro to become a star and push him into a secondary role. Dinkins is the best slasher, second-best shooter, second-best playmaker, and undoubted anchor of Duquesne's wildly inconsistent offense. The surprise of the conference, McKeithan is a stud at Glaser Arena, shooting 45.1% fg and (37% on the road), 93.9% ft (80.0% road) with less than one turnover (1.9 road).
25. Deuce Jones (La Salle) - 11.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg
24. Chance Moore (St. Bonaventure) - 13.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg
23. Daniel Rivera (UMass) - 12.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg
22. Jackie Johnson III (Fordham) - 18.7 ppg, 2.7 apg
21. Japhet Medor (Fordham) - 12.9 ppg, 4.1 apg
The freshman Jones is rapidly ascending as a shooter (45.8% from 3) and passer (3.4 apg) over his last eight games, starting with the day he beat St. Bonaventure at the buzzer. Moore leads the Bonnies in rebounds (their biggest team strength) while also contributing to an efficient shooting offense (56.7% 2pt). The quintessential rugged forward, Rivera is making the most of a recent minutes increase, continuing to dominate the paint on both ends. Fordham's offense ascending to average in A-10 play is all thanks to Medor's passing and Johnson's determined dribble attacks, opening things up for a group of solid shooters.
20. Noel Brown (St. Bonaventure) - 12.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg
19. Phillip Russell (VCU) - 11.7 ppg, 1.3 spg
18. Bobby Durkin (Davidson) - 15.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 41.4% 3pt
17. Erik Reynolds II (St. Joe's) - 15.9 ppg, 2.6 apg
16. Jalen Haynes (George Mason) - 12.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 58.3% fg
**. DeLonnie Hunt (Richmond) - 16.8 ppg, 2.9 apg
This time last season, Brown was a sparingly used backup who now gets to the foul line at the ninth-best rate in the A-10 and converts at 78.3%. Russell has as many games of 18+ points as he does 5- (five each), but every game he's still an absolute on-ball pest and a spectacular steal gambler. Durkin is very quietly having a stellar campaign, becoming the stud shooter he always profiled as, but what's unexpected is that he is Davidson's top rebounder (7.8 rpg in A-10 games). Reynolds is still the conference's most dangerous scorer when he gets hot, but those games are less frequent now. Haynes is George Mason's central interior threat, and his physicality is crucial to the Patriots being third in the nation in opponent two-point shooting. A foot injury ruined most (hopefully not all) of Hunt's 2025. He would have been in the top twenty before that.
15. Enoch Cheeks (Dayton) - 12.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.9 spg
14. Gibson Jimerson (SLU) - 17.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 36.7% 3pt
13. Rafael Castro (George Washington) - 12.5 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 69.5% fg
12. Nate Santos (Dayton) - 14.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 43.2% 3pt
11. Isaiah Swope (SLU) - 16.5 ppg, 4.7 apg
10. Xzayvier Brown (St. Joe's) - 16.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.1 apg
Cheeks remains an elite rebounding guard and high-level four-position defender while chipping in an extra 4.8 ppg over last season. Jimerson leads SLU in scoring but has been in a slump as the team's offense has struggled, and he is shockingly the least efficient shooter of the Billikens' big three over the last month. No one saw this coming from Castro five weeks ago, but he's almost at a double-double in A-10 play (15.1 ppg, 9.7 rpg), while shooting a near impossible 71.1% from the field. Santos has remained over 40% from three, all while also adding a lethal floater game to his arsenal as Dayton asks him to lead the scoring charge this year. Swope and Brown are shockingly similar, terrific all-around point guards, with a small shooting bugaboo (both under 33% 3pt) that is holding them back from breaking into the superstar tier,
9. Joe Bamisile (VCU) - 16.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.3 spg
An analytics darling (Kenpom has him second in POY ratings), Bamisile is the leading scorer for the A-10's best offense while having his most efficient season, thanks to 60.3% shooting from two. He's also the most engaged he's looked defensively since his year at George Washington, and is top twenty-five in the conference in both block and steal rate.
8. Rashool Diggins (UMass) - 16.2 ppg, 2.7 apg
Diggins would have been outside the top thirty of this list going into a game against Arizona State the weekend before Christmas. Since, he's scored 23.5 ppg at over 40% from three, despite being dragged down by his first stinker of a performance in two months in the loss to SLU earlier this week. This surge has propelled UMass from the bottom of the A-10 into the driver's seat for a double bye.
7. Robbie Avila (SLU) - 16.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.2 apg
This was a tricky one. On one hand, Avila is top ten in the conference in scoring, rebounding AND assists, along with being twelfth in shooting percentage. But A-10 defenses have thrown the kitchen sink at Avila, and he's seemed a step slow over the past few weeks. On the precipice of the elite, but not quite in that group feels right at the moment.
6. Darius Maddox (George Mason) - 13.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg
A two-way stud whose impact is not properly measured in the box score, Maddox is George Mason sole reliable game-to-game scorer, and the Patriots' best bet for points is getting him and his 91.0% free throw percentage to the line. Plus, his combination of 6'5" frame and foot speed really opens up the defensive playbook and allows for Jared Billups and himself to always take the ideal matchups.
5. Melvin Council Jr (St. Bonaventure) - 14.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.0 apg
Council has shouldered the massive burden of becoming St. Bonaventure's point guard in conference play while remaining the go-to scorer. His three-point shooting (21.7%) has suffered massively, but he's still increased his scoring, maintained his rebounding, and continued to rack up steals, all the while sitting third in the A-10 in assists.
4. Reed Bailey (Davidson) - 19.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.9 apg
The best bet for in the A-10 if you need two points, Bailey has transformed into an unstoppable long limbed post threat, a far cry from the spot up shooter we saw two season ago. He's also the leading assist man in Davidson's point guard-less offense, fueling their return back to the top one hundred nationally in three-point shooting. So why isn't he higher? The return of an old aversion to rebounding in conference games (4.8 rpg).
3. Sebastian Thomas (URI) - 19.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 5.8 apg
Thomas' journey is perfect for a baseball metaphor. The highly touted young player who never put it all together had to spend a year dominating AAA (America East) to return and become a superstar. On certain nights, he is forced to drag the entire Rhode Island along, which has crushed his shooting percentages, but it's given him the chance to try and chase Bailey down for the conference scoring title.
2. Rasheer Fleming (St. Joe's) - 15.5 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 1.5 bpg
Fleming is the most versatile defensive big man that the A-10 has had since Damian Saunders over a decade ago (although Toumani Camara might have a bone to pick with that statement). But this year, St. Joe's best offense consistently runs through Fleming post-ups. And did I mention that he's shooting 40.7% from three and is a mere two rebounds back of Castro for the conference lead in that category?
1. Max Shulga (VCU) - 15.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.9 apg
Shulga's excellence is not flashy; it's actually quite far from it. But he checks every single box you could dream up for a star guard. Top ten in assists? Check. Elite at-rim finishing? Check. Above average three point shooting? Check. Top two rebounding guard? Check. Plus, his unselfishness allows Bamisile, Jackson, and Russell to thrive alongside him. Shulga's lack of scoring may keep him from winning Player of the Year, but that would be an absolute travesty.