Roster Construction season in college basketball has come and gone as we turn the calendar to June. Before we know it, summer workouts will be over and pre-season polls will be out. But before that all begins, it's time to formally hand out the internet's favorite award, the A-10 Off-Season champion.
It's an award not necessarily meant for the best team (although it can be), but rather the team that got the most people talking about how excellent of a job the coaching staff did in assembling the roster. I could run right to the chase and name the winner of the top of my head, but it makes the most sense to first eliminate those who don't meet the parameters. Answering yes to any of the following questions makes a team ineligible to be the Off-Season champion.
1. Did the team's roster additions fail to generate much attention or only negative attention?
Rhode Island falls into the latter category, as much of the discussion was centered around disappointment that the Rams may once again struggle to take a step up. Richmond returned a lot of the core of a bottom four team and only added two transfers who played over twenty minutes a game. Duquesne was slow to the market this year, and by the time they made the major addition of Tarance Guinyard (Tennessee-Martin), they were being completely ignored.
Similar story for Fordham, who made one of the later head coaching hires and left Mike Magpayo to scramble, since he only had four players on the roster at the beginning of May. Dayton retained their two most important players (Javon Bennett, Amael L'Etang), plus some depth, leaving them just to fill in a few holes. The Flyers put together an impressive group, but not one flashy enough to steal headlines from other contenders.
2. Did you leave the A-10 to chase the dream for a football team that has never been better than 3-9 in the FBS?
I'll stop the UMass jokes as soon as they stop being funny. Probably around the end of football season. Unless the basketball team stinks, which is unlikely for a roster that seems to be pretty good for the MAC.
3. Did you win last year's off-season championship and fail to meet the lofty expectations that come with it?
Saint Louis brought coach Josh Schertz over from Indiana State, along with his best player (Robbie Avila), and another starter (Isaiah Swope), while also keeping Gibson Jimerson. But the Billikens finished fifth, so no one was going to get that excited again.
4. Does the internet hate your coach and wouldn't even give him credit if he convinced Cooper Flagg to stay in school and transfer over?
As long as Billy Lange still has a job, St. Joe's is ineligible for any vibes based awards and besides, the Hawks lost their three best players to the NBA, transfer and graduation respectively. The next time they hire a new coach though, they might be given the award by default.
5. Did you have an impressive season, lose a bunch of players to graduation and fail to land a star?
The odds were stacked against George Mason, with most of their rotation out of eligibility, and once Jaylen Haynes entered the portal, the Patriots had no chance to assemble a roster that would be projected higher than last year's second place finish. Loyola Chicago also lost a lot, but impressively kept Miles Rubin and two other starters. But the Ramblers chose to fill in the pieces around the returners and lean on them for bigger roles, which was never going to turn enough heads.
6. Did you have an impressive Roster Construction season, but don't project as a contender?
La Salle quickly rebuilt under new coach Darris Nichols, but the roster is filled with big swings on transfer up players without a proven track record at this level. Davidson brought in a pair of power conference bench players, plus a pair of highly productive players from the high academic leagues, but the Wildcats had a lot to replace.
7. Did the Woj effect turn out to be a lot more scouting finds than big names?
St. Bonaventure went everywhere for next season's roster. A highly touted Italian, an unknown Russian, a JUCO star who looks like lumberjack Bill Walton, the Big Ten, even Buffalo. But it still remains about scouting and player development over flashy names. in Olean.
8. Does your team lack a surefire first team All-A-10 player?
VCU is going to be deep, they are going to be malleable and the overall talent level doesn't seem to have slipped at all post-Ryan Odom, but the Rams only have one player who ever scored double-digit points per game in an NCAA season, and that is Barry Evans, who was fighting for minutes at St. Bonaventure two seasons ago.
The 2025 A-10 Off-Season Champion: George Washington
It seemed dubious back in February, when reputable sources began to talk about an influx of money that would be hitting the George Washington basketball program this spring. A few months later, the Revolutionaries' roster shows us that those rumors were clearly true. Chris Caputo quickly put that cash to work in keeping the best returning core in the A-10.
GW may have already won this title in early April, with an announcement a few days after their College Basketball Crown loss, that six key players were returning. This group includes the early favorite for A-10 Preseason Player of the Year (Rafael Castro), a power forward with NBA skill (Garrett Johnson, who hopefully will stay healthy coming off of his redshirt season), a perimeter defensive ace (Christian Jones) and the team's best shooter (Trey Autry).
The first pickup for the Revolutionaries was not awe inspiring, but extremely necessary. Northwestern backup center Luke Hunger, will fill the same role next season, coming in the game to relieve Castro. Next was a pair of point guards, either of whom could potentially end up as the leading scorer on the perimeter. Tre Dinkins was the best player on a Duquesne team that finished just one game behind GW in the conference standings last year. Jean Aranguren was one of just two bright spots on a putrid Hofstra offense, finishing fifteenth in the CAA in scoring and third in assists.
For a few weeks, George Washington's roster looked extremely small outside of the center position, beyond the injury riddled Johnson. They addressed that issue twice on the same night in late April with two 6'7" forwards who profile as being able to backup Johnson or play next to him in more traditional lineups. Bubu Benjamin made a massive leap as a sophomore at Tarleton State, going from 2.8 to 13.9 points per game, becoming a reliable three point shooter (38%) in the process. Tyrone Marshall leaves Western Kentucky as a more consistent rebounder and defender, and is at least a theoretical floor spacer.
George Washington heads into the summer with the A-10's best returning player in Castro, the most unique at his best in Johnson and a overabundance of quality perimeter options. Trey Moss was a starter in the first half of last season, and now may be the team's eleventh man. There are certainly some questions, like defense beyond Castro, Jones and Marshall, and whether Dinkins will adjust to a lesser role, but those types of questions have no place when the off-season hype train is barreling along at speeds never seen from Amtrak. So congratulations to George Washington, they made the big splash and turned themselves into A-10 contenders for the first time in a decade, and no one can ever take that away.