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St. Joe’s and La Salle Both Got Good Draws in the Atlantic 10 Tournament
Published:
Conference tournament week is upon us, and here’s the A10 draw:
Some thoughts here, in no particular order:
- Temple should be in this conference. They lost to Tulsa this weekend, as expected, but they really battled on the road, so we’ll see if that mettle carries over to the American tournament, playing an FAU team they lost to twice.
- Saint Joe’s got a good draw. They went 3-0 against Richmond and Loyola this season and split with Davidson. They’re on the VCU side of the bracket and would play that rematch on a neutral floor if they advance. They also avoid St. Louis until a possible final, so that’s ideal for the Hawks considering that nobody expected them to finish top three in the conference.
- La Salle won’t be expected to do much, but this is a good draw for the Explorers as well. They beat St. Bonaventure this season and they probably should have a W over George Mason as well. They took a lead into the final 5-6 minutes and then blew it at home, so that’s good motivation for them, the opportunity of getting another crack at GMU.
Elsewhere in the Big 5, Drexel exited the CAA quarterfinals with a loss to Monmouth. They finish 17-16 on the season. It feels like the Dragons do the same thing every year – finish just above .500 and then lose in the conference quarters.
Penn goes into the Ivy tournament as the three seed, and will play a Harvard team they split the regular season with. Both of those games were super-close and really competitive.
Villanova enters the Big East tourney as the three seed, which was expected. They get the Georgetown/Providence winner on Thursday, then likely a third crack at UConn in the semifinals. The Cats finished 24-7 in the regular season, and will make the NCAA tournament based on win volume alone, but they just don’t have a signature win and you’ve seen the gap in quality in their games against St. John’s, Michigan, etc. Maybe third time’s the charm against the Huskies.
This was a pretty good Big 5 season, relatively speaking. The teams have disappointed for three years in a row, but most of them were competitive this year. Villanova looked good under Kevin Willard, Steve Donahue did a great job with the Hawks, and Fran McCaffery won 16 games with the Quakers.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com