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CoBL College Preview: Atlantic 10 Coaches' Thoughts

10/22/2015, 9:01am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of CoBL's 2015-16 College Season Preview, which will run from October 2-November 13, the first day of games. For the complete rundown, click here)

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While head coaches are obviously responsible for the ultimate game-planning decisions during the college basketball season, it’s the assistant coaches who do the advanced scouting and prep for much of the teams throughout the country.

So CoBL decided the best way to get to know each league we cover is to talk to the various assistants that work in those conferences.

Here are several anonymous assistant coaches’ thoughts on the Atlantic 10; for CoBL's breakdown, click here:

Davidson
“Lose the conference Player of the Year in Tyler Kalinoski but return everyone else. Obviously Jordan Barham is a beast, undersized guy for them. Highly skilled, fast-paced offense, nothing’s going to change with them. A top-three pick preseason in the A-10. ...Extremely hard to guard, very well-coached. Unbelievably skilled at all five spots. ...One of the most unique offensive teams in the country. The managers are skilled. I mean, everybody on that team can shoot, dribble, pass the ball, they really believe in what they do. I thought it was a mistake last year when coaches voted them low in the conference. ...I think they’ll be the second or third-best team in the league, just because their backcourt with (Jack) Gibbs and (Brian) Sullivan, and I think Barham’s a really good player, I think he’s underrated. They usually have five guys on the court who can shoot, so I don’t think losing Kalinoski’s going to be as big as people think."

Dayton
“The one team that I think is not going to be as good because of (Dyshawn) Pierre’s suspension (for the first half of the year). I think that’ll affect chemistry, and though they might have a good conference record, I think out-of-conference his experience and leadership and just his talent will be missed. …They have (Charles) Cooke, who transferred from James Madison, they have Scoochie (Smith) and they have that winning culture built in. They’re used to having the deck stacked against them and they’ve made that their motto, they’re tough and they win. ...NCAA Tournament team, they’re proven, very efficient. Kendall Pollard’s a matchup problem and Scoochie, Kyle Davis and Darrell Davis are a solid backcourt making shots and defending. ...Depends on Pierre, I think they’re going to get Pierre back quicker than later. Pollard is the most versatile player in our conference, and I think the most important player to that team. By the end of the year, he’s going to have more of an impact than Pierre.”

Duquesne
“With Micah (Mason) and (Derrick) Colter, they’re scary. They could get hot and we’ll see if they continue to play that 2-3 zone, I think they will. ...Could be the surprise team in the Atlantic 10, I think Coulter, Mason and then the kid Rene Castro sitting out, could be a really good backcourt and their big guys are leaders, experienced. …They’ve done a good job working the transfer wire, they should have good guards, we’ll see if they end up playing man-to-man defense or if they stay playing 2-3 zone like they did all last year. …They’re going to surprise people, they’ll finish in the top five of the league. They were close last year in so many games, their guard play is going to be even deeper. If they get anything up front in terms of protecting the rim and get a better defensive identity, they’re a top-five team in the league.”

Fordham
“Going to be interesting with Fordham, I know their new coach wants to play much more uptempo style, so I’m curious to see how the players in their current system fit in his system. (Jahshire) Hardnett and Nych Smith I think are good late gets for the coach. …Unproven, we’ll see what happens with coach (Jeff) Neubauer, I know they’ll run some good stuff offensively and we’ll have to wait and see. ...Tough rebuild, they still have some talent there but losing the kid (Eric) Paschall to Villanova really hurt. We’ll see what Neubauer does, I thought he did a good job getting in some recruits late, a couple guards that he took are talented. ...Still rebuilding, going to need a year or so to get his parts in. Will play unique, the 1-3-1 zone, offensively Beilein’s system. Will steal some games at home this year, they’re going to be a tough out at home.”

George Mason
“Talented team still, regardless if they have depth or not. They still have (Shevon) Thompson who is one of the better big guys in the league, always a chance he’s a double-double guy. Not sure if they’re as skilled as Dave Paulsen would like, but having Marquise Moore at the point guard and then having Holloway to shoot on the perimeter, you’ve got the making of a nice three-person stretch right there. ...Very good coach, I don’t think has the kind of players yet he has to play the way he wants to, but they’ll get there. ...Good coach, Shavon Thompson’s a beast. We’ll see how their style plays but I know they’ll be tough this year even though they won’t have as much talent as they’ve had in the past. ...I don’t know if the kids they have on the roster fit what Coach Paulson wants to do from when he was at Bucknell, so it’s going to be hard to tell but they did have talent last year and I think they have enough talent to win some games this year."

George Washington
“Going to be very talented, as talented as anybody in the league one through five, great size, really tough to play against. ...Probably the most underrated team in talking to other coaches. I think (Wake Forest transfer) Tyler Cavanaugh’s going to have a huge year for them, they have experience in the frontcourt and backcourt. I think they’ll be right there for an NCAA bid. ...How are these guys not graduated yet? They’re huge, so with Tyler Cavanaugh coming in, that will be a formidable frontcourt and we’ve just got to figure out how to rebound (against them). …Could win the league. Veteran, a system for winning, last year just had probably some bad chemistry. If they’re together this year, they could win the league.”

La Salle
“Stop Jordan Price. He’s very strong and he’s a mismatch problem and we have to figure out how to get stops. They’re going to play some of the toughest defense that the league has. ...Should never underestimate those veteran transfer guards they have, on any given night they could explode for 50 points between them. Question is going to be what Tony Washington and Yevgen Sakhniuk give them, because they lost two great players up front. ...Tough, hard-nosed, they do an unbelievable job. Always find a way to be competitive and a way to win at a high level. ...Lack of frontcourt depth will hurt them but he’s got scorers in Price and Roberts and what about who’s going to be the point guard for them? They got great transfers sitting out, though. They should make for competitive practices on that second team, or at least on their scout team.”

Massachusetts
“They’re going to play with an incredible pace, if you don’t have your track shoes on they’re going to get some W’s. ...Very talented, play hard. Tough, hard-nosed team. ...I think UMass could be in a little bit of a rebuilding stage, I don’t think they’ve had the talent they’ve had in recent years, I think this will only last this year. (Donte) Clark, their guard, is one of the best players in the league. …Get them this year, that recruiting class they’ve got coming in is as talented as anybody’s, if all those kids get eligible. I would want to play them earlier in the year than later, I think this is the year where they come back to the pack a little bit but on the same token they’re athletic enough to play with anybody.”

Rhode Island
“As talented and deep as anybody in the league. NCAA Tournament team, going to be a hard game every single night. ...They’re built, if they put them on the football field I feel like they’d be set. They are real men, they defend, they embrace coach’s attitude and they play really hard. ...Best team in the league, they’re the most physical, the most difficult to score on and probably have the most talent. They should be a tournament team and probably a top 25 team in the country. …We’ll see if Hurley can get them over the hump, they have a lot of talent. They play extremely hard, tried to address some of their shooting needs by having Four McGlynn there now as a graduate transfer and Kuran Iverson being able to play, but they might have an issue with not enough balls and some egos.”

Richmond
“Great system, great coach. Really hard to score against, through scouting, that matchup zone and the adjustments that they make, especially in the second half, it’s really hard to score against. ...Terry Allen and ShawnDreJones and (T.J.) Cline are a really good thing, and Coach (Chris) Mooney does a great job in that they’re always going to be good, so I think they’ll be in the middle to upper-tier of the pack. …A tough style to defend, T.J. Cline and ShawnDre’ Jones and Terry Allen, another one of those mismatch problems. They’re tough, I know those three guys give us some headaches. ...Mooney always does a great job even though he lost the one kid to Pitt, (Alonzo) Nelson-Ododa. Now it’s going to be ShawnDre’ Jones’ turn to be the starter, and they’ve still got T.J. Cline who’s a good shooting threat from the ‘4’ spot.”

Saint Joseph’s
“Best player in the league and I think the guys around him have gotten better, so I think depending on how well the supporting cast plays, they can have anywhere from a great season to a good season. …Have the best player in the league and a good coach, so you’ve got to try to stop (DeAndre Bembry) from doing a little bit of everything. ...Bembry, people are saying he could leave school after this year, saying he’s a pro. How’s the team going to mold around him--is he going to get other people involved? They’ve addressed their point guard issues having (Lamarr) Kimble there and (Shavar) Newkirk. ...Has the best player in the league. He could be special, and he can put them on his back. (Isaiah) Miles is a threat on that pick-and-pop, improved point guard play and they’re a top-five team in the league. Their bigs shoot as well as any forwards on the East Coast. People are sleeping on them.”

Saint Louis
“Very, very young last year but talented. Those guys have grown up and they’re going to be a much-improved team this year. ...Stuck between identities of being a real good defensive team and having veteran guys who know how to play that ball-screen stuff. Don’t see them making a huge jump, although a lot of people are high on them. I could be wrong on them. ...They were really young last year and didn’t shoot it particularly well, and it all depends really on how much their freshmen improved and how much their shooting has improved. …Will be much improved, played a lot of freshmen last year. Davell Roby is very good, and they’ve got a four-man that killed us last year, he’s a sophomore now too. I think Saint Louis is going to be one of the underrated teams, they could finish anywhere from fifth to ninth in the league.

St. Bonaventure
“Getting (sophomore point guard Jaylen) Adams back will help a lot, he was terrific before he got hurt. That’s another program, they do another unbelievable job, very very well-coached and they’re going to bring it every single night. ...The way they play and how they recruit and get under-the-radar guys and hungry guys to work on their game, I think they’re always a tough out. ...Marcus Posley, underrated player is Dion Wright, he’s able to do a lot of different things, when Posley’s not hitting he’s still able to be effective. ...Coach (Mark) Schmidt always does a good job, always wins more than people realize. They’re really well-coached and with Posely back and Jaylen Adams back, they can beat any given team on any given night.”

Virginia Commonwealth
“New coach, but my guess is he’s going to play very similar to the way (former head coach) Shaka (Smart) played. Ridiculous home-court advantage, can be very deep, difficult press. ...I think it’s going to be interesting to see what Will Wade does there. Little changing in the roster but they get the kid Korey Billbury from Oral Roberts who scored it for them and I think he’ll be an instant impact guy in the A-10. ...Shaka was not just great for VCU, he was great for the league. He’s a cult of personality. How much of his magic is going to be with the new staff? How much of it is motivational? Those kids played hard because of him. (Terry) Larrier’s a huge loss, he got them going in the A-10 championship. …I don’t think the style’s going to change much at all. Trying to get some rebounds with Mo-Alie Cox and not let Melvin Johnson light it up, he’s going to shoot it if he’s open or not.”


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