Here come the Billikens, and maybe the Patriots.

UMass beat Davidson and Rhode Island broke the hearts of the  Hawks to improve to 13 - 1.  GW is now alone in 3rd place at 9 -5, as St Joe's fell to 8 - 6, losing at home to URI, and host Fordham lost to George Mason, both falling to 8 - 6.  

St Louis improved to 8 - 6 by beating LaSalle, now 7 - 6. So a three way tie with LaSalle a half game back in 7th.   Duquense and Richmond are 7 - 7 and 6 - 6 respectively,  Conference standings have Duquense in 8th.  George Mason is 7 - 8, and fading Davidson dropped to 5 - 7.  Wild day.

George Mason 74, Fordham 63.  Five Patriots scored double figures,  led by Nalani Kaysia with 19.  Fordham only shot 33 %, although 16 - 17 from the line.  Neither Asiah Dingle nor Anna DeWolfe made a three point basket.  Dingle scored 20 and DeWolfe had 17.  Mason hosts St Joe's for its last regular season game.

St Louis 74, LaSalle 63.  Brooke Flowers scored 16 with 14 rebounds and 2 blocks.  Kyla McMakin scored 12.  Julia Martinez was 11/6/5 assists/4 steals/8 turnovers.  Kayla Spruill led the Explorers with 15/9.

Rhode Island 58, St Joe's 55.  I watched the last 2 minutes.  Rhode Island threw the ball away twice, down by 2, while not under a lot of pressure. Katie Jekot brought the ball up court with about 30 seconds left.  and had the ball stolen by Anaelle Dukat.  Jekot fouled from behind leading to the call of an intentional foul.  St Joe's announcers disagreed, but the call was obvious.  The Hawks were otherwise not in the bonus.  Saywani Lassiter hit both foul shots.  Rhode Island ran down the clock and Sophie Phillips made her 3rd three pointer with under 2 seconds left.   She scored 9 points overall.

Dolly Cairns led the Rams with 12 points but didn't play the last 6 minutes.  (I don't understand Reese's substitution patterns but, hey, it works.). Maye Toure, who only had 5 points against UMass, didn't score until the last 4 minutes of the game, but finished with 6 points.  Laura Ziegler had 20/13 for St Joe's and Talya Brugler and Mackenzie Smith scored 11 points each. 

UMaas 78, Davidson 64.  Wildcats stayed close with some early scoring but then they cooled off and MInutewoman kept hitting, leading in double figures most of the game.  Sam Breen finished with 22 points,  11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals.  She ended up 2 points shy of the all time UMass scoring record.  Teammates tried to get her another basket, but were unsuccessful, while Davidson won the 4th quarter by 7 points.  Sydney Taylor added 20 points.  Ber'Nyah Mayo and Angelique Ngalakoulundi each scored 11.  UMass only had 12 turnovers, but 5 by Destiny Philoxy, at least 3 in the first quarter before settling down.

Davidson was led by Issy Morgan with 19, Elle Sutphin with 16 and "Rosie" Deegan with 15.  Wildcats have capable scorers and are tall and can rebound.  Their defense wasn't that impressive.  UMass put on a clinic with its transition game at times.

Wednesday's games shows that the A10 womens basketball is not immune to the topsy turvy world of upsets in the mens Top 25, and to a lesser extent the womens Top 25, with the top 3 teams all losing, as well as St Joe's and LaSalle.  This will be an abbreviated summary of the games.  (H) = home team.  Followed by the standings for the Top 11 teams.  Five of seven home teams won, except for GW and VCU.

Richmond 53, VCU (H) 37

Duquense (H) 71, Loyola Chicago 61

Fordham (H) 74, URI 73 in overtime.  Anna DeWolfe hat a game winning, buzzer beating, long 3 for the victory.  She had been 4 20, 1 - 7 in threes.  I couldn't time my Sports Center watching right but apparently DeWolfe's basket was #1 in the Top Ten plays.

Dayton (H) 65, LaSalle 51.  Flyers again played only six with the sub only playing 4 minutes.

George Mason (H) 65, St Joseph's 60.  

St. Louis (H) 77, UMass 75.  Billikens outscored Minutewomen 20 - 6 in pivotal third quarter.  St Louis won the rebounding battle 45 - 35.  Sam Breen scored 23 and had 9 rebounds.  She needs 9 more on Saturday to maintain her 10 rebounds per game average.  Mayowa Taiwo trails Breen by 3 rebounds for the overall lead in the conference, and Megan McConnell (Duquense) is 3 more behind.  

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As of 10 minutes ago the A10 had not updated its official site with the FordhamURI results.  The standings. are correct to the best of my ability.  I double checked with the box scores.  Ties are listed alphabetically.  I'm not willing to risk a headache to figure out tiebreakers, and GW's possible seeding outcomes were ably presented elsewhere.

1.   UMass 13 - 2, URI 13 - 2

3.  Fordham 9 - 6, GW 9 - 6, St Louis 9 - 6.

6. Richmond 7 - 6.

7.  Duquense 8 - 7, St Joe's 8 - 7

9.  George Mason 8 - 8, LaSalle 7 - 7

11. Davidson 6 - 7.

I plan to post my own personal POY, ROY, DOY (Defender) and all-conference teams on Sunday or Monday morning.  I know you can't wait.

Last edited by WMC (2/23/2023 5:00 pm)

Hello.  Loyola Chicago almost pulled off a comeback upset of Duquense, rallying from a 35 - 21 halftime deficit.  I believe they got within one or even tied a couple of times late but couldn't get ahead.  

Duquense 58 (19-12, 8-8 A10 regular season).   Loyola Chicago 57. (6-24, 1-15).  xAC posted some of Duquense's stats.  Sitori Tanin led the Ramblers with 20 pints and 8 rebounds.  Maya Chandler had 18.  Chandler led the 3rd quarter comeback with 7 straight points to start the period.  Tanin chipped in the next 4 and 6 total for the quarter.  Duquense scored 7 in the third.  Duquense hit 7 three pointers in the first half but was 0 - 7 in the second.  Dukes had a lot of turnovers in the paint in the second half as Loyola packed in its defense.  Which was easier to do since the Dukes were missing from outside.  Duquense missed a lot of lay-ups throughout the game. - some contested, some not so much.  They missed an uncontested layup in the last few seconds, but Loyola couldn't get off a good shot at the buzzer.

Duquense shot 1 -2 from the foul line, for the game.  Megan McConnell was the shooter.  (You learn something new every game.  McConnell shots under 55% from the foul line.)  She did have a key steal at half court and converted her layup, in the fourth.  Duquense had 18 turnovers to Loyola's 7.  Precious Johnson had a couple of blocks in the second half.

Davidson 70 (14-15, 6-8).     St Bonaventure (6-26, 3-13). Suzie-Rose Diggins and Tomisin Asenupe scored 17 each for the Wildcats.  Elle Sutphin was 16/7.  I'yanna Lops did not play for the Bonnies.  Not sure why.

Dayton (7-20, 5 -10) 67,  VCU 60 (7-22, 4 -12).  The Flyers played their usual 6 , although their minutes were spread out more as Daisy Bohannon returned and played 18 mintues rather than the usual (lately) 4 from Eleano Moyzek.  They were led by Sydney Freeman with 18 points.  Sarah Te-Biiasu returned after missing games due to injury, leading the Rams with 13 points off the bench in 18 minutes.

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In other news, Sam Breen was chosen as one of the 5 finalists for the 2023 Becky Hammon Player of the Year Award (for mid-majors.). The other finalists are from Drexel, Portland, Gonzaga and South Dakota State.

Last edited by WMC (3/01/2023 9:11 pm)

In the final game on Thursday:

St Joseph's (20-9, 9-7) 64,  Davidson 53 (14-16, 6-8.). Hawks shot 25 - 49 from the floor, although only 2 - 11 from beyond the arc.  They had a  16 - 0 run spanning the 3rd and 4th quarters.  McKenzie Smith scored 17 points and had 8 rebounds,  Talya Brugler had 15 points and Laura Ziegler had 13.  Elle Sutphin led the Wildcats with 18/11.

Wow.  On the strength of a 33 - 16 second half, St Louis beat St Joseph's in the final game last night.  Billikens have won 9 of their last 10,  St Louis is 17 - 17, 10 - 6 in conference regular season.  St Joe's, after a great start, is 20 - 10, 9 - 7.

St Louis 59, St Joe's 44.  Kyla McMakin lead the scoring with 19 points, on 6 - 18 shooting, 1 - 5 from beyond the arc, and 6 - 6 from the line.  Brooke Flowers scored 12 on 6 - 9 shooting, with 15 rebounds and 3 blocks.  St Louis had 14 steals, 6 from Kennedy Calhoun and 5 fro Julia Martinez.  The Hawks scoring leaders were McKenzie Smith with 15 points and Talya Brugler with 14.  Laura Ziegler had 10 rebounds but just 4 points.
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Besides the 68 NCAA tournament teams, there are 64 tams invited to the WNIT.  I would think the A10 would get at least 5 teams in those 2 tourneys

I don't know if I'll get around to a Bracketology rant, but ESPN's (Charlie Creme) last team in is Oregon, which is 17 - 14, but 7 - 11 in the Pac12, after a recent 7 game losing streak.  Then they won 3 in a row before losing in their tournament to Stanford.  Oregon is just behind Princeton, the only mid-major projected to get  at large bid.  The Ducks non conference schedule is nothing to brag about.  Rhode Island is the 7th "next team out."  The CBS bracketology is more of the same.  

CORRECTION - SUNDAY'S GAME IS ON ESPNU.  Sorry.  Check your local listings.

Curious how you guys feel about UMass' chances at an at-large bid

I would say UMass has a chance at a Play In game invitation but no more than 50/50.  One precedent in their favor is that favored Dayton lost to #3 UMass in last year's title game, and then got an At Large bid and won their Play In game, while the Minutewomen played pretty well against Notre Dame.

I'm not a big fan of the NET and believe it's somehow weighted in favorite if the Power conference schools.  They focus too much on strength of scheduled and other measurements but seem to forget the most important one(s) :  won/loss record and conference won/loss record.  The top 100 or so in the NET
rankings is littered with Power schools with mediocre or losing records.  Oregon State, 13-17, had a NET ranking of 54. DePaul 16 - 16 is 63. Kentucky, 12 - 19 is 78.  Even the 13 - 17 Hoyas are 105.  Some computer person may may be able to explain that but I'm confused.  

If often seemed that Power schools improved their rating with a conference loss while the riff-raff had their rating decline even while winning.  Strength of Schedule is nice to look at but it should matter if a team wins the game.  As for out of conference schedules, most of the mid level power schools had pedestrian schedules while no or just one significant OOC win.  And if they're around .500 in conference. most of their wins are probably against teams below them in conference.

Which leads me to the ESPN and CBSSN pundits who are focusing almost exclusively on Power schools as their "last teams in" and "first teams out,"  And rely heavily on the NET.  UMass dropped to #8 on the "first teams out" list,  behind a bunch of unimpressive Power schools.  Which is probably one reason why there are so many doubters for UMass and other mid-major schools.

ESPN (Charlie Creme) has only had one mid-major team getting an At Largebid for weeks now, either Columbia or Princeton.  They still have their 4 team tournament to play, and Princeton is on the edge of being a first team out.

There are many mid-major conferences that have a legitimate argument for multiple bids: MAC, Atlantic Sun, MVC, along with the A10 and Ivy League.  Believe it or not, I have more faith in the Selection Committee than the yahoo pundits.  There has always been multiple conferences with multiple bids, and the teams have acquitted themselves well, including the A10.  The committee has 26 other members conferences to answer to besides the Power football schools and the Big East.  Those members might be a touch upset if all the At Large bids go to the Power schools.

So my prediction is that  4 - 6 mid-majors get At Large bids, although maybe not UMass.

One other point.  Twenty wins is not as meaningful as it once was with a longer season and more games.  Winning just 20 could mean double digit losses too (Richmond 20-10.). The new significant win total could be in the 24 - 26 range , with single digit losses.  (UMass 26 - 6, URI 25-6.)

The argument for UMass is first that they have no bad losses, unless you consider the two recent losses to St Louis (18-18, 133 NET. to be bad). And if you consider those bad losses, you weren't watching yesterday.  Their other losses were at Tennessee (15 NET) , Missouri - neutral site (56 NET) ,home to Columbia (23-4, 54 NET) and home to URI (71 NET), with a road win. over the Rams.

Good NET wins for the Minutewomen included Drake - neutral site (19-9, 53 NET.). at Harvard (16-10 with at least one remaining  game in the Ivy championship round, (84 NET) and at Arizona State (8-20 but a 112 NET.). And conference wins besides URI including Fordham (95), 2 over Richmond (96), St Joseph's (98) Duquense (142), GW (150, yeah 45 behind the Hoyas) and LaSalle (161.). UMass's OOC did include wins over some really weak teams - Central Connecticut, UMass Lowell, Dartmouth, and still winless St Peters, not to mention the Bonnies..

Sorry.  Too much information.  Too many numbers.  My head hurts.  Comments welcome.  I believe that UConn and Villanova has already started.

Last edited by WMC (3/06/2023 7:19 pm)

As opposed to the mens programs, 5 A10 womens teams are in the WNIT - the 2 Automatic Qualifiers, co-champs UMass and URI, and 3 At Large invitees, Richmond, St Joe's and Fordham.

The WNIT has 64 teams, 33 AQ teams and 31 At Large.  If I counted right, there are 13 Power conference teams in the field but only one from the Big East and one from the Big 10, Nebraska.  Michigan State declined a bid.  

The brackets are available on the WNIT Wikipedia page.  The 5 A10 teams are all in a 16 team bracket with mostly Eastern teams, except for Kent State, which plays Syracuse in the first round.  There are 3 Ivy teams, and 2 from the CAA.  The A10 teams play on Thursday and Friday.

Penn (At Large, 17 - 11) at Richmond (20 - 10.)

St Joe's (20 - 10) at Seton Hall (AQ based on the next best Big East team not going to the NCAA, 18 - 14.).  

Drexel (At Large, CAA, 21 - 9) at Fordham (18 - 12.). Drexel features one of the 5 Finalists for the Becky Hammon award, Keishana Washington.  She is a 5'7" guard, graduate student, from Ontario, averaging 27.3 points per game.  (UMass' Sam Breen is also a Finalist for the Becky Hammond award.)

Boston University (AQ, Patriot League, 24 - 8) at Rhode Island (24 - 6.)

Albany (AQ, America East, 22 - 11) at UMass (26 - 6.)  One of Albany's starting guards is Grace Heeps, who played her rookie season at UMass before transferring.  

If they win, Richmond and Rhode Island play in the second round.  If it beats Albany, UMass would play the winner the Harvard/Towson opener.  Then the surviving A10 teams of these 3 play in the 3rd round.  Then a possible match with Columbia in the Quarterfinals.

UMass and Columbia were in the First Four Out off the NCAA tournament field.
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St Bonaventure hired Jim Crowley, 52, as their new head coach.  Crowley was head coach at St Bonaventure from 2000 - 2016, with an overall record of 258 - 231.  He led the Bonnies to 6 post season berths and they never lost an opening round game.  They went to the NCAA sweet sixteen in 2012, finishing with a 31 - 4 mark.  Crowley just parted ways with Providence after 6 seasons and a 85 - 125 record.  Sometimes moving up to a Power conference school doesn't work out, but a lot of coaches take their shot.

Last edited by WMC (3/14/2023 2:13 pm)

UMass and URI won their WNIT matchups tonight to bring A10 record to 4 - 1.  And Richmond plays URI in the second round so the record would then be 5 - 2, pending the other 2 games.

Rhode Island (25 - 6) 46, Boston University 40 (24 - 9.). Rams won the 3rd quarter 19 - 8.  Tenin Megassa scored 12 points off the bench with 8 rebounds.  Anaelle Dutat had 11 rebounds, but only 2 points, also off the bench.  Starting guard Dolly Cairns had 7 points (3 - 7 from the field) and 5 rebounds in only 14 minutes.  The Terriers out rebounded the Rams 56 - 48.  URI shot 3 - 28 from beyond the arc.  Rhode Island will probably host Richmond, which could spring a minor upset.

UMass (27 - 6) 73, UAlbany (22 - 12) 48.  Sydney Taylor had 19 points, but Angelique Ngalakulondi dominated the paint with 17 points (6 - 10 from the field) and 15 rebounds.  Sam Breen had a rough shooting first half but finished with 16 points on 7 - 12 shooting, 2 -3 from beyond the arc; and 11 rebounds.  I believe she was 5 - 5 in the second half.  UMass won the rebounding battle 54 - 39.  Minutewomen had more turnovers, 13 - 10, 4 by Breen but the two playmaking guards, Ber'Nyah Mayo and Destiny Philoxy combined for 11 assists and only 1 turnover each.

UMass will host Harvard on Monday.  MInutewomen won an early game in Cambridge by 10, but the Crimson will be a tough foe.  

Columbia beat Fairleigh Dickenson and will play Fordham, probably at Columbia.