A-10 Tempo Thursday: February 24, 2022

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

Heading for the homestretch, Davidson maintains a narrow lead over Dayton and VCU. St. Bonaventure and Saint Louis are not far behind. Richmond, outside of a one-sided loss at VCU, has played better of late. George Mason has come down to earth with losses in five of its last seven. The Patriots can be a major factor when the Atlantic 10 tournament convenes in Washington, D.C.

Two teams you may not want to match up with are Fordham and George Washington. The Rams can defend and are playing with a lot more confidence. George Washington has improved a great deal as of late. Neither of the two will likely run the table in our nation’s capital, but both have the ability to send a higher seed on a premature trip home.

Efficiency and Records

1) Dayton (+19, 12-3)

2) Saint Louis (+12, 10-5)

3) Davidson (+11, 13-2)

4) St. Bonaventure (+10, 10-4)

5) VCU (+7, 12-3)

6) Richmond (+4, 9-6)

7) George Mason (0, 6-7)

8) Rhode Island (-4, 7-7)

9) Fordham (-5, 6-8)

10) Saint Joseph’s (-6, 4-11)

11) George Washington (-7, 7-7)

12) UMass (-9, 5-9)

13) La Salle (-11, 2-13)

14) Duquesne (-21, 1-13)

George Washington, on first glance, appears to be a mystery with its .500 A-10 record and a negative efficiency margin. On closer look, one must study how Jamion Christian’s team has played as of late. Beginning with a win at UMass on February 9, the Colonials have won three of five. Victories also came against Duquesne and Rhode Island, while losses were to Dayton and Richmond. Over that stretch, the Colonials posted a plus-1 efficiency margin (101 vs. 100, compared to 99 vs. 106 on the year).

As of late with everyone starting to come together as a unit, the offense shows a slight improvement. The defense during that five-game stretch, even with a 119 factored in against powerful Dayton, shows the most improvement. Despite an 84-71 loss to Richmond last night, the Colonials did have a bright spot. Joe Bamisile led the way with 29 points. Brayon Freeman added 19 points and James Bishop 13. Bamisile and Bishop account in total for 61 percent of George Washington’s shots. Having a third consistent option like Freeman can only help taking defensive pressure off the aforementioned duo.

A look at the A-10 leaders in percentage of team shots:

1) James Bishop, George Washington 30.5 

2) Joe Bamisile, George Washington 30.2 

3) Josh Oduro, George Mason 29.7 

4) Grant Golden, Richmond 28.9 

5) Nick Sherod, Richmond 28.9 

6) Darius Quisenberry, Fordham 28.4 

7) Josh Nickelberry, La Salle 26.9

Offensive Efficiency:

Davidson 114

Saint Louis 110

St. Bonaventure and Dayton 109 

Richmond 106

Defensive Efficiency:

Dayton 90 

VCU 94 

Rhode Island and Fordham 97 

Saint Louis 98

Dayton and Saint Louis are extremely dangerous teams. When you put together offensive and defensive numbers as these two are doing, you struggle to find a weakness to attack.

Deserving of mention in this conversation is St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies’ offense has come alive during their six-game win streak. Defensively they are just behind Saint Louis with a 99 efficiency.

Rhode Island is an enigma. One of the better defensive teams in the conference, the Rams have now dropped nine of their last ten. David Cox’s group is above average at forcing turnovers (fifth, at 20 percent). Their defensive calling card is contesting shooters inside and beyond the arc. Rhode Island has a 2-point percentage on defense of 46 and a 3-point percentage of 33. Both marks are good for third-best in the conference.

The struggles in Kingston are on offense. The efficiency is 93. They are at the bottom of the league in turnover rate and free throw shooting. In that string of nine of ten losses, six were decided by three possessions or less. The lone win was against Davidson. Obviously better offense, especially from the charity stripe, could have made a difference.

Tempo:

Fastest: UMass, George Washington and Rhode Island 69 possessions per game

Saint Joseph’s, VCU and La Salle 68

Deliberate: Dayton 63

George Mason and Davidson 65

St. Bonaventure and Duquesne 66

To take a deeper look into tempo, we will examine the average length of possession by each team:

1) Rhode Island 16.9 seconds

2) UMass 17.0 

3) VCU 17.1 

4) Saint Louis 17.5 

5) Richmond 17.6 

6) St. Bonaventure 17.7 

7) Duquesne 17.8 

8) Saint Joseph’s 17.9

9) George Mason 18.0

10) La Salle 18.0

11) George Washington 18.0

12) Fordham 18.4

13) Davidson 18.7

14) Dayton 19.1

Quick Hitters:

On Tuesday, St. Bonaventure defeated Rhode Island, 73-55, at Reilly Center. It marked the tenth A-10 victory for the Bonnies. That’s eight consecutive years with ten or more conference wins, a streak not matched by any other team. In that game, Osun Osunniyi, trying to avoid a shot clock violation, hit his first career 3-point shot.

Saint Louis’ 72-61 decision over Saint Joseph’s on Tuesday saw both teams commit just seven turnovers for an outstanding 11 percent turnover rate.

George Washington’s 84-71 loss to Richmond was not due to turnovers. The Colonials were guilty of just four.

Davidson romped over Duquesne 74-50 on Wednesday. The Wildcats were lights out from 3-point range, shooting 48 percent on the night. Hyunjung Lee led the way for Davidson with a game-high 27 points on 6-of-9 shooting from downtown. Lee shot better from three than 2-point range on the night.

In Sunday’s loss at Fordham, Josh Oduro had a solid 9-point, 10-rebound, 4-block outing for George Mason. The column on his stat sheet Oduro may not want to remember was the game-high eight turnovers. 

In that 50-47 victory, Chuba Ohams of Fordham posted a solid 17 -point, 12-rebound double-double. Ohams was also turnover-prone, with six miscues on the afternoon. Wednesday’s 60-54 win over La Salle saw Ohams register another double-double. The line read 20 points and 13 rebounds, both game-highs.

A 72-66 victory over George Mason made it nine of their last ten for a white-hot VCU team who forced the Patriots into 18 turnovers and a 26 percent rate.

Speaking of hot streaks, Dayton won its eighth of nine, defeating UMass on Wednesday, 82-61. Balance was the key for the Flyers, with five players in double figures. Koby Brea and Mustapha Amzil came off the bench to post 16 points each.

Upcoming Schedule:

February 25: Saint Louis at Richmond

February 26: Duquesne at Rhode Island 

Dayton at La Salle

Fordham at Davidson

VCU at UMass

St. Bonaventure at Saint Joseph’s

February 27: George Washington at George Mason

February 28: UMass at Fordham

March 1: Dayton at Richmond 

St. Bonaventure at VCU

March 2: George Mason at Davidson 

Saint Joseph’s at La Salle

Saint Louis at Rhode Island 

Fordham at UMass

Duquesne at George Washington

All-KenPom

Josh Oduro, George Mason 

Luka Brajkovic, Davidson

Vince Williams, VCU 

Hyunjung Lee, Davidson 

Grant Golden, Richmond

A-10 Aggregates:

Efficiency: 102 

Tempo: 67 

Effective field goal percentage: 50 

Turnover percentage: 18

3-point field goal percentage: 35

2-point field goal percentage: 49

Home court winning percentage: 59

Close game percentage: 22 

Blowout percentage: 18

Tempo is an interesting metric. There is only a range of six possessions from lowest (Dayton at 63) to fastest (three at 69). In a 14-team circuit, it’s rare to see a cluster as tight as this. And not one team is pushing the ball at the NASCAR pace of 70 or more possessions.

Home court is now more of a factor. Early in the campaign, home teams were barely winning at a 50 percent clip. That has changed significantly. Chalk it up to travel, tough home crowds and just plain talent, as it’s becoming more difficult to defeat upper-echelon teams on their home floors.