The Atlantic 10 Conference is without representation in top 25 polls, but well-represented in the RPI top 100.
As the week started, the A-10 had nine teams in the RPI's top 100, more than any conference other than the Big East (11 teams) and Big 10 (10). That bunching carries over to the league standings, which makes the University of Richmond's game tonight at Duquesne meaningful. Teams work to capture four first-round byes in the A-10 tournament, and aim to avoid finishing last or next-to-last, as those teams don't qualify for the conference tournament.
Heading into tonight's league games, the top 11 of 14 teams have won at least three A-10 games and no more than six. That group includes Richmond (12-11, 3-5) and Duquesne (13-9, 4-4).
"You can see it two ways," said UR senior forward Francis-Cedric Martel. "It just shows everybody in our conference is around the same level. You can definitely win any game. But you can lose any game, too."
The Spiders did both in a four-day stretch in mid-January, beating Temple (16-5, 5-2), and losing at George Washington (8-14, 3-5).
"It seems like a lot of the games in the Atlantic 10 this year are coming down to a single possession," said Duquesne coach Ron Everhart, a former Virginia Tech guard.
In recent seasons, Xavier and Temple by February usually had distinguished themselves as the A-10's elite. The league qualified three teams for the NCAA tournament each of the past four seasons. XU and TU were two of them each year. UR advanced to the NCAA playoffs each of the past two years. A-10 parity arrived this season.
"Xavier still has really good players, and Temple still has really good players," Martel said. "It's just that the bottom teams in the conference got a lot better, so the conference is a lot more even."
Martel pointed out that St. Bonaventure, which hasn't been to the NCAA tournament or the NIT in a decade, may have the league's top player in 6-foot-9 senior Andrew Nicholson.
"Who would know that St. Bonaventure would have the possible player of the year, and have really good other players, too?" Martel said.
The quality of players in the A-10 "has improved immeasurably in the time I've been in it," said Rick Majerus, hired as the Saint Louis coach in 2007.
Only four league teams have losing records overall, so most A-10 members have reason to believe they're capable of a late-season run. That's an indicator of the overall health of the league, according to Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli, though a nationally recognized A-10 front-runner would draw more attention.
"I think it's great for the league, absolutely, positively great for the league, when your lead dog is 15-1 (or) 16-0," Martelli said. "That's not the way it's going to be this year. And what it sets up is an unbelievable February, with big game after big game."
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