Atlantic 10 Tournament – Opening Round
CINCINNATI – It was a ho-hum opening round at U.S. Bank Arena, although two higher seeds were knocked off. The quarterfinals are set, with an intriguing matchup to start the day (No. 9 Temple vs. No. 1 George Washington) and another to start the evening session (No. 10 Xavier vs. No. 2 Charlotte).
Here are notes from the first day of action.
Wednesday Honor Roll
Antywane Robinson, Temple: 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocked shots
Mark Tyndale, Temple: 19 points, 8 rebounds
Abdulai Jalloh, Saint Joseph’s: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists
Rob Ferguson, Saint Joseph’s: 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
Stanley Burrell, Xavier: 22 points, 5 assists
Justin Doellman, Xavier: 12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals
James Life, Massachusetts: 24 points
Stephan Lasme, Massachusetts: 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots
Officials Can’t Get Intentional Fouls Right
It seems as thought officials can’t get it right when it comes to calling intentional fouls, and Wednesday’s first game between Temple and Rhode Island provided two more examples.
In the second half, Rhode Island was called for two intentional fouls within one minute of each other. On the first one, Jimmy Baron ran back on defense and went across Temple’s Mark Tyndale and tried to break the play up. The official made a signal indicating that Baron wrapped Tyndale up, but replays showed nothing close to that. Then Will Daniels made what looked like a clean block on Dustin Salisberry, but there was body contact, and the official nonetheless called an intentional foul because Salisberry went down hard.
The two calls came during a run of 22 unanswered points by Temple that broke the game open. The Owls got five points out of the first one, as Tyndale hit both free throws and Antywane Robinson nailed a three pointer right after it, and went up by 15 at the time.
Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron said he looks forward to reviewing the tape.
“I was stunned, to be quite frank with you, how those plays were called,” said Baron. “That had a real impact on the game, especially the second one because we were just going for the ball to block the shot.”
This continues a trend where intentional fouls seem to rarely be called when it’s obvious, but when they do get called, it happens on a play where the defender clearly tries to make a play on the ball. In the second case of the Temple/Rhode Island game, the defender did make a play on the ball.
Minutemen Finish Ford’s First Season
With their loss to Xavier, UMass finished the first season under Travis Ford at 13-15. It was a season with some ups and downs along the way, and certainly a transition year in the true sense of the word.
The Minutemen didn’t have a great deal of depth, and that continued with the departures of Art Bowers and Maurice Maxwell. Add that to the lack of a true point guard to start the season, and it looked like it could be a long year. The losing record certainly isn’t something to celebrate about, but there are some positives to look back on.
Stephane Lasme made some big strides this season. He developed into a legitimate inside threat on the offensive end, becoming more than just a shot-blocker. After previously being a liability, he averaged 10.5 points per game and made nearly 61 percent of his shots. He still led the Atlantic 10 in blocked shots and was second on the team in rebounding.
Perhaps the most important development is the strides made by freshman point guard Chris Lowe, who made some big strides at the point after a slow start. Lowe finished the season with a 1.5 assist/turnover ratio, handing out eight assists in the loss to Xavier.
“Chris Lowe had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders,” said Ford. “I really enjoyed him being more coachable as the season went along.”
Heading into next season, the Minutemen don’t have the gaping hole at the point they once did.
Spiders Finish a Struggling Season
Richmond finished Chris Mooney’s first season at 13-17 and with one of the lowest point totals in Atlantic 10 Tournament history. It was the fifth time this season they scored less than 40 points.
One might think it’s a scary prospect that they will lose both double-digit scorers (Jermaine Bucknor and Kevin Steenberge) off this team, but the more important things will be the makeup of the team and the intangibles. The Spiders lacked the shooters necessary to succeed with this offense, as only two players made more than one-third of their attempts from long range and they shot just over 40 percent from the field.
“I think we’ve developed certain intangibles and certain good habits that I think are going to pay off for a long time,” said Mooney. “It’s too difficult to develop stability in one season.”
Mooney inherited a team whose point guards had both transferred out of the program as well, so it wasn’t just shooters that he lacked. The Spiders’ entire backcourt was bare, as two incoming freshmen didn’t qualify academically. College basketball is about guards, so it’s no surprise that they struggled given their personnel. Two guards are among their early signees, and they along with holdovers Oumar Sylla and Peter Thomas will give them a base for next season.
Other Notes
- Temple is not known for its three-point shooting, as the Owls shot below 33 percent from behind the arc all season long. But they came up big on Wednesday, shooting nearly 42 percent (13-31) from downtown in the win over Rhode Island.
- Continuing the shooting trend, Xavier was 10-18 on three-pointers in their win over UMass.
- Dawan Robinson may well have played his last game for Rhode Island. The school is appealing the NCAA’s denial of a sixth year of eligibility for him, but the chances of a reversal are slim given past cases.
- One key to Xavier’s win over UMass, which head coach Sean Miller specifically cited: the play of Brandon Cole off the bench. Cole had a season-high seven rebounds off the bench in 20 minutes.
