Atlantic 10 Tournament – Quarterfinal Notes
CINCINNATI – For the second time in three years, the Atlantic 10 Tournament champion will be a team that won four games in four days. It could be the same school, too.
All four teams who had to play on Wednesday continued their roll by winning on Thursday, and now all of the top four seeds are out. This is the first time in the conference’s history that none of the top four seeds have made the semifinals.
In 2004, Xavier won four games in four days for the first time in the conference’s history. The Musketeers are still alive and playing well, so they could do it again.
Thursday Honor Roll
Antywane Robinson, Temple: 19 points, 6 rebounds
Mark Tyndale, Temple: 15 points, 13 rebounds
Wayne Marshall, Temple: 15 points
Chet Stachitas, Saint Joseph’s: 17 points, 9 rebounds
Ian Vouyoukas, Saint Louis: 15 points, 10 rebounds
Leemire Goldwire, Charlotte: 19 points
Justin Doellman, Xavier: 14 points, 8 rebounds
Bryant Dunston, Fordham: 19 points, 10 rebounds
Charlotte, La Salle Hope for NIT
Once George Washington was knocked out in the opener, Charlotte and La Salle looked like the favorites to snag the conference’s automatic bid. Both needed it, as neither was going to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. With both losing, they now hope the NIT comes calling, and it should.
“I think we should get an NIT bid,” said Charlotte head coach Bobby Lutz. “We’re second in the league. I’d especially like for Curtis (Withers) to have another chance to play.”
Withers has battled a bad back in recent weeks, but continued to go at it. He had 12 rebounds, but struggled offensively with just eight points on 2-14 shooting. Some of that was the job done by Xavier’s inside players, namely Justin Doellman, Brandon Cole and Josh Duncan.
The 49ers are 18-12, and likely NIT-bound because of their early start. They started the season 1-3, and also had a loss to Valparaiso mixed in, which put them in the position of having to win the conference championship to make the NCAA Tournament.
La Salle, meanwhile, had a late rally that fell short against Fordham. They trailed 59-47 with over seven minutes left, but went on a 13-2 run to get within one. They were within one again, and a couple of final tries fell short.
“We fought hard at the end, but it was just too little, too late,” said John Giannini, whose team finished the tournament 18-10.
Giannini said he didn’t have the end-of-season talk with his team after the game, as they are hopeful that the NIT will come calling. He looks to history as part of his reason.
“If you look historically at the third-place team in the Atlantic 10, that team probably is in the NCAA or NIT almost every year,” Giannini said. “I always thought that if we could finish high in the A-10 and get a good total win mark – and we did both of those things – that we’d be a team that, historically, would be in the NIT.”
The Explorers haven’t been in postseason play since joining the Atlantic 10, so an NIT bid in Giannini’s second year at the helm would be a boost.
“Considering where the program has been the last 12 years, it would be huge,” said senior forward Steven Smith.
Other Notes
- The stars didn’t exactly shine bright in Xavier’s win over Charlotte. Charlotte’s De’Angelo Alexander had just 12 points, five below his average, and Withers’ eight points was about half his average. For Xavier, Stanley Burrell had 10 points, four below his season average, and was just 3-11 from the field.
- La Salle freshman Sherman Diaz was okay after a scary play in the first half. Early on, he fouled Fordham’s Sebastian Greene, and Greene was undercut but landed right on top of Diaz. Diaz was down and clearly in pain – it was amazing he didn’t crack a couple of ribs because Greene landed right on him from a few feet in the air. Diaz iced it down, grimacing for a while, but later came back in the game and scored consecutive baskets. He finished the game with seven points and six rebounds.
- Fordham’s win puts them at 16-15 on the season. This guarantees that they will finish the conference tournament at .500 or better, and will be the latest in a season that they have been at .500 or better since 2000.
