Win, lose or draw: A look at the A-10 pairings and home/away opponents

By: Chris DiSano, Member USBWA
Photo Credit: Charlotte Athletic Media Relations

Last Friday, the Atlantic 10 announced conference 'partners' along with the home and road opponents for each of its 14 schools.  Each school is assigned three partners that it will play both home and away during the conference season, accounting for six of its 16 conference games.  Contrary to some reports, schools and coaches are not allowed to request partners.  Schools are permitted to 'protect' one rival (i.e. Xavier/Dayton). Game dates and times will be released in the future months, but a look at the partners and opponents provides ample fuel for discussion.

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Welcome to the Atlantic 10 Coach Major!  On paper it appears the Charlotte 49ers have drawn the toughest assignments for 2010-11.  First, Charlotte plays away games against Duquesne, Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, Temple, Saint Louis and its three partners George Washington, Richmond and Xavier.  The combined home records of those teams in 2009-10 was... drum roll...

48-16

But that's not all.  Charlotte graduated its veteran point guard, DiJuan Harris, who steadied his team on both ends of the floor.  So the point guard position in the Queen City is very much up in the air, with newcomers in scoring point Jamar Briscoe and Luka Voncina of Slovenia - both with zero minutes of Atlantic 10 play - vying for time.  And Charlotte will see conference partners - the Colonials, Spiders and Musketeers - which all figure to be nearly as solid or better than last season, are fundamentally sound and/or opportunistic defensively, and feature seasoned point guards opposite the Niner inexperience at the position.  GW boasts the improving Tony Taylor, Richmond has a guy named Anderson, a/k/a the reigning A-10 Player of the Year, and Xavier's Terrell Holloway is due for a breakout season on the heels of an eye-opening and efficient sophomore campaign. 

The most challenging conference schedule among the league heavyweights?  That belongs to the Xavier Musketeers.  Chris Mack's club will dance twice a year with the aforementioned 49ers, arch-rival Dayton and the dangerous Billikens from the Gateway City.  The Muskies also take to the road against Richmond and Rhode Island... and every conference road opponent they'll meet recorded a better than .500 record on its home floor in 2009-10. The combined home record of Xavier's road opponents: 43-21.

Charter flights aside, a Saint Louis team poised to contend tackles road opponents that won more than two-thirds of their home games last season (42-22).  Tilts at Xavier, Dayton, Temple and Richmond offer opportunities for signature victories.  Majerus' bunch also welcomes the Flyers and Muskies to Chaifetz Arena.  The two Ohio schools and Duquesne form the trio of partners the Bills will duel with over the next two seasons. 

Dayton has formidable partners in rival Xavier and Saint Louis, but benefits in year one of the pairings from playing Richmond and Temple at home. 

The least challenging partner pairings?  Rhode Island.  The Rams will play UMass, Fordham and St. Bonaventure twice each during conference play.  New Fordham coach Tom Pecora inherits a team which wasn't able to claw-out a win in conference play last year, while Mark Schmidt suffered a tough break when Eli Carter, the impact perimeter player he was looking for to tandem with inside beast Andrew Nicholson, decommited.  The Bonnies are always tough in Olean but, with the graduation of the underrated Jonathan Hall and Chris Matthews, Schmidt will be hard-pressed to replicate last season's win total of 15. UMass remains in rebuilding mode. 

But that's not necessarily good news for the Rams.

After all, Rhody did cough up games to the Bonnies and Minutemen down the stretch last season. And while Jim Baron's group has the horses and depth to run the table against this trio, the softer, gentler pairings also place more pressure upon the Rams to win the postseason resume boosting conference games, a feat that has eluded them in recent years.

The most favorable overall conference schedule and pairings?

Fran Dunphy's Temple Owls.  Lavoy Allen (left), Juan Fernandez & Co. face fellow Big Five members Saint Joseph's and La Salle twice apiece and also welcome (and visit) the Fordham Rams.  Those three opponents combined for a 25-54 record last season and finished 12th, 13th and 14th in the conference (respectively?). 

While there is help on the way for Phil Martelli in the form of an impact recruiting class, the Hawks are only in phase two of the rebuilding process.  The Head Hawk still needs a year or so to coach-up his young and green talent.  Speaking of green, La Salle graduated one of the best players in school history in Rodney Green along with fellow seniors Yves Mekongo-Mbala and Kimmani Barrett.  Ruben Guilliandeaux does return via the grant of a medical hardship to aid a versatile, budding star in Aaric Murray, but the Explorers don't exactly strike fear in the minds of the nationally ranked Owls.

Couple that with the fact that Temple dons road unis to face opponents which combined to register just a break-even mark defending their home hardwood, 32-32, and you have a recipe for a regular season conference championship. Sure, the boys from Philly will trek to UD Arena and the Cintas Center (not picnics), but they also benefit from squaring off against Rhode Island, Richmond and Saint Louis in the friendly confines of the Liacouras Center.

Like Temple, Richmond's road opponents managed only a .500 combined record at home (32-32) last season.  Chris Mooney's team will fly to Temple and Dayton, but fortunately plays host to Rhode Island, Xavier and a dangerous Saint Louis team at the Robins Center.  Duquesne (which has endured a tumultuous offseason thus far) also faces road opponents with an even record during 2009-10.   

While conference play is always a battle, upon first impression, the itinerary for the defending champion Owls appears far less daunting than the routes others will have to travel between January and March.

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  Combined 2009-10 home records of opponents that teams will face on the road in 2010-11

Not to be discounted when viewing road opponents' home records last season is the "Fordham factor".  Temple, Richmond and Duquesne face Fordham (0-8 in 2009-10) on the road which skews the overall road opponents record.  Even so, Rhode Island, Saint Joe's (37-27), UMass (35-29) and Saint Louis (42-22) also face the Bronx Rams, but the balance of their road slates is of a higher quality.

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