1. Justin Tillman, VCU
Who else should you look towards as this year’s leading rebounder? He was second in the league in boards per game last season, averaging 8.8 per contest. In fact, he did so while only playing 25.5 minutes per contest. This season, the frontcourt isn’t going to be so crowded without Mo Alie-Cox; essentially, you can expect Tillman’s minutes per game to spike significantly, and subsequently, so should his rebounding rate.
2. Peyton Aldridge, Davidson
The Renaissance Man himself could lead the league in both points and rebounds; seriously, without Jack Gibbs in the mix, Peyton Aldridge is ready to just about everything for the Wildcats. As a junior, Aldridge pulled in 8.2 per contest including 6.5 on the defensive end, good enough for 4th in the conference. With the 9th best defensive rebounding percentage in the conference, it’s no question that Peyton limited opposing second chance points.
3. Cyril Langevine, Rhode Island
No, he’s not high on last year’s rebounds per game list, but that’s because the freshman was playing behind Hassan Martin and Kuran Iverson. In reality, Langevine’s 4.3 boards per contest were incredible considering he only saw 13.2 minutes of court time per game. His rebounds per 40 minutes as a freshman (13.0) almost measure up to Justin Tillman (13.8), and there’s no doubt he’ll be the anchor to Rhode Island’s frontcourt this year. With 62 total offensive boards last year, Langevine showed why he’ll be a huge help to the Rams.
4. Rashaan Holloway, Massachusetts
Like Cyril Langevine and Justin Tillman, this is a guy that you can expect to flourish on the glass given more playing time in 2017-18. Holloway was 14th in the A-10 last year at 5.8 per contest, but that was with less than 20 minutes of playing time per game. Now you’ve got a UMass team with single digit scholarship players active for this season; yeah, Holloway’s going to be playing plenty of minutes this year. Look for him to be particularly dangerous on the offensive end; he was 3rd in the Atlantic 10 last year in offensive rebounding percentage.
5. B.J. Johnson, La Salle
Given the incredible season B.J. Johnson had last year, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see him end up leading the league in rebounding. Why? This guy is going to be on the floor 24/7. He played 77.5% of available minutes last year, but that number is going to skyrocket without Jordan Price in the mix. Averaging 6.3 boards per game last season, Johnson was a key factor on the glass, and that should not change in the 2017-18 season.
Honorable Mentions
Josh Cunningham, Dayton
Arnaldo Toro, George Washington
De’Monte Buckingham, Richmond
Jaire Grayer, George Mason
Xeyrius Williams, Dayton
2 Comments
Chuba Ohams has the 2nd best rebound % of all returning players in the A-10.
OK, my bad, because I was comparing Ohams to the qualified leaders from last year. He had a lower rebound percentage in conference than Tillman, Holloway and Langevine (and Langevine played fewer minutes per in conf). He had a higher rebound % than Aldridge or BJ Johnson, and better per 40 minutes and per possession numbers too. And he had better numbers in those metrics than all of the honorable mentions other than Toro. Who also played fewer minutes per in conference.
No knocking the prognosticators for sleeping a bit on Fordham. The numbers last year weren’t great despite some nice upsets as conference season wore on. But I think the additions of Evans and Raut, plus Hicks, who redshirted, plus growth from Slanina, Havsa, Tavares and Ohams, who were thrust into action last year with all of the injuries, promises some real improvement.
Coach and the players are really talking up Tavares, who was a bit of a disappointment last year. Everyone says he dedicated himself this offseason. But you know those are things people not close to the program don’t know, and there’s always a “best shape of his life” quality in pre-season. We’ll see when the rubber hits the road.