Surprise team this season? And who's set to disappoint?

I have to say I think the Spiders could very well be the surprise team.

Quoting myself from the 2012-2013 A10 Preseason Rankings thread:

In relative terms, I think Fordham will surprise people this coming season. That's not saying much though, but I think we add some key players and in some cases even a player or two gone are more additions than subtractions.

Alonzo Nelson-Ododa sounds like a stud from what I've heard from people who have watched him work out. I think he could be a pleasant surprise.

Cedrick Lindsay had a career game against us this past season and looked like the best guard on the floor for much of the game. I understand he was hampered by some injuries later on in the season, but if he can get back to the level I saw against us, he'll be a handful for anyone to deal with. Richmond has enough talent to surprise, no doubt about that.

As weird as it is to call them a surprise team, Xavier is too good a program not to be a factor. Semaj Christon is a big-time guard and while Tu Holloway leaves a huge hole, him and Dez Wells form what I think is a pretty good back court. Myles Davis is a dead-eye outside shooter as well. They are young but by the time they get to the conference schedule, they are going to be a pain to deal with.

Everyone will expect the Bonnies to take a big step back without Nicholson, but I really don't think it will happen. The perimeter defense this team plays is very, very good (Kloof, Gathers, and Conger are outstanding) and the interior won't have the same low post offensive threat, but 6'11" (which is very likely a short change if you've ever stood next to him) sophomore-to-be Youssou Ndoye will be a really good A10 big man. Combine that with the returns of veterans Michael Davenport (averaged 11 ppg as a junior before missing last season's run) and Marquise Simmons (it was expected he would get the majority of the minutes at PF last season over Da'Quan Cook) and the Bonnies have a deep and experienced roster. Of course, though, they'll need to prove it without one of the best A10 players I've ever seen. Still, the defending champs can make some noise in 2012-13.

Bill -- I can see the Bonnies' as a surprise team. If the Bonnies could just develop a bit of killer instinct, they could return to be one of the top teams in the A-10.

As a Canadian and fellow Toronto native, I always rooted for Nicholson. I never thought he would be that good when he was playing high school ball at Father Goetz. He really did blossom at St. Bonaventure. It's always good to see our city putting out more high-level players as we've been doing a lot more consistently in the last couple of years.

DistrictBaller:

Toronto has been very good to SBU over the years and it's frustrating to see that pipeline open up to so many other schools. We just lost on Dyshawn Pierre to Dayton, which really pissed a lot of us off. Ah well. Junior-to-be Matthew Wright is the lone Toronto native on the roster now, but Chris Johnson is our other Canadian. Expect the Bonnies to always have a Canadian flavor on the roster. It should also be noted that Nicholson was not a totally hidden gem. He broke his ankle after his junior year, which prevented him from playing AAU ball, but still garnered some strong recruiting. A number of BCS schools really tried to get in on him late, but he stuck with the schools that recruited him the longest. Nicholson picked the Bonnies over St. John's, Buffalo, and Duquesne.

Spider:

I also see Richmond as a team that can be very, very dangerous. Anthony is a spectacular young guard and, to me at least, Cedrick Linsday is one of the most underrated players in the league. Mooney is obviously masterminding another attack on the league with all of those redshirts last year and there's almost no way the Spiders won't be near the top of the league by 2013-14 at the latest. Honestly, this league has never looked better. If you look back five or six years, pretty much everything every A10 fan asked for has come to pass (save, perhaps, Fordham's rebuilding). This is one diverse, exciting basketball league.

I can see La Salle turning some heads, (isnt most of their team returning?) A team that will disapoint..... Im going to say Temple (not because im a st.joes fan) I just think i am so used to them being top 3 in the conference, and i dont see them being any where near that this year.

Ha, I'm familiar with all those guys. Very cool stuff! My old high school coach is still very involved with AAU ball up there and I keep in touch with him. I've tried to sell recruiting Canadian talent to people in the VCU program and while we've recruited a few that either didn't develop to our liking enough, or blew up to where big-time programs were recruiting them as #1 and #2 targets (which effectively took us out of the running). I still hold out hope that one day we'll have a Canadian on the squad while I'm still here.

We actually had Andrew Wiggins (#1 player in 2014 class) on campus a couple of off-seasons ago. I played against his brother Nick in the same high school region for a year. His brother is starting his first year at Wichita State after spending a couple of years at a JUCO. Between him and recent top 100 guys like Anthony Bennett, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, and Nik Stauskas the future looks pretty bright for Toronto basketball.

I'm not surprised that the Bonnies recruit Toronto since it's probably the closest major city to Olean. I may have to make a couple of trips down there to catch my Rams play if I ever end up going back to settle in Toronto!

Fordham had a good player from Toronto a few years back, Jermaine Anderson. That was under Bob Hill and rumor always was that he liked Anderson above some kid from Miami (Puerto Rico before that) by the name of José Juan Barea. Most of us were happy with how Anderson worked out though.

Coming in next season we have another Canadian with the same first name. Jermaine Myers, a 6'1", 180-pound point guard, is originally from Ajax, Ontario, but spent three years at Culver Academy in Culver, Indiana, before finishing out his high school career at Blair Academy in New Jersey.

Yep Jermaine Anderson went to Eastern Commerce. He was pretty good and won a couple of OFSAA provincial championships. He plays a little bit for our Canadian national basketball program. We're familiar with JJB since he played in the CAA. He was pretty good, but obviously much more of a stud in the NBA.

Lots of good talent up north and I'm glad it's being mined a lot more now. Things have changed a bit now with most of the most talented guys moving down to play at prep/high schools in the U.S. to get more exposure.

EDIT: Actually now that I think of it Dwayne Smith is another Toronto product who played at Pickering who I think still plays at George Washington.

I think SLU and UMASS are expected to be good. I would say that Richmond and SJU will finish higher than people expect.

Based on history, I'd have to put my money on Dayton for disappointing, they have had some kind of curse on them for awhile. For the surprise team, and this would be a surprise, putting a penny on Fordham to win more than 3 games next season. I also think St. Joes could make a run.

Dayton.
The Flyers have the best point guard in the conference.
They add depth and an inside presence defensively that they lacked last season.
Benson should return and give the Flyers a lift offensively inside.
Dayton has great size on the front line.
It all adds up. I don't say this very often but Dayton is the team to beat in the a-10.
He who has the best point guard wins the most games.
Dayton is going to surprise alot of people this season.

AS far as dissapoint... I think VCU and Butler will have their ass handed to them. Welcome to the A-10.

"we'll see" - JRod

I hope you are right, but I don't see us as being the team to beat. We have a lot of unknowns coming back this year in Vee Sanford and Matt Derenbecker. MD was solid at LSU as a freshman, but we need to see how the year off affected him. Although we have Dillard, I question his backup. Price sounds like he has the makeup to be good, but it is hard for freshman to adjust especially early. We have added depth to the front court, but like Price, young post players take time to develop. And for the second year in a row, we are real thin at the guard position if there are injuries. If MD plays like performs like he did at LSU and VS plays to the potential player that Georgetown thought they were getting, I could see this team being top 4 or 5 in the league. They would have to play above the expectations of many to be the team to beat in the league.

Now I get what Xavier fans say about Dayton fans....

Team to beat? SLU.
A top 3 finish would be very respectable for VCU.

While a top three finish is certainly possible for VCU, I think many fans of the new schools will be jarred by how difficult this conference is from game to game. It doesn't get the national credit it deserves, and just rolling out of bed and beating someone on the road does not happen. There are legitimately 10 teams that can finish in the top four this season.

Agreed, why I used very respectable. VCU may finish 6th, although I'd be a bit diasappointed- I would be surprised. VCU returns 4 starters, but who knows what the impact of losing Brad Burgess will have on the chemistry of the team. I'm confident in Shaka's coaching and motivational techniques (which I'm sure he'll use themantra of needing to prove themselves in the A10). Finishing 6th or 7th is certainly a possibility (as are all things).