With less than three minutes to play, Khalif Wyatt and the Temple Owls looked to add the cherry on top of a solid non-conference season for this year’s Atlantic 10, holding a one-point lead over the sixth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Owls weren’t able to bring it home, eventually falling 62-69, but sent a message as the A-10’s preseason No.4 gave the nation’s No.6 a scare after Temple had upset No.3 Syracuse just days prior.
As a conference the A-10 finished OOC play seventh in the RPI, with nine teams finishing in the top 100, a number that should come in handy come March (unless Fordham, GW and Rhodie go on massive win streaks).
The conference won six games against ranked teams, including upsets over three top-10 squads.
OOC records (RPI)
Butler 12-2 (18)
Charlotte 12-2 (84)
VCU 12-3 (31)
St. Louis 11-3 (58)
La Salle 10-3 (51)
UMass 10-3 (47)
Temple 10-3 (28)
Dayton 10-4 (82)
Richmond 10-5 (119)
St. Joseph’s 8-4 (61)
Xavier 7-6 (117)
St. Bonaventure 7-6 (161)
Duquesne 7-7 (150)
George Washington 6-7 (200)
Rhode Island 5-8 (179)
Fordham 4-11 (254)
Based on non-conference performance, Ken Pomeroy’s computers have VCU winning the Atlantic 10 regular season with a 14-2 Atlantic 10 record followed by St. Louis at 11-5 with four teams behind them at 10-6 each. For full rankings do yourself a favor and pay for the full rankings and plethora of stats available at KenPom.com.
This week’s slate:
Wednesday
No. 17 Butler @ St. Joseph’s, 7PM
St. Bonaventure @ George Washington, 7PM
Rhode Island @ Richmond, 7PM
Duquesne @ Fordham, 7PM
Dayton @ VCU, 7PM
La Salle @ Charlotte, 7:30PM
Thursday
Temple @ Xavier, 7PM
UMass @ St. Louis, 9PM
Saturday
No.17 Butler @ Dayton, 2PM
Charlotte @ Rhode Island, 2PM
Richmond @ La Salle, 2PM
VCU @ St. Bonavenute, 4PM
George Washington @ Xavier, 4PM
St. Louis @ Temple, 6PM
St. Joseph’s @ Duquesne, 7PM
Sunday
Umass @ Fordham, 1PM
