A bunch of fans are going to hate this post.
For starters, VCU fans (yes, my alma mater), are going to blast me for saying anything negative about VCU. VCU super fan will say I’m trying to pretend I’m not biased while everyone else will hate me for posting a realistic prediction that doesn’t go the Rams way. A truly no-win situation, but I’m going ahead with this post regardless.
Davidson fans are going to hate this because they are going to think I’m about to jinx them.
Dayton fans are going to hate this because it doesn’t crown them champs. Same goes for Rhody in their rise (I think Rhody may be next season’s Preseason No.1, for what that’s worth).
So getting to the point: I truly believe Davidson won themselves an Atlantic 10 regular season title with tonight’s gutsy road win at Rhode Island.
I thought they would win it heading into tonight if my predictions for the night panned out — which, sure enough, they did — and I’m confident that the Wildcats with a healthy Jack Gibbs are primed to win their first-ever Atlantic 10 regular season title in just their first season in the league.
Think about that for a second, even if they don’t win it (which they will). Davidson, the Atlantic 10’s preseason No.12 team out of the Southern Conference, is the favorite to win the regular season at this point.
You don’t have to take my word for it either, take Ken Pomeroy’s.
Kenpom.com has the Wildcats the favorite to win all three of their remaining games. No other team currently tied a top the Atlantic 10 at 11-4 (VCU, Dayton or Rhode Island) can say the same.
Bob McKillop’s squad hosts both George Washington — who they recently beat by 13 on the road despite a horrible first half — and VCU — who they lost to by six in Richmond, and that was with Briante Weber — before traveling to Duquesne, currently kenpom’s 208th ranked team.
Davidson’s biggest obstacle realistically becomes the VCU Rams, who are the only team outside of Davidson that still controls their own destiny due to tie-break scenarios at the top of the conference.
If the Rams can get past Dayton they will hold a tie-breaker over both the Flyers and Rhody Rams due to head-to-head wins if it were to come down to a two-way tie between either. Currently VCU holds the same over Davidson but must travel to Belk Arena where the Wildcats have more often than not been downright deadly. Their average margin of victory in their six Atlantic 10 home wins is 22 points. They have just one home loss on the entire season, a head-scratcher they dropped at the buzzer to St. Bonaventure, all-be-it without the services of second leading scorer, Jack Gibbs.
There are a number of scenarios that involve a ton of help that could take either VCU or Davidson off their path toward either’s first-ever A-10 regular season title and a No.1 seed in Brooklyn, but as of this moment, don’t be surprised if the league’s regular season champ is crowned March 5th in Belk Arena in Davidson, NC, and don’t be surprised if they are led by a white-haired main from Queens, NY who coaches a bunch of under-recruited dudes who can flat out shoot the rock.
