Unfortunately due to inclement weather, most of the A10 Saturday slate has been rescheduled. Davidson at Richmond, St. Bonaventure at VCU, and Saint Joseph’s at La Salle have all been postponed. Because of this, that automatically makes Saint Louis at Massachusetts our featured game.
Game of the Day
Saint Louis at Massachusetts – 12:00 PM ET
These two programs have a lot in common. Both schools have had several tournament appearances, and several Atlantic 10 Championships. However, these two teams have had their fair share of struggles recently. Currently Saint Louis is 11th in the Atlantic 10 standings while UMass sits at 12th. Despite their poor records, these teams have proven that they can compete with several great teams. UMass resume sports a 17 point win over Clemson, a team that looks better each day. Saint Louis also has some impressive wins including victories over both GW and Davidson. With UMass at 8-9 overall and 1-4 in the A10, and Saint Louis 7-11 overall and 2-4 in the conference, this is going to be a close one.
At KenPom.com, they are giving the upper hand to UMass, predicting a 78-69 win over Saint Louis. Personally, I see the Billikens winning. This Saint Louis team has knocked off some of the best teams in the A10, there’s no reason they can’t handle one of the worse teams. But with that logic, Saint Louis has lost games that they shouldn’t have (George Mason). In addition, this UMass team looks way worse than they should. Their roster is full of talent but for some reason it just doesn’t translate to wins. If UMass can figure out how to work out their problems, I think they have the potential to be a top half team. But for now, they have yet to truly prove themselves. In order to do that they’re going to need to be able to compete with more than just La Salle. Because Saint Louis has proved themselves with wins over good teams, I’m putting my money on them. Regardless of my opinion, Saturday’s match up between these two teams should be an interesting one.
