Semifinal action gets underway at 1pm ET in the A-10 Tournament. Not sure what the crowd will be like since Temple was upset yesterday (their game had the biggest crowd). Right now the crowd is sparse.

First up is the 8-seed UMass against 4-seed St. Bonaventure. The two teams met once this season, with UMass winning by nine points.

In their upset win over Temple, I was most impressed with 5-9 guard Chaz Williams, especially with a bigger defender guarding him. He has scored 20 points in UMass’ two tournament games.  Jesse Morgan also played well in front of a large group of fans (he’s from Philly).

St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson, the A-10 Player of the Year, had a nice game in their win over St. Joe’s. What is impressive is that the 6-9 big guy bangs down low and can shoot from the outside.

The second game pits 2-seed Saint Louis against 3-seed Xavier. A win for Xavier should secure them a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

SLU has beaten Xavier twice during the regular season, the last one coming on February 28th.

The Billikens weren’t that impressive in their win over LaSalle. Xavier’s Tu Holloway played with the passion that’s been missing since the team’s brawl with Cincinnati.

Xavier big man Kenny Frease was very good on both offense and defense and will need another big game to advance.

» Continue reading “Live at the A-10 Semifinals”

The A-10 Tournament got underway at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City with quarterfinal action on Friday. The day began with top-seed Temple taking on the 8-seed UMass.

I had been there before and for a noon start, the place was pretty packed (it was the most crowded for that first game). The fans got to see an exciting game in which UMass pulled the upset with a 77-71 win.

UMass had two players score 20+ points: Chaz Williams and Jesse Morgan. These two completely took over the game late (Williams had just seven points at the half and Morgan was saddled with foul trouble). Temple turned the ball over 22 times, which cost them the game (UMass scored 23 points off turnovers).

If you want to know what went on during the game, I was there and you can check out my live blog.

Next up was St. Bonaventure and St. Joe’s. This game went down to the wire, as St, Bonaventure missed a few free throws (four to be exact) to keep the Hawks in the game. However St. Joe’s did not score after the 2:09 mark and the Bonnies held on for the 71-68 win.

A-10 Player of the Year and scoring leader Andrew Nicholson led all scorers with 25 points. He also hauled in ten rebounds and dominated the Hawks inside. Charlon Kloof added 19 points, as the Bonnies shot 54% from the field.

Carl Jones led the Hawks with 24 points. What was remarkable about St. Joe’s was that they committed just four turnovers.

» Continue reading “A-10 Tournament Quarterfinals Recap”

I am coming to you live from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City as quarterfinal action gets underway in the A-10 Tournament.

Top-seed Temple, led by A-10 Coach of the Year Fran Dunphy, begins the day against UMass. UMass won their first round game against Duquesne to advance to AC.

Temple and UMass met just one week ago on Senior Night in Philly, with the Owls hanging on to win in overtime.

This is the last year AC will be hosting the A-10 Tournament, as it will be moving to the new arena in Brooklyn next season. This will also be the next to last season for Temple, as they will be moving to the Big East.

The starting lineups are as follows:

Temple: Khalif Wyatt, Juan Fernandez, Ramone Moore, Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson, and Michael Eric.

UMass: Chaz Williams, Jesse Morgan, Terrell Vinson, Raphiael Putney, and Sean Carter.

» Continue reading “Live from the A-10 Quarterfinals: Temple vs UMass”

Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall will play host to the A-10 Tournament for its final year, as the tourney will be moving to the new Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn starting in 2013 (and for the next five years). This may also be the final season for Temple in the A-10 (they are rumored to be possibly joining the Big East).

Temple won their first outright A-10 regular season title since the 1999-2000 season and hold the top seed. The Owls are also the favorite. The top four seeds (Temple, Saint Louis, Xavier, and St. Bonaventure) head to Atlantic City with a bye to Quarterfinal Friday. The other eight teams open up first round action at the higher seed’s court tonight (all at 7pm).

You can follow along with the bracket.

The five-seed St. Joe’s (who recently beat Temple to put themselves on the NCAA bubble) will host Charlotte. St. Joe’s lost to Charlotte at home back in the beginning of January. The Hawks lost 2 out of three to end the regular season, while Charlotte lost five of their last six games.

Players to Watch: Carl Jones of St. Joe’s is sixth in the A-10 in scoring at 16.3 points per game, Langston Galloway hits 47.5% of his three pointers, and CJ Aiken blocks 3.7 shots per game. Chris Braswell leads Charlotte in scoring with 15.6 PPG and 7.6 rebounds per game.

The winner will face fourth-seeded St. Bonaventure in the second game on Friday. Both Charlotte and St. Joe’s lost to the Bonnies, with St. Joe’s losing in double overtime in the final game of the regular season.

» Continue reading “A-10 Tournament Preview”