Week four in the Atlantic 10 Conference saw a few of the league’s remaining undefeated programs fall while others like Dayton, Rhode Island and George Mason continue to flourish.
Our resident A10 reporter, Riley Frain, is bringing you a weekly notebook this season to recap all the latest news from his coverage around the league.
This week, Feast Week struggles arising around the A10, Dayton secures another major upset and somehow, someway, Rhode Island keeps on rolling in Orlando.
#ZeroBidLeague intensifies with some Feast Week Struggles
Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. After an overall strong start to the 2025-26 season from the A10, Feast Week saw a few of the conference’s best programs falter with some potentially resume defining losses.
Davidson got blown out by Utah State while Duquesne lost to Northeastern on a neutral court last weekend. George Washington suffered its first two losses to a respectable McNeese State program, and later, to Murray State in a very winnable game.
Richmond saw its first loss of the season as a second half surge against Furman fell just short despite a few late opportunities. Additionally, after last week’s loss to NC State, VCU added another this week, albeit, to No. 24 Vanderbilt.
I’ll concede that Duquesne is the only sub-200 loss in KenPom’s rankings from this group. But if the A10 wants to return to multi-bid status, losses like these matter and programs like Dayton, Saint Louis and even VCU will need to carry the resume load down the line.
Dayton’s at-large resume improves with a chance at No. 9 BYU
Speaking of Dayton… Following last week’s win over Marquette on the road, the Flyers went down to Orlando for the ESPN Events Invitational and picked up another high-major win.
Dayton closed out last weekend with a 74-55 win over NC Central in which former MAAC Rookie of the Year De’Shayne Montgomery led the way with a game-high 17 points and five assists. It was the Flyers’ third straight win. Anthony Grant’s team then made it four straight by beating out Georgetown, 84-79, to open their trip to the Sunshine State.
Though Dayton led 40-31 at half and by 12 with eight minutes remaining, the Hoyas responded to force overtime. Thanks to senior guard Jordan Derkack scoring five of his 12 points during the extra period, the Flyers outlasted Georgetown for the program’s second Big East win of the season. (A10 > Big East)
A road loss to a struggling Cincinnati, who was just upset by Eastern Michigan, shouldn’t affect Dayton’s resume too much. But the win over Georgetown books a spot in the ESPN Events Invitational Final for a shot at No. 9 BYU, where a respectable performance would see the Flyers receive some national attention.
Undefeated George Mason keeps on rolling with win over FAU
The George Mason Patriots currently have the league’s best record and are just one of two undefeated teams remaining in the A10 as we close out week four of the college basketball season. At 7-0, Tony Skinn and Co. have wins over Wofford, Winthrop, New Hampshire and Jacksonville in addition to going 2-0 at the Sunshine Slam this week.
The Patriots blasted the doors off Ohio on Monday in a 92-69 blowout behind 22 points from junior guard Kory Mincy, who continues to step up in the wake of Brayden O’Connor’s injury. The very next day, George Mason earned a marquee win by defeating FAU 74-65 to secure the Sunshine Slam title and the first 7-0 record in program history.
Mincy once again finished with 22 points, and this time added five assists. He was joined by 21 points from graduate senior guard and Maryland transfer Jahari Long.
James Madison will visit EagleBank Arena on Saturday, which provides George Mason with another solid test, but also look forward to the Patriots upcoming battle with Virginia Tech on Dec. 6.
George Washington’s wildcard status grows in the A10
George Washington’s start to the 2025-26 season was fiery as the Revolutionaries played Georgetown well in the preseason before opening 5-0 on the campaign. That start included wins over American, Old Dominion, UMBC and a tightly contested bout with South Florida, KenPom’s 87th-ranked program.
The early momentum came crashing down on Sunday as George Washington fell to McNeese State, 92-86 in the opening round of the Cayman Island Classic. Redshirt junior Garrett Johnson emerged with 26 points and three assists off the bench for Chris Caputo but an early deficit was too much to overcome.
George Washington responded with a 92-79 win over Middle Tennessee, but just a day later, GW lost to Murray State, 96-95, despite leading with six seconds left in regulation.
Neither loss is going to greatly impact the Revolutionaries’ resume with McNeese State ranked 77th on KenPom and Murray State at 118th, but the inconsistency is glaring from Caputo and Co. This offense is the highest ranked in the A10, but the defense is currently in the bottom five of the conference. I’m just not sure how far that’s going to carry George Washington.
Loyola Chicago’s early issues persisting at Acrisure Series
Loyola Chicago is currently 1-7 with losses to Mercyhurst, North Texas, Wichita State, Colorado State and Northern Illinois. It’s the worst start of the Drew Valentine era for the Ramblers with his team now in the midst of a seven-game losing streak after an 0-2 showing at the Acrisure Series.
The Ramblers opened with a 72-51 loss to Northern Iowa which is actually somewhat respectable as KenPom’s 92nd ranked program and a member of MMM’s the Other Top 25. However, Loyola Chicago followed it up with a 63-51 loss to San Jose State, KenPom’s 184th ranked program, in which the Ramblers scored just 20 points in the second half.
There’s a ton of talent on Valentine’s roster between two-time All-A10 Defense selection Miles Rubin; Deywilk Tavarez, who hit a buzzer-beater in Loyola’s only win of the season, and even freshman wing Chuck Love III. But the offense is overall slow and lacking with a high turnover percentage and the defense is struggling outside of Rubin who’s managing a career-high and league leading 2.9 BPG.
The worst part is I’m still not convinced that Loyola Chicago won’t figure it out before conference play and become a solid mid-tier A10 team that’s tough to beat and can ruin a few resumes.
Rhode Island with a solid MTE showing
I said it last week, but despite being selected to finish 12th out of 14 in the A10’s preseason poll, Archie Miller and Rhode Island continue to impress in the early season. The Rams are now 6-2 after going 2-1 at the ESPN Events Invitational led by a premier scoring performance from redshirt junior guard Jonah Hinton.
Rhode Island opened the week by taking the CAA’s preseason favorite in Towson to the brink of an upset as the Rams fell just 62-55 behind a career night from Dylan Williamson for the Tigers. Miller and Co. responded by beating out a consistent NCAA Tournament contender in Vermont, 80-65 led by 22 points from Myles Corey, who went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field.
Less than 24 hours later, Rhode Island managed a 90-75 win over Temple with a career-best shooting performance from Hinton. He finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-for-11 from the field and 7-for-10 from three which is the Rams first single-game effort of seven or more made three’s since 2022.
With Rhode Island’s wins over Yale, Vermont and Temple and its only losses coming against Tulsa (84th) and Towson (132nd), who’s to say the Rams can’t keep this momentum going into conference play? We’ll see if this program is for real with matchups against McNeese State and Providence fast approaching.
Don’t let the 5-3 record fool you, VCU will be an A10 contender
If you just looked at VCU’s record, you might assume that new head coach Phil Martelli Jr. was struggling to start his tenure with the program but you’d be wrong. He’s testing the Rams early who have played a slog of a schedule over the first month of the season.
VCU’s three losses came at the hands of Utah State in a back-and-forth 80-77 battle, to No. 25 NC State by just six points, and most recently, against No. 24 Vanderbilt, 89-74. All were relatively tight battles in what’s the A10’s toughest non-conference schedule, according to KenPom.
Early competition is going to pay off in the long run but even still, VCU beat out Virginia Tech earlier today in the third place game at the Battle 4 Atlantis. Sophomore guard Terrence Hill Jr., a returner for the program, is making strides this year and finished with a career-high 21 points on 6-for-7 shooting.
It’s VCU’s first marquee win of the season, but there will be several opportunities for the Rams to continue building up this resume with Samford and New Mexico awaiting next week.
