Oh, when we were young! Revisiting our preseason predictions

Ok, I’ll take the blame: I was responsible for ranking the men’s Atlantic 10 basketball field in our Basketball Preview way back when in November. With the A-10 Tournament looming, what better time than the present to simultaneously pat myself on the back while kicking myself  over the path taken by my prognostications? All comments, insults, and compliments (especially compliments) are welcomed.

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Dayton

Our prediction: 1

Final place: 7

It’s hard to figure where Dayton’s season went awry. They started out 13-3—with a win over a ranked Georgia Tech and two narrow losses at other ranked opponents in New Mexico and Villanova. But the Flyers stumbled down the stretch, going 6-8 in their final 14 games, including losses in five of their last seven outings. Defense’s penchant for keying in on Chris Wright successfully has limited his ability to take over games. He hasn’t been the superstar he’s needed to be, and the supporting cast has been unspectacular.

Xavier

Our prediction: 2

Final place: 2

Bull’s-eye! I’ll take any victory I can get. It didn’t look that way early on, with the Musketeers stumbling out of an extraordinarily tough nonconference slate with an 8-5 record. But this young squad, led by A-10 scoring champ Jordan Crawford and the rapid maturation of Jason Love into a premier big man, has meshed down the stretch. They’ve crept into the Top 25 thanks to a seven-game win streak, and could end up with a high seed in the Big Dance if they can buck their trend of poor showings in the A-10 Tourney in recent history.

Hawks struggle, eventually overcome St. Bonaventure

It wasn’t for the faint of heart today at the Hagan Arena, but when it refs’ whistles finally stopped, St. Joe’s emerged with a 78-71 win over St. Bonaventure.

Darrin Govens led the Hawks with 22 points, while Idris Hilliard chipped in 19 and Garrett Williamson had 16. Carl Jones also added nine off the bench.

“I thought we did a really nice job defensively understanding where they were coming from, and trying to attack,” said St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli.

Jonathan Hall led the Bonnies with a game-high 24 points and also added 11 rebounds. Andrew Nicholson chipped in 19 points and nine boards, while Chris Matthews scored 10 points. Both Nicholson and Matthews, along with fellow starter Ogo Adegboye, fouled out.

It was a ragged and choppy game on both sides with mistakes abound. The Bonnies finished with 23 turnovers and just nine assists, while the Hawks coughed it up 17 times with just eight helpers. The teams combined for 55 personal fouls, 33 of which were committed by the Bonnies, leading to four players fouling out. But the Hawks often failed to capitalize, shooting a dreadful 9-19 (47.4 percent) from the line in the first half, and just 29-45 (64.4 percent) for the game.