The 2010–11 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season marked the 35th season of Atlantic 10 Conference basketball. The 2011 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament was held for the fifth straight year at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Preseason In the 2010 preseason, two new head coaches filled vacant Atlantic 10 positions. Fordham fired Dereck Whittenburg on December 3, 2009, and interim coach Jared Grasso was hired in Whittenburg's absence. The Rams finished the year 2–26, and Grasso was not retained. On March 25, 2010, Tom Pecora was hired from Hofstra, where he coached seven years to a 155–126 record. The Charlotte 49ers fired coach Bobby Lutz on March 15, despite being the team's all-time wins leader with a record of 218–158. In his final season, he led the team to a 19–12 mark but suffered a late season collapse and did not make the NCAA tournament or NIT. He was replaced by Alan Major, an assistant coach at Ohio State for six years, on April 9.
Atlantic 10 media day was held on October 21, 2010. Temple was picked to win their fourth straight A-10 championship by coaches and the media. They received 19 first-place votes, and Xavier and Richmond received three first-place votes each, while Dayton was picked first on one ballot. Richmond's Kevin Anderson was the reigning player of the year, having won the honor in the 2009–10 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season.
Atlantic 10 preseason poll RankTeamVotes1 Temple 3502 Xavier 3253 Richmond 3114 Dayton 3105 Rhode Island 2336 Saint Louis 2237 Charlotte 2188 Duquesne 1729 La Salle 13310 George Washington 13011 Massachusetts 12612 Saint Joseph's 9113 St. Bonaventure 8014 Fordham 28
Atlantic 10 preseason teams
Award Recipients First Team Lavoy Allen (Temple)Kevin Anderson (Richmond)Andrew Nicholson (St. Bonaventure)Damian Saunders (Duquesne)Chris Wright (Dayton) Second TeamJuan Fernandez (Temple)Chris Gaston (Fordham)Tu Holloway (Xavier)Delroy James (Rhode Island)Shamari Spears (Charlotte) Third TeamChris Braswell (Charlotte)Cody Ellis (Saint Louis)Chris Johnson (Dayton)Lasan Kromah (George Washington)Aaric Murray (La Salle) Defensive TeamLavoy Allen (Temple)Kevin Anderson (Richmond)Dante Jackson (Xavier)Andrew Nicholson (St. Bonaventure)Damian Saunders (Duquesne) Rookie TeamC. J. Aiken (Saint Joseph's)Langston Galloway (Saint Joseph's)Jordan Latham (Xavier)Rob Loe (Saint Louis)Juwan Staten (Dayton)
Preseason watchlists On October 4, 2010, the Wooden Award preseason watch list was released, including three Atlantic 10 players. The watchlist was composed of 50 players who were not transfers, freshmen or medical redshirts. The list will be reduced to a 30-player mid-season watchlist in December and a final national ballot of about 20 players in March. The Naismith College Player of the Year watchlist of 50 players was announced on November 16, 2010. In late February, a shorter list of the top 30 players was compiled to prepare for a March vote to narrow the list to four finalists.
WoodenNaismith Lavoy Allen (Temple) Kevin Anderson (Richmond) Chris Wright (Dayton)
Rankings
+ Legend Improvement in ranking Drop in ranking No change in ranking RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
Pre Wk1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 FinalCharlotte AP C Dayton AP RV C RV RV RV Duquesne AP RV RV RV C RV Fordham AP C George Washington AP C La Salle AP C Massachusetts AP C Rhode Island AP C Richmond AP RV RV RV RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV Saint Joseph's AP C Saint Louis AP C St. Bonaventure AP C Temple AP 22 21 21 RV RV RV 25 RV 19 RV RV RV 24 23 24 RV 24 C 22 20 20 RV RV RV RV RV RV 23 RV RV RV RV 25 24 RV 25 Xavier AP RV RV RV RV RV 24 25 23 18 C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 20
Conference awards & honors
Weekly honors Throughout the conference regular season, the Atlantic 10 offices name a player of the week and rookie of the week each Monday.
Week Player of the week Rookie of the week November 15, 2010 Tu Holloway (Xavier) Tyreek Duren (La Salle) November 22, 2010 Tu Holloway (Xavier) Juwan Staten (Dayton) November 29, 2010 Kevin Anderson (Richmond) Langston Galloway (Saint Joseph's) December 6, 2010 Ogo Adegboye (St. Bonaventure)Lavoy Allen (Temple) Tyreek Duren (La Salle)Juwan Staten (Dayton) December 13, 2010 Brenton Butler (Fordham) T. J. McConnell (Duquesne) December 20, 2010 Tu Holloway (Xavier)Andrew Nicholson (St. Bonaventure) Nemanja Mikic (George Washington) December 27, 2010 Akeem Richmond (Rhode Island) Branden Frazier (Fordham)Juwan Staten (Dayton) January 3, 2011 Javarris Barnett (Charlotte)Chris Wright (Dayton) Tyreek Duren (La Salle) January 10, 2011 Justin Harper (Richmond) T. J. McConnell (Duquesne) January 17, 2011 Orion Outerbridge (Rhode Island) T. J. McConnell (Duquesne)Juwan Staten (Dayton) January 24, 2011 Tu Holloway (Xavier) T. J. McConnell (Duquesne)Matthew Wright (St. Bonaventure) January 31, 2011 Tu Holloway (Xavier) T. J. McConnell (Duquesne) February 7, 2011 Scootie Randall (Temple) Langston Galloway (Saint Joseph's) February 14, 2011 Justin Harper (Richmond) Langston Galloway (Saint Joseph's) February 21, 2011 Tu Holloway (Xavier) Dwayne Evans (Saint Louis) February 29, 2011 Lavoy Allen (Temple) Langston Galloway (Saint Joseph's) March 6, 2011 Lavoy Allen (Temple) Langston Galloway (Saint Joseph's)
Atlantic 10 All-Conference teams Award Recipients First Team Lavoy Allen (Temple)Kevin Anderson (Richmond)Justin Harper (Richmond)Tu Holloway (Xavier)Andrew Nicholson (St. Bonaventure) Second TeamBill Clark (Duquesne)Delroy James (Rhode Island)Ramone Moore (Temple)Damian Saunders (Duquesne)Tony Taylor (George Washington) Third TeamJuan Fernandez (Temple)Anthony Gurley (Massachusetts)Mark Lyons (Xavier)Jamel McLean (Xavier)Chris Wright (Dayton) Honorable MentionKenny Frease (Xavier)Chris Gaston (Fordham)Chris Johnson (Dayton)Scootie Randall (Temple) Defensive TeamLavoy Allen (Temple)Tu Holloway (Xavier)Marquis Jones (Rhode Island)Damian Saunders (Duquesne)Kevin Smith (Richmond) Rookie TeamTyreek Duren (La Salle)Dwayne Evans (Saint Louis)Langston Galloway (Saint Joseph's)T. J. McConnell (Duquesne)Juwan Staten (Dayton) Academic TeamBrian Conklin (Saint Louis)Paul Eckerle (Saint Louis)Juan Fernandez (Temple)Will Martell (Rhode Island)Steve Weingarten (La Salle) Player of the YearTu Holloway (Xavier) Rookie of the YearT. J. McConnell (Duquesne) Defensive Player of the YearDamian Saunders (Duquesne)Chris Daniels Most Improved Player of the YearScootie Randall (Temple)Sixth Man of the YearKhalif Wyatt (Temple)Student-Athlete of the YearSteve Weingarten (La Salle)Coach of the YearChris Mack (Xavier)
NABC The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I AllDistrict teams on March 9 to recognize the best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes in the United States. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, 245 student-athletes were chosen from 24 districts. The selections on this list were then eligible for the State Farm Coaches' Division I All-America teams. The following list represented the Atlantic 10 players chosen to the list. Since District 4 comprised only Atlantic 10 Conference schools, this is equivalent to being named All-Atlantic 10 by the NABC.
First Team Kevin Anderson (Richmond) Bill Clark (Duquesne) Justin Harper (Richmond) Tu Holloway (Xavier) Andrew Nicholson (St. Bonaventure)
Second Team Anthony Gurley (Massachusetts) Delroy James (Rhode Island) Ramone Moore (Temple) Damian Saunders (Duquesne) Chris Wright (Dayton)
USBWA On March 10, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association released its 2010–11 Men's All-District Teams, based on voting from its national membership. There were nine regions from coast to coast, and a player and coach of the year were selected in each. The following lists all the Atlantic 10 representatives selected within their respective regions.
District I (ME, VT, NH, RI, MA, CT) Delroy James (Rhode Island)
District II (NY, NJ, DE, DC, PA, WV) Andrew Nicholson (St. Bonaventure)
District III (VA, NC, SC, MD) None Selected
District V (OH, IN, IL, MI, MN, WI) Tu Holloway (Xavier)
District VI (IA, MO, KS, OK, NE, ND, SD) None Selected
Postseason
Atlantic 10 tournament
NCAA tournament
TeamBid TypeSeedResultsXavierAt-large6 Lost vs. #11 Marquette 66–55TempleAt-large7 Won vs. #10 Penn State 66–64Lost vs. #2 San Diego State 71–64RichmondAutomatic12 Won vs. #5 Vanderbilt 69–66Won vs. #13 Morehead State 65–48Lost vs. #1 Kansas 77–57
National Invitation tournament
TeamBid TypeSeedResultsDaytonAt-large3 Lost vs. #6 College of Charleston 94–84
2011 NBA draft Two Atlantic 10 players were selected in the 2011 NBA draft on June 23, both in the second round: Justin Harper and Lavoy Allen. Harper was selected with the 32nd pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers and subsequently traded to the Orlando Magic. With the 50th pick of the draft, the Philadelphia 76ers took Lavoy Allen. Tu Holloway declared for early entry in the draft but did not hire an agent and withdrew his name prior to the May 8 deadline.
References