The tournament is here! George Mason (16-15, 5-13) will take on St. Joe’s (6-25, 2-16) in the play-in-game today. If they advance, they will play St. Bonaventure in the second round, and if they advance again … I’m just not going to go there.
Here is the bracket for the Atlantic 10 tournament:
Official 2020 #A10MBB Bracket is out!
See you in Brooklyn, #MasonNation pic.twitter.com/H6ebc5VmAW
— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) March 8, 2020
In this preview, I’ll break down these two matchups.
Breaking Down St. Joe’s
St. Joe’s has the potential to beat Mason as they almost did the last time. Mason barely won 62-55
The Hawks are making their 37th appearance in the Atlantic 10 Championship, but it’s their first under Head Coach Billy Lange.
St. Joe’s, like Mason, is also winless in the first round (0-1).
One fun fact about the Hawks is that even though they have 11 active players on their roster, only three of them have played in the A-10 Tournament. (Lorenzo Edwards, Taylor Funk, and Anthony Longpré)
STATS
St. Joe’s is:
9th in scoring (69.0 ppg)
14th in points allowed (79.5 ppg)
13th in FG% (0.391)
14th in 3FG% (.297)
2nd in 3FG made (8.9 per game)
5th in FT% (.708)
14th in Rebs Allowed (39.0 per game)
Players to look out for:
Or should I say player to look out for…
Ryan Daly is literally the only player to profile on this team. He enters the Atlantic 10 Championship as the conference leader in scoring at 20.4 points per game. Daly also ranks second in total points in the conference with 591, just slightly behind Dayton’s Obi Toppin (621), who has played two more games than Daly.
Daly is also 13th in rebounds with 6.9 per game and 9th in assists with 4.3 per game.
Breaking Down St. Bonaventure
If George Mason advances past St. Joe’s, the Bonnies stand in their way to the third round.
The last two meetings between the Patriots and Bonnies, didn’t go so well.
The Patriots were outscored by a combined 135-114.
After falling to Saint Louis in their last regular season game, SBU now has won 7 of their last 13 games.
If Mason wants to win this game, they have to forget conference play and only focus on this game. Nothing else.
Players to keep an eye out for:
Kyle Lofton ranks 13th in the A10 with 14.1 ppg. He also leads the A-10 averaging 6.0 assists per game. In the last meeting between the Bonnies and the Patriots, Lofton dropped 17 points and 7 assists. Mason can not let him catch fire again if they want a chance.
Jaren English is second in scoring this season, averaging 11.9 ppg. He is currently shooting 45.3% from the field and is averaging 4.8 rebounds per game. He dropped 8 points in Mason’s most recent matchup.
Osun Osunniyi has made his impact known on the glass this season averaging 8.4 rebounds per game. Additionally, he is averaging 10.8 ppg, and fourth in the A10 in blocks per game with 2.4.
If the Patriots advance past the Bonnies, you’ll see another preview.
Stay safe in Brooklyn.
THIS IS MARCH.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 8, 2020
