This Week in the A-10 (2/8)

Image: Richmond Athletics

The February gauntlet continues, as our 14 favorite teams in college basketball continue to jockey for coveted NCAA tournament bids. Here are the biggest things you missed last week in A-10 play, and how it will affect the games coming up this week.

Enter SLU and Richmond

Sorry Bonnies, but after two losses last week to Davidson and Richmond, winning the Atlantic 10 tournament is just about all you've got left to salvage this season. As long as the Bonnies can figure out their bench situation, as well as stop letting teams shoot the lights out against them every night, I still see a lot of potential in this team. The clock is a few ticks from midnight, though, so they have to act fast.

In their place, Richmond, another team riding on a late breakout from their older stars, has really re-emerged in the conference's top four conversation. A half game out of fourth place, the Spiders have notched some huge wins over the past week, including the aforementioned game against the Bonnies, as well as a 62-59 win over the surging George Mason Patriots last night. Tyler Burton, the A-10's best chance at a draft pick this year, has really hit his stride in his past few games. A 36 point performance over the Bonnies all but cements his place as one of the conference's top forwards.

As for the Billikens, they've quietly moved their way up to just a game and a half behind Davidson for the top seed in the conference. Currently on a 5-game win streak, the Billikens are hitting a very interesting pocket of their schedule; a game against La Salle, two against the Bonnies, another against La Salle, and finally against Davidson on February 19th. According to Joe Lunardi's latest projections, the Billikens have entered the bubble conversation as part of the Next Four Out, so this stretch will be huge for them.