The Atlantic 10 tournament gets underway Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. Many Flyer fans making the trek hope to see Dayton advance beyond the quarterfinals for the first time while enjoying a soft pretzel and a cheese steak or two. While the Flyers have probably sewn up a spot in the NCAA tournament, an appearance in the semis will remove any question and make for an exciting weekend.

Regular season champion Temple is a prohibitive favorite to win the tournament, and if they do so in convincing fashion hope to secure a #1 seed in the NCAAs. While the recent loss to St. Joes damaged those hopes, winning the tournament would make Temple 20-2 in games in which Pepe Sanchez played — a factor that will be considered when the Selection Committee finalizes seedings.

The Flyers head to Philly coming off a disappointing loss at Virginia Tech in which Dayton was out-muscled on the boards and couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean in the second half. The Flyers will look for a better all-around effort when they square off against the winner of the St Joe vs. LaSalle matchup at 7:00pm Thursday. For most Atlantic-10 teams, the post-season tournament provides a second chance at earning an NCAA bid. Saint Bonaventure is the only other team that has a decent shot at an NCAA bid without winning the A-10 tournament. Here is a preview of the tournament, and a quick assessment of each team’s postseason hopes…

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES

12:00pm Fordham vs. Virginia Tech

The tournament’s first game could well be the best game of the first round. Both teams enter the game hoping for a couple of wins and a chance at a NIT berth. Fordham enters the game at 14-14 while Virginia Tech is 15-14. Virginia Tech enters this game on a bit of a roller-coaster, defeating Xavier and Dayton at home, while losing to Duquesne by 20 and needing a ferocious rally to upend LaSalle in overtime.

Fordham meanwhile has split their last six, needing overtime to outlast Rhode Island this weekend. The Rams are led in scoring by guards Bevon Robin and Jason Harris. Harris and 6-9 Duke Freeman-McKamey are the leading candidates for the Chris Daniels’ Most Improved Player Award. McKamey and Teremun Johnson provided Fordham a much needed inside presence this season. As of this writing however, Bevin Robin has been suspended indefinitely from the team while big man Alejandro Olivares has apparently left the team entirely. If Fordham is forced to play without these two players, expect Tech to win easily. Fordham lost 82-61 at Virginia Tech earlier in the year. Virginia Tech will need solid efforts from leading scorer Rolan Roberts, Dennis Mims, and Brian Chase to duplicate that feat, but have too much inside strength and play too well on the defensive end of the court not to be considered the favorite – even with Robin and Olivares in the lineup.

Unfortunately for the Rams or Hokies, their NIT hopes meet a major roadblock in the quarterfinals. The winner takes on Temple at 12:00pm on Thursday. Temple will be a prohibitive favorite against either team, but with strong outside shooting from Robin (maybe), Harris, and Scott Harmatuk, the Rams have a better chance to pull off the major upset.

2:00pm Massachusetts vs. Duquesne

Duquesne enters the A-10 tournament losers in 12 of their last 13 games. While the Dukes have been far too inconsistent to dream of winning four consecutive games, the Dukes’ fans may like the way their team matches up with UMass. Duquesne hits the offensive glass hard, and UMass has been vulnerable on their defensive glass. If Duquesne gets good shooting and solid ball handling they may be able to pull a first round upset. A major negative for the Dukes, all-everything Wayne Smith has been struggling offensively. After scoring just six against Dayton on Thursday, Smith was held to 10 against LaSalle.

Whether or not UMass advances to the quarterfinals may depend on how interested they are in trying to continue their season. Just two weeks ago the Minutemen had hopes of playing their way onto the bubble. Now they hope for a NIT appearance with a decent conference showing. At 15-14, the Minutemen have no hope of getting back on the NCAA bubble. What happened? Poor shooting by Monty Mack and Shannon Crooks have plagued UMass in blowout losses to Temple and St Bonaventure, and a one-point home court loss to George Washington. UMass won the earlier matchup 84-75 at Duquesne. The winner gets George Washington at 2:00pm Thursday. If Duquesne pulls off the upset, look for the Colonials to breeze into the semis. Duquesne simply doesn’t play enough defense to outscore GW.

UMass, on the other hand, does defend. A victory over Duquesne might show the Minutemen haven’t packed it in for the year.

7:00pm LaSalle vs. St Joseph’s

Neither team has any hopes of an at-large bid to postseason play, but pride will be at stake in this first round game.

LaSalle heads into this Big-5 matchup fresh off a victory over Duquesne, ending a four game losing streak. The Explorers secured the 5 seed in the West in comeback fashion, overcoming a nine-point second half deficit behind Donnie Carr and Rasual Butler. The trio of Carr, Butler, and Victor Thomas makes LaSalle a dangerous opponent if all three are shooting the ball well. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened all that frequently this year. Poor shooting, the lack of an inside game, no depth, combined with Carr’s mid-year bout with pneumonia, have ruined what promised to be one of LaSalle’s better seasons in recent years. St Joes earned the 4 seed in the East with a 7-9 record, losing 5 of their last 6 of the season. The only win was a 62-59 defeat of Temple in which the Hawks made 11 three-point attempts. St Joe’s plays solid defense and rebounds well, but can be very streaky on offense. They are led in scoring by Marvin O’Connor at 17ppg and N’aim Crenshaw at 12ppg.

St Joes lost to LaSalle 59-56 several weeks ago a game in which O’Connor was suspended for his role in several altercations in the previous game against Fordham. The Hawks’ defense and rebounding should be enough to move them into the quarters to face Dayton however.

9:00pm Xavier vs. Rhode Island

Rhode Island looks to end one of the worst seasons by any club in the history of the Atlantic-10, while the Musketeers look to keep their NCAA hopes on life-support. Xavier most likely needs to win the A10 post-season championship to secure a bid to the NCAA, but might gain consideration by losing a close one to Temple in the finals. The Rams are heading home for the spring as a snowball has a better chance of surviving in Hades than the Rams have of winning four in a row. Xavier defeated Rhode Island 78-75 in Kingston in January.

The Rams should be helped by the expected return of Luther Clay, however they have nowhere near enough talent or depth to contend with a Xavier team fighting for their postseason lives. Expect a blowout of monumental proportions as the Xavier press exposes the Rams’ lack of a point guard. Xavier gets St Bonaventure at 9:00pm Thursday, in a game that will most likely end the NCAA dreams for the loser. The Bonnies won a similar do-or-die game by a point just one week ago.