11. Fordham Rams- Conference play was not too kind to the Bronx located Fordham Rams. They went 3-13 in conference play and lost 10 in a row until winning at St. Bonaventure in one of the strongest homecourt advantages in the A-10.(How my Bonnies lost at home to Fordham is mind boggling) Moving forward...the Rams went 7-24 last season and they can't go anywhere but up in the 2014 season. Rams leading scorer and point guard Branden Frazier returns for his Senior campaign and promising Freshman guard in Mandell Thomas returns for his Sophomore year after a nice Freshman season. Class of 2013 point guard Jon Severe from the famous Christ the King High School in Queens, New York which has produced notable NBA player like Speedy Claxton and Lamar Odom, comes to Fordham after turning down offers from notable programs like Florida, Kansas State, Xavier, Pittsburgh, Alabama, Cincinatti, West Virginia, and Creighton. I am sure Fordham is ecstatic to have this young man and I am positive that Mr. Severe was intrigued at the thought of building up this Fordham team from the ground up. Watching Christ the King High School play, Severe is one of those tough nosed Queens product point guards who has guts. He chose Fordham over big time programs...this kid has A LOT of guts. Fordham will have a tough time this season, but if implemented into the lineup right away, this Mr. New York State Basketball kid could show Fordham Basketball supporters that he can improve the squad each season. I am not going to lie...I am rooting for this team and I am rooting for Severe to get this program relevant. If the Rams can get out from the bottom of the pack this year, they will consider this season much improved and something to build on in the future. The Rams return more experienced players than the Bonnies therefore, I have them at them ahead of St. Bona.
12. St. Bonaventure Bonnies (best name in all of sports)- Dear Demitrius Conger and Eric Mosley, the Bonnies will miss you... A LOT! There will be a lot of new faces in Olean, New York this upcoming season and the Bonnies, will have a difficult season ahead of them. After Canadian and NBA first round draft pick Andrew Nicholson led the Bonnies to the NCAA tournament in the 2011-2012 season, St. Bonaventure struggled with physical forward Demitrius Conger and point guard Eric Mosley who have both graduated. Senior forward Matthew Wright from Toronto and Junior seven foot center Youssou Ndoye will need to improve greatly for the Bonnies this season. While starting 21 out of 26 games for the Bonnies last season, Wright battled a torn plantar fascia to the bottom of his left foot and if healthy, he should see his production increase. As well, possible starting point guard Charlon Kloof will need to step his game up this season if he were to be the starting point guard and pilot for this Bona bunch. Even though I said "possible"starting point guard, Kloof will and has to start. He was a key contributor in the Bonnies recent NCAA tournament run and will need to average double digits to guide his team in the right direction. Kloof is a big 6-3 guard and St. Bona will need his size and defense to keep the other terrific A-10 guards from controlling the game. Yup, I said it...Kloof is terrific and I believe he will be terrific for the Bonnies. This is his team, his time, and his moment. I believe in him and so should Bonnie fans. The Bonnies could surprise some NCAA/NIT bound teams this year with some upset wins because of their great home-court atmosphere, nonetheless the road games will be troubling for them because of their youthful roster. I know the Bonnies went 3-5 at home and 4-4 on the road last season, yet St. Bona has the home court advantage to disturb visiting teams and turn that home record from a negative to a positive record. This Bonnie squad will need to take care of business and beat Fordham, George Mason, and Duquesne(twice) in order to be relevant in the A-10. They will also need to somehow steal two wins from La Salle/Richmond in each home-and-home series. The defensive side of the ball will be key for St. Bonaventure if they are set on receiving a decent seed in the A-10 Tournament in Brooklyn. The Bonnies allowed A-10 foes to shoot great percentages from the field last season and as Bonnies fan found out firsthand, there were tons of defensive breakdowns. Hopefully Head Coach Mark Schmidt can fix their woes.
13. Duquesne Dukes- Duquesne is going to have another bad season. I know last years squad was dreadful, but 5 players from last years terrible team have transferred and will not be back next season. I am not sure if that benefits or hurts this year team, but the Dukes are in trouble regardless. Coach Jim Ferry's 2013 recruiting class is not the best by any means and those young players will not be able to win games against the strong A-10 competition. Hopefully Duquesne can get their program back to where it once was in years past, but this is not the year that the Dukes do that. They will definitely finish in the bottom three for sure. The Dukes just hope to see improvement from last seasons 1-15 record in A-10 play.
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