2008–09 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season

2008–09 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season
League NCAA Division I
Sport Basketball
Duration January 7, 2009
through March 14, 2009
Number of teams 14
TV partner(s) CBS College Sports Network
ESPN
Regular Season
Tournament
2008–09 Atlantic 10 men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
#20 Xavier 12 – 4   .750     27 – 8   .771
Dayton 11 – 5   .688     27 – 8   .771
Rhode Island 11 – 5   .688     23 – 11   .676
Temple† 11 – 5   .688     22 – 12   .647
Duquesne 9 – 7   .563     21 – 13   .618
La Salle 9 – 7   .563     18 – 13   .581
Richmond 9 – 7   .563     20 – 16   .556
Saint Joseph's 9 – 7   .563     17 – 15   .531
Saint Louis 8 – 8   .500     18 – 14   .563
UMass 7 – 9   .438     12 – 18   .400
St. Bonaventure 6 – 10   .375     15 – 15   .500
Charlotte 5 – 11   .313     11 – 20   .355
George Washington 4 – 12   .250     10 – 18   .357
Fordham 1 – 15   .063     3 – 25   .107
† Atlantic 10 Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2008–09 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season marked the 33rd season of Atlantic 10 Conference basketball.

Preseason

Xavier University was seen as the favourite to win the league by coaches and media in the preseason poll after having won the regular season the two previous years and also reaching the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.[1][2]

No A-10 side was in either the AP Poll or the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll top 25, Xavier dropping out from last season in 26th and 30th place respectively after losing 3 starters in the offseason, the university was in the lesser Sporting News Top 40 at 19th along with Saint Joseph's at 32nd and Temple at 38th.[3]

The Musketeers' Derrick Brown along with the Owl's Dionte Christmas were named to the John R. Wooden Award preseason top 50 candidate list in November.[4] Brown was also named to the Naismith Award watch list on December 18.[5] Another individual award, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award selected Christmas and Jimmy Baron of Rhode Island on their 30-man preseason candidate list.[6]

It was speculated if Christmas would be the first player in league history to lead the A-10 in scoring three seasons in a row whilst Ahmad Nivins of Saint Joseph's and Chris Lowe of Massachusetts also aimed to lead the conference for the third time, in field goal percentage and assists respectively.[7]

Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll [2]

Rank Team
1 Xavier (44)
2 Temple (12)
3 Dayton (3)
4 Saint Joseph's
5 Charlotte (2)
6 Massachusetts
7 Saint Louis
8 Richmond
9 Rhode Island
10 La Salle
11 George Washington
12 Duquesne
13 Fordham
14 St. Bonaventure

First-place votes in parentheses

Preseason All-A10 Team

First Team

Second Team

Third Team

Preseason A10 All-Rookie Team

Preseason A10 All-Defensive Team

Regular season

Xavier captured its third consecutive Atlantic 10 regular season crown with a 12-4 record in Conference play, it had been undefeated in conference play until four late-season losses to Duquesne, Dayton, Charlotte, and Richmond. The last A-10 program to enter the tournament as #1 seed thrice in a row was Temple in 1998-00. It moved the university into the top 25 in the national rankings (see below) of both the AP Poll (17th) and the ESPN/USA Today poll (18th).[8]

On individual records, Temple's Dionte Christmas entered tournament play tied with Player of the Year Ahmad Nivins at 19.2 ppg in his quest to lead the conference in scoring for a record third consecutive time. Nivins' 62.5% put him in the driving seat to equal Alexander Koul's record in 1995-97 as the only players in A-10 history to lead the league in field goal percentage three consecutive years.[9] They would both achieve these feats in post-season, Christmas with 19.5 ppg and Nivins with 61.2%, Massachusetts' Chris Lowe finished second in his similar pursuit of assists leading.

Postseason

Atlantic 10 Tournament

All the games were held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Conference awards & honors

Weekly awards

Atlantic 10 Players of the Week
Throughout the conference season, the Atlantic 10 offices name a player and rookie of the week.

Week Player of the week Rookie of the week
November 16[10] Dionte Christmas, Temple Trey Blue, Fordham
Ahmad Nivins, Saint Joseph's
November 23[11] Jimmy Baron, Rhode Island Eric Evans, Duquesne
Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
November 30[12] Damian Saunders, Duquesne Chris Wright, Dayton
Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
December 7[13] Ahmad Nivins, Saint Joseph's Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
B.J. Raymond, Xavier
December 14[14] Dionte Christmas, Temple Jio Fontan, Fordham
Aaron Jackson, Duquesne
December 21[15] Tommie Liddell, Saint Louis Eric Evans, Duquesne
December 28<[16] Ahmad Nivins, Saint Joseph's Eric Evans, Duquesne
Jio Fontan, Fordham
January 5[17] Aaron Jackson, Duquesne Willie Reed, Saint Louis
January 11[18] Derrick Brown, Xavier Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
Ahmad Nivins, Saint Joseph's
January 18[19] Dionte Christmas, Temple Alberto Estwick, Fordham
Chris Johnson, Dayton
January 25[20] Justin Harper, Richmond Kenny Frease, Xavier
Ahmad Nivins, Saint Joseph's
February 1[21] Tasheed Carr, Saint Joseph's Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
B.J. Raymond, Xavier
February 8[22] Aaron Jackson, Duquesne Andrew Nicholson, St. Bonaventure
February 15[23] Lamont Mack, Charlotte Kwamain Mitchell, Saint Louis
February 22[24] Kevin Anderson, Richmond Kwamain Mitchell, Saint Louis
Rob Diggs, George Washington
March 1[25] Damian Hollis, George Washington Eric Evans, Duquesne
Aaron Jackson, Duquesne

All-Conference Awards [9]

Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams

First Team

Second Team

Third Team

Honorable Mention

Rookie Team

Defensive Team

Academic Team

Rankings

2008–09 Atlantic 10 Conference Weekly Rankings
Key: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. RV = Received Votes
AP Poll[26] Pre Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk 10 Wk 11 Wk 12 Wk 13 Wk 14 Wk 15 Wk 16 Wk 17 Wk 18
Charlotte
Dayton 27 26 30 30 37 41 42 36 26 31 25 31 30 33
Duquesne
Fordham
George Washington
La Salle
Massachusetts
Rhode Island 42 43 40
Richmond
Saint Louis
St. Bonaventure
St. Joseph's 53
Temple 45 43 33 35
Xavier 26 29 16 14 10 7 14 22 16 15 15 10 9 14 16 19 17 19 20

Post Tournament Results

NCAA Tournament

Xavier (2-1) : Regional Semifinals (Sweet Sixteen)

Dayton (1-1): Regional Second Round

Temple (0-1): Regional First Round

National Invitation Tournament

Rhode Island (1-1): Second Round

Duquesne (0-1): First Round

College Basketball Invitational

Richmond (2-1): Semifinal

References

  1. ↑ ""2008-09 Atlantic 10 Men's and Women's Basketball Prospectus."."Atlantic 10 Conference, 14 August 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Xavier The Choice To Seize 2008-09 A-10 Men's Basketball Title."Atlantic 10 Conference, 28 October 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Xavier Men's Basketball Ranked 19th By The Sporting News."Atlantic 10 Conference, 15 October 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Derrick Brown, Dionte Christmas Named To Wooden Award List."Atlantic 10 Conference, 7 November 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Reigning Naismith Trophy Winner Tyler Hansbrough Headlines 2008-09 Early-Season Watch List."Naismith Award, Atlanta, 18 December 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Three A-10 Basketball Student-Athletes Nominated For Lowe's Senior CLASS Award."Atlantic 10 Conference, 22 December 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  7. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Nov. 11."Atlantic 10 Conference, 11 November 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Field Set For 2009 A-10 Men's Basketball Championship."Atlantic 10 Conference, 7 March 2009. Retrieved on 18 April 2015.
  9. 1 2 "A-10 Announces Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams."Atlantic 10 Conference, Philadelphia, 9 March 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Nov. 16."Atlantic 10 Conference, 16 November 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Nov. 23."Atlantic 10 Conference, 23 November 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Nov. 30."Atlantic 10 Conference, 30 November 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Dec. 7."Atlantic 10 Conference, 7 December 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Dec. 14."Atlantic 10 Conference, 14 December 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Dec. 21."Atlantic 10 Conference, 21 December 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  16. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Dec. 28."Atlantic 10 Conference, 28 December 2008. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Jan. 5."Atlantic 10 Conference, 5 January 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Jan. 11."Atlantic 10 Conference, 11 January 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Jan. 18."Atlantic 10 Conference, 18 January 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Jan. 25."Atlantic 10 Conference, 25 January 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Feb. 1."Atlantic 10 Conference, 1 February 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Feb. 8."Atlantic 10 Conference, 8 Feb 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  23. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Feb. 15."Atlantic 10 Conference, 15 Feb 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  24. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Feb. 22."Atlantic 10 Conference, 22 February 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "A-10 Notebook - Mar. 1."Atlantic 10 Conference, 1 March 2009. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Rankings - AP Top 25."ESPN.com. Retrieved on 17 April 2015.
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