2012-13 Atlantic 10 Preview

The A-10 is often forgotten when discussing major basketball conferences.  Maybe it’s because most of these schools do not have football or perhaps it’s because most of the members are mid-sized private universities.  Whatever the reason, you can find good basketball here. Five straight years three or more teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament with four teams going in both 2009 and 2012.  The conference has been dominated by Xavier (15 conference titles in 28 years) and Temple (9 A-10 tournament titles) but now new challengers appear poised to make a move. 

The Reigning Champs

Temple
As mentioned above Temple should always be mentioned when discussing the potential contenders for the league crown.  Last year’s squad went 24-8 (13-3) and qualified for the NCAAs.  Unfortunately they were bounced in the first round by South Florida.  It’s going to be tough for the Owls to repeat after losing two starters including leading scorer Ramone Moore. To further complicate matters is the potential ban of stud senior Khalif Wyatt. If Wyatt is out for any length of time I think it makes Temple a bubble team and not a team that can win the conference.

St. Bonaventure
The Bonnies surprised many people (including yours truly) last season in route to winning the conference championship.  They were one and done in the NCAAs though, losing by three to Florida St. in the second round.  Their best player (Andrew Nicholson) was selected in the NBA draft and starting forward Da’Quan Cook graduated. I’m not sure there’s enough left here to compete for a repeat performance.

2011 MLB Predictions: NL Central

Unimpressed with his Matrix moves, Chapman fires a fastball at Keanu's head.

It wasn't until the funeral when he learned it's just a movie.

The National League Central has been the home to mediocrity in recent seasons.  In each of the past two seasons a whopping 91 wins has won the division while four teams failed to win at least half their games. I'm not certain that will continue this season but I am certain the bottom two teams in this division will challenge each other for the first pick in next year's amateur draft.

Let's get to it:

Milwaukee Brewers
Best Player: Prince Fielder
Best Pitcher: Zack Greinke 
Biggest off-season move:  Trading for Zack Greinke was the type of "all-in" move fans get excited about. This may be the team's best chance for a while.
Biggest off-season loss: By trading Alcides Escobar, the Brewers are now stuck with Yunieksy Betancourt at SS.
Biggest Questions:
1. Will Prince Fielder be re-signed? It seems unlikely the Brewers will be able to retain their best player after this season so the team needs to win it all.
2. Will Zack Greinke rebound? A goofy injury suffered while playing pick-up basketball will keep Greinke sidelined for a bit, but Greinke should be great once he makes it back.
3. Can the bullpen hold enough leads? This is not a good 'pen but when that's your biggest weakness it's not a bad one to have.
Expectations: This team is assembled to make the playoffs and with Fielder and Braun they should make some noise once they get there.
Opening day lineup:
1. Weeks 2B
2. Gomez CF
3. Braun LF
4. Fielder 1B
5. McGehee 3B
6. Kotsay RF
7. Betancourt SS
8. Nieves C
SP Yovani Gallardo

The Atlantic 10

The Atlantic 10 is an odd conference.  Despite its name there are fourteen members (memo: Big Ten).  It is not one of the so-called "Power 6" conferences but the conference is good enough at basketball that it shouldn't be considered a mid-major.  Really it's a bit of a tweener who gets robbed of some deserving schools when there are a great number of bubble teams from the bigger conferences and gets the benefit of sneaking in another school or two when the Power 6 has a down year.  For the latter this is one of those years.

I'll only discuss the teams with post season hopes and instead save everyone the chore of reading about the bottom dwellers--including Fordham who may be the worst team in Division I.
Read on after the jump.

Khalil Greene to St. Louis

Khalil Greene was traded to St. Louis last week for RHP Mark Worrell and a Player to be Named Later (PTBNL).

For St. Louis, running Greene out there everyday instead whichever inept utility infielder they were putting out there before represents a pretty nifty upgrade.  One might look at Greene's stats and see a guy that shouldn't be playing everyday but when not playing in Petco National Park Greene has posted an acceptable .270/.318/.484 line.  The real concern St. Louis fans should have is his how he'll adjust to his new surroundings.  Since going to school at Clemson, Greene has had the reputation of having a good glove.  Most defensive metrics rate him somewhere in the middle of the pack which is fine if he's hitting, but Busch stadium is nearly as tough on right handed power hitters as Petco so there is a bit of a risk his offense improves minimally.  

In Worrell San Diego gets a AAA side-arming relief pitcher with fly ball tendencies.  Petco seems to be the perfect place for a guy like this. Due to his side-arm delivery he'll probably always have trouble with lefties, but GM Kevin Towers always seems to pull someone off the scrap pile that works better than imagined so if he puts up a 3.60 ERA in 50 innings I won't be surprised.  Basically, though, this trade is a straight out salary dump (probably enabling the team to keep Peavy).  But what do they do for SS now?  

Verdict: This trade really concerns me.  With the John Moore (the owner of the Padres) going through a divorce, the team is up for sale and slashing payroll .  When trading your starting shortstop who's making $6.5 million (a real bargain) for a middle reliever and a PTBNL is considered a necessity, that's a problem.

Easy win for St. Louis.  Watch Greene hit 20 homers and hit 35 doubles for LaRussa because that's just the way things seem to work for him.