Atlantic 10 Summer School: Rhode Island looks like best in conference

We're in the thick of the summer season of college hoops. The July recruiting circuit is now in bloom, and with that we're taking a look at where the major conferences stand, who's come and gone, and what news has been made in the major leagues since the season ended. We're nearly halfway through the offseason, so let's stop and assess. This is the Summer School series.

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I have to say: This league seems impossible to project. I've written plenty about the interesting setup (and overall underrated nature) of the Atlantic 10. The league is certainly of top-10 caliber, and in some years, it's among the six best conferences in the country, top to bottom. The league's reputation and its perceived lack of "validation" is due to two facts: the conference doesn't put out a lot of NBA draft picks (there was just one A-10 player selected in June, UMass' Cady LaLanne), and it seldom sends teams to the Elite Eight and beyond.

But the conference has a respectable stable of coaches, which is the structure to any league worth watching. Bob McKillop, Archie Miller, Chris Mooney, Phil Martelli, John Giannini, Dan Hurley and so forth. These are smart guys, some of whom inevitably will be hired to big-time programs in the coming years.

When I look at the league and try to factor its champion for 2016, I come back to Rhode Island every time. URI has a possible future NBA pick in E.C. Matthews, plus Hassan Martin is the guy who's no secret in the league but totally underrated outside of it. I'm pretty certain that fella is going to injure a couple of opponents this season by pure nature of his movement. The Rams also return Jared Terrell, who might be the breakout sophomore in the league, and Kuran Iverson (transfer from Memphis) will be able to play right off the bat. This sets up to be a sweet season for Dan Hurley's club.

But beyond that, it's foggy to foretell.

FOUR OFFSEASON HEADLINES

1. Shaka Smart leaves VCU; Will Wade returns to coach the Rams

It's a new era for VCU, and believe it or not, this is a position the school is familiar with. Why, it was just six years ago when the Rams had to figure out how to rebuild with this new guy named "Shaka." Smart was replacing Anthony Grant ... who had replaced Jeff Capel three years prior to that. Will Wade is a former VCU assistant. He left the program in 2013 to take the head job at Chattanooga. With the Mocs, Wade went 40-25 in two seasons. Now he takes over a team that still has talent, will run a system that all but duplicates Smart's "HAVOC" scheme, and will have some challenges now that former four-star recruit Terry Larrier has transferred to Connecticut and Tevin Mack has left to play for Smart at Texas. But VCU still has the dudes. Don't expect a steep drop-off.

2. The other coaching changes came at Fordham and George Mason

Jeff Neubauer is the man at Fordham, after Andy Toole (Robert Morris' head coach) turned down the job. He was an out-of-left-field choice, coming on after a 10-year run at Eastern Kentucky. Fordham fired Tom Pecora, who averaged 8.8 wins in five seasons. George Mason's era under Paul Hewitt lasted four seasons, did not feature an NCAA Tournament showing and was trending downward. Hewitt's replacement is Dave Paulsen, who averaged 19 wins and went to two Big Dances in seven seasons at Bucknell. We'll see what GMU can do with Paulsen. That area has plenty of two- and three-star recruits to woo.

3. Golden State's NBA title run forces the Davidson athletic offices to change their phone number

This was just too good. With the NBA MVP continuing a torrid run throughout the playoffs, myriad writers -- sports and non-sports -- dialed up Davidson to do some digging and perhaps get more backstory on Stephen Curry. But the SID there, bless his heart, as well as longtime Davidson coach Bob McKillop, could only take so much. An inundation of calls, intentions varying, made for some unexpected stress and good-natured freakouts down in Davidson, N.C.

4. Rhode Island keeps Dan Hurley ... for now

With brother Bobby successfully getting lured away from Buffalo to Arizona State, it's likely the younger Hurley sibling will only need an NCAA Tournament run this upcoming season to land a bigger job (if he wants it). Hurley signed a new deal through the 2021-22 season after URI went 23-10 and finished third in the conference. As you'll see below, I've got the Rams winning this league next season. Hurley is 45-49 in three seasons at URI. But his name carries a lot of weight, and he's unquestionably a passionate and adept coach.

BIG QUESTION THAT REMAINS

With Shaka Smart now gone, Archie Miller becomes the primary young coaching superstar of the league -- so will he leave next March/April?

The pattern has already taken shape. Miller, who does not have an agent, has turned down a batch of jobs over the past two years. Dayton's likely going to be quite good again; its chances of reaching the NCAA Tournament are pretty nice. You can only hold onto Miller so long, but here's the deal: He loves the program and is genuinely enjoying the experience of that city and building up UD hoops. (In this regard, he's quite similar to Smart.) It's going to take a no-question-about-it top-25 job to get Miller away from Dayton. So the stars will align for him whenever a top-tier gig opens up, and that school comes calling. It seems inevitable we'll get to that point again by mid-March of 2016.

NBA DRAFT REPORT

Could've gone and did: None
Could've gone but stayed: DeAndre Bembry (Saint Joseph's), E.C. Matthews (Rhode Island)

TRANSFERS

Coming: Korey Billbury (Oral Roberts to VCU), Rene Castro (Butler to Duquesne), Tyler Cavanaugh (Wake Forest to George Washington), Charles Cooke (James Madison to Dayton), Four McGlynn (Towson to Rhode Island), Alex Mitola (Dartmouth to George Washington), Jaren Sina (Seton Hall to George Washington), Antwan Space (Texas A&M to UMass), Marshall Wood (Virginia Tech to Richmond).
Going: Jalen Adams (St. Bonaventure to TBD), Iakeem Alston (St. Bonaventure to West Georgia), Darian Bryant (George Washington to Delaware), Matt Butler (Rhode Island to TBD), Chandler Diekvoss (Richmond to TBD), Demetrius Dyson (UMass to Samford), Jordan Gathers (St. Bonaventure to Butler), Nick Griffin (George Washington to St. Peter's), Grandy Glaze (Saint Louis to Grand Canyon), Derrick Gordon (UMass to Seton Hall), Isaiah Jackson (George Mason to TBD), Tanner Lancona (Saint Louis to TBD), Terry Larrier (VCU to UConn), Eric Lockett (George Mason to TBD), Austin McBroom (Saint Louis to Eastern Washington), Biggie Minnis (Rhode Island to TBD), Alonzo Nelson-Ododa (Richmond to Pitt), Eric Paschall (Fordham to Villanova), Trey Porter (George Mason to Old Dominion), Jarelle Reischel (Rhode Island to Eastern Kentucky), Desmond Ridenour (Duquesne to TBD), Obi Romeo (Saint Joseph's to TBD), Detwon Rogers (Dayton to TBD), Kethan Savage (George Washington to Butler), Xavier Smith (St. Bonaventure to TBD), Kadeem Smithem (Richmond to Siena), Jordan Stevens (Duquesne to TBD), Manny Suarez (Fordham to Adelphi)

EARLY GUESS AT LEAGUE STANDINGS. (TEAM COMMENTARY IN 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS.)

1. Rhode Island: Can't shake the feeling that everything is falling into place for Rhody. That group should click immediately.

2. Dayton: Dyshawn Pierre and Kendall Pollard and Scoochie Smith! Keeping Archie was huge; the Flyers will get to 20 Ws, no problem.

3. Davidson: Lost Tyler Kalinoski, an all-league player, but get back Jack Gibbs and a slew of sophs and juniors. Consensus top-five A-10 team here.

4. VCU: Will Wade has a bit of cobbling to do, after losing talent following Shaka's departure. Mo Alie-Cox could be straw that stirs the drink.

5. George Washington: A lot of roster changeover, but GW is well-coached and has the talent to compete for an NCAA bid.

6. Richmond: Could well be underestimating the Spiders here, who have a senior trio of Terry Allen, Trey Davis and Deion Taylor.

7. St. Bonaventure: From here, it gets totally ridiculous to forecast, so why not have some fun. And who's more fun than the Bonnies and those fans?

8. Duquesne: Micah Mason is this season's guard-who-shatters-3-point-records. It will happen. I'll have a story on it down the way.

9. La Salle : Not this year for La Salle, but the next. The Explorers will steal a few, be up and down this season, then be an NCAA Tournament team come 2017.

10. UMass: I have UMass 10th here, yet could see this team going 10-8 in the league again. Derrick Gordon left for Seton Hall, by the way.

11. Saint Joseph's: Phil Martelli's team seems to lack the offense needed outside of DeAndre Bembry, who is a joy to to watch.

12. Saint Louis: The big news for the Billikens was losing out on hometown star Jayson Tatum, who chose Duke earlier this week.

13. Fordham: The Rams’ bummer is this: Eric Paschall, who has three years of eligibility, could've been the league’s best player by his senior season. Left for Nova.