Four Atlantic 10 teams remain undefeated early in this 2025-2026 season. The Saint Louis Billikens entered the year with high expectations, sitting atop the conference with an A-10 best No.51 Kenpom rating and a perfect 5-0 record. Last year’s conference runner-up George Mason has a rebuilt roster, but a flawless 6-0 start to the season as another Kenpom top-100 team. Right behind them, state rival (?) Richmond has matched half of last season’s 10-win total at 5-0 and is knocking at No. 101 of the Pomeroy top-100 and St. Bonaventure rounds out the bracket undefeated at 5-0 heading into what looks to be a challenging matchup against a team that bears the initials “UNC.”
But are they real? Does any team in that group have the talent to stay at the top of the conference or are several destined to become last year’s Rhode Island Rams, a group that won all of their first nine games before finishing 7-11 in conference play before exiting with a conference tournament loss to No. 15 Fordham on Wednesday afternoon.
Let’s look at the tea leaves…
SAINT LOUIS BILLIKENS
Josh Schertz was a standout for the Bills this past year after leading Indiana State to a 32-7 finish at Indiana State last season. Despite bringing national star, Robbie Avila, to Saint Louis, the Billikens had a mediocre year overall, finishing 18-13 in the regular season, 11-7 in conference play and then falling to the A-10 in the quarterfinals before a season-ending affair. NIT first round loss. Avila returns hoping to make his first appearance in the NCAA Tournament this year, his last attempt as a senior, and so far so good. The Billikens have played through five of the most efficient basketball games in the country, but that comes with a bit of an asterisk as they have played ranked 357th in the country to date. Four of the Billikens games were against teams ranked 250th or worst (two against teams below 300), but to their credit, Saint Louis absolutely destroyed those opponents, winning those games by an average margin of 30.3 points. The Billikens have played one top-100 opponent, beating Grand Canyon 78-64 at Chaifetz Arena.
FOR REAL OR FRAUD?: Not decisive. I’m confident SLU will be a GOOD team, but knowing whether or not they are an NCAA tournament team and worthy of hype is incredibly murky. A decent margin (14 points) home win against a good team is just not enough to get excited about, but I love their top-10 effective field goal percentage offense AND defense and margins of victory against the teams you expect good teams to absolutely hammer. A Thanksgiving Day game against a Santa Clara game should tell us a little more, but I’ll say, “This is the year” for the Billikens.
GEORGE MASON PATRIOTS
Tony Skinn has done nothing but coach his alma mater to top-100 finishes since returning to Fairfax two seasons ago and despite having to rebuild his roster, he appears to be off to a good start again. Mason has won their first six games, a league-best, but like Saint Louis, that was against a schedule that offered little challenge. Only one Mason opponent has ranked in the Kenpom top-125, and that game ended in a 96-90 victory over No. 108 Winthrop. That win looks a little better after the Eagles nearly beat Arkansas on the road, falling 84-83 in Fayetteville, but that’s a Winthrop squad that’s also coming off a tough loss to Coastal Carolina. Still, it’s a better start than last year’s, with losses to the likes of Central Michigan and East Carolina, with no wins in the top-300 over their first seven, and we know how that season went. Mason has an extremely winnable OOC schedule, save for maybe a road game at Virginia Tech, and then starting conference play against the likes of La Salle, Rhode Island, and Fordham, so it may take some time before we find out how good this team is unless the mistakes hit them first. Either way, the Tony Skinn era seems to be a lot more fun for Mason fans than what they’ve become accustomed to since he himself graduated from the school.
FOR REAL OR FRAUD? Not decisive. I don’t see a dominant player on this Mason team like Jalen Haynes from last season’s squad, but so far they are really starting to play some great team ball behind red-hot Presbyterian transfer, Kory Mincy.
RICHMOND Spiders
It’s been a rollercoaster for Mooney & Co for a few seasons. in Richmond. Two seasons ago they finished top of the A-10, only to find themselves two games above last place this past season. With that, the 5-0 start to the season with a Kenpom No.101 rating and climbing should be a relief for Spider fans. However, Richmond, like the teams above, built that record largely by smashing up cupcakes. Richmond started their season with a win outside of Division I, a 28-point victory against Southern Virginia, then handled ECU with relative ease, blowing out VMI and Gardner Webb under 300 by an average margin of 34 points per game. While those were great to watch, the close home win over William & Mary and the 5-point survival over James Madison give me pause.
FOR REAL OR FRAUD? I’m afraid the spiders are probably fraudsters. This group features a LOT of returning players from last season’s troubled squad in some pretty big roles and I just don’t see a Jordan King level transfer on the roster and that doesn’t make me a Spider optimist. I love local freshman Aiden Argabright, but he’s still a freshman and we know what even the best freshmen can look like sometimes. Richmond has a pretty winnable OOC schedule, but one that is quickly becoming a bit more difficult, which I think could shed some light on who this team really is.
ST. BONAVENTURE BONNIES
The Bonnies are off to another hot start, matching last year’s 5-0 mark, which eventually turned 14-1, including a close home win over eventual champion VCU. That season ended well enough, the Bonnies going 9-9 in conference play before being ousted by VCU in the A-10 tournament and later falling to Kent State, 75-56, in the first round of the NIT. This year, Mark Schmidt’s squad has played a schedule that is, for the most part, more challenging than the teams above, playing three teams in the top-200, including a neutral-court win over Kenpom No. 123 Bradley. The challenge at the start is that the Bonnies didn’t look particularly dominant in winning those games, outlasting Bradley 69-63, escaping Youngstown State 84-80 at the Reilly Center and playing a fairly close game against a very mediocre Sienna squad.
FOR REAL OR FRAUD? Unfortunately I am selling the Bonnies. Schmidt will play with about five guys all season and I’m just not as impressed with this group as I have been with previous transfer classes. They haven’t been incredibly efficient despite the schedule, but to their credit they have found ways to win.
#A10 #undefeated #real