Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Notebook - 11/18

This is the Atlantic 10 Conference's Men's Basketball Notebook for the week of November 11 through 17th. The Conference honors Rhode Island's Will Daniels and Umass's Gary Forbes as players of the week, and Duquesne's Damian Saunders as rookie of the week.

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PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Will Daniels - Rhode Island
Senior, Forward, 6-8, 225 lbs.
Hyde Park, N.Y./Franklin D. Roosevelt HS

Daniels averaged 20 points and eight rebounds in three victories for Rhode Island...shot 23-of-44 from the field and 11-of-14 from the foul line...added four blocks...scored 26 points on Nov. 14 in the Rams’ 75-61 win at Brown...recorded his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 13 rebounds as Rhode Island turned aside Stetson on Nov. 17, 80-65.

Gary Forbes - Massachusetts
Senior, Guard/Forward, 6-7, 220 lbs.
Brooklyn, N.Y./Benjamin Banneker Academy

Forbes averaged 24.3 points, eight rebounds and four assists in three contests...scored 29 points, including the 1,000th of his career, on Nov. 11 at Northern Iowa...had 19 points and nine boards in the Minutemen’s 89-80 win over Yale on Nov. 14 and scored 25 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists on Nov. 17 as UMass downed Wisconsin-Green Bay, 93-78...has scored at least 20 points in four of Massachusetts’s five contests this season.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Damian Saunders - Duquesne
Freshman, Forward, 6-7, 205 lbs.
Waterbury, Conn./Notre Dame (Mass.) Prep

Saunders averaged 11 points and 8.5 rebounds in a pair of victories by the Dukes...added five assists, five blocks and five steals...had 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks on Nov. 12 as Duquesne downed Winston-Salem State, 93-63...scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and added nine boards and four assists in the Dukes’ 86-59 victory at Rice on Nov. 17.

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A-10-SHUN
NEWS FROM AROUND THE ATLANTIC 10

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

• Charlotte senior guard Leemire Goldwire averaged 21.3 points and knocked down 12 three-pointers over three contests. Freshman An’Juan Wilderness averaged 10.3 points and five rebounds for the 49ers
• Senior guard Brian Roberts scored 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting in Dayton’s 67-56 loss at George Mason
• Duquesne junior forward/center Shawn James averaged 18.5 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in a pair of victories
• Senior forward Bryant Dunston scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds in Fordham’s 80-63 loss at Syracuse on Nov. 16
• George Washington junior forward Rob Diggs scored a game-high 20 points and added 12 rebounds and three blocks on Nov. 14 as the Colonials turned aside Boston University. 69-56
• Senior guard Darnell Harris averaged 15 points in two contests for La Salle, while freshman forward Jerrell Williams scored 10 points and added nine rebounds in the Explorers’ 66-63 win at Mount St. Mary’s
• Massachusetts senior forward Etienne Brower scored 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc as the Minutemen earned a 93-78 victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay
• Junior forward Kahiem Seawright scored 12 points, pulled down 10 boards and added a game-high six assists in Rhode Island’s 80-65 win over Stetson
• Richmond freshman guard Kevin Anderson scored a career-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the Spiders’ 70-68 loss to Maryland-Baltimore County on Nov. 17
• Senior forward Michael Lee of St. Bonaventure averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in three contests
• Saint Louis senior center Bryce Husak scored a career-high 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting in the Billikens’ 83-69 win versus Furman on Nov. 17
• Temple junior guard Dionte Christmas averaged 25.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in a pair of contests, including a 32-point effort in a 79-76 loss to College of Charleston on Nov. 16.

BIRTHDAY WISHES

Xavier head coach Sean Miller celebrated his 39th birthday on Nov. 17. Now in his fourth season at XU, Miller is the third-youngest coach in the A-10 behind Travis Ford (37) of UMass and Richmond’s Chris Mooney (35).

THE RIM LOOKS AS WIDE AS THE ARCH

Saint Louis shot 28-of-49 (57.1 percent) from the field in its 83-69 win over Furman on Nov. 17, marking the first time since 1993-94 that the Billikens shot better than 50 percent from the field in four consecutive games. The program record is eight consecutive contests, set in 1993-94. Junior guard Kevin Lisch leads SLU in scoring at 17.2 ppg. and is shooting .535 (23-of-43) from the floor.

MY KIND OF MONTH

As a result of its 69-56 win over Boston University on Nov. 14, George Washington improved to 21-4 in November under seventh-year head coach Karl Hobbs. The Colonials return to action on Nov. 24 when they host Maryland-Baltimore County (which upset Richmond, 70-68, last week on Cavell Johnson's dunk with 3.2 seconds left) - ed.

FLYING SOLO

Xavier sophomore forward Derrick Brown leads the team in both scoring (13.5 ppg.) and dunks (six) and is second in rebounding (6.5 rpg.). No other Musketeer has recorded a dunk this season. Last season, 41 of Brown’s 77 field goals came via a dunk.

THREE SPEAK

Massachusetts tied a program record with 15 three-point field goals made on a school-record 32 attempts in its 93-78 win over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Nov. 17. The last time the Minutemen made 15 field goals from beyond the arc. was versus Temple in 1997. UMass has made 51 three-pointers through five games this season, with senior forward Etienne Brower shooting a blistering .625 (15-of-24) from three-point range.

ROAD RAGE

Duquesne turned aside Rice on Nov. 17, 86-59, in the Dukes’ first road contest of the season. The 27-point margin of victory was Duquesne's largest in a road game since an 87-58 win at Robert Morris on Dec. 22, 1994. It was also just the second time in the past 35 years a Duquesne team won a road contest by more than 25 points. Last season, the Dukes snapped a 17-game road losing streak to non-conference foes with a 72-71 win at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 22.

PAINT PRESENCE

St. Bonaventure senior Michael Lee is off to a torrid start in first year head coach Mark Schmidt’s system. The 6-9 forward has scored at least 20 points in three of the Bonnies’ first four games this season, including a career-best 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting in the team’s 97-80 win versus Binghamton on Nov. 12. Lee grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds on Nov. 16 in the Bonnies’ 61-50 victory over Loyola Marymount, his second double-digit rebound performance on the year. The West Palm Beach, Fla., native is averaging 21 points and 9.5 rebounds, up from his averages of 12.8 points and 6.2 boards a year ago.

DAZZLING DEBUT

Saint Joseph’s sophomore guard Tasheed Carr has made a smooth transition into the Hawks’ starting lineup after sitting out last season upon his transfer from Iowa State. He dished out 12 assists, two shy of the program record, in St. Joe’s 86-69 win over Farleigh Dickinson, added 13 points versus Syracuse (Nov. 13) and six steals at Boston University (Nov. 18). Carr is averaging 8.7 assists through three games.

BEING WATCHED

Seniors Will Daniels of Rhode Island and Xavier's Drew Lavender and junior Ahmad Nivins of Saint Joseph's are among 33 players named to the Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List, as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The watch list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors, which based its pre-season criteria on player performances from last season and expectations for the 2007-08 campaign. Seniors and juniors accounted for 17 apiece, along with 16 sophomores. The list does not include incoming freshmen, although those student-athletes will be considered in the first vote in January, 2008. The Naismith Trophy is presented annually to college basketball's players of the year.