With Xavier faltering, who’s the new A-10 favorite?

It requires only two short sentences to sum up the chaos in the Atlantic 10 in the wake of an unpredictable opening three weeks of conference play. Five teams are tied for first place with matching 4-2 records. None of them is Xavier. Saint Louis' 73-68 victory at Xavier on Wednesday night suggests the arrival of a new era in the Atlantic 10, one in which at least for this season the Musketeers are no longer invincible at home and no longer the undisputed kingpins. Xavier (13-7, 4-3) remains a shell of the team that started 8-0 this season before its brawl with Cincinnati and has now lost as many Atlantic 10 games this year as it did the previous two seasons combined. A Musketeers team that is deeper and more talented than the one that went 15-1 in the A-10 last year certainly has ample time and talent to reclaim its place atop the league, but even this early adversity is surprising given the school's recent history. The last time anyone besides Xavier won the league champi...