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The return of Charles Little didn't do much to change the fortunes of the Dayton Flyers. They dropped their fourth game in five tries at Rhode Island this afternoon 82-70 and once again called their tournament worthiness into doubt. The Flyers simply don't play enough defense to be a safe bet in the deep Atlantic 10.

Rhode Island shot 52% and turned the ball over just five times while cruising to their 19th win of the year. That they won so easily despite a poor game from Will Daniels underscores how strong the Rams are looking these days. Joe Mbang came off the bench to score 21 points, the splendidly named Parfait Bitee nailed three threes and URI dished 16 assists to fuel their offense.

Just two weeks ago Dayton was considered a sure thing for the dance while the Rams were on the bubble but their positions have changed dramatically since then. Dayton's injuries and defensive deficiencies are part of the story but not the whole problem. They had six assists today and that lack of offensive balance has exposed their reliance on Brian Roberts (1-of-9 from three today). Whether he's on or off, though, there's no shortage of ways to beat the Flyers.

Wins over big-time nonconference opponents earned teams like Dayton and Rhode Island a lot of headlines in the first two months of the season. Each flew to the top of the RPI and into the Top 25 before getting cooled off by A-10 opposition. The Saint Joseph's Hawks, on the other hand, lost to teams big (Gonzaga) and small (Holy Cross) while navigating their way through a challenging early schedule. Once league play started, though, they've been a bear.

Three road wins, including last night's 61-59 victory at GW, highlight a 5-1 start that has them tied for the league lead and thinking about dancing for the first time since 2004. The reasons for their success are very similar to the reasons for co-leader Xavier's. They are well rounded team that does everything well.

Pat Calathes scores 18 points and grabs eight rebounds a game, throwing in a flair for the dramatic as well. His shots have beaten Temple and GW in the last two games and his 45% three-point shooting stretches defenses beyond their limit. Ahmed Nivins controls the paint and scores 14.5 a night on 63% shooting. Iowa State transfer Tasheed Carr missed four games with injury but returned last night with six assists. That's what the point guard's averaging per game, in addition to 11 points and five rebounds.

There were two teams with a high profile entering Atlantic-10 play. Xavier and Dayton each won games against teams from all over the country and were entertaining thoughts of deep tournament runs just as soon as they made their way through the conference. Xavier, after a slight bobble at Temple, is doing nothing to defy that belief. They're clearly the cream of the A-10 crop and among the very best teams in the country.

But what to make of Dayton? They've lost their last three games in conference and it won't take many more before their bid goes from solid to bubble. It doesn't look like there's going to be any quick fix. The Flyers have been overly dependent on Brian Roberts from day one but will need their superlative guard to play even better thanks to two key injuries. Freshman Chris Wright had surgery last week on his fractured ankle and Charles Little broke his foot in a loss to UMass, erasing the two best forwards from the roster.

In Saturday's loss to Richmond, they got five points from the frontcourt and were carved up inside defensively. Roberts played a strong game but, with no balance and no interior presence, teams can let that happen and feel secure in their chances of winning games.

It's not often that the Atlantic 10 gets three teams into the Top 25 at the same time. It's even rarer that all three of those teams lose games within 24 hours of each other but thanks to the resurgent Saint Louis Billikens that's just what's happened. They shut down the league's best shooting team for a surprising 68-61 win.

Rick Majerus's crew followed up their 20-point embarassment by taking Dayton to overtime but this was still very unexpected. Rhode Island has been piling up points all season while SLU has struggled to find the basket with any consistency. That makes last night's game the basketball versiot of the Judge Reinhold classic Vice Versa.

Saint Louis made 54.5% of their shots while the Rams converted just 34.3% of theirs. Will Daniels and Jimmy Baron average 35 points a game for URI, they combined for 22. Tommy Liddell, averaging 12 a night for Majerus, came up with 22 on 9-of-12 shooting. Up was down, black was white and the Rams are now 1-2 in the A-10.

I don't foresee it happening but the last two days have been a reminder of how close to the edge this conference lives. Dayton, Xavier and Rhode Island all lost the kinds of games that take away some of their luster and it won't take too many more for their tournament standing to get precarious.

Xavier 68, Fordham 50 - After beating St. Bonaventure this week, Sean Miller wasn't happy with the way his team played defense. Yesterday, though, he had no reason to be upset. The Musketeers shut out the Rams for seven minutes and set a new low in points allowed on the season. Up six at the half, the X-men put the game away with a 16-4 run to start the second half. C.J. Anderson and B.J. Raymond combined for 11 of the points and Raymond led the team with 20 points overall. Bryant Dunston, Fordham's impressive big man, had 19 points and 11 rebounds but couldn't overcome a keyed up Musketeer defense.

Rhode Island 80, Duquesne 78 - The Rams narrowly avoided a second straight loss to start conference play thanks to Jimmy Baron's late heroics. Baron hit a fadeaway jumper with three seconds left to put the Rams up one after Reggie Jackson missed a big free throw. Jackson led the Dukes with 19 points while the Rams got another huge game from Will Daniels. He tied a season-high with 28 points and added 11 rebounds. Kahiem Seawright also had a big game for URI. He scored nine points, grabbed 10 caroms and blocked four shots.

Day one of the Atlantic 10's conference season was a good one. So good, in fact, that they didn't even let the start of league play stop them from knocking off another ACC school. Charlotte went into Clemson and whipped the Tigers 82-72 to even their record against the conference to 2-2 on the season. While that's a good thing for the A-10 and the Niners, it's a bad thing for those of us who wrote that Charlotte's inconsistency has made them a little disappointing this season. At least we saved ourselves by pointing out Leemire Goldwire's skills. He had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the upset.

On the league front, there was a dandy of an opener in Dayton where the #22 Flyers played host to #20 Rhode Island in a thriller. The Rams cut a 13-point Dayton lead to four with 90 seconds to play but Marcus Johnson nailed a three on the next trip downcourt and the home team escaped 92-83. Brian Roberts was also huge down the stretch for Dayton. Despite the full attention of the Ram defense that forced him into seven turnovers, Roberts scored nine points in the final two and a half minutes to keep his team in front.

That defense was a key for Rhode Island all night. They forced 18 turnovers overall but it came with a downside.

When Dayton coach Brian Gregory is an old man sitting with his grandchildren one afternoon and they ask him about his career as a coach, yesterday's 80-55 win against Pittsburgh will likely come up. He'll tell them how Brian Roberts rained three pointers until the nation finally realized he was a damn fine guard. He'll use Marcus Johnson's 11 rebounds as a lesson that no matter how many inches you're giving up at 6'3", there's no substitute for passion and hard work on the glass. He'll try to pass along just how frenzied the home crowd was, how much they lifted the Flyers on a Saturday afternoon oh so many years ago.

He'll probably leave out the injury that left Pitt without Mike Cook. He certainly won't mention an iffy foul or two on DeJuan Blair which cost Pitt its most talented big man and Levance Fields' injury early in the second half probably won't find its way into the eager ears of the young Gregorys either. No matter. The story of yesterday was Dayton and their impending arrival in the Top 25.

Roberts has gone from unknown to well-known in the early part of this season and if he keeps up his play he'll be in All-America conversations when all is said and done. The Flyers have also entered the bigger picture. They've won 10 straight since stumbling against George Mason, rank seventh in RPI and have wins against Pitt and Louisville. The A-10 hasn't suffered for lack of compliments this season, yesterday's win is a boon for the whole conference which is looking more and more like a four-bid league.

Elsewhere on the mid major hardcourts:

Christmas week tournaments find teams in the strangest places. Rhode Island, for example, is celebrating their first Top 25 ranking in nearly a decade far from New England. They are in Corpus Christi for the Islander Classic and will meet Georgia Southern in the finals today after routing Eastern Michigan 92-75.

The Rams shot the lights out and even shot 19-of-21 from the line, a strong performance for sometimes charity stripe-challenged URI. Four Rams scored in double figures, led by Will Daniels and Jimmy Baron's 18 apiece. Daniels carved up the Eagles inside while Baron and his four threes took care of the perimeter. Baron also added three steals, the Rams had 13 overall, and it was an easy ride to 12-1 for the Rams.

Eastern has lost four of five games and looks like they'll be a bystander in the MAC-tion. They were hitting their threes early on and looked like they'd make a game of it, but fell to 9-of-25 from the floor in the second half. Today's URI opponent, Georgia Southern, has a 9-2 record but no win better than UAB on their record. Their best shot at an upset is if Louis Graham, their leading scorer, can outplay Daniels inside but even if he does, URI is deeper and should come back from Corpus Christi as champions.

Elsewhere on the mid major hardcourts: