Fordham coach’s warning ahead of games with St. John’s, Seton Hall: ‘The A-10 is stacked this year’

With the 2024-25 college basketball season set to tip off Monday, Fordham men’s basketball coach Keith Urgo has a message for teams facing the Rams and other Atlantic 10 programs this year.
“You’re going to have four or five [Atlantic 10] teams that are beating Power 5 teams in the non-conference,” Urgo told NJ Advance Media Sunday by phone. “The A-10 is stacked this year.”
Fordham, which was picked 14th in the 15-team A-10, will get two immediate chances to knock off Big East foes when it visits St. John’s on Monday night at Carnesecca Arena before facing Seton Hall in the cozy confines of Walsh Gym Saturday afternoon. Rick Pitino’s team was picked fifth in the Big East, while Shaheen Holloway’s Pirates were picked 10th.
Urgo said the St. John’s game was originally scheduled for Madison Square Garden, but “Richard [Pitino] is coming to town with New Mexico [Nov. 17] so we got bumped and coach [Rick Pitino] is awesome enough to continue to still play us.” He said the Seton Hall game was originally slated for Prudential Center, but got moved to Walsh after “something got screwed up” with the date.
“They’re great early tests for us and we like to prepare ourselves for the A-10, which I think right now is going to be as high-major as it gets,” Urgo said of scheduling two Big East opponents to kick off the season.
Urgo rattled off several other opportunities for A-10 schools to beat high-major programs in the non-conference. VCU, picked to win the A-10, meets Seton Hall Nov. 21 in the Charleston Classic. Dayton, picked second, faces preseason No. 9 North Carolina to open up at the Maui Invitational on Nov. 25: “Don’t be surprised if they win that,” Urgo said. St. Joe’s, chosen third in the A-10, faces fellow “Big 5″ member Villanova as well as Texas Tech in the non-conference.
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“In the last two years, the A-10′s had the second-most transfers in the country of any league,” Urgo said. “Transfers didn’t leave [the A-10] this year. Not only did they stay, we brought in a bunch.”
VCU returns a league-high 65 percent of its scoring from last season’s 24-14 team that tied for fourth with an 11-7 mark.
Dayton, led by Preseason All-Conference selections Nate Santos and Posh Alexander, finished 25-8 overall last year. The Flyers added Alexander, the former St. John’s and Butler guard, along with former Ohio State forward Zed Key.
St. Joe’s is led by Erik Reynolds II, a first-team preseason selection and second-team selection Xzayvier Brown. Urgo called them “arguably the best backcourt in the country,” which might come as news to the folks at North Carolina, Duke, Arkansas and elsewhere.
As for the Rams, Urgo brought in former Notre Dame forward Matt Zona and former UNLV guard Jackie Johnson III. Zona was a scholastic standout at Bergen Catholic, where he teamed up for two years with current Fordham sophomore guard Will Richardson.
“We have one of the oldest teams in America,” Urgo said. “I got two sixth-year guys, a fifth-year guy, two other seniors, three juniors that are all in their 20s.”
As for St. John’s, which beat Rutgers last month in a preseason charity exhibition behind a combined 49 points from Zuby Ejiofor (27 points, 13 reobunds) and RJ Luis (22 points), Urgo knows the Red Storm will present a stiff test.
“St. John’s, they’ve got a lot of depth, a lot of athleticism,” the coach said. “We gotta keep them off the offensive glass; they do a great job of pounding the offensive glass like they did against Rutgers and Towson in both their exhibition games. And obviously for us, it’s being physical and taking care of the basketball. We have to make sure that we don’t allow them to get out in transition and get any easy ones, letting the crowd get into it.”
When it comes to Seton Hall, Urgo said he won’t turn his attention to the new-look Pirates, which feature eight transfers and two freshmen, until later this week.
“Seton Hall, you just know they’re going to be incredibly tough, nasty, physical because of Shaheen, so they’re going to play us harder than anybody we play all year long, and that’s the way we kind of play as well,” Urgo said.
“Again, if we take care of the basketball and we’re physical on the glass, we’ll be able to compete pretty much against anyone we play.”
Fordham will have two early chances to knock off Big East foes, and Urgo says the A-10 as a whole will rip off some upsets in the next few weeks.
“A lot of the A-10 has a lot of opportunities to make some noise in the non-conference this year,” he said, “and I think you will see some of that.”
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.