The last time an Atlantic 10 men’s basketball team began a season 15-0 was 1996, when John Calipari’s Massachusetts Minutemen began the season 26-0 en route to a 35-2 overall record and a berth in the NCAA Final Four.

This season, however, it’s the St. Joseph’s Hawks who have “Refused to Lose.”

Behind the stellar play of point guard Jameer Nelson and backcourt mate Delonte West, the Hawks are off to a perfect start despite playing the sixth-toughest schedule in the nation, according to the Jan. 12 RPI report.

Prior to this year, the best start for any St. Joe’s team was 11 straight wins, which the 1914-15 squad ripped off to begin its campaign.

The Hawks have now also climbed to No. 6 in the latest Associated Press poll, the highest ranked team to ever call Hawk Hill home since the 1965-66 squad ascended as high as No. 5 in the national polls. They have also been ranked for nine consecutive weeks, the longest stretch of its kind for St. Joe’s since the ’65-66 squad was ranked all 16 weeks of its season.

It is also the highest ranking for an A-10 school since Temple was rated No. 5 in the final 1999-00 poll.

Flying High

While St. Joe’s has garnered the majority of the attention from the national media regarding the A-10, last season’s conference tournament champion Dayton has put together the makings of a very successful season under coach Brian Gregory.

The Flyers, who began the season by winning the EA Sports Maui Invitational, are perfect in A-10 play at 4-0, and lead the conference’s West Division.

At 14-3 overall, UD is receiving votes for the Top 25 in both national polls, but was hurt by a pair of losses to Conference USA schools Cincinnati and Saint Louis, including an 82-53 dismantling at the hands of the Bearcats, as well as a difficult two – point defeat at the hands of Wyoming.

Double the fun

Richmond’s Mike Skrocki is enjoying a career year – at least to start.

With his 17 – point performance against Temple on January 17, the senior forward and All-A-10 performer has scored in double figures in 17 consecutive games, bettering his own personal mark of 15 straight set during his sophomore season of 2001-02.

First-year phenom

Massachusetts sophomore forward Rashaun Freeman, who sat out his freshman year as an academic non-qualifier, is an early odds-on favorite to be the first Minuteman to garner A-10 Rookie of the Year honors since teammate Anthony Anderson did so in 2001-02.

A four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week, Freeman is the only first year player in the conference to lead his team in both scoring (15.1) and rebounding (8.1).