The season starts tonight began Friday, and we’re going to be catching up on previews for all six city teams throughout the weekend into the early part middle of this week. Our first installment was about Villanova. Our second was about Drexel. Our third covered Saint Joe’s. Our fourth concerned Penn. Our fifth was about Temple. And our sixth and final installment, which appears below, covers Your La Salle Explorers. Enjoy.

There’s talk of big things this season at 20th and Olney, even (gasp!) hopes for an NCAA tournament berth, which is something last happened in 1992 — the city’s longest Big Dance drought. The Explorers return four seniors, including Rodney Green, who’s probably the best player in the city not named Scottie Reynolds. And all four of those seniors, it should be noted, averaged double figures for a team that went 18-13 a year ago. There’s also the not-so-insignificant addition of 6-10 freshman Aaric Murray, a top-notch recruit who figures to give the Explorers the post presence they’ve been missing for forever. That said, is all the hype justified? Is La Salle really going to be that good?

More after the jump.

We like Green. A lot. He’s got size (6-5, 212), he can shoot, he can put it on the floor, he can post-up a smaller defender. Green has also started almost every game since he arrived at 20th and Olney, and last season he averaged 17.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists. Having Yves Mekongo (he was Yves Mekongo Mbala last year) also helps; Mekongo, who averaged better than 10 points and six boards, had broken his hand in early February and missed the season’s final nine games. Green and Mekongo will be joined by fellow seniors Kimmani Barrett and Ruben Gillandeaux, all of whom, as Ray Parillo’s preview in The Inquirer makes clear, comprise coach John Giannini’s first significant recruiting class, about which Parillo writes:

The foursome combined to average 50.1 points and 18.5 rebounds a game as juniors last season. The Explorers will have no starter smaller than 6-5.

Throw in Jerrell Williams, a 6-8 junior whose production slipped last year because of an injury, plus the arrival of Murray, arguably the Explorers’ biggest recruit since Donnie Carr, and 6-8 redshirt freshman Devon White, and La Salle has itself something here.

But … And yes, there is a but.

These same players had ridden into the Atlantic 10 tournament with the momentum of a four-game winning streak, only to lose with a thud against Saint Louis in the first round. Yes, they played UConn tough, and they won at Temple and against Saint Joe’s, but they also blew a late lead against Florida State and let one get away against a very good Dayton team at home. All told, 10 of La Salle’s losses last season were by fewer than 10 points. Which pretty much tells you La Salle had trouble protecting the ball — and it’s already a trend that seems to be continuing into 2009-10. As we’re writing this, in fact, we can’t help but notice the Explorers have turned it over eight times [ESPNU.com] in the first seven or eight minutes of the second half against South Carolina. A two-point deficit at the half has just ballooned to 17. And there you have it.

OUR PREDICTION: La Salle will have another solid season, but we believe the talk of the NCAAs and/or an A-10 title is a bit of a stretch. It’s the turnovers, people.

Links: 2009-10 Villanova preview [BIG FIVE POST]
2009-10 Drexel preview [BIG FIVE POST]
2009-10 Saint Joe’s preview [BIG FIVE POST]
2009-10 Penn preview [BIG FIVE POST]
2009-10 Temple preview [BIG FIVE POST]
What led Aaric Murray to pick La Salle?, [BIG FIVE POST]
La Salle preview [The Inquirer]
Alas, La Salle still turns it over a ton [BIG FIVE POST]
La Salle-South Carolina play-by-play [ESPNU.com]