The Colonials were able to survive the first three games of the season without their senior forward, but those games were against Kennesaw State, Norfolk State, and St. Francis (PA) - not exactly the caliber of teams in the Atlantic 10. George Washington won their first game without Pops in conference on Saturday when they beat Fordham. The only likely regular season test for the Colonials will be against Charlotte in the finale.

However, the Atlantic 10 tournament could have them matching up against teams like Temple and St. Joseph's. Temple had been getting some at-large buzz until a loss to Saint Louis last week, while St. Joe's is now a winner of four straight games and potentially five when they take on Duquesne in their last game of the season.

I would venture that we will see one potential bubble team see their hopes go down the drain because of a stolen bid in the Atlantic 10, a league that probably would only have sent George Washington to the tournament had Pops not been injured.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu is currently averaging 13.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He has 37 blocks on the season, 7th in the Atlantic 10 conference.