Davidson proving doubters wrong as it moves into first place in A-10

Davidson coach Bob McKillop is giving Dayton's Archie Miller a run for his money when it comes to the best coaching job of the season in the A-10.

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The award is likely to go to Miller, who had to overcome losing his two best big men, but McKillop deserves some consideration with the remarkable job he has done guiding the Wildcats to within one win of at least a share of the A-10 regular season title in their first season in the conference.

Davidson dominated VCU, the team expected to win the conference back in the preseason, on Thursday with hot shooting and strong guard play handling VCU's havoc in a 82-55 win.

The Wildcats are once again looking like that mid-major team no one is going to want to see in the postseason.

Davidson earned its eighth consecutive win and is positioning itself for an NCAA tournament bid in a season in which it was widely predicted to finish at or near the bottom of the conference. The Wildcats close the regular season on Saturday at Duquesne. A win in that game combined with a Dayton loss at La Salle would give McKillop and his team and outright regular-season championship. The Wildcats will earn the No. 1 seed in next week's confernece tournament if they win their finale because they hold the tiebreaker over Dayton. .

Davidson is one of the best offensive teams in the nation and it showed in its ability to handle VCU's high pressure defense. The Wildcats lost at VCU 71-65 in early January but avenged that defeat by making 11 3-pointers on Tuesday and shooting 50 percent in the game. The Wildcats had 20 assists on 29 made field goals.

Five players scored in double figures for the Wildcats, led by guard Tyler Kalinoski who finished with 22. Kalinoski combined with backcourt mates Brian Sullivan and Jack Gibbs to make nine 3-pointers and score 48 points.

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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo