The task was daunting, asking a panel of people who have followed the Atlantic 10 Conference over the years to choose a silver anniversary team of five players -- two guards, two forwards and a center.

ESPN, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, will announce the Atlantic 10 team at halftime of the ESPN2 telecast of the Temple-Massachusetts game at 2 p.m. Saturday.

ESPN is putting together teams for several of the leagues it televises on a regular basis. Only players from schools currently in the league are eligible.

The two most obvious candidates to be on the team are Massachusetts center Marcus Camby (1994-96) and Temple guard Mark Macon (1988-91).

There have been just a handful of quality centers in a league that has been top-heavy with top-notch guards. Saint Joseph's Tony Costner and Duquesne's Derrick Alston are the only other centers worthy of consideration.

A case could be made for several guards to join Macon:

Saint Joseph's Jameer Nelson, a candidate for national player of the year, will become the school's all-time leader in points and assists this season. Bernard Blunt and Maurice Martin also are high-profile players from Hawk Hill.

Byron Larkin is Xavier's all-time scorer.

St. Bonaventure's Earl Belcher was conference player of the year twice in the early 1980s.

Massachusetts' Jim McCoy, a graduate of Central Catholic, is the school's all-time scorer.

Rhode Island's Cutino Mobley, Tyson Wheeler, Carlton Owens and Tom Garrick have impressive credentials.

Temple's Aaron McKie, Howie Evans, Pepe Sanchez and Nate Blackwell had solid careers.

The forwards feature Massachusetts' Lou Roe, a stalwart on four teams that won the conference's regular season and tournament; Xavier's David West, three-time Atlantic 10 player of the year; LaSalle's Lionel Simmons, the third all-time scorer in NCAA Division I history with 3,217 points and 1989-90 national player of the year. Simmons played at La Salle when the Explorers were members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Other forwards with outstanding resumes are Temple's Eddie Jones and Tim Perry and Xavier's James Posey. Rhode Island's Lamar Odom certainly would be high on the list had he played more than just one season before exiting for the NBA.

Perfecto, Part I

Saint Joseph's junior guard Delonte West couldn't miss in an 81-73 victory at Xavier. He set a league record by making all 12 shots from the field, including three from 3-point range.

He also was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line as scored a career-high 33 points. His 12-of-12 performance bettered the previous best of 11 of 11 by Rhode Island's Kenny Green against George Washington in 1988.

Perfecto Part II

Saint Joseph's, off to the best start in school history at 15-0 and second-best in league history behind Massachusetts' 26-0 in 1995-96, was one of only four unbeaten Division I teams entering games last night. The others were Stanford (14-0) and Cincinnati (13-0).

Shooting star

Temple's 6-4 David Hawkins averages 23.2 points and leads the NCAA in scoring 38.3 percent of his team's points. St. Bonaventure's Marques Green, the league's top scorer with a 23.9 average, is at 31.4 percent. Hawkins has scored 20 or more points in eight consecutive games and a league-high 11 times.

The 700 Club

Temple's John Chaney, who turns 72 tomorrow, has a 698-277 record (.718) in his 32nd season, needs two more wins to become the 16th coach in Division I to reach the 700 plateau. Other active coaches in that group are New Mexico State's Lou Henson, Texas Tech's Bob Knight, Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton and Arizona's Lute Olson.

By the numbers

Dayton senior center Sean Finn is the school's all-time leader with 125 blocked shots. ... Saint Joseph's Jameer Nelson is the school's second all-time scorer with 1,747, trailing only Bernard Blunt's 1,985 in 1991-95. ... Dayton hasn't allowed an opponent to shoot 50 percent from the field. ... Richmond has used 10 different starting lineups in 17 games, with Mike Skrocki the only player to start each game. ... The Atlantic 10 West is 9-4 against the East. ... St. Bonaventure's Green leads the NCAA with 4.07 steals per game.

Injury update

Fordham sophomore guard John Blackgrove, who had started the first 10 games and was averaging 14.2 points, will miss the rest of the season with a back injury that occurred against Western Kentucky Dec. 30. He scored a career-high 30 points against Western Kentucky.

Quote of the week

Chaney, on what he perceives as a bias among the national television announcers: "You can't get Dick Vitale to say 15 words without Duke coming out of his mouth."