2020–21 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season

The 2020–21 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season is the 45th season of Atlantic 10 Conference basketball. The season began with practices in November 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in late November, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. League play will begin in early January and end in early March.

2020–21 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
DurationNovember 25, 2020 – March 14, 2021
Number of teams14
TV partner(s)CBSSN, NBCSN, CBS
Regular season
Season championsSt. Bonaventure
Season MVPBones Hyland, VCU
Tournament
ChampionsSt. Bonaventure
  Runners-upVCU
Finals MVPOsun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure
Atlantic 10 men's basketball seasons
2020–21 Atlantic 10 men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
St. Bonaventure 11 4   .733 16 5   .762
VCU 10 4   .714 19 7   .731
Davidson 7 4   .636 13 9   .591
Saint Louis 6 4   .600 14 7   .667
UMass 6 4   .600 8 7   .533
George Mason 8 6   .571 13 9   .591
Dayton 9 7   .563 14 10   .583
Richmond 6 5   .545 14 9   .609
Duquesne 7 7   .500 9 9   .500
Rhode Island 7 10   .412 10 15   .400
George Washington 3 5   .375 5 12   .294
La Salle 6 11   .353 9 16   .360
Saint Joseph's 3 9   .250 5 15   .250
Fordham 2 11   .154 2 12   .143
2021 A10 Tournament winner

The 2021 Atlantic 10 tournament was originally scheduled to be held from March 10–14, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, but due to ongoing impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was moved to campus locations. The tournament was first scheduled to be played on the same dates but split between the Robins Center at the University of Richmond and the Siegel Center at VCU, but the schedule was later adjusted so that the first four rounds will be played from March 3 to March 6 at those arenas with the championship game to be held March 14 at UD Arena at the University of Dayton.[1]

Dayton were the defending regular season champion. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no defending Atlantic 10 Tournament champion.

Preseason

edit

Preseason poll

edit

Prior to the season at the conference's annual media day, awards and a poll were chosen by a panel of the league's head coaches and select media members.[2]

Rank Team
1 Richmond (19)
2 Saint Louis (7)
3 Dayton (2)
4 St. Bonaventure
5 Duquesne
6 Rhode Island
7 Davidson
8 UMass
9 VCU
10 George Mason
11 George Washington
12 Saint Joseph's
13 La Salle
14 Fordham
(first place votes)

Preseason all-conference teams

edit
Award Recipients
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 First Team Kellan Grady, Davidson
Jalen Crutcher, Dayton
Tre Mitchell, UMass
Fatts Russell, Rhode Island
Jacob Gilyard, Richmond
Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Second Team Marcus Weathers, Duquesne
Blake Francis, Richmond
Grant Golden, Richmond
Kyle Lofton, St. Bonaventure
Ryan Daly, Saint Joseph's
Hasahn French, Saint Louis
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Third Team Sincere Carry, Duquesne
Javon Greene, George Mason
AJ Wilson, George Mason
Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure
Javonte Perkins, Saint Louis
Bones Hyland, VCU
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Defensive Team AJ Wilson, George Mason
Jacob Gilyard, Richmond
Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure
Hasahn French, Saint Louis
Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis

Regular season

edit

Early season tournaments

edit
Team Tournament Finish
Davidson Maui Invitational[a] 7th
Dayton
Duquesne Wade Houseton Tipoff Classic
Fordham
George Mason DC Paradise Jam[b] 2nd
George Washington Veterans Classic 2nd
La Salle
Massachusetts
Rhode Island 2K Empire Classic 4th
Hall of Fame Tip-Off 1st
Richmond Bluegrass Showcase 1st
Saint Joseph's Fort Myers Tip Off 4th
Saint Louis Billiken Classic 1st
St. Bonaventure
VCU Crossover Classic 3rd

Rankings

edit
Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
    First Place votes shown in ()
  Pre Wk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Wk
13
Wk
14
Wk
15
Wk
16
Final
Davidson AP
C
Dayton AP
C RV RV*
Duquesne AP
C
Fordham AP
C
George Mason AP
C
George Washington AP
C
La Salle AP
C
UMass AP
C
Rhode Island AP
C
Richmond AP RV 19 19 RV RV RV
C RV RV* 19 25 23 RV RV RV
Saint Joseph's AP
C
Saint Louis AP RV RV RV RV RV RV 23 24 25 22 RV RV RV
C RV RV* RV RV RV RV 23 24 RV 24 RV RV RV
St. Bonaventure AP RV RV RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV
VCU AP RV RV RV
C

*USA TODAY did not release a Coaches Poll for Week 2. AP does not release a final poll.

Conference matrix

edit

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 18 conference games: one game vs. eight opponents and two games against five opponents.

  DAV DAY DUQ FOR GMU GWU LAS UMA URI RIC STJ STL SBA VCU
vs. Davidson 1–0 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 0–1 1–0 0–1 0–0 2–0 0–1
vs. Dayton 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–1 1–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 0–2 0–1 2–0
vs. Duquesne 1–0 1–1 0–2 0–0 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–2 1–0 0–1 0–0 2–0 0–0
vs. Fordham 1–0 0–1 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–0
vs. George Mason 0–0 2–0 0–0 0–1 0–1 0–2 0–1 1–0 1–0 0–2 0–0 1–0 1–1
vs. George Washington 0–0 1–0 1–1 0–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 1–0
vs. La Salle 1–0 0–1 0–1 1–1 2–0 0–0 2–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–0
vs. UMass 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–2 1–0 0–0 0–2 0–2 1–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Rhode Island 1–0 1–1 2–0 0–1 0–1 1–0 0–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–1
vs. Richmond 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–0 1–0 0–1 0–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–0
vs. Saint Joseph's 1–0 0–1 1–0 0–0 2–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 1–0
vs. Saint Louis 0–0 2–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 0–1 1–0
vs. St. Bonaventure 0–2 1–0 0–2 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 1–0 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–1
vs. VCU 1–0 0–2 0–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–1 1–1
Total 7–4 9–7 7–7 2–11 8–6 3–5 6–11 6–4 7–10 6–5 3–9 6–4 11–4 10–4

Records against other conferences

edit

2020–21 records against non-conference foes as of February 19, 2021. Records shown for regular season only.

Power Conferences Record
American 2–1
ACC 1–1
Big East 1–3
Big Ten 0–4
Big 12 0–4
Pac-12 0–1
SEC 6–2
Power Total 10–16
Other NCAA Division I Conferences Record
America East 1–1
ASUN 0–0
Big Sky 0–0
Big South 1–1
Big West 0–0
CAA 6–5
C-USA 1–3
Horizon 1–0
Ivy 0–0
MAAC 0–1
MAC 1–0
MEAC 3–1
MVC 3–0
Mountain West 2–0
NEC 1–1
OVC 3–1
Patriot 0–2
Pacific West 0–0
SoCon 4–0
Southland 1–0
SWAC 1–0
Summit 1–0
Sun Belt 1–1
WAC 0–0
WCC 1–0
Other Division I Total 32–17
NCAA Division I Total 42–33
NCAA Division II Conferences Record
CIAA 1–0
South Atlantic 1–0
NCAA Division II Total 2–0
NCAA Division III Conferences Record
Coast to Coast 2–0
NCAA Division III Total 2–0
Overall 46–33

Conference awards

edit

On March 10, 2021, the Atlantic 10 announced its conference awards.[4]

Award Recipients
Coach of the Year Mark Schmidt, St. Bonaventure
Player of the Year Bones Hyland, VCU
Defensive Player of the Year Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure
Rookie of the Year Tyler Kolek, George Mason
Chris Daniels Most Improved Player of the Year Tyler Burton, Richmond
Sixth Man of the Year Sherif Kenney, La Salle
First Team Kellan Grady, Davidson

Jalen Crutcher, Dayton

Tre Mitchell, Massachusetts

Kyle Lofton, St. Bonaventure

Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis

Bones Hyland, VCU

Second Team Marcus Weathers, Duquesne

Blake Francis, Richmond

Jacob Gilyard, Richmond

Jaren Holmes, St. Bonaventure

Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure

Javonte Perkins, Saint Louis

Third Team Ibi Watson, Dayton

Jordan Miller, George Mason

Jamison Battle, George Washington

Fatts Russell, Rhode Island

Grant Golden, Richmond

Vince Williams Jr., VCU

All-Academic Team Jordy Tshimanga, Dayton

Christian Ray, La Salle

Tre Mitchell, Massachusetts

Jaren Holmes, St. Bonaventure

Gibson Jimerson, Saint Louis

All-Defensive Team AJ Wilson, George Mason

Jacob Gilyard, Richmond

Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure

Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis

Hason Ward, VCU

All-Rookie Team Mustapha Amzil, Dayton

Tyler Kolek, George Mason

Jhamir Brickus, La Salle

Jordan Hall, Saint Joseph's

Adrian Baldwin Jr., VCU

Postseason

edit

2021 A-10 Tournament

edit
Semifinals
Saturday, March 6
CBSSN
Championship
Sunday, March 14
CBS
      
1 St. Bonaventure 71
4 Saint Louis 53
1 St. Bonaventure 74
2 VCU 65
2 VCU 64
3 Davidson 52

2021 NCAA Tournament

edit

Two teams from the Atlantic 10 qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Tournament and regular-season champion St. Bonaventure qualified through the conference's automatic bid, while tournament and regular-season runner-up VCU qualified through an at-large bid.

Seed Region School 1st Round 2nd Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship
9 East St. Bonaventure eliminated by (8) LSU, 61–76
10 West VCU (7) Oregon advanced due to COVID-19 no-contest declaration

2021 NIT

edit

Four teams from the Atlantic 10 earned at-large bids into the NIT.

Seed School First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship
1 Saint Louis eliminated by (4) Mississippi State, 68–74
2 Davidson eliminated by (3) NC State, 61–75
2 Richmond defeated (3) Toledo, 76–66 eliminated by (4) Mississippi State, 67–68
4 Dayton eliminated by (1) Memphis, 60–71

References

edit
  1. ^ "Atlantic 10 Adjusts Men's, Women's Basketball Championship Dates". Atlantic 10 Conference. Atlantic10.com. February 19, 2021. Archived from the original on February 18, 2021. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  2. ^ "Richmond Chosen to Win A-10 Men's Basketball; League Honors 23 Student-Athletes". Atlantic 10 Conference. Atlantic10.com. November 9, 2020. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  3. ^ "Atlantic 10 2019–20 Men's Basketball Composite Schedule" (PDF). atlantic10.com. Atlantic 10 Conference. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  4. ^ "Hyland Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, Schmidt, Osunniyi Earn Top Honors". Atlantic10.com. March 10, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.