The Atlantic 10 simply cannot compete with the ACC and other power conferences when it comes to placing multiple teams in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. No surprise there.
But the A-10, with three Virginia schools, is certainly good at parity – eight different programs have won the conference tournament championship since 2011, when Richmond prevailed.
The conference has not had back-to-back tourney champs since Temple, which is no longer in the league, in 2009-2010. Since then, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Saint Louis, Saint Joseph’s, Rhode Island, Davidson, VCU and Duquesne have won at least one tourney crown.
The last time Richmond went to the Big Dance was after winning the A-10 championship in Washington, D.C., in 2022. The most recent trip for VCU was last season following a win over George Mason in the conference finals, while the last time the Patriots made it to March Madness was in 2011 as an at-large team.
Mason and VCU, of course, made Cinderella Final Four runs – but while in the CAA. The A-10 had six teams in the NCAA field as recently as 2014, though that number fell to one in 2024 as Duquesne was the lone participant.
This looks to be another one-bid league in 2026. The folks at the conference office in D.C. certainly hope not. Four schools already had at least 10 wins through Dec. 21 – Mason, Saint Louis, Richmond, and the Bonnies.
One of the most painful losses for the conference came in early December when George Washington – located a 3-pointer away from Arlington – lost at home to Delaware. Earlier in the year, the Blue Hens lost to Division II Wilmington.
A former CAA member, Delaware was pegged to finish 11th of 12 schools (Liberty was picked for first) in Conference USA before the season. GW was picked for fourth in the Atlantic 10. So now the Revs need to win the conference tourney title to make March Madness.
Dayton, a perennial contender, has – surprisingly – not won the conference tourney since 2003 when it prevailed on its home floor. The Flyers won the regular-season title in 2016, 2017 and 2020, but could not close the deal in the Atlantic 10 tourney. Dayton has made seven NCAA appearances since 2004, and in 2024, in its first showing in seven years, knocked off No. 10 seed Nevada in the first round before losing to No. 2 seed Arizona.
The three Virginia schools begin conference play Dec. 31. Pittsburgh, with member school Duquesne, will host the conference tourney in March.
Here is a preview of the “second season” for the state schools, in alphabetical order, with overall record through games of Dec. 21 and preseason pick in the conference:
George Mason (11-1, sixth)
The Patriots, who won their first nine games, will face LaSalle on Dec. 31 to begin Atlantic 10 play. The Explorers were pegged to finish next to last in the conference.
Mason started the celebration of its 20th anniversary of the 2006 Final Four run a little early – former coach Jim Larranaga and others were in Fairfax for a home game on Dec. 13 in a win over ODU. The current head coach of the Patriots is Tony Skinn, a guard on that 2006 squad that beat UConn in the East Region finals in D.C. Skinn was one of five starters from Maryland on that 2006 squad.
“This is a great day for George Mason University and George Mason Basketball,” Skinn said on the school website after downing ODU. “It’s been a phenomenal last couple days and an even better day today celebrating my former teammates and the best coach George Mason has ever had. I thought these guys did their jobs and celebrated in the right way by getting a good win.”
George Mason has been paced in scoring by Kory Mincy, who averaged 17.7 points per contest in the first 12 games. That was the top mark among conference players. Isaiah Skinn, the son of the coach, is a freshman on the squad after playing at nearby Edison High in Fairfax County.
The Patriots play at Richmond Feb. 10.
Richmond (10-2, 10th)
The Spiders will host George Washington in the first conference game of the season.
Richmond lost 73-70 on Dec. 17 at Elon – picked to finish second-to-last in the one-bid CAA, which is based in Richmond. The Spiders had 20 turnovers in the game.
“I can’t ever remember having a number that high,” coach Chris Mooney of Richmond said on the school website. “So many of them were live ball turnovers. So many of them felt not super forced. I can’t remember any of them coming in a trap or a double team or anything like that. I don’t know what to make of it. It’s obviously something we haven’t had to really concentrate on here very often, but we’ll have to really concentrate on that to make sure that can’t happen. That’s just far too many.”
The Spiders top point man early on is A.J. Lopez, who averaged 11.4 points per contest in the first 12 games. He played at New Hampshire and Maine before coming to the West End. Freshman guard Aiden Argabright, from nearby John Marshall High, was averaging 10.6 points per outing as a key reserve.
Richmond plays at VCU on Jan. 27 and the teams meet Feb. 14 on the Spiders home floor.
VCU (8-4, first)
The Rams new coach is Phil Martelli Jr., who knows the league well – his father was the long-time coach of Saint Joseph’s.
“People know what VCU means,” he told reporters when he took the job in Richmond.
Shaka Smart, Will Wade, Ryan Odom and others have parlayed the VCU job to power conferences. Another coach to do so is Mike Rhoades, who has had a rough going at Penn State in his home state. His squad was 6-14 in conference play last season and lost its first two Big Ten outings this campaign.
VCU will begin conference play in downtown Richmond against Saint Bonaventure.
Terrence Hill Jr. averaged 13.2 points per contest in his first 12 outings this season to pace VCU.
Sophomore guard Brandon Jennings, from St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, had 10 points against American on Dec. 18 and was averaging 8.3 points per outing. The Rams won and went over 100 points for the third time this season.
The Rams play at George Mason on Jan. 10 and on March 3 VCU hosts the Patriots.
Notes
- Grant Golden, who grew up in Winchester, helped lead Richmond to the A-10 tourney title in 2022. His mother, Ellen, was a classmate at Harrisonburg High with Ralph Sampson, the former Virginia All-American and Hall of Famer. Golden played last season in Greece and this season has played in Spain. “I love it here (in Europe). I am very happy here,” he said in an interview in Greece earlier this year.
- The predicted order of finish in the Atlantic 10, from media day in October, was VCU, Saint Louis, Dayton, George Washington, Loyola Chicago, George Mason, Saint Joseph’s, St. Bonaventure, Duquesne, Richmond, Davidson, Rhode Island, La Salle, and Fordham. Loyola Chicago lost nine of its first 13 outings this season.
- Turner Ashby grad Raevin Washington, a freshman for Duquesne on the women’s side, started the first 12 games and averaged 5.9 points per outing. She started on Dec. 21 and had three points in an 84-69 win over crosstown rival Pitt. She is a relative of Sampson, a 1979 Harrisonburg High grad.
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David Driver
