The Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament looks to be a four-team race on paper, as Dayton, VCU, Rhode Island and Richmond have been a cut above the rest of the field this year.
Anything can happen in March, however, so it wouldn't be a huge surprise if someone else emerges from the A-10 pack to steal the conference title.
Here's a look at the A-10 conference tournament schedule, bracket, championship odds and a quick preview.
Schedule
Date
Time (ET)
Game
Round
Matchup
Television
Wednesday, March 8
6 p.m.
1
First
No. 13 St. Joseph's vs. No. 12 UMass
ASN
Wednesday, March 8
8:30 p.m.
2
First
No. 14 Duquesne vs. No. 11 Saint Louis
ASN
Thursday, March 9
Noon
3
Second
No. 9 Davidson vs. No. 8 La Salle
NBCSN
Thursday, March 9
2:30 p.m.
4
Second
Game 1 winner vs. No. 5 St. Bonaventure
NBCSN
Thursday, March 9
6 p.m.
5
Second
No. 10 Fordham vs. No. 7 George Mason
NBCSN
Thursday, March 9
8:30 p.m.
6
Second
Game 2 winner vs. No. 6 George Washington
NBCSN
Friday, March 10
Noon
7
Quarterfinals
Game 3 winner vs. No. 1 Dayton
NBCSN
Friday, March 10
2:30 p.m.
8
Quarterfinals
Game 4 winner vs. No. 4 Rhode Island
NBCSN
Friday, March 10
6 p.m.
9
Quarterfinals
Game 5 winner vs. No. 2 VCU
NBCSN
Friday, March 10
8:30 p.m.
10
Quarterfinals
Game 6 winner vs. No. 3 Richmond
NBCSN
Saturday, March 11
1 p.m.
11
Semifinals
Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner
CBSSN
Saturday, March 11
3:30 p.m.
12
Semifinals
Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner
CBSSN
Sunday, March 12
12:30 p.m.
13
Final
Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner
CBSSN
Information from atlantic10.com. All games will be played at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Bracket
Odds
Team
Odds
Dayton
+200
VCU
+205
Rhode Island
+260
Richmond
+850
Davidson
+1500
St. Bonaventure
+1500
George Washington
+2000
George Mason
+3000
La Salle
+8000
UMass
+15000
Fordham
+15000
Saint Louis
+25000
Saint Joseph's
+30000
Duquesne
+50000
Odds via OddsShark.
Preview
Of the four teams leading the A-10 pack, Dayton and VCU are assured NCAA tournament bids, regardless of how they do in the A-10 tournament.
Rhode Island is on the outside looking in to the NCAA tournament field in Joe Lunardi's latest tournament projections, so URI will need a deep run (including a win over No. 1 Dayton in the semifinals) to stay alive. Richmond needs to win the A-10 tournament outright to make March Madness.
Rhode Island has a deep team this year with 10 players averaging at least 11 minutes per game. The Rams are led by four upperclassmen: junior guard E.C. Matthews (14.4 points per game), senior forward Hassan Martin (14 points, 7.1 boards per game), junior guard Jared Terrell (12.6 points per game) and senior forward Kuran Iverson (9.5 points and 7.6 boards per game).
URI is going to have to make a long A-10 run (the guess here is, at minimum, an appearance in the championship game) to keep its tournament hopes alive. Of course, URI can erase all doubt by winning the tournament outright.
Barring upsets in the field, however, it's going to be difficult for URI to beat its to-be-determined quarterfinal opponent, Dayton and VCU to accomplish that feat, though it's certainly not out of the question.
Dayton has a 24-6 win-loss record this year, and only one of those defeats was by over six points (a 67-55 defeat to UMass). The Flyers play hard every game and will be a very tough out for any team in the NCAA tournament this year.
Senior point guard Scoochie Smith, who played significant minutes during Dayton's run to the Elite Eight in 2014 when the Flyers were a No. 11 seed, earned A-10 First Team honors this year. His most notable performance this year occurred against Davidson when he scored 11 points in overtime to give the Flyers an 89-82 win over the Wildcats.
Like URI, VCU has a lot of depth this season, as 10 players have averaged at least 10 minutes per game.
They also have a lot of experience, as VCU's three best players—senior guard JeQuan Lewis, junior forward Justin Tillman and senior forward Mo Alie-Cox—are all upperclassmen. Their efforts this year did not go unnoticed by the A-10:
Finally, Richmond is led by two seniors—A-10 Player of the Year and forward T.J. Cline and guard ShawnDre' Jones—who average 18.6 points and 17 points a game, respectively.
The Spiders also have the A-10 Rookie of the year, De'Monte Buckingham, who posted 9.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and improved immensely as the season progressed. He averaged 4.9 points per game in his first nine contests before scoring in double digits in 14 of his next 21.
The prediction here is that the top four seeds hold serve and meet in the conference semifinals. Once there, Dayton will hold off URI, VCU will do the same with Richmond and Dayton will squeak by VCU in the conference finals.