It’s that time of year again folks…Champ Week.
The Atlantic 10 Tournament gets underway on Wednesday from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The first round, now infamously known as the “pillow fight round”, will kick things off in the afternoon with Richmond vs Davidson and basically go nonstop until a champion is crowned on Sunday afternoon.
Now, we know you don’t have time to read crazy long posts about every team in our beloved Atlantic 10 Conference. Our wonderful contributors here at A10 Talk are here to give you the nitty-gritty, basic “get-to-know-you” stuff about every team. Enjoy!
A special thank you to all of our contributors as well as our guest writers for taking the time to write about their school. You can find Lil Bona X over on Blue Sky and rip him a new one about how long the St. Bonaventure preview is.
#12 Davidson Wildcats
Davidson enters the A-10 Tournament as the No. 12 seed at 16-15 (6-12), looking to reset after a tough finish to the regular season. The Wildcats lost six of their last seven and went 0-5 in games decided by five points or fewer, struggling to close out games—a common characteristic of their young, scrappy roster. They’ll open against Richmond, a team they’ve beaten twice, with a potential path through No. 5 Saint Louis and No. 4 Loyola Chicago.
Reed Bailey has been the Wildcats’ do-it-all leader, topping the team in points (18.9 PPG), rebounds (6.3 RPG), and assists (3.8 APG) while shifting to center after Sean Logan’s early-season injury. Davidson’s identity has been defined by effort, but inconsistency has plagued them—slow starts, blown leads, and uncharacteristically poor shooting have held them back. Still, their ball movement remains elite, leading the A-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio, and when they’ve put it all together, they’ve looked like a team that can hang with anyone, nearly knocking off Dayton and Saint Louis. Now, with a clean slate in D.C., they’ll try to find that level again and extend their season. – Matthew Versichelli, A10Talk
#3 Dayton Flyers
The Flyers come into the A10 tournament as the hottest team in the conference with a 4 game win streak, including a road win at the top seeded VCU Rams. Dayton is led by Nate Santos and Enoch Cheeks being the primary scorers on offense. However, the Flyers can get good contributions from any of their other guards Mali Smith, Javon Bennett, and Post Alexander. At center, Dayton will deploy freshman big man Amael L’eTang from France and graduate transfer Zed Key. Dayton will look to stay at a steady slow pace and work an offensive set designed to get efficient shots at the rim. They can and will try to shoot many threes from the arc, where they shoot 35.7% on the season. Their defense is a different story, as they tend to give up a lot of points in transition and, at times, from three. The Flyers had a nice non-conference season with wins over UConn, Marquette, and Northwestern, but faltered in conference play. They are now on the outside of the bubble looking in and hoping for some help to get into the NCAA Tournament. Dayton has not won the A10 Tournament since 2003, and they will more than likely have to break the drought in order to get into the tournament this year. – Parlay P, A10Talk
#9 Duquesne Dukes
The Dukes come into the tournament as the 9 seed and are ready to defend their title from last season’s tournament. They will open the tournament on Thursday against the 8-seeded Bonnies, who went 1-1 against them this season, both teams winning in their home arenas. First year Duquesne coach Dru Joyce got off to a rough start, but pulled off a great turnaround as the season went on and were able to beat some good teams, notably George Mason and Loyola-Chicago. Duquesne is led by senior Tre Dinkins, who has scored in double figures in his last 16 games. Cam Crawford is their three point specialist, shooting 44.2% from three on the season. Overall, Duquesne will guard you tough and try to force a lot of turnovers where they are 38th in the country at doing so. They are also efficient in guarding you from the 2 point range. Teams can attack them through their three point defense that is bottom in the country at defending. St. Bonaventure and Duquesne are a big rivalry in the A10, and anything goes in a rivalry game. The winner gets VCU, who the Dukes played tough against a few weeks ago. – Parlay P, A10 Talk
#15 Fordham Rams
With an 86-67 loss at Rhode Island on Saturday, the Fordham Rams finished their 2024-25 Regular Season 3-15 in Atlantic 10 play, 11-20 overall. This is the second year in a row in which the Rams have finished the season with at least 20 losses. Throughout this season, Fordham’s struggles have hinged on a lack of the defensive identity that they have prided themselves on over the past four years. This defensive regression has been especially disheartening considering this year’s team boasts one of the best offenses we’ve seen at Fordham in over 20 years. The recipe for success for Fordham starts with their starting guard tandem of Jackie Johnson III and Japhet Medor. Johnson, a transfer from UNLV who also spent time at Duquesne, finished second in scoring in the A10 at 19.1 points per game. He’s been Fordham’s first option to spark runs and hit clutch shots, but significant growth from Japhet Medor (9.8 PPG last season to 13.7 PPG this season) brings a lot of balance to the backcourt. Down the roster, the Rams are bolstered by elite finishing from F Josh Rivera (10.7 PPG), smooth footwork from G Jahmere Tripp (8.2 PPG), and quality big man bench minutes from Matt Zona (3.4 RPG). – Sam Basel, A10Talk
#2 George Mason Patriots
The Patriots clinched the 2 seed and the share of the regular season championship for the first time since joining the conference. The Green & Gold are battle tested and won several close games to close out the regular season with their famous “Patriot Pressure”. Veterans like Jared Billups and Darius will look to step up offensively and beat the rust vs rest argument while they wait for their opponent. Star big man Jaylen Haynes will be making his A-10 tournament debut and to be one of the defensive anchors for the Patriots. Haynes has been averaging near a double the entire season for the Green & Gold and hopes to continue that in DC. Head Coach Tony Skinn and this gritty Patriots team look to use the home court advantage and recreate the 2006 magic on the same floor he booked his trip to the Final Four. There may be some pressure on this team this week but then again pressure makes diamonds. -Isaac Agyekum-Harris, A10 Talk
#7 George Washington Revolutionaries
To the surprise of many, the George Washington Revolutionaries finished conference play with a 9-9 record, good for the No. 7 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Based on the way the bracket shakes out, this gives them as advantageous a path as possible to really make some noise at Capital One Arena, just a few Metro stops away from the friendly confines of the Charles E. Smith Center.
Up first for GW is a matchup on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. ET against the winner between No. 10 Rhode Island and No. 15 Fordham. If they can advance to the quarterfinals, GW will face No. 2 George Mason for the third time this season on Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET.
In order for GW to get their first conference tournament win of the Chris Caputo era, they will need to rely on their biggest strengths: their defense and junior center Rafael Castro. GW held opponents to the third-fewest points in the A-10 and, led by redshirt freshman Christian Jones and his 1.7 steals per game, showed an ability to smother opposing guards. In conference play, Castro, who will likely earn a spot on the All-Conference First Team, averaged 16.4 points and 9.6 rebounds while shooting 66.5% from the field. If Castro is able to dominate on both ends of the floor like he has all season and GW gets a bit of perimeter shooting from sophomore guard Trey Autry and graduate guard Gerald Drumgoole Jr., this GW team has a realistic path to winning multiple games. –David Korn, A10 Talk
#14 La Salle Explorers
Don’t let the seed number fool you! The La Salle Explorers come into the tournament more motivated than ever after beating their crosstown rival in Saint Joseph’s last Saturday to end the season, especially for their legendary coach Fran Dunphy, who will be retiring from coaching at the season’s end. The Explorers are led by their outstanding freshman Deuce Jones, who just wrapped up an A10 Rookie of the Year award on Tuesday. Another name to watch for is Daeshon Shepard, who can jump out of the gym and bring the energy to this La Salle team. La Salle is a team who is not going to turn the ball over too much and they do a pretty good job of not allowing their opponents to shoot a ton of free throws. Their guards can get after you at the perimeter, which is why most teams will want to attack them in the paint, hence why they were able to beat the three-point heavy Hawks last weekend. La Salle has already lost both of their games this year to UMass, who is their first round opponent, but if the Explorers can pull off the upset here, it will be another date with Saint Joseph’s for the FOURTH time this season. Also of note, the Explorers are the only 11-15 seed to make it to the quarter finals, which they did back in 2023. – Parlay Pyle, A10 Talk
#4 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers
Loyola-Chicago turned an otherwise sloppy end of non-con and beginning of A10 play into a second straight top-4 finish in the league. On offense, the Ramblers saw Jayden Dawson have a monster, all-league caliber season in his third year. Des Watson has also lived up to his first-team status with an excellent January and February. The real weapon of mass destruction could be Sheldon Edwards Jr. The fifth-year set the all-team season record for 3PM and is not afraid to pull up from where he pleases. Allowing 69 points per game would be a feat in any other league but this one. Drew Valentine’s schemes have once again proven to be hard to score on – especially when Miles Rubin’s on the floor. Defensive ace Kymany Houinsou will also be a name on the matchup sheets for teams. Loyola fell in 2OT to St Bonaventure in last year’s tournament despite holding a sizable lead for portions of the game. Fouls and turnovers have seemed to consistently plague the team – even in blowout wins. Mistake-free basketball will need to be the key for the Ramblers to get it done in DC. The Ramblers have also depended heavily on starters throughout the season and will likely go 8 men deep for the tournament. That has been problematic in some stretches throughout the season for them and could be their downfall if games become a war of attrition. Sister Jean will also need every fist bump for good karma to be on the side of Drew Valentine and his squad going into the conference tournament. – William Bazzone, A10Talk
#11 Massachusetts Minutemen
The season did not end as the Massachusetts Minutemen had hoped. UMass displayed strong bursts of energy throughout conference play, securing significant wins when it mattered most. However, the Minutemen also faced a notable losing streak that began on February 12th and ended when they defeated Rhode Island on March 1st. Injuries and health issues contributed to that losing streak, but the return of a player like Jaylen Curry, who had been sidelined with a wrist injury for a while, definitely impacted UMass’s performance. With Curry back, the Minutemen’s playing style is expected to improve since there isn’t a true point guard besides him. With Daniel Rivera’s return timeline due to his knee injury still uncertain, players like Daniel Hankins-Sanford, Luka Damanjac, Amadou Doumbia, and Shahid Muhummad will need to rise to the occasion if Rivera remains unavailable. Having players like Curry and Rahsool Diggins, who can score in various ways, is advantageous for UMass. The Minutemen must play defense for the full 40 minutes, find ways to score if three-pointers are not going down, and force turnovers on the opponent to have a chance of making a run in their final Atlantic 10 tournament before MACtion. – Kaily Godek, A10Talk
#10 Rhode Island Rams
The Rhode Island Rams have had an up and down, roller coaster of a regular season in 2024-25. Rhody began 11-1 through its non-conference schedule with victories over Yale, Providence and Charleston. The team then began Atlantic 10 play 3-3, defeating Davdson and George Mason on Sebastian Thomas game winners. Then the Rams went 4-8 to end the season, with four straight losses before defeating Fordham on the final day of the regular season. The Rams can score with any team in the conference, as they lead the A-10 in points per game with 78.3. Powered by Thomas, who averages 17.5 points and over six assists per contest, URI can prove to be a scare and a threat to make a run in March. They also could fall flat in Washington as the team has a defense that allowed 74.7 points per game in the regular season, a bottom four mark in the conference. The Rams offense has its struggles too, they are prone to turnovers and lapses in scoring. URI has a turnover margin of -1.53, second worst in the conference, forcing 11.6 per game compared to the 13.1 they give up. For Rhody it’ll come down to scoring consistently and playing strong defense if they want to advance past Fordham in round one on Wednesday. – Zachary Petrick, A10Talk
#13 Richmond Spiders
One year after winning a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title, the Richmond Spiders enter the conference tournament this year with just 10 total wins and the #13 seed, facing Davidson and the high-scoring Reed Bailey in the tournament’s first round. The Spiders have stumbled down the stretch and have lost their last four games – although Richmond took #3 Dayton to two overtimes and kept its season-ender against George Mason to within four points. With the loss of Delonnie Hunt to injury, Dusan Neskovic is the only player averaging double figures – the Spiders will need him to lead the charge in D.C. If Richmond will make any noise in the tournament, it will be due to its big men, Mike Walz and Jonathan Beagle. Both are 6-10 or taller and play great minutes and have the potential to shut down offenses down low. Walz is also shooting nearly 50% from deep, leading the team’s 3-point attack.
#8 St. Bonaventure Bonnies
The Bonnies had the most disappointing A10 season for a team that technically outperformed its preseason rankings. At 14-1 and a few days removed from a thrilling win over eventual #1 VCU on New Year’s Eve, the Bonnies became a legitimate at-large contender and even received some AP votes. That all quickly changed and the season unraveled after yet another game they choked against La Salle.
After the historic start, the Bonnies ended the regular season 7-9. While the Brown and White arrive at Capital One Arena winning four of their last five, none of those wins were close to as impressive as their victories over VCU, Dayton, or even the narrow Thanksgiving night loss to Utah State, probably the best Mountain West team.
The Bonnies begin and end with the performance of Melvin Council Jr. The Wagner transfer has been a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing conference season, leading Bona’s in points (14.5), assists (4.2) and steals (2.1) per game. Council is actually tied with Rhody’s Sebastian Thomas for the conference lead in steals. Beyond Council, the offense runs through Noel Jones, a familiar face to A10 fans, especially those in Foggy Bottom. The GW transfer has scored 10 or more points in six of the last seven games.
LaJae Jones is a top sharpshooter but don’t count on him to shoot as many threes as he should. The days of Jaylen Adams, Matt Mobley, and even Dom Welch are long gone. Mark Schmidt’s archaic offense no longer allows three-point shooters to thrive. He needs to update to the latest iOS in the offseason because Bonaventure is trending toward becoming the basketball version of the Army/Navy triple option football offense.
Chance Moore will clean the glass for SBU but his inconsistent mid- and long-range shooting keeps his offensive ceiling low for a player of his caliber. Jonah Hinton was thrown into the starting lineup in early December because of the world’s longest “day-to-day” injury to Dasonte Bowen. Hinton can definitely heat up from three but is usually a liability on both ends when his shot isn’t falling. Brown’s backup Xander Wedlow appears to be out for the rest of the season, and while Noah Bolanga and Duane Thompson have shown some glimmers off the bench, remember that Mark Schmidt is stuck in his ways with his infamous short rotation, so they likely won’t have much of an impact in DC.
The Bonnies appeared destined for a one-and-done at A10s after the inexplicably pathetic blown lead at Rhody exactly one month before the A10 second round. Hell, it’s close to a miracle that they avoided the pillow fight. After the last five games, St. Bonaventure appears to have a 50-50 chance of beating Duquesne in this season’s rivalry rubber match, but VCU fans should feel comfortable if they’re seeing SBU for the Friday brunch game in the quarterfinals. Maybe Woj will work his offseason magic to get the Bonnies back to being legitimate title-winning threats in 2026. – Lil Bona X, SBUnfurled and Friends
#6 Saint Joseph’s Hawks
The Saint Joseph’s Hawks have had to overcome a string of bad losses early in conference play that cost the team a double bye for this tournament. However, SJU made the best of the situation, recovering from January’s poor play to end on a ten game win streak. Of course, minus the La Salle loss at the historic final game for Coach Fran Dunphy. Funny enough, historic is the word I would use to describe this season. Saint Joe’s is a school that prides itself on its rich history, and this year was just another addition to said history thanks to the unique talent in Rasheer Fleming and Erik Reynolds II. Reynolds, who fought through scoring slumps, broke Jameer Nelson’s scoring record and continues to push it higher every game. Fleming is an NBA prospect, the defensive linchpin has scouts following him wherever he goes. And I don’t even have room to write about X. Brown, who is the icing on the cake of the Hawk’s core three. As a team, Saint Joe’s is strong on both ends. They are fourth in both offensive and defensive rating in the conference. They average the highest number of blocks per game, and are toward the bottom in Personal Fouls. While the bench is slightly shallow, leaving limited rotations for Billy Lange to pick from, the team is still well balanced on both ends. Winning will come down to execution and consistency. The Hawks have always been a boom or bust team, the question is can their generational talent lead the way in scoring, and add more history to an already historic season? – Anthony Morelli, Hawk Talk Podcast
#5 Saint Louis Billikens
SLU has the talent and star power to make a run in the A10 Tournament, but do they have the legs for it? Due to a spate of injuries, the Billikens have been playing with either a 5 or 6 man rotation practically the entire season. However, Robbie Avila is still one of the best centers in college basketball, leading all centers in the country in made three pointers and assists. Gibson Jimerson is playing the best basketball of his long career right now, and Isaiah Swope has proven to be one of the most clutch players in the A10, hitting big shot after big shot for SLU. SLU is tough to beat when its big three are on, but 4 games in 4 days will be a Herculean task for a team down so many players. – Jack Godar, A10Talk
#1 VCU Rams
The VCU Rams enter the Atlantic 10 Tournament with the #1 seed and a favorable
bracket draw, with potential contenders George Mason, Dayton and St. Joseph’s on the
other side of the bracket. The Rams ended the season with a 25-6 record, and just
missed an undefeated home schedule and a program record for regular-season wins
after a loss to Dayton on senior night snapped a nine-game win streak. For VCU, an at-
large bid to the NCAA Tournament remains on the table as long as the Rams avoid
disaster early in D.C. Senior guard Max Shulga leads the offense with 15.5 points per
game on 44.6% shooting and is among the best all-around players in the conference,
with Joe Bamisile, Phillip Russell and Zeb Jackson joining Shulga with double-digit
points. Freshman Luke Bambogye has become a prolific shot blocker and earned a
starting lineup spot, with 65 blocks on the season, trailing only Miles Rubin and Justice
Ajogbor for the A-10 lead. VCU beats its opponents by large margins, by 15.2 points on
average, so look for the Rams to attempt to take control early and build a sizeable lead
with a high-powered offense. – Jason Boleman, A10Talk
