NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — St. Bonaventure has been unanimously selected as the Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball favorites in the league's annual preseason poll. The conference announced the poll and preseason all-conference awards Wednesday in conjunction with its annual Media Days, conducted virtually on ESPN+. The awards and poll were chosen by a panel of the league's head coaches and select media members.
 
The Bonnies return all five starters from a team that won both the Atlantic 10 regular season and championship in 2020-21. Ranked 23^rd in the AP Preseason Poll, St. Bonaventure earned 392 poll points and is the first team to be unanimously selected as the preseason favorite since VCU in 2014. Led by Preseason All-Conference selections Kyle Lofton, Osun Osunniyi, and Jaren Holmes, the Bonnies finished 16-5 overall last year and 11-4 in the A-10.
 
Richmond also returns five starters and was picked second in the 2021-22 preseason poll. The Spiders totaled 359 points. Preseason All-Conference selections Jacob Gilyard, Grant Golden and Tyler Burton lead UR, which finished 6-5 in league play and 14-9 overall in 2020-21.
 
Saint Louis, which was 14-7 overall and 6-4 in league play last season, was picked third in the poll with 325 points. The Billikens' Javonte Perkins is a Preseason First Team All-Conference selection while Yuri Collins is a Third Team Preseason honoree. The 2021 championship runners-up, VCU returns Preseason All-Conference selection Vince Williams and Preseason All-Defensive honoree Hason Ward, and recorded 288 points to place fourth in the poll. The Rams were 10-4 in league play and 19-7 overall last season, earning an NCAA at-large bid.
 
Led by Preseason All-Conference Third Team selections Mustapha Amzil and Toumani Camara, Dayton garnered 274 poll points to rank fifth. Davidson's Hyunjung Lee, a Preseason First Team pick, headlines the Wildcats who are sixth in the poll with 260 points. Rhode Island was chosen seventh in the poll with 231 points, followed by George Mason in eighth with 158 points. Massachusetts, (147 points), Saint Joseph's (144 points) and Duquesne (129 points) placed ninth, 10^th and 11^th respectively. La Salle, George Washington and Fordham rounded out the poll in order.
 
Lee, Gilyard, Golden, Lofton, Osunniyi and Perkins made up the Preseason All-Conference First Team. George Washington's James Bishop, and Saint Joseph's Taylor Funk and Jordan Hall join Burton Holmes and on the Preseason Second Team All-Conference.
                                                                       
Amzil, Camara, and Collins were all named to the Preseason All-Conference Third Team along with Davidson's Luka Brajkovic, Masons's Josh Oduro and Rhody's Jeremy Sheppard. Camara is the first transfer to earn a spot on a Preseason All-Conference Team in over a decade. Gilyard, Osunniyi, Collins, Ward and Rhode Island's Makhel Mitchell were all chosen for the Preseason All-Defensive Team.
 
The 2021-22 men's basketball season tips off on Tuesday, Nov. 9 while Conference play begins on Thursday, Dec. 30. The season will culminate with the Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship, which will be played at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. The league's premier event will begin Wed., March 9, and the league will crown its 2022 champion on March 13, Selection Sunday.