RICHMOND, Va. – St. Bonaventure won its first outright Atlantic 10 regular season title last weekend and will be the No. 1 seed for this week’s A-10 Men’s Basketball Championship. Now the Brown and White turn their eyes to winning their first A-10 Championship title since Andrew Nicholson’s 2012 Bonnies team.
 
Standing in the way are 13 other teams, including second-seeded VCU, which is in the hunt for ITS first championship crown since 2015. But true to A-10 form, it’s almost anyone trophy to grab.  Since 2010, the Atlantic 10 hasn’t had back-to-back champions, and only two schools have won multiple titles in that time frame – Saint Joseph’s (2014 and 2016) and Saint Louis (2013 and 2019). Davidson, Rhode Island and Richmond joined the Bonnies and VCU in lifting the trophy once during the past decade.
 
It’s also worth noting that in that 10-year time frame, every seed from one to six except two won a title. Being the four seed was the most advantageous, as the four seeds won for titles in the last decade. Three seeds were second with two titles. The ones, the fives and the six seeds each won one title.
 
A unique basketball season calls for a unique tournament, and the A-10 Championship delivers. With two hosts in the same city, the conference was able to divide its four second round games and four quarterfinal games across two venues, Richmond’s Robins Center and VCU’s Siegel Center. Add in an additional wrinkle that the University of Dayton Arena will host the championship final a week after the semifinals and you got two weeks of A-10 basketball brackets.
 
Speaking of unique – the Atlantic 10 will have a new fan interaction component this year. Each postgame press conference will be streamed live on the Atlantic 10 Facebook page, and fans will be able to ask questions during the postgame interview session. It’s as simple as submitting a question in the Facebook comments on the postgame live broadcast – the A-10 moderator will pick a couple of questions to ask the coaches and student-athletes. Remember to keep your questions respectful and related to the game!
 
Additionally, because most fans cannot watch in person (we can’t wait to have you back!), maintain the digital and television coverage was of paramount importance to the A-10. The league media partners (CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN) were involved in the A-10 plan to move the men’s championship a week earlier, thereby ensuring full coverage with the same schedule. ESPN+ will air Wednesday’s first-round games while NBCSN will carry the entire second round Thursday and all four quarterfinal matchups Friday. CBS Sports Network will air the semifinals Saturday at 6:00 and 9:00 pm. The championship final is set for 1:00 pm on CBS Sports as part of their annual Selection Sunday coverage.
 
La Salle and Saint Joseph’s (WATCH | LIVE STATS) tip us off Wednesday – a classic Philadelphia matchup that promises to be good based on the regular season meetings. George Washington and Fordham are game two on Wednesday (WATCH | LIVE STATS), and oddly enough, it’s a matchup that was played last year as well and was the final game played in the 2020 A-10 Championship that would be canceled outright the next morning – March 12, 2020.
 
The four top seeds, St. Bona, VCU, Davidson and Saint Louis got double-byes and will play their first game Friday. That means everyone else tips off their road to Indianapolis and the NCAA Tournament Thursday. Richmond plays Duquesne, Dayton clashes with Rhode Island while George Mason and Massachusetts will played the two first round winners. The full schedule and the bracket (for those that like to fill them out with their guesses) can be found on the championship central site.
 
For those who are coming to the championship or are wondering about what steps the A-10 has taken for safety, check out the A-10 Men’s Basketball Championship fan information page.

For the championship final at Dayton, a limited number of remaining upper arena (300 and 400 level) tickets will be made available for purchase to the general public on March 3 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be $40 each and can be purchased.online.

Customers purchasing tickets on ticketmaster.com will be required to buy the full pod of either two seats or four seats. They will not be able to buy one out of a two-seater or one, two, or three out of a four-seater.

For questions regarding championship final tickets, please contact the UD Arena Ticket Office by email at FlyerTickets@udayton.edu or by leaving a voicemail at (937) 229-4433.

Whether you’re coming in person or watching from home, a special thanks to all the A-10 fans out there for rolling with the changes to a crazy season. Hopefully we can all settle in and watch A-10 teams do what they do best – bring the madness to March!