ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -Looking for a college tournament with some surprises?
Catch the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament this weekend. Nothing is guaranteed, especially for the league’s top-seeded team.
The last time the conference’s No. 1 overall seed won the event and earned the league’s automatic NCAA tournament berth was 2002, when Xavier took the title.
In fact, the last time the top seed reached the finals was Saint Joseph’s in 2005, when the Hawks dropped a 76-67 decision to George Washington.
Don’t feel sorry for No. 17 Temple (26-5), the two-time defending tournament champion. The top-seeded Owls will be hearing their names called on Sunday when the 65-team field for the NCAA tournament is announced.
Also expect No. 24 Xavier (23-7), the league’s co-champion and No. 2 seed, and third-seeded Richmond (24-7) to get bids to the national tournament.
There are a couple of other A-10 teams that can get a bid if they can string together a couple of wins between Friday and Sunday’s title game.
d seventh-seeded Dayton (20-11) can put themselves back in the mix with at least two wins.
Temple will play St. Bonaventure (15-15) in the first of four quarterfinals at Boardwalk Hall on Friday. Rick Majerus’ fourth-seeded Saint Louis (20-10) will face Rhode Island in the second game. Xavier and Dayton will renew their Ohio rivalry at 6:30 p.m. and Richmond will play 11th seeded Massachusetts (12-19) in the 9 p.m. finale.
“I think the league is a very competitive one, and this year it’s even more competitive from top to bottom,” Xavier coach Chris Mack said Thursday after a workout. “Over the last few years there hasn’t been a great divide from the champion to the second, third or fourth place teams.
“Again those teams are fighting for their lives to get in (the NCAA tournament), and when you play three games in three days anything can happen,” Mack said.
Temple comes into the tournament having won seven straight and nine of 10, including a 73-55 win over St. Bonaventure on Feb. 17.
“It was a one-point game with 17 minutes left,” said St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt, whose team has has won five of six, including a 92-80 first-round win over Duquesne on Tuesday.
The Owls, however, picked up their defense and did anything they wanted off the dribble to put the game away.
“We know we’ve got our work cut out for us, but that’s why they play the game,” Schmidt said.
ier, which has gone to the NCAA tournament the past four years, isn’t getting a gimme against Dayton. The teams split games this season, with the Flyers crushing the Musketeers 90-65 in the last one on Feb. 6.
Mack looked up at the conference banner hanging from the rafters at Boardwalk Hall when asked about the importance of this year’s tournament. It listed George Washington and Temple (twice) as the tournament champions in the three years the event has been held at this ocean casino resort.
“It doesn’t say Xavier on it,” Mack said. “That’s who the Atlantic 10 recognizes as its champions. We have a couple of guys who haven’t won an Atlantic 10 championship and that’s what we are aiming to do.”
Dayton advanced to the second round with a 70-60 win over George Washington on Tuesday.
Richmond set a school record for wins this season behind the play of guard Kevin Anderson (17.8 points), the conference’s player of the year.
There is an interesting angle to its matchup with Massachusetts, which knocked off sixth-seeded Charlotte on Tuesday.
In their earlier meeting, the Spiders had to go to overtime to beat the Minutemen, 70-63 on Jan. 23. Darrius Garrett set a school and conference record in that game blocking 14 shots.
While seeded higher than Rhode Island and Dayton, Saint Louis has a longer way to go to make the NCAA tournament because its strength of schedule and quality wins are lacking.
The Billikens defeated Rhode Island 62-57 on Feb. 17, rallying from a double-digit deficit. They also have a win over Richmond.
“We’ve got 20 wins,” Saint Louis guard Kwamain Mitchell said Thursday. “Right now a lot of people say we’re not a tournament team, but as a team and a coaching staff we think we can be in there.”
Add A Comment