2020–21 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season

2020–21 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season
2020–21 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Duration	November 25, 2020 – March 14, 2021
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	CBSSN, NBCSN, CBS
Regular season
Season champions	St. Bonaventure
Season MVP	Bones Hyland, VCU
Tournament
Champions	St. Bonaventure
Runners-up	VCU
Finals MVP	Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure
Atlantic 10 men's basketball seasons
	← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Atlantic 10 men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
St. Bonaventure†	11	–	4	.733	16	–	5	.762
VCU	10	–	4	.714	19	–	7	.731
Davidson	7	–	4	.636	13	–	9	.591
Saint Louis	6	–	4	.600	14	–	7	.667
UMass	6	–	4	.600	8	–	7	.533
George Mason	8	–	6	.571	13	–	9	.591
Dayton	9	–	7	.563	14	–	10	.583
Richmond	6	–	5	.545	14	–	9	.609
Duquesne	7	–	7	.500	9	–	9	.500
Rhode Island	7	–	10	.412	10	–	15	.400
George Washington	3	–	5	.375	5	–	12	.294
La Salle	6	–	11	.353	9	–	16	.360
Saint Joseph's	3	–	9	.250	5	–	15	.250
Fordham	2	–	11	.154	2	–	12	.143

† 2021 A10 Tournament winner

The 2020–21 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season is the 45th season of Atlantic 10 Conference basketball. The season began with practices in November 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in late November, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. League play will begin in early January and end in early March.

The 2021 Atlantic 10 tournament was originally scheduled to be held from March 10–14, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, but due to ongoing impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was moved to campus locations. The tournament was first scheduled to be played on the same dates but split between the Robins Center at the University of Richmond and the Siegel Center at VCU, but the schedule was later adjusted so that the first four rounds will be played from March 3 to March 6 at those arenas with the championship game to be held March 14 at UD Arena at the University of Dayton.^[1]

Dayton were the defending regular season champion. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no defending Atlantic 10 Tournament champion.

Preseason

Preseason poll

Prior to the season at the conference's annual media day, awards and a poll were chosen by a panel of the league's head coaches and select media members.^[2]

Rank	Team
1	Richmond (19)
2	Saint Louis (7)
3	Dayton (2)
4	St. Bonaventure
5	Duquesne
6	Rhode Island
7	Davidson
8	UMass
9	VCU
10	George Mason
11	George Washington
12	Saint Joseph's
13	La Salle
14	Fordham
(first place votes)

Preseason all-conference teams

Award	Recipients
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 First Team	Kellan Grady, Davidson
	Jalen Crutcher, Dayton
	Tre Mitchell, UMass
	Fatts Russell, Rhode Island
	Jacob Gilyard, Richmond
	Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Second Team	Marcus Weathers, Duquesne
	Blake Francis, Richmond
	Grant Golden, Richmond
	Kyle Lofton, St. Bonaventure
	Ryan Daly, Saint Joseph's
	Hasahn French, Saint Louis
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Third Team	Sincere Carry, Duquesne
	Javon Greene, George Mason
	AJ Wilson, George Mason
	Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure
	Javonte Perkins, Saint Louis
	Bones Hyland, VCU
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Defensive Team	AJ Wilson, George Mason
	Jacob Gilyard, Richmond
	Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure
	Hasahn French, Saint Louis
	Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Team	Tournament	Finish
Davidson	Maui Invitational^[a]	7th
Dayton	—	—
Duquesne	Wade Houseton Tipoff Classic
Fordham	—	—
George Mason	DC Paradise Jam^[b]	2nd
George Washington	Veterans Classic	2nd
La Salle	—	—
Massachusetts	—	—
Rhode Island	2K Empire Classic	4th
Rhode Island	Hall of Fame Tip-Off	1st
Richmond	Bluegrass Showcase	1st
Saint Joseph's	Fort Myers Tip Off	4th
Saint Louis	Billiken Classic	1st
St. Bonaventure	—	—
VCU	Crossover Classic	3rd

^ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maui Invitational Tournament was played at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina instead of the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii.
^ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Paradise Jam tournament was played at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. instead of the Sports and Fitness Center in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Source:^[3]

Rankings

**Legend**
		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
		First Place votes shown in ()

		Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16
Davidson	AP
Davidson	C
Dayton	AP
Dayton	C	RV	RV*
Duquesne	AP
Duquesne	C
Fordham	AP
Fordham	C
George Mason	AP
George Mason	C
George Washington	AP
George Washington	C
La Salle	AP
La Salle	C
UMass	AP
UMass	C
Rhode Island	AP
Rhode Island	C
Richmond	AP	RV	19	19	RV	RV	RV
Richmond	C	RV	RV*	19	25	23	RV		RV	RV
Saint Joseph's	AP
Saint Joseph's	C
Saint Louis	AP	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	23	24	25	22	RV	RV	RV
Saint Louis	C	RV	RV*	RV	RV	RV	RV	23	24	RV	24	RV	RV	RV
St. Bonaventure	AP										RV	RV			RV	RV	RV
St. Bonaventure	C										RV	RV			RV	RV	RV
VCU	AP												RV	RV		RV
VCU	C

*USA TODAY did not release a Coaches Poll for Week 2. AP does not release a final poll.

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 18 conference games: one game vs. eight opponents and two games against five opponents.

	DAV	DAY	DUQ	FOR	GMU	GWU	LAS	UMA	URI	RIC	STJ	STL	SBA	VCU
vs. Davidson	–	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–1
vs. Dayton	0–1	–	1–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	2–0
vs. Duquesne	1–0	1–1	–	0–2	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–0
vs. Fordham	1–0	0–1	2–0	–	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0
vs. George Mason	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	–	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–0	1–0	1–1
vs. George Washington	0–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	–	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0
vs. La Salle	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	–	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0
vs. UMass	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	–	0–2	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0
vs. Rhode Island	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	–	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1
vs. Richmond	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	–	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0
vs. Saint Joseph's	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	–	0–0	1–0	1–0
vs. Saint Louis	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	–	0–1	1–0
vs. St. Bonaventure	0–2	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	–	1–1
vs. VCU	1–0	0–2	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	–
Total	7–4	9–7	7–7	2–11	8–6	3–5	6–11	6–4	7–10	6–5	3–9	6–4	11–4	10–4

Records against other conferences

2020–21 records against non-conference foes as of February 19, 2021. Records shown for regular season only.

Power Conferences	Record
American	2–1
ACC	1–1
Big East	1–3
Big Ten	0–4
Big 12	0–4
Pac-12	0–1
SEC	6–2
Power Total	10–16

Other NCAA Division I Conferences	Record
America East	1–1
ASUN	0–0
Big Sky	0–0
Big South	1–1
Big West	0–0
CAA	6–5
C-USA	1–3
Horizon	1–0
Ivy	0–0
MAAC	0–1
MAC	1–0
MEAC	3–1
MVC	3–0
Mountain West	2–0
NEC	1–1
OVC	3–1
Patriot	0–2
Pacific West	0–0
SoCon	4–0
Southland	1–0
SWAC	1–0
Summit	1–0
Sun Belt	1–1
WAC	0–0
WCC	1–0
Other Division I Total	32–17
NCAA Division I Total	42–33

NCAA Division II Conferences	Record
CIAA	1–0
South Atlantic	1–0
NCAA Division II Total	2–0

NCAA Division III Conferences	Record
Coast to Coast	2–0
NCAA Division III Total	2–0

Overall	46–33

Conference awards

On March 10, 2021, the Atlantic 10 announced its conference awards.^[4]

Award	Recipients
Coach of the Year	Mark Schmidt, St. Bonaventure
Player of the Year	Bones Hyland, VCU
Defensive Player of the Year	Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure
Rookie of the Year	Tyler Kolek, George Mason
Chris Daniels Most Improved Player of the Year	Tyler Burton, Richmond
Sixth Man of the Year	Sherif Kenney, La Salle
First Team	Kellan Grady, Davidson Jalen Crutcher, Dayton Tre Mitchell, Massachusetts Kyle Lofton, St. Bonaventure Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis Bones Hyland, VCU
Second Team	Marcus Weathers, Duquesne Blake Francis, Richmond Jacob Gilyard, Richmond Jaren Holmes, St. Bonaventure Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure Javonte Perkins, Saint Louis
Third Team	Ibi Watson, Dayton Jordan Miller, George Mason Jamison Battle, George Washington Fatts Russell, Rhode Island Grant Golden, Richmond Vince Williams Jr., VCU
All-Academic Team	Jordy Tshimanga, Dayton Christian Ray, La Salle Tre Mitchell, Massachusetts Jaren Holmes, St. Bonaventure Gibson Jimerson, Saint Louis
All-Defensive Team	AJ Wilson, George Mason Jacob Gilyard, Richmond Osun Osunniyi, St. Bonaventure Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis Hason Ward, VCU
All-Rookie Team	Mustapha Amzil, Dayton Tyler Kolek, George Mason Jhamir Brickus, La Salle Jordan Hall, Saint Joseph's Adrian Baldwin Jr., VCU

Postseason

2021 A-10 Tournament

Semifinals Saturday, March 6 CBSSN			Championship Sunday, March 14 CBS

1	St. Bonaventure	71

4	Saint Louis	53
			1	St. Bonaventure	74

			2	VCU	65
2	VCU	64

3	Davidson	52

2021 NCAA Tournament

Two teams from the Atlantic 10 qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Tournament and regular-season champion St. Bonaventure qualified through the conference's automatic bid, while tournament and regular-season runner-up VCU qualified through an at-large bid.

Seed	Region	School	1st Round	2nd Round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
9	East	St. Bonaventure	eliminated by (8) LSU, 61–76
10	West	VCU	(7) Oregon advanced due to COVID-19 no-contest declaration

2021 NIT

Four teams from the Atlantic 10 earned at-large bids into the NIT.

Seed	School	First round	Quarterfinals
1	Saint Louis	eliminated by (4) Mississippi State, 68–74
2	Davidson	eliminated by (3) NC State, 61–75
2	Richmond	defeated (3) Toledo, 76–66	eliminated by (4) Mississippi State, 67–68
4	Dayton	eliminated by (1) Memphis, 60–71