The 2019-20 season was shaping up to be historic for the Atlantic 10. Dayton was primed to become just the second A-10 team to reach the Final Four, joining UMass in 1996, and possibly the first to win a national championship.
But due to the coronavirus shutdown, the Flyers will never know. Dayton now must replace national player of the year Obi Toppin. Anthony Grant’s team will be led by Jalen Crutcher, but the Flyers are not the preseason favorites to win the conference. Coming off a 24-win season, Richmond is the Atlantic 10 pick.
The Spiders were set to return all five starters but lost guard Nick Sherod (12.7 ppg) in the preseason with a torn ACL. Instead Richmond will be led by senior guard Jacob Gilyard. That is the theme of the A-10 this season: senior guards.
The top five players in the conference are senior guards. Rhode Island’s Fatts Russell finished third in the league in scoring and was second in the country in steals per game behind Gilyard. The Rams, however, lost a bunch of talent and likely will not challenge for the conference title.
Entering his fifth year at Saint Louis, Travis Ford might have his best team. Like Richmond, the Billikens return all five starters and their top eight scorers. If they can improve at the free-throw line, where they finished 350th of 350 teams last year, the Billikens have a good chance to win the conference.
St. Bonaventure returns all of its starters but, unlike Richmond and Saint Louis, is led by a pair of juniors. Likely the 2021-22 favorites, could the Bonnies make some noise a year early? Duquesne returns all five starters from a 21-win team and has a good chance to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1977.
The play: Richmond to win the A-10 championship. Richmond’s roster has four 1,000-point scorers, and the Spiders were top 50 in the nation in 2-point, 3-point and free-throw percentage. Richmond also led the conference in defensive efficiency.
Gilyard is the reigning Atlantic 10 defensive player of the year and led the nation with 3.19 steals per game. A veteran team with a deep bench, Richmond has all the makings of a squad that could reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.