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Atlantic 10 Basketball: Rating league’s 2020-21 non-conference schedules

By Dave Ascoli

FAIRFAX, VA - MARCH 04: The Atlantic-10 logo on the floor during a college basketball game between the Saint Louis Billikens and the George Mason Patriots at the Eagle Bank Arena on March 4, 2020 in Fairfax, Virginia. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
FAIRFAX, VA - MARCH 04: The Atlantic-10 logo on the floor during a college basketball game between the Saint Louis Billikens and the George Mason Patriots at the Eagle Bank Arena on March 4, 2020 in Fairfax, Virginia. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Atlantic 10 Basketball
Atlantic 10 Basketball (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

With an abbreviated season, Atlantic 10 squads will need to do as much resume building as they can in the non-conference slate.

In a normal world, this post would have been up a month ago. But in the COVID-19 landscape of the 2020-21 college basketball season, non-conference schedules have taken a while to finalize. Hell, they’re still changing as of this week. So with the qualifier that things may still change even after this writing, let’s take a crack at ranking the non-conference slates across the Atlantic 10.

The A-10 figures to be an intriguing conference this season. With teams like Richmond, Saint Louis, and Dayton, they have three potential NCAA Tournament teams before the season even kicks off. But those squads, as well as a handful of other hopefuls, need some marquee wins to impress the selection committee. Do they have opportunities on their schedule? Who’s running the gauntlet this year and who’s running scared? Let’s break it down.

Incomplete: George Washington, UMass

First, let’s look at a pair of teams that don’t fit into any category just yet: George Washington and UMass. The Colonials have one highlight to the non-conference slate in South Carolina. And, bonus, it’ll be a home game for the GW. They’ll also play at Navy to open the season, but those are the only two games on their non-conference schedule at this point.

There’s certainly room to add to this, and it remains to be seen if they will. And if they another tough opponent or two, they’d certainly fall into the top tier of our rankings. For now, though, one tough game (and two games total) isn’t enough to move George Washington from this category.

As for the Minutemen, they’re currently paused due to COVID-19 and their entire non-conference schedule looks to be up in the air at this point. The only game they have scheduled on their official site is a December 13th tilt at Northeastern, but with the Huskies pausing all basketball activities until December 18th, that game looks to be in jeopardy. Let’s see what Matt McCall and company come up with.

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