Atlantic 10 Basketball: Rating league’s 2020-21 non-conference schedules
By Dave Ascoli
Iron Sharpens Iron: Dayton, Rhode Island, Richmond, Saint Joseph’s, VCU
One of these things is not like the other, so let’s talk about St. Joe’s first. The Hawks, projected to finish 12th in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, are going all in. SJU will open with a pair of Power 5 schools in Auburn and Kansas as part of the Rocket Mortgage Tip-Off. If that wasn’t enough, they’ll take on fellow Philly foes Villanova in their third game. Bradley, Temple, Drexel, and Mount Saint Mary’s round out their schedule, but make no mistake: Billy Lange is setting up to challenge his group right away.
As for the other four schools, they’re teams that are looking to compete for a top-four finish in the A-10. At least. Dayton, Rhode Island, Richmond, and VCU have had more schedule changes than we care to detail here, but they’ve come out of it with some impressive games.
The Flyers will do battle with SMU as well as a pair of SEC foes in Ole Miss and Mississippi State. They’ve balanced things out with a home contest versus IPFW to round out what they’re calling “Phase One” of their schedule. Is there room for another game in there somewhere?
Rhode Island will start the season in Mohegan Sun’s “Bubbleville” with games against Arizona State and either Villanova or Boston College. The Rams are also scheduled to face USF and USF (err, South Florida, and San Francisco) before leaving the casino. Seton Hall and Western Kentucky round out their non-conference slate comprised entirely of preseason KenPom Top 100 teams. There’s no break here for David Cox and his new-look URI Rams.
The Richmond Spiders have a similarly stacked schedule, at least in terms of the quantity of games. UR will play seven non-conference tilts, with Kentucky and West Virginia as the highlights. Vanderbilt, Northern Iowa, and Furman also figure to challenge the preseason conference favorites. Morehead State and Charleston are also mixed in to break up the gauntlet of tough teams for the Spiders.
Finally, VCU will open the season in South Dakota as part of the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic. Now there’s a tournament name. The Rams will open against Utah State and get three total games in a tourney that includes Memphis, West Virginia, and St. Mary’s.
VCU is also scheduled to battle Penn State and LSU amidst a boatload of non-conference games — 10 total as of this writing. That may change, but either way, the Rams will enter Atlantic 10 play battle-tested.