Atlantic 10 Basketball: Bonnies on top heading into conference tournament
1. St. Bonaventure Bonnies
- 2020-21 record: 13-4 overall, 11-4 A-10
- Previous ranking: 3rd
Like VCU, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies are a giant that suffered a regular season-ending setback. But it is hard to ignore the situation that the Bonnies are in, considering that the squad just won its first outright Atlantic 10 regular-season championship in program history.
When the last rankings were released, St. Bonaventure was coming off a narrow three-point loss on the road to VCU and had just dropped a game to Saint Louis a week prior. Since then, however, the Bonnies impressively swept Davidson in back-to-back tilts just three days apart before carving George Washington up by 47 points. After clinching the regular-season title, the Bonnies wrapped up the year with a home setback to Dayton.
The catalyst for St. Bonaventure’s three-game romp was Jaren Holmes, who averaged 17.7 points and 7.0 boards in the wins over Davidson and GW. Holmes was held scoreless against Dayton, however, but Jalen Adaway stepped up substantially to give the Bonnies a chance, pouring in 17 points (4-8 2PT, 3-7 3PT) for his third-straight double-digit game.
The Bonnies are currently sitting in the best possible situation for any A-10 team vying for an at-large bid. St. Bonaventure leads all A-10 teams in the NET rankings at 32nd – five spots ahead of VCU, as of March 2nd – and own two wins over Quad 1 foes and another two wins over Quad 2 teams. That does not necessarily mean that the Bonnies are a shoo-in for an at-large bid, however – the loss to Dayton hurts, and the Bonnies cannot afford an early loss in the A-10 tourney.
Obviously, the easiest way to feel comfortable about NCAA Tournament aspirations is to win the conference tourney – and for the Bonnies, that begins with getting past the winner of Richmond/Duquesne on Friday. Both teams are squads that St. Bonaventure struggled mightily with during the regular season – and, awaiting the Bonnies afterward might be another date with a Saint Louis squad that rolled over them by double-digits just last month.
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It is difficult to point at the Atlantic 10 and confidently say, “this team stands above the rest,” considering every team has proven that they can beat one another – whether it’d be a team at the bottom of the league or the regular-season champions. However, it is clear that St. Bonaventure and VCU – with Saint Louis right behind – lead the conference ahead of the tournament.
There is no telling what may happen come tournament time, however – and this could ultimately be one of the most chaotic conference tournaments this season.