VCU vs St. Bonaventure: 2021 A10 Championship game preview, TV schedule

TV Schedule: Sunday, March 14, 1:00 pm ET. CBS

Arena: UD Arena in Dayton, OH

Odds: St. Bonaventure -2 (-136 ML)

The two top seeds of the A10 face off this Sunday afternoon in what should be one of the best games of the week. The VCU Rams and St. Bonaventure Bonnies are closely contested teams that are the only two in the conference projected to make the NCAA tournament.

VCU went 19-6 and 10-4 in the A10 splitting their two games with the Bonnies who went 15-4 with an 11-4 record in the conference which won them the A10 regular season. The 3rd A10 title in St. Bonaventure’s history, they’ll be looking for their 4th on Sunday.

1/20 – Bonnies 70 Rams 54

Bonnies down 15 at the half then won the second half 45-14. 10 minutes of domination. St. Bonaventure’s Dominick Welch led the game scoring 19 points.

2/12 – Rams 67 Bonnies 64

If you could sum up this game with two players it would be Jalen Adaway vs. Bones Hyland. 23 points vs 22, each with eight boards. The Bonnies couldn’t hit a 3 at the end to tie so Bones and the Rams pulled out a one-score win at home.

Neither team really had any trouble in their previous two tournament games besides VCU getting a little bit of a run for their money from Dayton in the first round. Every A10 tournament game went to the higher seed besides two in the early rounds (9 seed Duquesne and 13 seed Saint Joes).

Look out in this game for A10 Player of the Year Nah’Shon Hyland, the VCU sophomore point guard from Delaware who goes by the name ‘Bones’. This year he’s nearly averaging 20 points a game and 45% from the field. Leading the way for the Bonnies is the junior guard duo of Jaren Holmes and Kyle Lofton, each averaging around 14 points a game and 43% from the field.

Both teams are projected in the dance right now as 10 seeds. We could see one of these teams improve their seed by winning but I don’t think the loser will drop. I could be wrong but I can’t imagine the A10 runner-up getting snubbed this year because both of these teams are so even strength and it should show in this final being the biggest game of the year for each team.

This is the first matchup between the two schools in the A10 tournament championship. St. Bonaventure won their A10 tournament in 2012 and VCU did so in 2015. Each with one, this game will decide who gets their second this year.

I think someones winning on a buzzer-beater in this one. It’s tough to pick a winner here. I was leaning towards the Bonnies since they may be better as a whole. However, if VCU gets the ball last and it’s in Bones Hylands hands…

Prediction: VCU 68, St. Bonaventure 67