There existed any number of prospects and possibilities.
The Atlantic 10 bandied about bubble-type formats and playing back-to-back games at the same site, the latter of which has been implemented by a handful of lower-tier leagues. It considered “punching up” the schedule to 20-22 games as a way to offset the struggles of filling a non-league slate.
“We easily had 10-12 combinations for schedules,” A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade said in a Zoom call as part of the conference’s Media Day activities on Wednesday.
In the end, however, it chose to stick with the typical 18 games and release a schedule that, more or less, falls in line with those before it. But that, of course, comes with a couple of major caveats to factor in potential interruption from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The A-10 will start the conference campaign in late December, about a week earlier than normal. It has given teams two bye weeks (up from one in previous years) between Jan. 13 and Feb. 24 and has left open the weekend of March 5-7, which would traditionally serve as the season finale. In doing so, it’s provided a couple of built-in windows for make-up dates or games otherwise affected by the coronavirus.
That should make for an especially challenging schedule for St. Bonaventure, in both degree of difficulty — it’s set to face three of the projected top five teams (including No. 1 Richmond and No. 2 Saint Louis) twice this winter — and the need to be flexible amid so much continued uncertainty.
THE NEED to be fluid is exemplified by the status of its conference opener.
At the moment, Bona is scheduled to host Saint Louis, though the date and time is still “to be announced” due to the fact both programs are still finalizing non-league slates and may need a day or two before shifting to A-10 play.
It’s also reflected in the fact that 15 of its 18 games still have yet-to-be determined tip times.
Pending on how things unfold, Bona and the A-10’s 13 other teams could be asked to pivot at any given time.
The league has the right, based on a vote by the conference’s athletic directors, to readjust the schedule at any time or to move games. This could potentially make the number of home and away contests for each team unbalanced, McGlade noted.
Then, too, the A-10 could decide to add more conference games if teams continue to have trouble filling (up to) a nine-game non-league slate or if their already-existing contests deteriorate as a result of the pandemic. To that end, it’s set aside two “look-in windows,” on Nov. 18 and Dec. 4, during which it will determine whether games should, and can, be added.
Beyond such precariousness, however, Bona should have an exciting two-plus months of A-10 hoops.
IN ADDITION to the Spiders and Billikens, a pair of fringe Top 25 teams, the Bonnies will play home-and-home with a Duquesne group that returns most of its key contributors from last year and was picked to finish just behind Bona, at No. 5 in the preseason poll.
It also has two games against a pair of cellar-dwellers from last season in Saint Joseph’s and Fordham.
And though it will get defending champion Dayton, minus National Player of the Year Obi Toppin, and VCU at home, it will still face a mostly treacherous road portion, with visits to Saint Louis, Richmond, Rhode Island, Davidson and Duquesne.
Bona should get an early idea of where it stands in the league title hunt, opening with Saint Louis at home and back-to-back road games at Rhode Island and Richmond. That’s part of a brutal month of January in which it will finish with home contests against Duquesne and the Spiders and consecutive road games at Saint Louis and Davidson.
But that’s how it goes for what’s expected to be a top-tier team in a loaded Atlantic 10 this winter.
“It’s a great league,” coach Mark Schmidt emphasized in a Media Day Zoom call on Wednesday. “We can compete with any league in this country. We have really good players, really good coaches, it’s competitive.
“As a coach, you look at the schedule, there’s no easy games. No games you chalk out and say, ‘hey, that’s a win.’ There’s none of that. The hope is that we can get 3 or 4 teams in the NCAA Tournament. We know it’s a unique year, it’s going to be different, but our league doesn’t have to take a back seat to any league in the country.”
As part of the A-10’s ever-expanding TV footprint, Bona will get nine nationally televised games, including a pair of ESPN contests against Saint Louis (away) and Dayton (home). All A-10 games not televised by a national partner will be broadcast live on ESPN+, an important note given Bona’s announcement Wednesday that will start (and likely finish) the season without fans inside the Reilly Center.
Additional regional and local television coverage will be announced at a later date.
2020-21 ST. BONAVENTURE
ATLANTIC 10 SCHEDULE
December
TBD, vs. Saint Louis
Wed., 30, at Rhode Island
January
Sat., 2, at Richmond, CBS Sports
Wed., 6, vs. Saint Joseph’s
Sat., 9, vs. George Washington, noon, NBC Sports
Wed., 13, at Fordham
Sat., 16, vs. Duquesne
Wed., 20, vs. Richmond, CBS Sports
Sat., 23, at Saint Louis, ESPN
Sat., 30, at Davidson, CBS Sports
February
Wed., 3, at Saint Joseph’s
Sat., 6, vs. George Mason
Sun., 14, at Massachusetts, 2 p.m., NBC Sports
Wed., 17, vs. VCU, CBS Sports
Sun., 21, at George Washington, 2:30 p.m., NBC Sports
Wed., 24, vs. La Salle
Sun., 28, vs. Dayton, ESPN
March
Wed., 3, at Duquesne
