Richmond and VCU will co-host the 2021 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championships in March, the conference announced Thursday.
The tournament will run from March 10-14 split between the Robins Center and Siegel Center, separated by just six miles. It was originally scheduled to be at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, but COVID-19 protocols and attendance limits prompted a move to a campus site for the first time since 2004.
Rather than running early round games in back to back sessions, having two facilities will allow time between contests to sanitize playing surfaces, bench areas and locker rooms. The early rounds will be divided between both venues, while the semifinals and championships will all be at the Robins Center.
Six institutions entered bids to host the tournament: Dayton, Duquesne, George Mason and Saint Louis also submitted proposals. VCU and Richmond initially presented separate bids but were willing to combine their efforts to work with the league.
The Commonwealth of Virginia currently allows 250 fans to attend indoor sporting events. That number could shift between now and mid-March. A-10 commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade said that allotment will primarily go to the families and invitees of teams and coaches if it stays at 250.
“All of our proposals were very comparable in terms of fan attendance,” McGlade said. “We decided based on accessibility and quality of facilities.”
Currently, all 14 teams will qualify for the championships. That could be adjusted if teams don’t meet the 12-game minimum threshold. There’s a 13-game minimum to play in the NCAA Tournament, and only one of the conference tournament games will count toward that benchmark. Saint Louis recently returned from a monthlong pause, and UMass paused for the second time Tuesday. Teams have played between nine and 15 games this season.
The plan remains to seed teams by winning percentage, though the league is considering alternatives should it be necessary. There is currently not an opt-out provision for the championships if a team chooses not to participate because it feels it has already secured an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament or other non-COVID related reasons. That would require a waiver.
EYES ON TRE MITCHELL – The Basketball Hall of Fame named UMass sophomore center a top-10 finalist for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award on Thursday. Mitchell leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 20 points per game and averages 7.4 rebounds per game. He’s broken 30 twice this season and scored a career-high 37 points at La Salle.
The list also includes players from Duke, Gonzaga, Texas and Villanova. Five finalists will be announced in late February.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.