The NCAA has uncovered severe violations from the Atlantic 10 that have hurt the conference’s 2025 men’s basketball season, which have led the NCAA to strip the A10 of it’s automatic-bid to the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

According to the NCAA offices in Indianapolis, “The Atlantic 10 conference has been found guilty of multiple violations according to the NCAA bylaws. We are unfortunately forced to hand down a harsh punishment of stripping the conference of its 2025 automatic bid toward the 2025 NCAA Tournament.”

The Atlantic 10 office was shocked to hear of the punishment from the NCAA.

“We are deeply disappointed in the NCAA for this harsh punishment,” said A10 public affairs coordinator George Ham. “We as a conference pride ourselves on our integrity on how we handle our highly competitive men’s basketball season.”

The violations uncovered by the NCAA involve tampering with the 2024 conference tournament multiple times.

The NCAA took this drastic action in response to attempts by the A10 to influence the results of games. These attempts range from prematurely shooting their load of confetti in an attempt to bring bad vibes upon Duquesne, to paying an evil witch to cast an evil curse on Dayton ensuring they will never win an Atlantic 10 Tournament, and to what the suspension explanation simply referred to as “Siegel Center Refs.”

“Frankly, this level of playing favorites and trying to influence who wins games is only acceptable at the power conference level, where our TV and betting partners genuinely want brand names like Duke, Kansas, and NC State to have easy paths to victory so ratings are better,” said NCAA President Charlie Baker.

Baker continued: “What makes the Atlantic 10’s acts so abhorrent is that no one really cares whether Duquesne or VCU represents the conference in the Atlantic 10 outside of insane VCU fans and Duquesne fans who had never known happiness until this year. Because of this, we felt we had to come down extra hard on the conference and strip it of its automatic bid. This will ensure that a deserving 18-15 Big 10 team will make the tournament next year, as an added bonus.”

The most conspiratorial twitter account in the A10, @Flyerfan010621, tweeted “I knew it!” in response to the news.

Around the country, multiple power conference commissioners weighed in on the news, including SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “We applaud the NCAA on holding the Atlantic 10 accountable for their actions. We look forward to replacing an A10 conference tournament champ with a really good 13-17 Vanderbilt team next season.”

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti wasted no time commenting on the situation via a zoom call with A10 Talk. “We have been waiting for Commissioner Baker to do something about that damn league for a long time,” Petitti said while popping off a bottle of champagne. “It’s about time the NCAA started to bully the bullies like the A10 and reward the little guys like the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, and the Big 12.” Sankey was also seen on this zoom call with a glass of champagne in the background as well.

When asked if they were going to appeal the sanctions from the NCAA, the A10 responded with, “Whatever power you think the NCAA has….we have less.”

As a result, the A10 is mulling different solutions for its conference tournament champion for 2025. We have been told by the league office that solutions include the champion being given an auto bid into the NIT, CBI or CIT (with programs still having to pay their own way into those tournaments), or each player and coach on the winning team’s roster be given a $25 gift card to Ruby Tuesday.

A10 Associate to the Commissioner Bernie McBoyd spoke to the possible solutions, saying “We are talking to other tournaments to see if our tournament champion can join them if they don’t get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, so for right now, the front runner is definitely the Ruby Tuesday gift cards. We have a long standing relationship with Ruby Tuesday, where we conduct the conference schedules and count the paper ballots mailed in for the post season awards. Their establishments are well equipped to handle any team in the A10.”

Several A10 programs have responded differently to the news.

The A10 office has told us that, “Because of this news, UMass is actively working with the MAC to join in Winter 2024, ahead of their July 1st agreement. Dayton and VCU have both been contacted by the Big East, as the conference has expressed their sympathies and has reengaged in expansion talks with both A10 programs out of respect.”

Even some of the A10 coaches are handling the news differently. According to sources, after hearing this news Frank Martin flew directly to the NCAA offices in Indianapolis and waited in the parking lot preparing to bare knuckle box Charlie Baker.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we update you more with this story as we gain more information.

Photo credit:  Hunter Hensel, A10 Talk

https://www.a10talk.com/2024/04/breaking-ncaa-strips-the-a10-of-its-2025-automatic-bid-amid-multiple-violations/

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(Photo courtesy of Hunter Hensel)

BROOKLYN, NY – No. 9 seed Saint Joseph’s was able to pull off the upset of the tournament so far, erasing a 10-point second half deficit and beating No. 1 Richmond 66-61.

The Hawks are the lowest seed to advance to the semifinals since 2017, when No. 9 Davidson lost to eventual conference champion No. 4 Rhode Island. They’ll play No. 5 VCU in the semifinals at 1:00 pm on Saturday, where they’ll look to become the lowest seed to advance to the finals since No. 9 Dayton lost the championship to No. 3 Richmond in 2011 and could become the lowest seed to win the conference tournament since No. 10 Xavier in 2006.

Earlier in the season, Saint Joseph’s showed that when things are clicking, they’re not only able to play with the best in the A-10, but the best in the country.

They arguably had the best single-game performance of any A-10 team this season when the took then-No. 17 Kentucky to overtime at Rupp Arena. Later in non-conference play, Saint Joseph’s won the Big 5 Classic, beating then-No. 18 Villanova 78-65 on the road to begin the tournament and then taking down Temple 74-65 at the Wells Fargo Center in the title game. The Hawks also beat likely-Ivy League champ Princeton 74-70 at home.

Despite these impressive non-conference wins, there were also some very low moments. They lost 57-54 at home to Texas A&M Commerce, who is currently ranked 333 in the NET and lost in the second round of the Southland Tournament. During A-10 play, they lost to first-round participants Saint Louis and Rhode Island.

It’s clear that through their first two games of the A-10 Tournament, Saint Joseph’s is looking like the team that took Kentucky to the wire and beat Villanova.

Junior guard Erik Reynolds II is one of the biggest reasons why Saint Joseph’s was able to take down top seeded and co-regular season champion Richmond.

Reynolds had an excellent regular season, averaging 16.6 points per

Despite Reynolds dealing with a right elbow injury after hitting the court hard at the end of their second-round matchup against George Mason and his availability being “uncertain” until game time, he had one of the best games of his career.

“I took a pretty hard fall yesterday, but the resources we have, I’m extremely thankful and blessed,” said Reynolds. “They got me ready for the game, so pretty thankful for that.”

He had 30 points, three rebounds and two steals while shooting 11-19 from the field, 3-8 from three and a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. For long stretches during the game, the Hawks’ offense ran almost entirely through Reynolds.

“It felt great, all my confidence that I have making those kinds of plays comes from my teammates,” said Reynolds. “They believe in me and they believe in every shot that I take.”

Perhaps most impressively from Reynolds, he was able to play 38 minutes of elite-level basketball despite injuring his right elbow yesterday and picking up multiple other knocks during the game. At different points, he appeared to roll his ankle, get hit in the head and re-aggravate his elbow injury, yet he continued to fearlessly draw contact at the rim and play aggressively.

On the defensive end, head coach Billy Lange’s approach to defending graduate center Neal Quinn was the driving force behind them limiting Richmond to just 61 points, their lowest since they beat Loyola Chicago 58-56 on Jan. 9 and second-lowest all season.

Quinn, who made All-Conference second team, averaged 12.4 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists as the lynchpin of Richmond’s signature Princeton offense. Quinn often operates outside the paint as Richmond’s primary facilitator, whipping passes down low and hitting his teammates on backdoor cuts near the basket.

Even though Quinn isn’t often asked to put the ball in the basket and be the main source of scoring, that doesn’t mean he isn’t a capable shot-maker. Lange decided that he was comfortable giving Quinn more of an opportunity to score, instead focusing his defense on eliminating his passing lanes.

Quinn ended up scoring 21 points, two shy of his season high and three shy of his career high. He was also hyper-efficient from the field, converting 10-13 shots from the field and making a rare three pointer, only his fifth of the season. But, Richmond’s offense was noticeably off.

After the game, Lange was asked about his defensive strategy against Quinn.

“That dude is ridiculous. Let me tell you something, he’s like the A-10 version of [Nikola] Jokic,” said Lange. “You’re picking your poison.”

Lange continued, “They put so much pressure on you with their cutting. They’re an elite three-point shooting team that is very selective. They don’t take a lot of bad ones. And so you have to be willing to get on a bus and go home and know why you won and why you lost. So we were trying to do both best, but the main thing was the pass.”

Richmond excels at holding on to the ball and preventing turnovers. The Spiders only average 8.7 turnovers per game, and are second in the country (behind Princeton, funnily enough) in turnover percentage at 12.8%. This game was no exception, as they only gave the ball up eight times, just under their season average.

Even though Saint Joseph’s wasn’t able to force turnovers at a high rate, they were able to dominate the glass, out-rebounding Richmond 40-29 only surrendering up five offensive rebounds and five second-chance points.

Perhaps the most important way the Hawks have been able to succeed not just against Richmond, but also against George Mason in their second round matchup, has been their ability to execute in the final minutes with the game on the line.

Saint Joseph’s was within one possession of their opponent in the final 10 seconds in both of their A-10 Tournament games.

They’ve been able to convert in-bound plays, advance the ball and make free throws when they matter most.

“We’ve played in a lot of close games, and when you walk that fine line, you live and die sometimes with the decision,” said Lange. “And Erik [Reynolds] has been in a lot of close games, and Cam [Brown], since they’ve been here. A few years ago, Erik’s freshman year, we won 11 games. I think the month of February, maybe four or five of them in a row that we lost came down to the end. So they’re experienced in that setting.”

Lange continued, “Justin Scott, our associate head coach, his preparation in these special teams situation areas–we have a saying, it doesn’t matter until it matters. So it better matter before it matters. His film studies witht he guys, the way he’s just focused at the end of practice, the stuff that he does to get them prepared, he really deserves a lot of the credit, in addition to the guys.”

The high-level execution was exemplified in the final moments against Richmond. Up just three points with 12 seconds left, Lange ran a play made famous by Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang last March. Called “Mahomes” by Tang after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, while inbounding from the baseline, the inbounder acts as the “quarterback” and the four other players line up on the baseline as if it’s the line of scrimmage. When the whistle blows, they act as if they are wide receivers running routes to get open.

It worked, and with Richmond defenders swarming the ball, Lange and the Hawks on the floor elected to concede the jump ball instead of using his final timeout in that situation knowing that the possession arrow favored them.

Moments like that are what win you games.

Saint Joseph’s narrowly lost 69-73 on the road on Feb. 25 to their semifinal opponent, VCU. If they continue to play the way they did against Richmond, there’s no reason why the Hawks can’t pull off another upset and advance to the finals on Sunday.

https://www.a10talk.com/2024/03/how-no-9-seed-saint-josephs-was-able-to-stun-no-1-richmond/

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A10 Men’s Basketball Power Rankings –  March 11, 2024

First place votes (in parentheses)

1. Loyola Chicago (6)

2. Richmond (2)

3. Dayton (2)

4. Massachusetts

5. VCU

6. Duquesne

7. George Mason

8. Saint Joseph’s

9. St. Bonaventure

10. La Salle

11. Fordham

12. Rhode Island

13. Davidson

14. Saint Louis

15. George Washington

Voting Breakdown:

https://www.a10talk.com/2024/03/a10-mens-basketball-power-rankings-march-11-2024/

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