2018–19 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season

2018–19 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season
2018–19 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	CBSSN, NBCSN, CBS
Regular season
Season champions	VCU
Season MVP	Jón Axel Guðmundsson, Davidson
Tournament
Champions	Saint Louis
Runners-up	St. Bonaventure
Finals MVP	Tramaine Isabell (Saint Louis)
Atlantic 10 men's basketball seasons
	← 2017–18 2019–20 →

2018–19 Atlantic 10 men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
VCU	16	–	2	.889	25	–	8	.758
Davidson	14	–	4	.778	24	–	10	.706
Dayton	13	–	5	.722	21	–	12	.636
St. Bonaventure	12	–	6	.667	18	–	16	.529
George Mason	11	–	7	.611	18	–	15	.545
Saint Louis †	10	–	8	.556	23	–	13	.639
Duquesne	10	–	8	.556	19	–	13	.594
Rhode Island	9	–	9	.500	18	–	15	.545
La Salle	8	–	10	.444	10	–	21	.323
Saint Joseph's	6	–	12	.333	14	–	19	.424
Richmond	6	–	12	.333	13	–	20	.394
George Washington	4	–	14	.222	9	–	24	.273
Massachusetts	4	–	14	.222	11	–	21	.344
Fordham	3	–	15	.167	12	–	20	.375

† 2019 Atlantic 10 tournament winner

The 2018–19 Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball season was the 43rd season of Atlantic 10 Conference basketball. The season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. League play began in late December and ended in March.

The 2019 Atlantic 10 tournament was held from March 13–17, 2019 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Rhode Island was the defending regular season champion, while Davidson was the defending Tournament champions.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On March 22, 2018, Rhode Island announced that head coach Dan Hurley had accepted the head coaching job at Connecticut.^[1]^[2] On April 4, assistant coach David Cox was promoted to head coach.^[3]

On March 23, 2018, La Salle head coach John Giannini and the school mutually agreed to part ways after 14 seasons.^[4] Giannini left with a 212–226 record at La Salle. On April 8, the school hired Villanova assistant Ashley Howard as head coach.^[5]

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Seasons at school	Overall record	A-10 record	A-10 Championships	NCAA Tournaments
Davidson	Bob McKillop	Long Island Lutheran High School	29	554–330 (.627)	45–27 (.625)	1	9
Dayton	Anthony Grant	Oklahoma City Thunder (asst.)	1	14–17 (.452)	8–10 (.444)	0	0
Duquesne	Keith Dambrot	Akron	1	16–16 (.500)	7–11 (.389)	0	3
Fordham	Jeff Neubauer	Eastern Kentucky	3	39–55 (.415)	19–33 (.365)	0	0
George Mason	Dave Paulsen	Bucknell	3	47–52 (.475)	23–30 (.434)	0	0
George Washington	Maurice Joseph	George Washington (asst.)	2	35–33 (.515)	17–19 (.472)	0	0
La Salle	Ashley Howard	Villanova (asst.)	1	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0	0
UMass	Matt McCall	Chattanooga	1	13–20 (.394)	5–13 (.278)	0	1
Rhode Island	David Cox	Rhode Island (asst.)	1	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0	0
Richmond	Chris Mooney	Air Force	13	237–195 (.549)	118–97 (.549)	0	2
Saint Joseph's	Phil Martelli	Saint Joseph's (asst.)	23	430–309 (.582)	212–164 (.564)	6	7
Saint Louis	Travis Ford	Oklahoma State	2	29–37 (.439)	15–21 (.417)	0	0
St. Bonaventure	Mark Schmidt	Robert Morris	11	192–152 (.558)	95–89 (.516)	1	2
VCU	Mike Rhoades	Rice	1	18–15 (.545)	9–9 (.500)	0	0

Notes:

All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
Overall and A-10 records are from time at current school through the end of the 2017–18 season.

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 18 conference games: one game vs. eight opponents and two games against five opponents.

	Davidson	Dayton	Duquesne	Fordham	GM	GW	La Salle	UMass	Rhode Island	Richmond	St. Joseph's	Saint Louis	St. Bonaventure	VCU
vs. Davidson	–	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–1
vs. Dayton	0–1	–	0–2	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–0
vs. Duquesne	1–0	2–0	–	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–0
vs. Fordham	2–0	1–0	2–0	–	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0
vs. George Mason	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	–	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–0
vs. George Washington	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	–	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–0
vs. La Salle	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	–	0–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–0
vs. UMass	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	–	1–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0
vs. Rhode Island	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	–	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–1
vs. Richmond	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	–	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–0
vs. Saint Joseph's	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	–	1–1	2–0	1–0
vs. Saint Louis	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	–	1–0	1–0
vs. St. Bonaventure	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	–	1–0
vs. VCU	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	–
Total	14–4	13–5	10–8	3–15	11–7	4–14	8–10	4–14	9–9	6–12	6–12	10–8	12–6	16–2

Preseason

Preseason poll

Prior to the season at the conference's annual media day, awards and a poll were chosen by a panel of the league's head coaches and select media members.^[6]

Rank	Team
1	Saint Louis (15)
2	Saint Joseph's (4)
3	Davidson (6)
4	George Mason (1)
5	Rhode Island
6	Dayton
7	VCU
8	Massachusetts
9	St. Bonaventure
10	Richmond
11	Duquesne
12	La Salle
13	George Washington
14	Fordham
(first place votes)

Preseason All-Conference Teams

Award	Recipients
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 First Team	Kellan Grady, Davidson
	Otis Livingston, George Mason
	Josh Cunningham, Dayton
	Luwane Pipkins, Massachusetts
	Grant Golden, Richmond
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Second Team	Eric Williams Jr., Duquesne
	Pookie Powell, La Salle
	Jeff Dowtin, Rhode Island
	Courtney Stockard, St. Bonaventure
	Javon Bess, Saint Louis
	Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis
Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Third Team	Jón Axel Guðmundsson, Davidson
	Lamarr Kimble, Saint Joseph's
	Charlie Brown Jr., Saint Joseph's
	Hasahn French, Saint Louis
	De'Riante Jenkins, VCU

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Team	Tournament	Finish
Davidson	Charleston Classic	3rd
Dayton	Battle 4 Atlantis	4th
Fordham	John Bach Classic	1st
George Mason	Emerald Coast Classic	4th
George Washington	Hall of Fame Tip Off	4th
La Salle	Battle at the Boardwalk	1st
La Salle	Wooden Legacy	8th
Massachusetts	Las Vegas Holiday Invitational	2nd
Rhode Island	Diamond Head Classic	6th
Richmond	Fort Myers Tip-Off	4th
Saint Joseph's	Myrtle Beach Invitational	4th
Saint Louis	Barclays Center Classic	1–1
St. Bonaventure	Cayman Islands Classic	8th
VCU	Legends Classic	2nd

Postseason

2019 A-10 Tournament

Semifinals Saturday, March 16 CBSSN			Championship Sunday, March 17 CBS

8	Rhode Island	51

4	St. Bonaventure	68
			4	St. Bonaventure	53

			6	Saint Louis	55
2	Davidson	44

6	Saint Louis	67

2019 NCAA Tournament

Two teams from the Atlantic 10 qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Tournament champions Saint Louis qualified through the conference's automatic bid, and regular season champions, VCU, qualified through an at-large bid. It was the 14th straight season in which the conference earned an at-large bid.^[7]

Seed	Region	School	1st Round	2nd Round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
8	East	VCU	eliminated by (9) UCF, 58-73
13	East	Saint Louis	eliminated by (4) Virginia Tech, 52-66

2019 NIT

Two teams from the Atlantic 10 earned at-large bids into the NIT.

Seed	School	First Round	Second Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Championship
4	Davidson	eliminated by (5) Lipscomb, 81-89
5	Dayton	eliminated by (4) Colorado, 73-78

References

^ Goodman, Jeff (March 22, 2018). "Dan Hurley leaving Rhode Island, named head coach at UConn". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
^ "Dan Hurley to become next head coach at UConn". USA TODAY. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
^ Goodman, Jeff (April 4, 2018). "Assistant David Cox takes over as Rhode Island head coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
^ "La Salle splits with coach John Giannini after 14 years". lancasteronline.com. Associated Press. March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2018.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Ashley Howard will be next La Salle basketball coach - Philly". Philly.com. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
^ "Saint Louis Picked to Win A-10 Men's Basketball". Atlantic 10 Conference. Atlantic10.com. October 18, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
^ Lunardi, Joe (February 6, 2019). "Can VCU keep the A-10's 13-year streak of multiple tournament bids alive?". ESPN. Retrieved March 18, 2019.

[1] Goodman, Jeff (March 22, 2018). "Dan Hurley leaving Rhode Island, named head coach at UConn". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 22, 2018.

[2] "Dan Hurley to become next head coach at UConn". USA TODAY. Retrieved March 22, 2018.

[3] Goodman, Jeff (April 4, 2018). "Assistant David Cox takes over as Rhode Island head coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 4, 2018.

[4] "La Salle splits with coach John Giannini after 14 years". lancasteronline.com. Associated Press. March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2018.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[5] "Ashley Howard will be next La Salle basketball coach - Philly". Philly.com. Retrieved April 9, 2018.

[6] "Saint Louis Picked to Win A-10 Men's Basketball". Atlantic 10 Conference. Atlantic10.com. October 18, 2018. Retrieved October 18, 2018.

[7] Lunardi, Joe (February 6, 2019). "Can VCU keep the A-10's 13-year streak of multiple tournament bids alive?". ESPN. Retrieved March 18, 2019.

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v t e Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball
Teams	Davidson Wildcats Dayton Flyers Duquesne Dukes Fordham Rams George Mason Patriots George Washington Revolutionaries La Salle Explorers Loyola Chicago Ramblers Rhode Island Rams Richmond Spiders St. Bonaventure Bonnies Saint Joseph's Hawks Saint Louis Billikens UMass Minutemen (leaving in 2025) VCU Rams
Championships & awards	Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament Player of the Year
Seasons	1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24