The 2017 Atlantic 10 tournament bracket was set this weekend and VCU’s path could include some very familiar foes.
Finishing the regular season with a 14-4 conference record for the second consecutive season, VCU will once again enter the A-10 tourney as the No.2 seed, their fourth time since joining the conference five seasons ago. The black and gold have made it to the tournament final all four of their previous seasons, oddly enough only winning it as the No.5 seed during the 2015 tournament.
VCU had to win four games to lift the trophy that season. They’ll need just two wins to advance to another conference final and three to lift the trophy for the second time in three years.
VCU will first tip it up with the winner of No.7 George Mason and No.10 Fordham on Friday night at 6PM. The Rams went 2-1 against that group, sweeping George Mason and dropping their lone contest against Fordham, losing on the road thanks to an off-balance buzzer-beating three from Fordham’s Antwoine Anderson.
Should the black and gold win, they could be setup for a rivalry rematch with Richmond at 3:30PM on Saturday, a Spiders team VCU also swept this season.
The Rams knocked Richmond out of both the 2015 and 2014 Atlantic 10 tournaments in the quarterfinal rounds. That is of course assuming Richmond gets past their quarterfinal opponent. They could likely face a hot George Washington team that won their last five games including a home win over top-seeded Dayton. Like VCU, the Spiders swept GW in the regular season.
BRACKET FUN FACT 1: Four of the Atlantic 10’s current kenpom top-100 teams reside on the opposite side of this year’s bracket from VCU. Only VCU (48) and Richmond (90) crack the kenpom top-100 on the bottom half of the bracket while Dayton (34), Rhode Island (51), Davidson (85) and St. Bonaventure (93) will be forced to battle it out in the top half en route to an A-10 tournament final appearance.
BRACKET FUN FACT 2: VCU went a combined 8-1 against teams on their half of the bracket including season sweeps of the three next highest seeded teams (Richmond, George Mason and GW).
Bracket finals seasons VCU has been in the A-10
2013: No.1 Saint Louis 62 – No.2 VCU 56
2014: No.4 Saint Joseph’s 65 – No.2 VCU 61
2015: No.5 VCU 71 – No.2 Dayton 65
2016: No.4 Saint Joseph’s 87 – No.2 VCU 74
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