A 3-0 win over St. Joe’s on Sunday in Philadelphia gave St. Louis University a second-place finish in the Atlantic 10 and all-important first-round bye in the conference tournament that starts Thursday in Rhode Island. SLU will be off until Friday.

SLU will play the highest remaining seed, either No. 3 Fordham or the winner of  No. 4 Charlotte vs. No. 5 Rhode Island. (In an earlier post, I may have said they would play the winner of the 3 vs. 6 game, but the league reseeds after the first round). No. 1 Dayton plays either No. 6 St. Bonaventure or the winner of the Charlotte-Rhode Island game. SLU beat Fordham 4-1 earlier in the season, lost to Charlotte 2-1 and didn’t play Rhode Island. Charlotte, which slipped a spot after losing 2-1 to Temple on Sunday, had been the league’s dominant team all season, but it finished 2-2-1 in its final five games.

SLU’s only losses in league play were to Charlotte and Dayton, and it’s conceivable it might not have to play either one. SLU needs to win the conference tournament to get an NCAA tournament spot, with a banged-up team, having to play two games in three days is far superior to having to play three games in four.