St. Louis University's Jordan Goodwin goes up for a shot against St. Bonaventure's Dominick Welch in the Atlantic 10 men's tournament final on Sunday, March 17, 2019, in New York. SLU won 55-53. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
The Atlantic 10 announced Wednesday morning that the men’s basketball conference tournament will be played at Richmond and VCU after the decision to leave Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., over COVID-19 concerns.
St. Louis University submitted a proposal for the tournament, which is March 10 to 14, along with Dayton, Duquesne and George Mason.
"I can understand the rationale a little bit," SLU coach Travis Ford said. "I wish we could have got it. I think we would have been a great site for a lot of reasons, but I can see the having two venues to play in could be a major advantage."
The second-round and quarterfinal games will be split between the sites. The semifinals and championship game will be played at Robins Center at Richmond.
“The fact that we have two premier arenas within six miles of each other, willing to host is a tremendous advantage for the A-10 in our goal to provide the safest, best experience for our teams coaches and campus communities,” A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade said in a statement.
The press release said the arrangement will help with teams having additional time and space for pregame stretching, warmups and shooting. Also, the need to keep teams in locker rooms to keep groups from different schools from being in close proximity will be eliminated.
Stu Durando
Stu Durando is the SLU beat writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
