CINCINNATI --- Seventh-seeded Xavier will face 10th-seeded Saint Joseph’s at 6:30 pm on Thursday in the first round of the 2013 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The game will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network. The winner advances to face No. 2 VCU in Friday’s quarterfinals, also at 6:30 pm.
Xavier is playing a first round Atlantic 10 Championship game for only the third time in 13 years. XU had earned first-round byes 10 times in the last 12 A-10 Championships, including the last six. That may not be bad news for Xavier if history repeats itself. XU’s last two titles out of four all-time have actually been captured the last two times it has had to play a first-round game, 2006 and 2004.
Xavier has recorded a 25-13 (.658) record in A-10 Championship play in 17 tournaments, including reaching the championship game last season. XU defeated Dayton in the 2012 quarterfinals and Saint Louis in the semifinals before falling to St. Bonaventure in the final. Xavier has won four Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Championships, including 1998 (Spectrum in Philadelphia), 2002 (Spectrum in Philadelphia), 2004 (University of Dayton Arena) and 2006 (U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati).
Saint Louis has claimed the top seed for the 2013 Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championship, which begins Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Billikens captured their first A-10 regular season title outright with a 13-3 conference record and will receive a bye to the quarterfinals.
VCU is the second seed and also received a bye into the quarterfinals. The Rams, in their first season in the A-10, finished 12-4 in league play. Temple clinched a bye Sunday to finish 11-5 in the A-10 and force a three-way tiebreaker with Butler and La Salle. Temple defeated Saint Louis during the regular season, giving the Owls the tiebreaker advantage and the No. 3 Seed. La Salle defeated Butler head-to-head and will be seeded fourth to claim the final bye.
No. 5 Butler, which also finished 11-5 in league play will face No. 12 Dayton Thursday at 2:30 pm. The Flyers finished 7-9 in conference play, tied with George Washington and St. Bonaventure. GW won the three-way tiebreaker, with head-to-head wins over both Dayton and SBU. The Butler-Dayton winner advances to Friday’s quarterfinals to face fourth-seeded La Salle at 2:30 pm.
Massachusetts and Xavier both finished at 9-7 in the A-10. UMass claims the sixth seed by head-to-head tiebreaker and will face 11th-seeded George Washington Thursday at 9:00 pm. The Colonials clinched a spot in the championship with an 81-80 overtime win over Dayton Saturday. The winner will face No. 3 Temple in Friday’s quarterfinals at 9:00 pm.
Richmond, Charlotte and Saint Joseph’s all finished 8-8. The Spiders, by virtue of their overtime win over VCU earlier in the season, win the three-way tiebreaker and will be the eighth seed. Charlotte defeated SJU on Saturday to claim the head-to-head tiebreaker, seeding the 49ers ninth and the Hawks 10th. Saint Joseph’s will face seventh-seeded Xavier at 6:30 pm on Thursday with the winner advancing to face No. 2 VCU in Friday’s quarterfinals, also at 6:30 pm.
No. 8 Richmond and No. 9 Charlotte open the championship at noon in the first game of Thursday’s opening round. The winner will advance to face top-seeded Saint Louis at noon on Friday.
Every game of the championship will air on live television. The first round will be carried by NBC Sports Network and the quarterfinals will air on regional and local television. Those clearances will be announced this week once finalized and those games will also be streamed free through Atlantic10.com’s All-Access Player. CBS Sports Network will carry the semifinals and CBS will again air the championship game as part of the network’s Selection Sunday coverage.
Tickets for the championship can be purchased through Ticketmaster, Atlantic10.com, BarclaysCenter.com or at the Barclays Center Box Office.
