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St. Bonaventure upset Xavier in the Atlantic 10 tournament final. The Bonnies are heading back to the Big Dance for the first time since 2000.
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Bid thief! St. Bonaventure earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament with a 67-56 win against Xavier in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
The win is bad news for bubble teams, as the Bonnies (20-11), who were unlikely to receive real consideration for an at-large bid, now are assured a spot in the 68-team field. It will be St. Bonaventure's first trip to the big dance since 2000.
Despite the loss, SB Nation's bracket expert Chris Dobbertean still expects that Xavier locked up a spot in the NCAA tournament with its win against St. Louis in the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinal on Saturday.
Andrew Nicholson led the Bonnies with 26 points, 14 rebounds and eight (!) blocks. He made all 10 free throws he shot and was the only player on St. Bonaventure to finish in double digits.
Meanwhile, the Musketeers backcourt of Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons combined to score 33 points. But it wasn't enough as Xavier shot just 33 percent from the field (2-for-13 from three-point land).
For more on the the Atlantic 10 tournament, be sure to check out our comprehensive Atlantic 10 tournament StoryStream.
St. Bonaventure is on the verge of making an NCAA bubble team very sad. The Bonnies lead Xavier 37-24 at halftime of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championship on Sunday.
Andrew Nicholson has 12 points, five rebounds and two blocks to lead St. Bonaventure, which needs to snag this automatic berth to get into the NCAA tournament field (and shrink the bubble).
Meanwhile, Xavier guard Tu Holloway is doing what he can to keep the Musketeers in this one with 11 points, two assists and two rebounds. He's only missed two shots.
The biggest difference so far has been that Xavier -- outside of Holloway -- can't get its shots to go down. The Musketeers are shooting 36 percent from the floor and are 0-for-7 from three-point range. The Bonnies have hit five of their 11 three-point attempts.
For more on the the Atlantic 10 tournament, be sure to check out our comprehensive Atlantic 10 tournament StoryStream.
St. Bonaventure and Xavier will meet in the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championship on Sunday in a matchup that could have significant bubble implications. While it's unclear whether or not Xavier is in the field as an at-large, St. Bonaventure almost certainly needs a win and the automatic berth to make the NCAA Tournament. Should the Bonnies win, it's possible another bubble team gets knocked out of contention.
The Bonnies find themselves a player for the A-10's automatic bid after two close wins in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. St. Joe's was the first victim, with the Bonnies taking a 71-68 win to move on to the semifinals. On Saturday, St. Bonaventure knocked off UMass, who previously took out top-seeded Temple, to move to within one game of a certain NCAA Tournament bid.
Xavier's road to the A-10 title game almost ended before it began. In the quarterfinals, the Musketeers had to hang on tight for a one-point win over Dayton. But on Saturday, Xavier bounced back strong, cruising to a seven-point win over Saint Louis.
Here is the information for Sunday's Atlantic 10 Championship. The latest bracket can be found here.
Time: 1 p.m. Eastern
TV information: CBS
The Xavier Musketeers may have just punched their ticket for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, if they don't earn the Atlantic 10's automatic bid, with a 71-64 victory over the Saint Louis Billikens in the A-10 Tournament Semifinals. Senior guard Tu Holloway and freshman forward Dezmine Wells led Xavier's attack Saturday, providing just too much scoring for the Billikens to handle.
Xavier's season was held together by a thread after an ugly fight broke out between their players and players on the Cincinnati Bearcats in early December. Tonight, the team proved they were effective in putting the fight behind them, especially Holloway, who was one of the instigators in the scuffle. Holloway led all scorers with 21 points and added five rebounds and three assists. Wells chipped in 18 points of his own, shooting 6-8 from the field and 6-6 from the foul line.
Saint Louis, the A-10's second-seed, is likely still going to the NCAA Tournament anyway after a 25-7 regular season and a 12-4 conference record. The Billikens shot just 25 percent from three-point range, and though they had balanced scoring — five players reached double-digits — no one scored more than 14 and they couldn't match Xavier's offensive firepower.
The Musketeers will be one half of a surprising A-10 title game Sunday night when they take on St. Bonaventure.
For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out our StoryStream and SB Nation D.C.'s StoryStream.
St. Bonaventure advanced to the 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship game on Saturday with an 84-80 win over No. 8 seeded UMass, who upset No. 1 seeded Temple on Friday. It's the first time the Bonnies have moved on to the title game since 2000. They will face the winner of the Xavier and Saint Louis semifinal game.
St. Bonaventure was led by Demetrius Conger and MVP of the league, Andrew Nicholson, who had 19 points and was a perfect seven for seven from the free throw line. Late in the game, Nicholson had a huge outlet football pass to Conger that boosted the Bonnies to the title game. Conger was an efficient seven of 12 from the floor, and led all scorers with 22 points while grabbing 10 boards and dishing eight assists. It was an incredibly impressive performance from Conger, who's looking to carry his Bonnies to the big dance with an automatic berth.
Down two with 15 seconds remaining, the Minutemen had a chance to tie or win it and continue their cinderella run in Atlantic City. But a Raphiael Putney three-point attempt was off the mark and the Bonnies would ice it with two free-throws. Terrell Vinson led UMass with 20 points but Derek Kellogg's club could not get the stops down the stretch to even it up.
For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out our StoryStream and SB Nation D.C.'s StoryStream.
Only four teams remain in the 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament. The Saint Louis Billikens and the Xavier Musketeers will tip off in the second semifinal of the day in Atlantic City. The winner will go on to the conference championship game Sunday, where they will face the winner of UMass-St. Bonaventure for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Musketeers almost went the way of the top-seed Temple Owls, finding themselves down six points to the Dayton with just over three minutes to go in Friday's quarterfinal. Mark Lyons scored Xavier's final seven points, on the way to a 70-69 win to advance.
The Billikens had no trouble on Friday, keeping the La Salle Explorers at arms length after building an early lead. Mike McCall Jr. led the way for the Billikens, with 16 points and four rebounds in the 78-71 win.
Location: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ
Game Date/Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET
TV: CCS
For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out our StoryStream and SB Nation D.C.'s StoryStream.
The Atlantic 10 Tournament moves on to the semifinal round on Saturday afternoon as Massachusetts is set to tip off against St. Bonaventure. The St. Bonaventure Bonnies made it through to the semifinals by beating Saint Joseph's on Friday in a close matchup, pulling away with a 71-68 victory after earning a bye in the first round as the No. 4 seed in the tournament.
The UMass Minutemen, on the other hand, are already two games into the tournament, coming in as a No. 8 seed and having to get past Duquesne in the first round of the tournament and No. 1 seed Temple in the second. UMass will hope to pull another upset against the No. 4 seed on Saturday afternoon, a team UMass beat in the regular season, 76-67.
Location: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ
Game Date/Time: Saturday, 1 p.m. ET
TV: CCS
For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out our StoryStream and SB Nation D.C.'s StoryStream.
The Atlantic 10 Tournament picks right up where it left off as the semifinal round gets underway on Saturday. The big surprise on Friday was the fall of the top-seeded Temple Owls, who dropped a quarterfinal matchup to Massachusets and were eliminated from the A-10 Tournament. The rest of the bracket was chalk, though someone is poised to steal an auto bid thanks to Temple's slip.
St. Bonaventure will face UMass in the first semifinal after putting away Saint Joseph's on Friday. In the other matchup, Saint Louis is through following a win over seventh-seeded La Salle. They'll face Xavier, who took care of business in the last quarterfinal matchup with a win over Dayton.
Here is the schedule for Saturday's matchups. The full tournament bracket can be found here.
1 p.m.:. Massachusetts vs. St. Bonaventure on CBS Sports Network
3:30 p.m.: Saint Louis vs. Xavier on CBS Sports Network
For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out our StoryStream and SB Nation D.C.'s StoryStream.
The Xavier Musketeers are moving on in the Atlantic-10 Tournament, keeping their chances at an at-large NCAA Tournament bid or an automatic bid alive a bit longer. For the Dayton Flyers, their tournament chances appear to be dead. Dayton had a six-point lead with just over three minutes remaining, but Mark Lyons went off in the closing minutes and pulled Xavier back into the game, scoring the winning basket in a 70-69 victory.
Lyons scored 12 points in the game, but seven of those were Xavier's final seven points. Dayton did not make a field goal in the final four minutes of the game while Lyons made two and got to the foul line on two occasions. His game-winning layup came with 21 seconds remaining. Dayton had multiple opportunities to score a game-winning basket, but missed on both of their shots on their final possession.
Though Lyons took over in the closing minutes, Tu Holloway and Kenny Frease were Xavier's stars until then. Holloway led all scorers with 21 points, while Fraese scored 17. Xavier move on to face Saint Louis in the Atlantic 10 semifinals.
For more on the tournament, keep it on our Atlantic 10 Tournament StoryStream.
The quarterfinals of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament rolled right along on Friday night. The first of two night games featured the No. 2 seed Saint Louis Billikens facing off against the No. 7 seed La Salle Explorers. The Billikens managed to take an early lead and keep their distance to pick up the 78-71 win and survive to play at least one more round in their pursuit of the conference championship and accompanying NCAA Tournament berth.
The Billikens took a 35-29 lead into halftime and were never really in any danger after that. Earl Pettis of La Salle was the lead scorer in the game, picking up 18 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in the losing effort. Mike McCall Jr. of Saint Louis had 16 points and four rebounds.
The Billikens now advance to the semifinals on Saturday where they will face off against the winner of the quarterfinal match between the No. 4 Xavier Musketeers and the No. 6 Dayton Flyers.
Here's the full 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament bracket.
For complete coverage of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, be sure to keep checking the SB Nation StoryStream.
In the second quarterfinal game of the 2012 Atlantic-10 Tournament, the No. 4 St. Bonaventure Bonnies narrowly escaped with a 71-68 win over the No. 5 St. Joseph's Hawks on Friday afternoon. Daryus Quarles started strong for the Hawks with 10 points on 4-5 shooting in the first half, but St. Bonaventure scored the final six points of the period to take a 33-30 halftime lead, and then held Quarles to just two more points the rest of the way.
The Bonnies leaned heavily on Atlantic-10 Conference Player of the Year, Andrew Nicholson, who dominated in the paint and posted game highs in scoring and rebounding on his way to a 25-point, 10-rebound double-double, with four blocks for good measure. Nicholson scored five of the final nine points for St. Bonaventure, and seemed to deliver the big baskets to keep them ahead down the stretch.
A big second half from Carl Jones fueled the upset bid from the Hawks, as he ended the game with a team-high 24 points and attacked relentlessly in the second half, but poor rebounding (23 total rebounds) and middling shooting (43.4 percent) prevented St. Joe's from getting the win.
St. Bonaventure will take on the No. 8 seed Massachusetts Minutemen in the semifinals, after UMass upset the top-seeded Temple Owls 77-71 in a quarterfinal shocker.
Here's the full 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament bracket.
For complete coverage of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, be sure to keep checking the SB Nation StoryStream.
Chaz Williams scored 20 points and had 10 assists to lead No. 8 seed Massachusetts to an upset of top-seeded Temple, 77-71, in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Friday.
After the Owls carried a 36-31 lead into the locker room at halftime, UMass scored the first 17 points of the second half to build a 12-point advantage. Temple eventually clawed its way back to a 61-57 lead, but the Minutemen outscored them 20-10 over the final seven minutes to pull off the shocker.
Khalif Wyatt had 15 points for the Owls (24-7), who won the league's regular season title for a record 10th time, but became the second straight top-seed to lose their first game of the postseason. Xavier pulled the same feat a season ago.
UMass, which defeated No. 9 seed Duquesne in the first round on Tuesday, is trying to get back to the A-10 championship game for the first time since 2001.
For complete coverage of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, be sure to keep checking the SB Nation StoryStream.
After a three-day hiatus, the Atlantic 10 Tournament resumes on Friday with the quarterfinal round. The venue shifts from the higher-seeded team's home floor to a neutral site as the A10 invades Atlantic City, aptly named, for the weekend. The eight remaining teams should be well-rested on Friday and the top-four teams in the regular season standings will make their tournament debut.
UMass, Saint Joseph's, La Salle and Dayton all won play-in games on Tuesday, earning the right to make the trip to Atlantic City for Friday's quarterfinal matchups. They'll be joined by Temple, the No. 1 seed, St. Bonaventure, the No. 4 seed, Saint Louis, the No. 2 seed, and Xavier, the No. 3 seed. The action begins at the crack of noon, live from Atlantic City.
Here is the schedule for Friday's matchups. The full tournament bracket can be found here.
12 p.m.: Temple vs. Massachusetts on CBS Sports Network
2:30 p.m.: St. Bonaventure vs. Saint Joseph's on CBS Sports Network
6:30 p.m.: Saint Louis vs. La Salle on CBS Sports Network
9 p.m.: Xavier vs. Dayton on CBS Sports Network
All times Eastern
For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out our StoryStream and SB Nation D.C.'s StoryStream.
Darien Brothers put in a fantastic performance for the Richmond Spiders, but his 31-point game wasn't enough to overcome the consistent team shooting of the La Salle Explorers. They led by as many as 15 points, and though Richmond performed much better in the second half and brought the deficit to under double digits, they weren't able to get completely back into the game. La Salle moves on to the Atlantic-10 tournament quarterfinals with the 80-72 win.
Brothers' big performance for Richmond was an efficient one, as he shot 10-16 from the floor and 7-7 from the free-throw line, but he simply didn't get enough help. The Spiders didn't do enough to slow down La Salle defensively, and they didn't have much in the way of scoring balance. Cedrick Lindsay scored 17 points and Derrick Williams chipped in 14, but the rest of the Spiders scored 10 combined points.
Ramon Galloway led the Explorers with 17 points while three other members of the team scored in double figures. They move on to face the No. 2 seed Saint Louis Billikens, who are probably already in the NCAA tournament. They're heavily favored and should probably make a point of beating La Salle just to take any doubt out of the minds of the selection-committee members.
Devin Oliver scored 19 with eight rebounds to lead the Dayton Flyers over the George Washington Colonials, 67-50, in the first round of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament. With the win, the sixth-seeded Flyers advance to the second round, where they will face third-seeded Xavier in Atlantic City, N.J., on Friday.
George Washington struggled to find the basket all night, shooting just 34.5 percent from the field as a team and 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from three-point land. Junior David Pellom was the team's lone bright spot, scoring 18 points with 10 rebounds off the bench. None of the team's five starters cracked double-digit scoring or finished with more than five rebounds. The Colonials, who finished 17-14 in Karl Hobbs' final season in 2010-11, finished 10-21 in Mike Lonergan's first season as head coach.
The Flyers, on the other hand, relied upon a well-balanced attack with four players reaching double-digits. Kevin Dillard finished with 13 points and eight assists, while Paul Williams and Josh Parker each added 10 points. As a team, Dayton shot 51.2 percent from the field.
Dayton split its season series with Xavier, winning at home on Jan. 21 before falling in overtime on the road on Feb. 18. Both schools are considered to be on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, and this game could easily determine who ends up getting the nod.
The Massachusetts Minutemen will continue on in the Atlantic-10 tournament, thanks to their victory over the Duquesne Dukes on Tuesday night. In a high-scoring affair that was light on defense, UMass was considerably more efficient and did a better job of getting to the free throw line. They're playing in the quarterfinals tomorrow after picking up a 92-83 win.
Five Dukes scored in double figures, but that wasn't enough to match UMass. The Minutemen had all three of Raphiael Putney, Javorn Farrell and Chaz Williams score 20-plus points, and Williams led all scorers with 21. He got to the free throw line repeatedly and made 13-14 foul shots.
UMass' ability to get to the free-throw line was the biggest difference between the two teams. They made 24-31 from the line, while Duquesne was 9-11. The Dukes actually made one more field goal than UMass, but they needed 11 more shots to do it and didn't get to the charity stripe often enough.
Massachusetts moves on to face the No. 1 seeded Temple Owls. The Owls are already in the NCAA tournament, and UMass will be hoping that they face off against a complacent team.
The Saint Joseph's Hawks kept their hopes of an NCAA tournament bid alive on Tuesday with an expected win over the UNC-Charlotte 49ers. At home in Philadelphia, St. Joe's shot well and dominated their visitors on the boards en route to a comfortable 80-64 win.
Five members of the Hawks, including four starters, scored in double figures while the team shot 55 percent from the field. Their size advantage against UNC-Charlotte was apparent throughout, with St. Joe's grabbing 40 rebounds to the 49ers' 26. The Hawks also recording eight blocks.
Carl Jones of St. Joe's lead all scorers with 23 points. Charlotte's Chris Braswell scored 20 points on 9-17 shooting, but he didn't get too much help from his teammates on that end. Charlotte shot 42 percent from the floor as a team.
St. Joe's moves on to face the No. 4 seeded Saint Bonaventure Bonnies on Wednesday.
The 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament kicks off Tuesday with four first-round matchups featuring the No. 5 through No. 12 seeds. The 12 men's basketball teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference will be competing for the conference championship and an automatic bid into the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
The No. 5 seed St. Joseph's Hawks will play a first-round matchup against the No. 12 seed Charlotte 49ers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. ET. You can watch the game on the official Atlantic 10 website by clicking right here.
St. Joe's and Charlotte faced off once before during the 2011-12 regular season. The 49ers came out ahead in that Jan. 7 contest, winning by a final score of 57-52. St. Joseph's finished the season with a 9-7 record in the Atlantic 10, while Charlotte went 5-11 in conference play.
The winner of this first-round faceoff will advance to Friday's quarterfinals, where they will take on the fourth-seeded St. Bonaventure Bonnies.
The 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament kicks off on Tuesday with four first-round matchups between the No. 5 through No. 12 seeds. The 12 men's basketball teams in the Atlantic 10 conference will be competing for the conference championship and an automatic bid into the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
The No. 8 seed UMass Minutemen will take on the No. 9 seed Duquesne Dukes in an opening round match on Tuesday. The game will be played in Amherst, MA and will tip off at 7:00 p.m. ET. You can watch the game on the Atlantic 10 website by clicking right here.
In the lone meeting between the two teams during the 2011-12 regular season, the Dukes came out on top, defeating UMass by a final score of 80-69 on January 18. UMass finished the season with a 9-7 record in the Atlantic 10, while Duquesne had a 7-9 record in conference play.
The winner of this first-round match will face off against the No. 1 seeded Temple Owls in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Seventh-seeded La Salle will host 10th-seeded Richmond Tuesday night in a first round matchup in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The winner earns the right to face No. 2 Saint Louis in the quarterfinals on Friday in Atlantic City.
Richmond, the tournament champion a season ago, enters the postseason with a disappointing record of 16-15, including a 7-9 mark in league play. The Spiders will come to Philadelphia with a bit of momentum, however, having won three of their final four regular season games.
La Salle (20-11, 9-7) faltered a bit in February, beginning the month with five losses in six games before winning back-to-back games to end the regular season. It has still been one of the more successful seasons in recent memory for the Explorers, who have hit the 20-win mark for the first time since 1991-92. That year is also the last time they made the NCAA Tournament.
La Salle is first in the conference and seventh in the NCAA in three-point shooting (40.3 percent) and average 7.9 treys per game. They are third in the A-10 in forcing turnovers (15.9 per game) and in points allowed (65.5). The Explorers struggle mightily on the glass, however, which was extremely evident in a 78-76 February loss to Richmond where they were outrebounded 45-24.
Tip-off between La Salle and Richmond is slated for 7 p.m. ET.
For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out the SB Nation D.C. StoryStream.
The Dayton Flyers will look to keep their hopes for a spot in the field of 68 alive when they host George Washington in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET.
Dayton, the tournament's No. 6 seed, is sitting squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble for the time being, but a first round defeat would almost certainly relegate them to the NIT. The 11th-seeded Colonials have the worst overall record (10-20) of any team in the conference, and won just two of their final 11 games to close the regular season.
Familiarity shouldn't be an issue for these two, as they met just three days ago at UD Arena, where the Flyers scored a 75-59 victory. The win was Dayton's fourth straight at home over George Washingon. The Flyers were 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from three-point range in that game, well above their season average of just under 35 percent from behind the arc.
The winner of Tuesday night's game will face third-seeded Xavier in the quarterfinals on Friday in Atlantic City.
For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out the SB Nation D.C. StoryStream.
The 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament looks like it might be a breeze for top-seeded Temple and No. 2 Saint Louis. But No. 3 Xavier may have some things to say about that in Atlantic City beginning on Friday.
The first round of the A-10 Tournament begins Tuesday, March 6, with the eight lowest-seeded teams, including No. 5 Saint Joseph's and No. 6 Dayton playing match-ups at campus sites for the right to meet the top four seeds at Boardwalk Hall.
Then, teams progress to Atlantic City, where they will play on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to determine which team will earn the conference's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Temple and Saint Louis were the only two A-10 teams with more than 20 wins in the regular season, and neither will play more than one 20-win team on the way to the final if seeds hold.
Of course, Xavier, a top-10 team at one point in this season before a fight with Cincinnati resulted in a slew of suspensions, could throw a monkey wrench into the seedings if the Musketeers get hot.
Here's the full 2012 Atlantic 10 Tournament bracket and Day 1 schedule. All times are Eastern.
First Round/Day 1 Schedule - Tuesday, March 6 (at campus sites)
Game 1: No. 8 Massachusetts vs. No. 9 Duquesne, 7 p.m.
Game 2: No. 5 Saint Joseph's vs. No. 12 Charlotte, 7 p.m.
Game 3: No. 7 La Salle vs. No. 10 Richmond, 7 p.m.
Game 4: No. 6 Dayton vs. No. 11 George Washington, 7 p.m.
Second Round Schedule - Friday, March 9 (Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City)
Game 5: No. 1 Temple vs. Game 1 winner, noon (CBS Sports)
Game 6: No. 4 Saint Bonaventure vs. Game 2 winner, 2:30 p.m. or 25 minutes after Game 5 (CBS Sports)
Game 7: No. 2 Saint Louis vs. Game 3 winner, 6:30 p.m. (CBS Sports)
Game 8: No. 3 Xavier at Game 4 winner, 9:00 p.m. or 25 minutes after Game 7 (CBS Sports)
Semifinals - Saturday, March 10 (Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City)
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 1 p.m. (CBS Sports)
Game 10: Game 7 winner at Game 8 winner, 3:30 p.m. (CBS Sports)
Championship - Sunday, March 11 (Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City)
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 1 p.m. (CBS)
The 2012 A10 basketball tournament tips off on Tuesday with two NCAA Tournament locks (St. Louis, Temple) and two others looking to secure a bid (Dayton, Xavier).
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For more on the Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament 2012, be sure to check out our StoryStream and SB Nation D.C.'s StoryStream.