It is hard to believe that it's September 23 and the A10 still has not released its conference schedule. I am sure the delay is due to television...determining which conference games will fit into various networks' schedules. However, opponents have been known for quite some time. Looking strictly at home and home opponents and using the Blue Ribbon predicted standings as a point system, I set out to see which schools will have the easiest home and homes. (This does NOT speak to a full conference schedule where we'd be looking at home and away opponents for schools who will only meet once as well.) Here is an example using GW's home and home opponents:
Dayton Third place 3 points
George Mason Fourth Place 4 points
La Salle 14th place 14 points
Loyola 10th Place 10 points
Richmond Eighth Place 8 points
Total 39 points
From toughest home and homes top the easiest:
Loyola 27 (Davidson, Dayton, Duquesne, GW, St. Louis..just brutal for a team coming off a bad year)
Dayton 28
VCU 30
SLU 33
SBU 34
GM 36
La Salle 36
Richmond 38
GW 39
SJU 39
Davidson 44
Duquesne 44
URI 47
Fordham 50 (Davidson, La Salle, URI, SBU and SJU)
FYI, GW will host Davidson, Fordham, URI and SBU while playing at Duquesne, SJU, SLU, and VCU. So, a much more difficult road schedule than a home schedule in-conference.