Atlantic 10 Tournament 2014 schedule and bracket: Saint Louis, VCU the top teams in quarterfinals

The Atlantic 10 tournament will hold its quarterfinal round on Friday from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. With just eight teams left, the top four seeded teams make their tournament debuts.

The Saint Louis Billikens get the No. 1 seed after edging out VCU for the regular season title. They face the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, who knocked off La Salle on Thursday and hope to crash the party. Saint Louis won, 66-60, the last time these teams met in January.

With so many bubble teams in this conference, the game between the St. Joseph’s Hawks and Dayton Flyers takes on extra importance. Dayton had some late trouble with Fordham, but they were able to pull out the 87-74 win. St. Joseph’s swept Dayton in the regular season and will hope to make it three in a row, boosting their NCAA Tournament resume in the process.

The VCU Rams have the No. 2 seed and take on the Richmond Spiders, who beat Duquesne, 76-64, in the last round. VCU are already a lock for next week’s dance and are just looking to goose their seeding at this point. They have a good shot at getting a protected seed by advancing to the final round this weekend. The Rams beat Richmond both times in the regular season.

No. 3 George Washington has enjoyed their automatic bid the quarterfinals and will now face No. 6 Massachusetts. The Minutemen stormed past Rhode Island behind 11 points and four steals from star guard Chaz Williams. Both teams should make the Field of 68, but can improve seeding based on how deep of a run they make in this tournament. UMass was victorious in their previous meeting against George Washington, a 67-61 victory in February.

No. 1 Saint Louis vs. No. 9 St. Bonaventure, 12 p.m. ET, NBCSN

No. 4 St. Joseph’s vs. No. 5 Dayton, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN

No. 2 VCU vs. No. 7 Richmond, 6:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN

No. 3 George Washington vs. No. 6 Massachusetts, 9 p.m. ET, NBCSN

Here’s a link to the complete updated bracket.