Billikens' Atlantic 10 Conference opponents determined for 2011 season

Saint Louis University's Atlantic 10 Conference schedule has been determined for the 2011 season in terms of who the Billikens will play and where the games will be played. The time and dates of the A-10 slate will be determined at a later date by the league office.

 Three other three teams in SLU's pod next season will be Xavier, Dayton and Duquesne. The Billikens will play these three teams twice next season in a home and home scenario.

 In 2011, the Billikens will visit Temple, Richmond, George Washington, Fordham and St. Bonaventure while Charlotte, LaSalle, Rhode Island, St. Joseph and UMass pay a visit to the Chaifetz Arena.

 Overall, I think it's a more challenging league schedule that last year because the Billikens will have to play Xavier, Temple, Richmond and Dayton on the road next season. All four teams are expected to be contenders for the A-10 championship once again. Xavier, Temple and Richmond all return a strong nucleus of players from NCAA Tournament teams while Dayton is coming off a NIT championship with another strong recruiting class joining the mix. I don't mind it at all because we're expected to be pretty good ourselves, so we have to embrace the challenge if we want to reach our ultimate goal, which is the NCAA Tournament.

 The only change in the pod is that Xavier replaces Richmond as a team that we will play twice. The Billikens have played Dayton twice every season since they entered the A-10 in 2005 while the Billikens and Duquesne have been playing twice a year since 2008. I like the idea of playing Xavier and Dayton twice every season because they are the two schools that are closest to us. It was like that when we first joined the league for two seasons and I thought is should have never changed. The SLU-Duquesne series has also become quite exciting as well with overtime games and down-to-the-wire finishes being the order of the day whenever the Billikens and Dukes meet.

 Here is a breakdown of how the Billikens have fared against their 2011 A-10 opponents based on next year's schedule.

 SLU's home record vs:

Charlotte (2-0)

Dayton (3-2)

Duquesne (2-1)

LaSalle (1-1)

UMass (3-0)

Rhode Island (3-0)

St. Joe's (1-1)

Xavier (2-2)

SLU's road record vs:

Dayton (1-4): Got first A-10 win at Dayton this past season.

Duquesne (2-2)

Fordham (1-1)

George Washingon (0-3): Two overtime losses sandwiching that 20-point debacle.

Richmond (2-2): Last win there was that triple-overtime thriller in '09.

St. Bonaventure (0-2): Olean has not been good to us.

Temple (0-2)

Xavier (1-2)