WASHINGTON, D.C. — Five years ago today, I flew from Columbus to New York City, took an Uber from LaGuardia Airport to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and walked into the arena just in time to cover the press conference announcing the cancellation of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the event to an abrupt end and derailed the postseason dreams of one of the great A-10 teams of all time. The 2019-20 Flyers, 29-2 overall and 18-0 in the A-10, and all their fans will ask “What if?” the rest of their lives. The NCAA tournament was cancelled later that day — four days before Selection Sunday.

I remember talking to Obi Toppin’s mom Roni on the phone that day. The A-10 tournament would have been a homecoming for the Dayton star and another exclamation point on a season that would see him win all the national player of the year awards.

“I’m heartbroken,” Roni said then. “I’m just hoping they’ll change their minds. I know they’re not going to, though.”

That was my seventh trip to the A-10 tournament, even if I didn’t get to see any basketball. Today I made my 12th trip to the tournament and third trip to Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. There doesn’t seem to be any way this tournament gets canceled unless the basketball gods see Dayton, which hasn’t won the championship since 2003 and lost its best chance to win in 2020, getting too close to the trophy.

The Flyers don’t play until 7:30 p.m. Friday, but I made my reservations when I thought they might play on Thursday. That’s why I’m here on Day 1 for what fans like to call the “pillow fight” games between the six lowest-seeded teams.

The first game today featured the two teams that played for the championship in 2022, the last time the A-10 tournament was played in this arena. No. 12 seed Davidson beat No. 13 Richmond 69-55.

Davidson took a five-point lead into the final 30 seconds. Richmond cut the deficit to three. Then Davidson turned the ball over with 15 seconds to play. Richmond’s B. Artis White missed a go-ahead 3-point attempt with four seconds remaining.

Davidson (17-15) will play No. 5 seed Saint Louis (18-13) at 2 p.m. Thursday. Saint Louis won 57-56 at Davidson on Feb. 26.

4:19 p.m.

At these conference tournaments, players warm up wherever they can find space as they wait for the previous game to end. Rhode Island players filled a hallway between the media room and the court earlier this afternoon, stretching before their game against Fordham.

Maybe the pregame warmup wasn’t enough for the Rams from the Ocean State because the Rams from the Empire State built a 22-point lead in the first half and coasted to an 88-71 victory in the second first-round game of the day. No. 15 seed Fordham avenged an 86-67 loss at Rhode Island in the final game of the regular season four days ago.

Fordham (11-20) advanced to play No. 7 seed George Washington (20-11) at 5 p.m. Thursday in the second round. Fordham became the first lowest-seeded team to win a game in the tournament since No. 14 La Salle beat No. 11 Duquesne 88-73 in 2016.

Rhode Island’s third season under coach Archie Miller, who led Dayton to four straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2014-17, ended the same way the previous two ended — with a loss on the first day of the tournament.

Miller has lost his last five A-10 tournaments. That streak includes two games in his Dayton tenure: a semifinal loss to Saint Joseph’s in 2016; and a quarterfinal loss to Davidson in 2017. Dayton was the No. 1 seed in both of those losses.

Rhode Island, the No. 10 seed this season, has finished 9-22, 12-20 and 18-13 in Miller’s three seasons.

“We don’t have the high-major size to compete for a championship right now,” Miller said, “and that doesn’t mean we need 7-footers. It’s across the board — the ability to play high major defense and impact the rim in terms of defensive rim protection, defensive rebounding. Size on the perimeter — at the two, the three, the four, the five — gives you versatility to switch and do more things. If there’s one thing moving forward that has to change for us to make a big step it’s to develop depth and size for our defense.”

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski