Atlantic 10 basketball schedule gives Duquesne national TV exposure

Jerry DiPaola
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 10:59 a.m. | Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 10:59 a.m.

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Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot reacts from the bench in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Dayton, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, in Dayton, Ohio. Dayton won 80-70.

Duquesne’s national profile may receive a boost this season, with six scheduled appearances on national television as part of the 2020-21 Atlantic 10 schedule released Wednesday.

Four of those games will be at home, starting Jan. 5 against Davidson (CBSSN), followed by Fordham on Jan. 9 (NBCSN), Dayton on Feb. 2 (ESPN) and VCU on Feb. 7 (NBCSN). The Dayton game will mark Duquesne’s first home ESPN appearance since 2012.

If the NFL schedule is not altered, the VCU game will serve as a lead-in to Super Bowl LV.

The Dukes are hoping to play at least part of their season at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, presently under construction at the site of A.J. Palumbo Center on Forbes Avenue.

Duquesne, picked to finish fifth in the A-10 preseason poll, also will play on TV on Jan. 2 at George Washington (NBCSN) and Jan. 13 at Dayton (CBSSN).

The 14 Atlantic 10 schools will face each other once and five schools twice in the seventh consecutive year of an 18-game regular-season league schedule.

Duquesne’s five home-and-home opponents include Davidson, Dayton, Fordham, George Washington and St. Bonaventure.

In configuring the league schedule, the Atlantic 10 made concessions to possible interruptions from the covid-19 pandemic. There will be at least nine conference games in December, each team will have two byes between Jan. 13 and Feb. 24 and the weekend of March 5-7 will be open. Those measures will provide windows for make-up games while spreading out the schedule.

The Atlantic 10 Tournament is scheduled for March 10-14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.