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How St. Louis University fits into everything remains to be seen after a nonconference schedule that was long on injuries and short on order. The Billikens were picked to finish fourth in the preseason, which might seem high after a 7-6 nonconference record.

But who knows? This is an Atlantic 10 season that could play out a number of ways. And considering that the league has seen seven different schools finish first in the regular season in the past seven seasons — Loyola Chicago and Richmond finished tied for the top last season to offset Virginia Commonwealth winning in 2019 and 2023 — there’s always the potential for anything.

The Atlantic 10, which in case you’d lost track has 15 teams right now, has six teams in the top 100 at , the most of any conference other than the big ones — the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC and Big East. (The West Coast Conference also has six.) So that’s a good indicator of the strength of the league.

The difference is that those conferences all have teams that are considered to be among the nation’s elite, while the best of the A-10, Dayton, is No. 31 at KenPom, No. 41 in the NCAA’s NET rating. Three of those six top 100 teams are 86 or after.

After only one A-10 school went to the NCAA Tournament in 2023, snapping a 16-year run of the league having at least one at-large team making the field, Duquesne and Dayton went in 2024 to start a new streak. But to continue it, there’s work to be done: Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology at figures just one A-10 school, Dayton, in the 68-team field. No A-10 schools are even in the next eight, so no one right now is knocking on the door.

Obviously, much will change between now and the conference tournament in March in Washington, D.C., and teams will see their strength of schedules get better as conference play sinks in. A-10 schools had only 19 nonconference games against Quad 1 teams and won only three of them, two by Dayton and one St. Joseph’s.

Dayton, which got an at-large berth in the NCAAs last season, was picked second in the preseason poll but moved to the favorite spot with its nonconference play and at present is the only team that would have a shot at the tournament without winning the conference tournament.

Dayton went 10-3 against the toughest nonconference schedule in the A-10 (which isn’t saying a whole lot; Dayton’s strength of schedule is 50th at KenPom, the only A-10 school in the top 150), beat then-No. 2 Connecticut 85-67 at the Maui Invitational. Dayton has twice come back from 13-point deficits to win, beating Northwestern and Marquette, but blew a 21-point lead and lost to North Carolina at Maui.

Enoch Cheeks leads the Flyers in scoring (13.9) and rebounding (7.4) and is shooting 40.4% on 3-pointers. Forward Nate Santos, the team’s leading returning scorer, is right behind Cheeks at 13.8 and has also seen his outside shooting improve. Dayton goes into league play on a slightly down note, losing to Cincinnati on Dec. 20. The Flyers trailed by as many as 18 points and had a season-high 17 turnovers.

Virginia Commonwealth was the preseason conference favorite and, like Dayton, was 10-3 in its nonconference season. VCU didn’t have any wins to brag about. The Rams lost to the two toughest teams on its schedule, New Mexico and Nevada, and also lost to Seton Hall, the worst team in the Big East. Joe Bamisile (17.0) and Max Shulga (16.5) are the team’s top scorers; Shulga was a first-team all-conference selection last season.

St. Bonaventure has been one of the bigger surprises so far. Picked 10th in the league’s preseason poll, the Bonnies went 12-1 in nonconference play, including going 4-0 on the road and with neutral-site wins over Northern Iowa and Providence. St. Bonaventure has had the league’s best defense, holding opponents to 59.6 points per game. Much like SLU, the Bonnies play their starters a lot. It opens the season Tuesday at home against VCU in a game that will give an early look at where both teams stand.

The picture becomes a bit muddled after that, and the nuances of the schedule — SLU, for instance, is the only school that has to play both Dayton and Virginia Commonwealth twice — will play a big part in how things work out. St. Joseph’s and George Mason were picked sixth and third respectively in the preseason poll and headline the next group. St. Joseph’s beat Texas Tech at a neutral site in another of the league’s good preseason results. Upstarts Rhode Island and Davidson did well in nonconference play but have some proving to do.

Richmond and Loyola Chicago will have a tough time repeating as conference co-champions. For the Spiders, losing by 44 on the road to Auburn is one thing, but losing by 18 at home to Florida Gulf Coast is another. Dru Joyce III takes over as the coach at Duquesne after Keith Dambrot retired after taking the Dukes to their first NCAA Tournament since 1977. It’s been rough going with Duquesne, starting the season 2-8.

While SLU won’t get to see it this season, La Salle has redone Tom Gola Arena, now called John Glaser Arena, overhauling one of the A-10’s quirkier facilities. The arena is on the top floor of the school’s recreation center — though the visiting locker room is on the ground floor — and has gone from having seats just along the sidelines to a regular bowl that seats 3,000. But the swimming pool on the ground floor and the smell of chlorine as you enter the building will remain.

This is the last season for the 15-team Atlantic 10, at least with these 15 teams, because one should never rule out conference expansion. UMass leaves after this season in pursuit of football glory in the Mid-American Conference. That will leave George Washington as the only team to have played in the Atlantic 10 every season since it started in 1976.