AMHERST — When the final buzzer sounded to signal the end of the UMass men’s basketball team’s regular season, which ended in a 74-51 loss to Loyola Chicago on Saturday afternoon at Mullins Center, the arena’s staff immediately began tearing up the floorboards of Jack Leaman Court to get ready for the Minutemen’s hockey game at 7:30 p.m.

The next time the hardwood goes down for a UMass basketball game, the Atlantic 10 logo that has positioned itself in the paint just underneath the free-throw line will no longer be there. Instead, the MAC (Mid-American Conference) logo will replace it. The Minutemen played their final Atlantic 10 regular season game on Saturday, as it becomes closer and closer to a reality that UMass – a founding member of the A-10 that has been a part of the conference since 1976 – is moving on.

All of the storied history, rugged rivalries and nostalgia that comes with the Atlantic 10 will depart when UMass’ conference tournament trip comes to a close next week in Washington, D.C.

“One of the reasons I took the job was because of the coaching in the A-10, with the history of the teams [and] the coaches,” Minutemen head coach Frank Martin said after Wednesday’s loss to St. Bonaventure. “It was something that meant a lot to me… When the season is over, I’m sure it’s going to be a hollow feeling for me. At the same time, an excitement and enthusiasm for a new chapter… But we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes.”

Several characteristics embody the Atlantic 10. Physical, exhausting, unique, and if a team is going to win on the road – aside from Saturday – they’re going to have to earn it for 40 minutes. The glory days of the A-10 felt like at least three teams would earn bids to the NCAA Tournament on a yearly basis. A record six teams made the bracket back in 2014, UMass’ last trip to the dance.

But this decade has been different. The 2021 and 2022 tournaments featured only two A-10 teams while the 2023 edition included only one (conference champ VCU). Last season, Duquesne defeated Dayton in the A-10 quarterfinals en route to a surprising run that ended in a conference title and opening-round win in the NCAA Tournament. But if the Dukes hadn’t pulled off the upset and Dayton won the league, it would have been back-to-back one-bid seasons for a conference that has historically sent multiple teams to March Madness.

“It’s kind of sad we only get one bid,” UMass senior guard Rahsool Diggins said. “But I think that’s what makes the league so tough, because everybody is playing for one thing. It doesn’t matter about non-conference and stuff, you have to win the league.”

VCU currently has a 53 percent chance (per KenPom) to make the tournament. If the Rams, the A-10’s No. 1 seed this winter, make it to the conference final and lose, they will likely get in. That’s the best chance at the A-10 receiving multiple bids despite having five teams with at least 20 wins.

“It’s for sure physical,” Minutemen junior forward Daniel Hankins-Sanford, who had a career day on Saturday (22 points, 15 rebounds), said of the league. “You got good teams in the A-10, good players, people who are hungry and gritty. It’s a lot of dog mentality type players.”

“The A-10 has great guards, and always have had great guards,” Diggins added. “Hybrid-forwards, wings [as well], but I think the A-10 is known for great guards. It’s very competitive and I think it’s a slept-on league.”

Although the conference tournament is still to be played next week (UMass earned the 11-seed and plays No. 14 La Salle on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. in the Nation’s capitol), Saturday marked the end of an era – as the Mullins Center witnessed its last Atlantic 10 game.

Diggins honored on Senior Day

Prior to Saturday’s contest, Diggins was honored on the court as the Minutemen’s lone senior. He’s averaging 17.2 points per game this year and has set several program records – most notably the single-game record for points with his 46 big ones in a triple-OT win over Fordham at the historic Rose Hill Gym in the Bronx.

Tears flowed from Diggins’ eyes as the Senior Day festivities took place.

“It’s emotional, because I never thought that I would actually fall in love with a school,” Diggins said of UMass. “As the day came forward to it, I was very emotional. I don’t see myself anywhere else at the moment. Just looking back at the high moments and appreciating the low moments… I don’t even know what else to say.”

“A lot of ups and downs, a lot of adversity,” Diggins added. “A lot of high moments here, a lot of low moments.”

Diggins had a rough outing on Saturday as the Ramblers played spoiler. Diggins, who transferred to UMass and has played three years in Amherst after one season at UConn, scored nine points and shot 3-for-17 from the field – including 0-for-10 from behind the 3-point line.

“I’m disappointed for him,” Martin said. “Rahsool is a really good dude. He deserved better than how he played, and more importantly, how we played. Because what we should have done as a team is uplifted him on the night that he’s playing his last home game on a night where he couldn’t carry us the way he has when we’ve won games.”

There’s no question that Diggins is the reason UMass even had the opportunity to be competitive in the A-10 this season. He scored 20 points or more nine times, and willed the Minutemen to victories over Rhode Island (team-high 29 points), La Salle (game-high 34 points), Duquesne (game-high 32 points) and of course Fordham (game- and career-high 46 points).

Diggins’ maturation from his sophomore season to where he is now – not just on the floor, but in life – is why Martin said he enjoys the coaching profession as much as he does.

“When he chose to come to school here, there weren’t a whole lot of people lined up to say, ‘I want to play at UMass,’” Martin said of Diggins. “He did. And he did it right away, and he did it out of trust. He’s embraced that real love, that real direction, like [he’s] accepted people holding him accountable. He’s grown off the court as a human being, and that allowed him to grow on the court… He helped us turn around and become a good team there in early February.”