The Dayton Flyers climbed to a # 1 seed screened in the final NCAA tournament bracket.
Dayton beat Rhode Island, a bubble team, on the road Wednesday night by 27 points and is set to end the regular season at home against George Washington, who has a 12-18 overall record. Not only did the Flyers (28-2, 17-0, 3 NET points) not lose in conference, they lost only this year in overtime and on neutral grounds – against Kansas and Colorado. They have won 19 straight games.
Skeptics will say to criticize the strength of Atlantic 10. It ranks as the eighth best conference in the NET score and should only send one team to the NCAA (Rhode Island and Richmond are on the bubble). But a blind CV test will reveal that Dayton’s profile is more than worthy of a No. 1 seed with five wins in Quadrant 1, a top 25 ranking and no bad losses.
Compare Dayton’s credentials with San Diego State (27-1, 4 NET), the team he overtook on Thursday’s support, and the Flyers have more wins in Quad 1, a better NET score and better calendar strength. Wednesday’s rout against Rhode Island qualified as a Quad 1 victory for Dayton, and that was enough to change the best ranking lines.
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Behind the national player of the year, candidate Obi Toppin, Dayton appeared as a threat to the Final Four with the high seed he had already won by entering his regular season finale.
► Seeds # 1 (in order): Kansas, Baylor, Gonzaga, Dayton.
► Last four: Rutgers, Stanford, UCLA, State of North Carolina.
► First four releases: Richmond, Cincinnati, Purdue, Tennessee.
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Explanator of the NCAA tournament:
- Quadrant 1 wins: home games against 1 to 30 NET teams; Games on neutral site vs 1-50 NET; Away games against 1-75 NET
- Quadrant 2 wins: home games against 31-75 NET; Games on neutral site vs 51-100 NET; Away games against 76-135 NET
- Quadrant 3 wins, losses: home games against 76-160 NET; Games on neutral site vs 101-200 NET; Away games against 136-240 NET
- Quadrant 4 wins, losses: home games against 161 + NET; Games on neutral site vs 201-plus NET; Away games against 241 and over NET
Other people considered for a general offer (in order): Arkansas, State of Utah, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Memphis, State of Mississippi.
On keeping alive (in no particular order): Tulsa, Furman, Notre Dame, Syracuse, UNC-Greensboro, Alabama, Clemson, Georgetown.
Multi-offer conferences: Big Ten (10), Big East (7), Pac-12 (7), Big 12 (6), ACC (5), SEC (4), West Coast (3), American Athletic (2).
Leaders or RPI highest of single offer conferences planned – (24 in total): Atlantic 10 – Dayton, America East – Vermont, Atlantic Sun – Liberty, Big Sky – Eastern Washington, Big South – Radford, Big West – UC Irvine, Colonial – Hofstra, Conference USA – North Texas, Horizon – Wright State, Ivy – Yale, MAAC – Siena, MAC – Akron, MEAC – North Carolina A&T, Missouri Valley – Northern Iowa, Mountain West – San Diego State, Northeast – Saint Francis (Pa.), Ohio Valley – Belmont, Patriot – Colgate, Southern – East State of Tennessee; Southland – Stephen F. Austin, SWAC – Prairie View A&M, Summit – South Dakota State, Sun Belt – Arkansas-Little Rock, WAC – New Mexico State
- Transition schools not eligible to participate: Cal Baptist, North Alabama, Merrimack.
- Forbidden to participate: Georgia Tech, Detroit.
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Note: Most statistical data are used from WarrenNolan.com. The NCAA NET ranking is also a benchmark.
About our parentologist: Shelby Mast has been projecting the field since 2005 on its website, Bracket W.A.G. He joined USA TODAY in 2014. In his seventh season as our national parentologist, Mast finished in the top three parenthologists in the last six follies of March. He is also predicted for The Indianapolis Star, collegeinsider.com and is an inaugural member of the Super 10 selection committee. Follow him on Twitter @BracketWag.
Follow university basketball reporter Scott Gleeson on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.