Flyers improve tourney position

By Doug Harris, Staff Writer 10:00 PM Sunday, February 26, 2012

The University of Dayton basketball team started on the road in the Atlantic 10 tournament last year, beating Massachusetts and advancing to the championship game before losing to Richmond.

In their first season with coach Archie Miller, the Flyers appear to have locked down a better launching point for the tourney than that, earning no worse than a first-round home game with an outside shot at a first-round bye.

The top four teams are awarded free passes to the quarterfinals in Atlantic City, N.J., on Friday, March 9. Seeds four through eight host opening-round games at campus sites on Tuesday of that week.

The Flyers are tied for sixth with UMass at 8-6 and are one game out of third place with two games to go. The tiebreaking possibilities are so jumbled that the A-10 won’t provide official scenarios just yet, but it appears UD could climb as high as the No. 2 seed (though not without lots of help) and only fall as low as the eighth seed, guaranteeing a game in UD Arena against a team seeded ninth through 12th.

The Flyers visit Richmond (6-9 in the A-10) on Wednesday and host George Washington (5-9) on Saturday. Temple (11-3), Saint Louis (10-5), Xavier (9-5), St. Bonaventure (9-5) and St. Joe’s (9-6) are ahead of UD and UMass in the standings, while La Salle (7-7) and Duquesne (6-8) are lurking right behind.

The Flyers have a favorable tiebreaking position with UMass and La Salle because of wins in head-to-head matchups. They went 1-1 against Duquesne, but they’d have an edge on the Dukes because of their record against teams that could finish as the No. 1 seed, which is the next tiebreaker.

In the case of a multiple tie, the Flyers’ cumulative record among potential 8-8 teams is good enough that they can’t fall to the No. 9 seed.

“There’s a lot of ramifications every time you play right now. There’s a lot going on,” Miller said. “We’ve got to play Richmond on the road. That’s the only thing that matters. They’ll tell us where we play, who we play and what we’re supposed to be doing that Saturday afternoon or Sunday, whenever the weekend finishes.

“We hope to continue to try to compete and play hard. We have a big week ahead of us.”

The Flyers (18-10) have won two straight since an overtime loss at Xavier, which seemed to put an end to their NCAA tournament hopes. But ESPN tourney expert Joe Lunardi had them lurking near the bubble Sunday, just outside the 68-team field.

Making room in the lineup for 6-foot-7 sophomore Devin Oliver at power forward has given the team a boost by putting another athletic defender on the floor. He’s also had 18 points and 17 rebounds in two starts.

“The thing Devin has done is he rebounds right now per minute as well as anyone on our team — maybe the best. ... He’s really giving us an added dimension, and I’m happy for him,” Miller said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Share this article