The Dayton Flyers heard bagpipes at their hotel Saturday morning as they prepared to depart their hotel for PPG Paints Arena. A St. Patrick’s Day parade wound from the strip district through downtown Pittsburgh. A five-minute drive from my hotel to the arena took 15 minutes as I detoured around the parade route.
Outside the arena, another party began with the Flyer Pep Band, Dayton cheerleaders and Rudy Flyer performing for fans.
Inside the arena, it will be a party atmosphere for two teams. No. 4 seed Dayton plays No. 1 seed Saint Louis at 1 p.m. Then No. 2 seed Virginia Commonwealth plays No. 6 Saint Joseph’s.
Dayton, which beat Duquesne 68-63 in the quarterfinals Friday, is playing against its history in this tournament. It not only has not won the event since 2003, but it has lost six straight games against higher seeds since beating No. 8 Massachusetts in the first round and No. 1 Xavier in the quarterfinals in 2011 en route to a surprise championship game appearance as the No. 9 seed. They lost to Richmond in the final.
Here are Dayton’s last six results when it is the lower seed:
2023: Loss to No. 2 VCU.
2021: Loss No. 2 VCU.
2018: Loss to No. 8 VCU.
2014: Loss to No. 4 Saint Joseph’s.
2013: Loss to No. 5 Butler.
2012: Loss to No. 3 Xavier.
My dad and I checked out of our hotel this morning and don’t have a reservation tonight. I’ll be happy to find a room if Dayton ends that streak and beats the Billikens.
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