“We’re excited,” Grant said. “We’ve got a really talented group. We’ve got really good individual pieces. The sum has been greater than the individual parts, which means that they support each other. They sacrifice for each other, and they’ve allowed each other to play to their strengths.”
Dayton (24-6) is the No. 3 seed in the tournament but the only ranked team in the A-10 in the Associated Press poll (No. 24) and the highest-ranked A-10 team by far on the various websites that track teams.
Dayton is No. 21 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. No other team is in the top 70. Dayton is No. 27 in the Ken Pomeroy ratings. No other team is in the top 80.
Those rankings are why Dayton’s considered a lock to receive a NCAA tournament at-large berth if it doesn’t win the A-10 tournament and earn the automatic berth. The Selection Show starts at 6 p.m. Sunday on CBS. The Flyers could be back home in Dayton at that point, or they might have to stop somewhere to watch the show on their way to the airport after the A-10 championship game — that was the plan last year if they had beaten Virginia Commonwealth.
NCAA tournament experts — or bracketologists, as they’re known — have been filling out brackets for months. Here’s what they’re saying three days before the bracket is revealed about where the Flyers might end up.
• Joe Lunardi, ESPN: No. 8 seed Dayton vs. No. 9 Texas Christian in Charlotte.
• Jerry Palm, CBS: No. 8 Dayton vs. No. 9 Texas in Indianapolis.
• Mike DeCourcy, Fox Sports: No. 7 Dayton vs. No. 10 TCU.
• Brian Bennett, The Athletic: No. 8 Dayton vs. No. 9 Nebraska in Brooklyn.
• Patrick Stevens, The Washington Post: No. 6 Dayton vs. No. 11 Indiana State or No. 11 Virginia.
• Andy Katz, NCAA.com: No. 7 Dayton vs. No. 10 Colorado.
BracketMatrix.com, which includes 98 bracket predictions, gives Dayton an average seed of 6.71. The Flyers appear on all 98 brackets.
Dayton has received a single-digit seed three times in its 11 tournament appearances since the NCAA started seeding teams.
• Dayton was a No. 9 seed in 1984 and lost 51-49 at UD Arena to No. 8 Villanova, the eventual NCAA champion, in the first round.
• Dayton was a No. 4 seed in 2003 and lost 84-71 in the first round to No. 13 Tulsa in Spokane, Wash.
• In 2017, the last time Dayton played in the tournament, it was a No. 7 seed and lost 64-58 to No. 10 Wichita State in Indianapolis.
No coach knows Dayton’s potential better than Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot, whose team will see the Flyers for the third time Thursday after two losses in the regular season.
“They’ve got one of the best coaches in the country,” Dambrot said. “They’ve got really good players. They’re high-character people. We have a lot of respect, but with that being said, we’ve got to go in there and try to do our job.”
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