Since Dayton advanced to the Elite Eight with victories against Ohio State, Syracuse and Stanford before losing to Florida 12 years ago, the A-10 is 0-10 in the Round of 32.
The eight winners Saturday are all from top four leagues: the Big Ten; Big 12; Atlantic Coast Conferennce; and Southeastern Conference.
No. 9 seed Saint Louis lost 95-72 to No. 1 seed Michigan. The Billikens finished 29-6.
“I think for everybody but one, it ends abruptly and difficultly,” second-year Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz said. “There’s 365 teams all trying to be the last team standing, trying to be one of the last 32 playing. This group, this university has played basketball for 110 years. This team has won more games than any team in the history of St. Louis basketball. Won a regular-season championship. Won an NCAA tournament game.”
No. 11 seed VCU lost 76-55 to No. 3 seed Illinois. The Rams finished 28-8.
“The end is always hard,” first-year VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr. said, “and you struggle to come up with what to say. I told these guys in the locker room the two words that kept kind of bouncing around in my mind were pride and gratitude. All these guys took a chance. I got the job 51 weeks ago today and was selling everybody a vision of what could be. They all took that chance. They came along for the ride, and they brought us along for the ride.”
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