Dayton (#11, Midwest, Minneapolis pod)
vs. West Virginia (#6)
March 20th at 3:00 P.M.
Vegas Line: WVU -8.5
General Profile
Location: Dayton, OH
Conference: Atlantic 10, at-large bid
Coach: Brian Gregory, 124-67
08-09 Record: 26-7 (11-5)
Last 12 Games: 7-5
Best Win: Xavier, 71-58 (2/11)
Worst Loss: @ Charlotte, 79-66 (2/8)
Off. Efficiency Rating: 142
Def. Efficiency Rating: 39
Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): Chris Wright (12.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg,
Unsung Hero: Charles Little (8.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 50% field goal percentage)
Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): Chris Wright, late first to early second round
Key Injuries: Rob Lowery (knee)
Depth: 40.2% mins (14th in nation)
Achilles Heel: Poor perimeter shooting
Will Make a Deep Run if…: Can create easy buckets off turnovers and hold teams in the 60s
Will Make an Early Exit if…: West Virginia pulls out their 1-3-1 zone and the Flyers can’t shoot over it or create dribble penetration to break it
NCAA History
Last Year Invited: 2004, first round loss to DePaul
Streak: 1
Best NCAA Finish: 1967, NCAA runner-up
Historical Performance vs. Seed (1985-present): n/a
Other
Six Degrees to Detroit: I drove there once. Never again. We also have a freshman named Paul Williams from Detroit Renaissance High School.
Distance to First Round Site: 704 miles
School’s Claim to Fame: Former SportsCenter anchor Dan Patrick went to UD and regularly name-checks the Flyers on his radio show.
School Wishes It Could Forget: The Jim O’Brien years. How that man continues to fail upwards is beyond me.
Prediction: I think the Flyers match up well against West Virginia. They’re more talented, but in many ways a mirror image of the Flyers. I refuse to predict a loss in the first round, so I’m going with an upset over West Virginia and bowing out honorably to Kansas on Sunday.
Report written by… Flyers Fanhouse