NCAA Tournament Preview: No. 10 Wichita State Vs. No. 7 Dayton

No one can believe the Shockers are a No. 10 seed, one of the most controversial and indefensible NCAA tournament seeds of this generation. Dan Muller’s squad went 25-5 and tied for the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship with a 17-1 record. The Shockers ended the season 30-4, including a final stretch of 15 consecutive wins.

Friday’s game between 10-seed Wichita State and 7-seed Dayton Flyers pits two of the best mid-majors in the country against each other. Next to those teams on the South Region bracket is second-seeded Kentucky. For fans of tradition, the top three seeds have combined for 24 national championships (five for UNC, eight for United Kingdom, 11 for UCLA).

Advanced metrics love the Shockers because they not only won a ton of games in the Missouri Valley Conference, but also because they did so by wide margins.

For all the unprecedented success Dayton’s five seniors have achieved during their careers, coach Archie Miller relishes the steps that got them there as much as anything. They had VCU against St. Mary’s. “I just knew the game would follow and it would be easy because of the strong bond that we have”.

With that in mind he was asked how he’s going about lifting his teammates back to the dominating form they showed through much of the season.

McDuffie said playing Dayton is like playing an elite-level program. “We don’t get many chances”. It has since gotten revenge for this loss – once in their gym by nine points, and then again on Sunday, when it won the AAC with a 15-point victory over the Bearcats. And not just in Wichita. They lost to Louisville, Michigan State and Oklahoma State – the three best teams they played by far.

“And Coach had a speech with us last night, too, and hopefully all the guys listened to it and are ready to step onto the court and play their hearts out”, he said.

We’re still waiting on a No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed, but that’s bound to happen at some point.

“We will be the only NCAA games on and will have a full national TV audience where we can showcase ourselves and showcase the entire region”. The 38-year-old has been the head coach of the University of Dayton’s men’s basketball team since 2011. Last March, the 11th-seeded Shockers defeated Miller’s sixth-seeded Arizona Wildcats. “I was starting to think they might forget us and not put us in at all”.

Since the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced, the Vegas oddsmakers and numerous TV talking heads and denizens of social media have all jumped on the Wichita State bandwagon. Of course, there is the not small issue of getting there, and Kentucky could run into the best 10-seed in the tournament in the second round.

Dayton starts a small-ball lineup featuring three senior guards and no forward taller than 6-8 senior Kendall Pollard. He plays a 12-man rotation this season and all 12 guys return for next season – when the Shockers might win 35 games.

“Our bracket is really loaded”, WSU guard Landry Shamet said.

They cruised past IL in the first game, 75-55, then upset No. 13 Purdue in the second round, 74-70.

Marshall said when Morris arrived at Wichita State he was in many ways comparable to a playground bully. “Nothing serious, but that’s the danger you have to deal with when you practice like we do”. They are also making their fourth NCAA tournament appearance in a row. They haven’t been truly tested since a mid-December loss to Oklahoma State.

The Lorain graduate may not score a ton – she’s only averaging 5.8 points on the season with three games in double figures, two resulting in double-doubles – but she did save her best all-around game for the Atlantic10 Tournament semifinals in Richmond, Va., on March 4. Minnesota was a last-second shift down to the No. 7 line after MI won the Big Ten tournament.

Five Flyers average between 8.1 and 16.1 points and 10 players average 12 or more minutes. The Flyers are rich with experience in guards Charles Cooke, Scoochie Smith and Kyle Davis.