With only two games remaining in the regular season, the University of Dayton Flyers need to win both games to solidify their position as a NCAA tournament mid-level seed and it begins Tuesday night in St. Louis when the Flyers meet the lowly Saint Louis Billikens, who like nothing better to spoil UD’s plans.
Dayton, OH. – For the University of Dayton basketball team, it is time to look straight ahead because the windshield is bigger than the rear-view mirror.
It is time to look farther west for an encounter against Saint Louis University in St. Louis Tuesday night, with the stipulation that the Flyers best not peer ahead to a Friday game in UD Arena against Virginia Commonwealth.
With the Flyers’ loss Friday night at Loyola Chicago, 77-72, their goal of the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championship is about as reachable as it is for 5-foot-10 Javon Bennett to reach an apple at the top of a tree without an extension ladder.
The trend is not good for the Flyers as March creeps in. When Madness approaches, teams want to be trending upward, but the Flyers are 3-3 in their last six A-10 games. And all three defeats were on the road.
***Saint Louis (11-18) is buried deep in the trenches of the A-10 (4-12), but the Billikens are 8-7 at home in Chaifetz Arena.
***And the Billikens took apart Rhode Island on the road in their last assignment, 94-91.
***And although the Flyers beat Saint Louis on January 16 in UD Arena, it was not a blow-away. It was a 70-65 knee-scraper.
With 22 turnovers against Loyola, the Flyers sometimes played as if they were wearing carpet slippers instead of sneakers.
Despite the score and 10 lead changes and seven ties, for the Flyers it was an enclose encounter of the worst kind.
And it was a see-saw battle: Some of the things UD fans were forced to see is something they wished they never saw.
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.
The loss dropped the Flyers into third place in the A-10 at 12-4, behind Richmond and Loyola, both at 13-3. And Richmond owns wins over both UD and Loyola so is all but assured the No. 1 seed for the A-10 tournament at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.
The Flyers have spent the entire season trying to figure out and surmount the rigors of the road. While they are 14-0 in their comfort level of UD Arena, road warriors they aren’t.
They lost one game on a neutral court, the Charleston Classic finala to No. 1 ranked Houston in the tournament finals.
And they’ve lost five games on the opposition’s home court, one to the Big Ten’s Northwestern (20-8) and all four Atlantic 10 defeats (Richmond, VCU, George Mason, Loyola Chicago).
Nevertheless, barring disaster in their final two games, the Flyers should grasp the No. 3 seed for the A-10 party. With the top four seeds awarded double byes into the semifinals, UD sits pretty.
The Flyers (22-6) close the regular season with a game Tuesday at Saint Louis and a home game Friday against Virginia Commonwealth. And whatever happens, most Bracket Brethren say the Flyer already qualify for the NCAA tournament, probably a No. 5 seed.
But first things first.
It is hoped by the Flyer Faithful that Javon Bennett’s hand heals fast. He got his hand stuck in a shirt against Loyola and sat the entire second half with the left hand encased in an ice bag.
That forced coach Anthony Grant to use Kobe Elvis at point guard for most of the second half. That was too big of an ask, but Grant had zero options.
Elvis at point guard is OK for short spans to give Bennett a rest, but he is exposed when he plays out there at length. He had seven turnovers against Loyola.
And it trying to run the offense, trying to get the ball inside to DaRon Holmes II, he too often put on a dribblefest on the perimeter. That led to turnovers and rushed, hurried shots as the shot clock reached expiration.
As per his modus operation, Grant pointed no accusative fingers at any of his players and put his ever-present positive spin on matters.
“I’ll give Loyola credit, they were aggressive and disruptive,” said Grant. “You are not going to win every game. We need to keep that in perspective and understand. . .our guys have battled all year, every game, home or away.
“We know we are going to get the other team’s best shot,” he added. “We need to be able to understand that and give shots of our own.”
Of the upcoming assignments against Saint Louis and VCU, Grant said, “We have two regular-season games left and they’ll both be critical and both be highly-contested. And we’ll be ready. . .we’ll be ready for the battle.”