Even though the University of Dayton Flyers laid an unhatched egg in the Atlantic 10 tournament, losing their first game to Duquesne - the eventual tournament champion - the NCAA was impressed enough with UD's overall accomplishments and invited them as a No. 7 seed to the March Madness party with a game Thursday in Salt Lake City against Nevada.
The University of Dayton Flyers joined the other three top seeds in the Atlantic 10 tournament as losers, 65-57 to Duquesne, a team it had beaten twice during the regular season. The Flyers, the No. 3 seed, joined No. 1 Richmond, No. 2 Loyola Chicago and No. 4 UMass as losers in their first game. The Flyers now await Sunday's announcement of the 68 teams invited to the NCAA tournament, hoping their 24-7 record and resume are good enough.
If ever a team was dead and buried, it was the University of Dayton Friday night in UD Arena when they fell behind Virginia Commonwealth University, 26-9, in the first 10 minutes. But the Flyers impressed even their coach, Anthony Grant, by coming back to tie it and send it onto overtime, where point guard Kobe Elvis took over to lead the Flyers to a 91-86 victory.
After a sluggish start against Saint Louis, the University of Dayton basketball team rained 18 three-pointers into the nets in Chaifetz Arena to go rip-roaring past the Billikens, 100-83, in the Flyers final road test before completing their Atlantic 10 regular season Friday night in UD Arena against Virginia Commonwealth.
With second place in the Atlantic 10 conference on the line, two players from the Columbus area were major thorns in the sides of the University of Dayton Flyers, leading Loyola of Chicago to a 77-72 win in Chicago, dropping UD to third place in the A-10 at 12-4. JaVon Bennett (pictured) sat out the second half with a hand injury.