Men's basketball NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy, every game vital
Danny Vohden - Senior Sports Writer
February 25, 2010
If you haven't pushed the panic button yet, now would be a good time to do so.
With just a few games remaining on its schedule, the men's basketball team finds itself in serious jeopardy of missing out on the NCAA Tournament.
Going into Wednesday's game against Temple, the Flyers had dropped five conference games by a combined total of 11 points. The team has really only one true road win in conference, which was against St. Bonaventure; the other win came against Fordham at Madison Square Garden.
The road woes have Flyer fans shaking and scratching their heads. How could a team with so much talent struggle this badly on the road in conference?
Amazingly enough however, several of the experts still believe the Flyers should be dancing.
ESPN's resident bracketologist Joe Lunardi has UD as one of the last four teams in the tournament as a 12 seed, according to his latest bracket on Monday.
Lunardi has incorrectly picked just two teams in the last two tournaments and had a chance to see the Flyers first hand in January as he is the color commentator for St. Joe's basketball.
Another ESPN college basketball expert also believes that the Flyers should be dancing.
"Dayton's nonconference resume has them in," Doug Gottlieb said during a Monday edition of Sports Center. "They're starting to back pedal, but still quality wins out of conference."
With just three games remaining, UD absolutely needs to win the final two at home, and probably has to knock off conference leader Richmond on the road.
After that, the final chance at a resume builder is the Atlantic 10 tournament. Due to a change in the format for this year, the first round games are played at the home court of the higher seed. This should provide the Flyers with a first round home game, and help to better secure a trip to the second round in Atlantic City.
Making the dance is going to be tough but it's still a possibility. If not, this team could go down as one of the biggest disappointments in school history.