What the ‘experts’ are saying about UD’s chances vs. Nevada

Pictured is DaRon Holmes II from the UD Men’s Basketball team at the A-10 Tournament. Photo courtesy of Oliva Shirk for Flyer News.

James Tong | Contributing Writer

DAYTON, Ohio – The Dayton Flyers (24-7) will face the Nevada Wolf Pack (26-7) at

4:30 on Thursday afternoon in wat many writers expect to be a close game. Both teams

lost the first game of their conference tournament after both were expected to go far in those

tournaments.

No. 10 seed Nevada is seen by many sports writers and experts to be the winner of this

matchup despite being the lower seeded team to No. 7-seed Dayton. Among the experts that have

Nevada winning are most notably ESPN’s Jay Bilas, Joe Lunardi along with NCAA.com’s Andy

Katz.

“They (Nevada) have a team that’s already won a tournament (Diamond Head Classic).

They’ve got a lot of momentum and I love the way they’re playing,” Katz said on NCAA.com.

While Katz has the Flyers falling to the Wolf Pack, he also listed Flyers star big man,

DaRon Holmes II, as one of the top players in the tournament in a post on Instagram after his

prediction.

Bilas said that, “Dayton will be a tough out because it has a true star in Holmes and solid

pieces around him. Six players hit more than 24 3s in the regular season, with four guys hitting

more than 40. The Mountain West has disappointed in past years, but Nevada has a very good

backcourt, I am taking the Wolf Pack.”

The team at The Athletic is at a split in its decision between the two teams. The

experts say that they can see Nevada winning for three reasons. The first is that they have been

winning and are “on fire in February and March,” the second being their guards, and the third is

that they have beaten strong teams. For the Flyers, the experts say that they can see them

winning since they have players such as Holmes and have a strong offense.

Chris Murray of NSN gave a more neutral statement, saying that “this is a tough one for

the Wolf Pack.” 

Murray then took a look at Holmes’s statistics, backing up how tough a game

this will be for Nevada. Murray however cites the Flyers weak defense for a team that made the

tournament and that they are the “fourth-worst of any at-large team” according to KenPom.

It’s clear that a lot of the focus regarding players is on Holmes, who just made the AP

All-American Second Team. Holmes also was a first-team All-A-10 player, A-10 Defensive

Player of the Year, and A-10 Co-Player of the Year. 

Other players to watch for Dayton include forward Nate Santos and guard Koby Brea. Santos

was placed on the third-team All- A-10 this year, while Brea won his second A-10 Sixth Man of 

the Year Award while also being amongst the top players in 3-point percentage in college 

basketball.

Players to watch for Nevada are guards Kenan Blackshear and Jarod Lucas, who were both 

second-team All-MWC players. Another notable player for Nevada is third team

All-MWC forward Nick Davidson.

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