The dUMP..No help again

[Masterofreality]

Once again the urine dump has refused to win a game that mattered in non-conference. Lose at New Mexico last night by 2.

While it isn't an embarrassing loss like, say, the Borecat debacle last night (tee-hee) it was another chance for that school up north to help the league rating, and once again the midget and his minions screw it up. With the pastry cart of a schedule that they played other than a couple of games, a win there was sorely needed...

...And once again, they abjectly fail.

[xufan02]

If Rob Lowery would have made a few shots this would have been a Flyer win. I have the MTN network and outside of an ugly first 12 minutes to start the game Dayton did not look bad. Rob Lowery took way to many shots and none went down. Chris Wright is no different than last year, athletic as they come but no shooting ability. London Warren suprisingly kept Dayton in the game with his hustle and defense.

[Blue Dog]

More like if Chris Johnson hadn't hit 3 prayers down the stretch it would have been a comfy 10 point win for the Lobos. Too bad the flyers can't shoot half as well as their fans can run their mouths.

This was supposed to be their big year, everybody but Little back from a team that finally won a game in the dance. So they promptly lose almost every big game on their sked, drop from the rankings and in my opinion look no better at all than last year. Their sophomores are carrying the offense, without them they would be in a world of hurt. They'll win some games with their defense and hustle but when they run into teams that can take care of the ball and actually make shots they are in trouble. Opposing coaches should slow it down and zone them. They will rarely shoot well enough to hurt you.

[golfitup]

I just looked up that UC only had just over 10,000 at their game this past week against 10th ranked UConn. I mean, how much longer are they gonna get by with this reputation of being a "basketball" school?

[Flyer1407]

Their sophomores are carrying the offense, without them they would be in a world of hurt.

Profound. If Dayton was missing an entire sophomore class they would be in trouble.

[AdamtheFlyer]

Profound. If Dayton was missing an entire sophomore class they would be in trouble.

LOL. Imagine how crappy Kentucky would be without those freshmen. Xavier would only have a couple wins without their sophomores! Clearly they aren't built to succeed!

Might want to at least wait until we see the results of Xavier's games at Wake and Florida before you cast stones for "losing nearly every big OOC" game. Dayton's lost 3 close games to top 15 caliber teams, and beaten a ranked GT, and a quality Old Dominion team. The pastycake schedule is ranked an atrocious 38, stronger than only 17 of the 29 teams ahead of them in the RPI. How embarrassing.

When the OOC wraps they'll be 11-3, ranked around 30 in the RPI and will have an OOC SOS in the low 40s. They're just awful.

[kyxu]

I gotta say, Xavier hasn't exactly lit their OOC on fire either. I suppose the only difference is Xavier's strong non-conference schedule has given it more chances for "signature" wins than UD. Then again, it also gives Xavier more chances to lose.

Still, I don't really think UD has necessarily blown its opportunities for big wins any more than Xavier. If Xavier doesn't win at Winston-Salem or in Gainesville -- two very tall orders -- it's pot calling the kettle.

[xsteve1]

Dayton's best win is ODU. Ga. Tech is very mediocre and poorly coached, they have an RPI as of yesterday that was in the 90's, with their win over Charlotte they are now 64. New Mexico will be a bubble team come March.

[PMI]

I don't think it's that Dayton has blown it necessarily. They just haven't yet shown that ability to step up when they needed against the kind of teams you would have to face in the NCAA tournament. The last few years when we earned our high seeds we had stepped up multiple times during the season and found ways to win those games. If I'm a Flyer fan, in order for me to be comfortable that they can win a game or two in March I would have needed to have seen one or two of those games pulled off. Then again, if a were a Flyer fan, I'd have gauged my eyes out with a rusty spoon long ago.

[bobbiemcgee]

Dayton's best win is ODU. Ga. Tech is very mediocre and poorly coached, they have an RPI as of yesterday that was in the 90's, with their win over Charlotte they are now 64. New Mexico will be a bubble team come March.

Bubble Team? They're 14-1 and in the Top 20. They beat Miami by 25 and another top 20 team by 15. Odds on favorite now to win the MWC.
Nobody want to play the Lobos.

[AdamtheFlyer]

I don't think it's that Dayton has blown it necessarily. They just haven't yet shown that ability to step up when they needed against the kind of teams you would have to face in the NCAA tournament. The last few years when we earned our high seeds we had stepped up multiple times during the season and found ways to win those games. If I'm a Flyer fan, in order for me to be comfortable that they can win a game or two in March I would have needed to have seen one or two of those games pulled off. Then again, if a were a Flyer fan, I'd have gauged my eyes out with a rusty spoon long ago.

A spoon would be too easy. The spork does the job best.

The only damage Dayton has done is with seeding or the need to win a game in AC, and even then it's not a given that's been hurt either. Good chance they go no worse 7-1 at home in the A10, meaning they will only have to split the road games to hit the magical 11 win mark, and they're certainly good enough to do that. If they can't win 11 A10 games, they really won't deserve an at-large anyway. Hypothetically, if UD goes 11-5 and wins the A10 tourney, they're likely to get a 6-7 seed. One extra win might have meant a 5 seed, which is a negligible difference.

Even if they had won at NM or one of the losses in Puerto Rico, they'd still have to win 11 games in league play and finish in the top 4. It's just life in the A10, 10-6 and/or finishing 5th in league play is a likely NIT spot, regardless of how you do OOC.

[xsteve1]

The problem with UD is that they were supposed to be the team to carry the A10 flag this year like X has done the last 3 and at the moment they have not lived up to expectations.

[AdamtheFlyer]

I don't think the league needs a single "flagship" school in the OOC. Dayton has beaten Georgia Tech, Xavier has beaten UC and has a good chance to beat Wake today. Richmond has beaten Florida. Temple has beaten Nova and was ranked in the top 20. That's just a partial list of wins and success for the league.

The league as a whole is carrying itself just fine, and has set itself up for 3-4 bids between 5 or so schools. As always, the bids will come down to which 3-4 teams do best in league play and which school wins the tourney.