BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- The one hope of Flyer fans (including this one) at the end of every hoops campaign can be summed up in this solitary thought:
That the question is not if the Flyers are playing in the Big Dance, but where
We got our collective wish this year, despite a semi-meaningless loss to GW and a quarter final exit from the A-10 Tournament in Pittsburgh. Sure, UD Pride MB poster Tony T 71 still had to start his annual “UD Bubble Watch” thread, but truth be told, there was NFW the Committee was going to bounce a team with an RPI of 21 because of the above minor setbacks.
And they didn’t.
What they probably did do was move UD from a #6 seed to a #7; VCU came in at a #10 and
URI as a #11.
That’s respect.
What they also did was match the Flyers up with a grossly under-seeded #10 in Wichita State. Thanks a lot guys.
That’s questionable.
The Committee also wisely neglected to include Syracuse, with their #84 RPI, 18-14 record and a penchant for not playing anybody on the road, as their 2-11 record away from the Carrier Dome indicates.
That’s progress.
Still, the Committee continued the annoying habit of pitting non-Power 5 conference teams against each other in the 1st Round, vis-a-vis, UD/WSU, Gonzaga/SDSU and St. Mary’s/VCU.
That still needs some work.
Lots to cover in this NCAA Tournament edition of “FTS”:
-- The NCAA and CBS/Turner Sports have released the tip times and announcer pairings for the NCAAs. Not only is UD/WSU in prime time on CBS, we get the A Team in Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson:
http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.c...ncer-pairings/
Coupla funny pieces on the irrepressible Raftery:
From competitor
FoxSports.com:
http://www.foxsports.com/college-bas...phrases-030717
From
The New York Post:
http://nypost.com/2017/03/11/bill-ra...ncaa-memories/
-- Quite a tribute to Big Steve from Jeremiah Bonsu in
The Players Tribune:
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/un...teve-mcelvene/
-- If that doesn’t get you going, then this video surely will:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7veX70XSkM
--
Campus Insiders takes a look at the Flyers and Shockers:
https://campusinsiders.com/news/dayt...ew-03-07-2017/
-- Matt Norlander at
CBS Sports includes UD/WSU in his list of “Top five must-watch first-round games”:
http://www.cbssports.com/college-bas...madness-games/
-- Meanwhile,
Sports on Earth has WSU over UD as their #1 first round upset:
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...ng-first-round
-- Proving my point above about matching Dayton vs. WSU,
Bleacher Report includes UD in a list of “Teams that got screwed by the NCAA Bracket”:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...e-ncaa-bracket
-- The Dayton Flyers rank #37 in terms of team nicknames:
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article...kname-rankings
-- My buddy David Levy at Turner Broadcasting had a hand in wisely trimming the Selection Sunday Show from 90 minutes to 60 and cutting to the chase with the release of the brackets:
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-bas...deznx2ytkpgeau
--
“The Sweet Tweets of the Week” come from a reliable source in Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports:
Wichita State and Dayton have combined for 10 total victories in the past three NCAA Tournaments. One of the best matchups in Round of 64.
And a totally unexpected one, in perennial knucklehead Doug Gottlieb:
Dayton over Wichita. Dayton starts all seniors, all tourney tested, not soft. Will be a good game, but UD is impeccably coached like WSU
That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at:
swampy@udpride.com