DAYTON - The Dayton Flyers start conference play Wednesday, when they travel to North Carolina, to face the Davidson Wildcats. UD was the preseason pick to win the Atlantic 10 and the Flyers are the highest-ranked team in the conference coming out of the non-conference schedule. UD is ranked number 25 in the NET, which stands for NCAA Evaluation Tool.
From NCAA.com, the NET is one of many resources/tools available to the committee in the selection, seeding and bracketing process for March Madness. The NET has two components: the Team Value Index, which is based on game results and factors the result, the game location and outcome. The other component is net efficiency (offensive efficiency minus defensive efficiency), which is adjusted to account for the strength of the opponent and the location of the game.
Dayton is currently a Quad 1 team from their 10-2 record and challenging non-conference schedule. Listed below are the quadrants and where the Flyers opponents currently sit in the NET Rankings.
Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75.
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135.
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240.
Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353.
November 6 (Home)
SIUE Cougars 8-7 (1-1) Ohio Valley Conference NET: 269 Quad 4
A second-half surge led the Flyers to a 63-47 victory over the Cougars in the season opener. Dayton was the only Quad 1 opponent for SIUE. The Cougars' best win in the non-conference was a Quad 3 victory over Denver 77-74. OVC play started over the weekend with the Cougars beating Eastern Illinois 67-58 and losing Sunday, to Western Illinois 78-70.
November 10 (Away)
Northwestern Wildcats 10-3 (1-1) Big Ten NET: 80 Quad 2
Despite shooting over 50% from the field and from three, Dayton lost at Northwestern 71-66. The Wildcats are 2-1 against Quad 1 opponents with their other win coming against #3 Purdue and a 66-57 loss to Mississippi State. Their other two loses come in state with a Quad 4 defeat to Chicago State 75-73 and a 96-66 loss to Quad 1 Illinois.
November 16 (Neutral)
LSU Tigers 8-5 (0-0) SEC NET: 137 Quad 3
Nate Santos capped off a thrilling comeback against the Tigers with a game-winning three at the Shriners Children's Hospitals Charleston Classic. LSU grabbed their best wins of the season to conclude the tournament beating Quad 2 Wake Forrest and Quad 3 North Texas. The Tigers start the SEC with a Quad 1 opponent playing #18 Texas A&M on the road this Saturday.
November 17 (Neutral)
St. John's Red Storm 10-4 (2-1) Big East NET: 46 Quad 1
Five Flyers hit double figures in scoring and Dayton claimed a spot in the finals at the Charleston Classic beating St. John's 88-81. Like LSU, the Red Storm also found some of their best wins of the season in South Carolina, taking down Quad 1 Utah 91-82 and edging Quad 2 North Texas 53-52. Rick Pitino's squad started Big East play with a Quad 2 win over Xavier, a 69-65 loss on the road to Quad 1 UConn and last night they grabbed another Quad 2 victory by beating Butler. There are 9 Big East programs ranked in the top 100 of the NET.
November 19 (Neutral)
Houston Cougars 13-0 (0-0) Big 12 NET: 1 Quad 1
Kelvin Sampson and the Cougars won the Charleston Classic with a 69-55 victory over Dayton. Houston is the number one ranked team in the NET and just one of three teams still unbeaten. The Cougars finished 2023 with an 81-42 win over Penn. The Big 12 has had a strong non-conference showing with five teams in the top 20 of the NET.
November 24 (Home)
Youngstown State Penguins 10-4 (2-1) Horizon League NET: 131 Quad 3
Black Friday featured a Flyers W, UD topped YSU 77-69. The Penguins won seven straight following the loss to the Flyers. The winning streak ended on Sunday, with YSU losing their first game in the Horizon League to another Flyer opponent in the Oakland Golden Grizzlies 88-81. Dayton has played two of the top three teams in the NET out of the Horizon League.
November 29 (Away)
SMU Mustangs 10-4 (1-0) American Athletic Conference NET: 45 Quad 1
Koby Brea scored the last three baskets for Dayton and the Flyers picked up a huge road win in Dallas, beating SMU 65-63. The Mustangs feature four Quad 3 wins against Florida State, West Virginia, Murray State, and Charlotte. SMU has a big opportunity this Saturday, when they hit the road to face Quad 1 Memphis.
December 2 (Home)
Grambling State Tigers 3-10 (0-0) SWAC NET: 350 Quad 4
Starting December with a bang, Dayton beat Grambling State 76-46. Nate Santos went for a career-high 26 points and UD entered the locker room at half leading by 24. The Tigers hold the worst NET Ranking on the Flyers schedule and start SWAC play Saturday at home against Prairie View A&M.
December 9 (Home)
Troy Trojans 7-6 (1-0) Sun Belt NET: 249 Quad 4
The Flyers had a season-high 10 blocks and extended to their winning streak to four as they topped the Trojans 82-70. The Trojans opened up Sun Belt play on Saturday against Coastal Carolina winning 72-65.
December 16 (Neutral)
Cincinnati Bearcats 11-2 (0-0) Big 12 NET: 38 Quad 1
Daron Holmes II poured in 28, Koby Elvis scored 27, and UD grabbed their best non-conference win against UC beating the Bearcats 82-68. Cincinnati finished the non-conference schedule 11-2 without a Quad 1 or Quad 2 victory. UC was 5-0 against Quad 3 opponents. They open Big 12 play with 6 straight Quad 1 games starting on the road at BYU, who ranks #2 in the NET.
December 20 (Home)
Oakland Golden Grizzlies 7-8 (2-2) Horizon League NET: 118 Quad 3
Dayton set a school record with 18 made threes in a game as the Flyers cruised to a 91-67 victory over the Golden Grizzlies. Oakland's tough non-conference schedule served them well on Sunday, winning on the road at Quad 3 Youngstown State. The Golden Grizzlies feature a Quad 1 win at Xavier and played six games against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents.
December 30 (Home)
Longwood Lancers 12-3 (0-0) Big South NET: 105 Quad 3
UD used a 15-1 run in the second half to top the Lancers 78-69. The loss was Longwood's second Quad 1 defeat of the season, both coming against the Atlantic 10. The Lancers opened the season losing at St. Bonaventure 73-69 but bounced back nicely, winning 12 in a row. They open Big South play on the road tonight at Winthrop.
The Flyers non-conference schedule was designed to give Dayton the opportunity to compete for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and head coach Anthony Grant, addressed that to the media following UD's win over Longwood.
"You want to put together a schedule where you have a strong resume at the end of the year," commented coach Grant. "At Dayton, hopefully we can create paths where we don't have to just rely on winning three or four games at the end of the year to get into the tournament. A path where we can build a resume where we can be an at-large caliber team. That's what we try to do and, I think right now where we stand, we have an opportunity as we move into conference play to control our destiny as a group."
For more information and updated rankings from the NET, CLICK HERE.
