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Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury.
I come before you to advocate for a safe at-large bid (ALB) for the Dayton Flyers and to dispute and change 3 of the projections of Charlie Creme. Acknowledging that some tournaments are still on going, and that Creme has not updated his projections based on today's completed games, specifically South Dakota State's loss to South Dakota in their final. ( The Jackrabbits couldn't make a shot in the paint in the 4th quarter.) Creme still has them as an Automatic Qualifier (AQ) and South Dakota as an ALB. Announcers seemed to believe SDSt would not get an ALB, even though the 2 teams were so close over the season, SDSt got the top conference seed by ranking 2 places higher in the NET. I would keep both teams in the tournament.
Let me start by saying the A-10 has several strong teams, and with good coaches and players, is the best it's been in years. That should be acknowledged by 2 teams in the NCAA. The league scheduled Power 5 opponents and beat some. And many mid-majors. That should be rewarded.
Creme's last 8 In are, in reverse order.Arkansas, South Dakota (now an AQ,) Washington State, Gonzaga, Missouri State, Missouri, Florida State and (last in) Dayton. I take out Arkansas, Missouri and especially Florida State, which would be to the consternation of The SEC and ACC.
Creme's last 8 out are Villanova, Northwestern, Boston College, UCLA (it's a joke they're even on this list at 8-8, 14-12 with no significant OOC wins,) Alabama , Duke (another joke to consider them at 7-11, 17-13,) DePaul, Marquette.
I would add to the tournament Villanova, Northwestern and another Big East team, maybe DePaul. Creme has 2 Big East teams going. I couldn't quite figure out who the second team was besides UConn. I would put a total of 3 Big East teams in.
Missouri State at 14 - 4, 23 -6, should keep their "in" spot with OOC wins over Southern Cal, Va Tech, South Dakota State and Toledo (26-4,) Oh yeah, and Missouri. And have won 8 of 9,
The 2 SEC teams I would eliminate are both 7 - 9 in conference. I am categorically opposed to inviting a team that can't go .500 in their league. Arkansas (18-13) had no significant OOC wins, with "good" losses to UConn, UCF and Creighton and have lost 5 of their last 7, Missouri's (18-12) best OOC win was Columbia (which is very good) They did beat Big 10 Illinois (1-13, 7-20,). but so did everybody else. And the Tigers have lost 6 of 8 and carry that further to 10 of 15.
My biggest complaint is about Florida State. 10 - 8, 17 - 13 , which is one spot ahead of Dayton on Creme's list.
They are in the ACC and they have won 5 of 7, And have Top 25 wins over Norte Dame and Ga Tech. That's about all that's in their favor. They have a winning conference record but only 17 - 13 overall. They have no significant OOC victory. A win over Illinois but a loss to Purdue, 7 - 11, 16 - 14.
To counter that, DAYTON is 25 - 5. Wins over Illinois, Purdue (see the line above,) and Clemson. Losses to Duke, Florida and Mississippi State, plus splitting the series with VCU and UMass. Besides the VCU/UMass wins, Flyers also beat Toledo, Fordham and URI twice. I'd say that trumps Florida State.
Dayton should be comfortably in at this point.
Thank you for your attention. Comments and discussion welcome.
The prosecution rests.
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Please. The reason one uses acronyms is to shorten the effort to pronounce something ("National Football League" is much longer than "NFL", for example). There is no efficiency gained by changing "at-large bid" to "ALB", and it would not be capitalized because it is not shortening a proper name. So just call it what it is, an at-large bid. Sorry kiddies.
As for the substance of the post, Dayton should get a bid, the women´s selections tend to be less driven by dollar bills than the men´s.