Did I mention I love this time of year?

I do love this time of year, honestly, but it can also be gut-wrenching if you are a fan of a "bubble team" which I am. A Dayton alum actually. This certainly isn't the first time the Flyers have been in this situation. A couple of years back they were a 10-seed in the NCAAs and they were the very last team revealed on the selection show. Talk about nerve-wracking. I'm only a fan. Can't imagine being a player.

Anyway, they had the opportunity to put themselves far far from any bubble talk this year. They had two huge non-conference wins-at Louisville and then vs. Pitt. They beat Pittsburgh by 25 when the Panthers were fifth ranked. They were 14-1, nationally-ranked and then injuries absolutely devestated this program. They lost two players-one being their second leading scorer who hasn't played since. They only recently figured out how to win without him and finished the regular season 20-9, and 8-8 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. They are the 8 seed in the conference tourney which begins tomorrow. They open up their tournament with #9 Saint Louis. There prize for a first-round win is a match-up with rival and #1 seed Xavier!

I am not going to make all kinds of comparisons here and try and make a case for Dayton. It is too hard, and really doesn't mean much. Besides if that is what you want there are plenty of places to find it and plenty of people who like to predict the tournament field. Don't get me wrong, I love to look at it and try and hash it out, but the fact remains it is up to that committee and you can show me all of the numbers and compare all of the records you want-what it comes down to is what teams the individuals on the committee feel deserve to be there.

Do I think Dayton deserves to be there? Probably. I think they absolutely needed to win their last three conference games to get to .500 in league play. I originally thought they needed three conference tourney wins to get them to 23, then I saw the A-10 tournament draw and thought maybe 22 wins with one of them being over Xavier would get them in. Then some upsets in other conference tourneys and now I am just not sure what gets them in as an at-large. The one thing that remains certain is that if they can somehow reel off four wins in four days there in! Pretty simple. So I'll be rooting for just that.

I'll have my red and blue on tomorrow afternoon and probably tuning in to Bob Ramsey and Earl Austin Jr. on the Billikens broadcast. Game time is 11 am St. Louis time.

Go Flyers!!

One of my favorite times of the year!

Here we are, March! What a great time on the sports calendar. MLB starts in a few weeks, but before that. . .March Madness! I don't know if I can leagally use that term, but I'm not profiting from the site, so I'll use it. Point is this is a great time of the year, easily one of my favorites, and it starts tonight.

The Missouri Valley Conference tournament kicks off tonight at Scottrade Center with their opening round games. #8 Indiana State takes on #9 Wichita State is at 6:00 and then #7 Missouri State takes on #10 Evansville at 8:30.
By the way our GM, Tony, is a Missouri State alum and will be rooting hard for the Bears this weekend!

This will be the third consecutive season I have had the pleasure to work with the Valley staff during the tournament. I'll be one of a legion of media assistants. The Valley staff does a fantastic job on putting on the tournament and I am proud to be a part of it. The basketball is some of the best you'll find. The fan support is outstanding and it makes for a great atmosphere.

As you may know my heart lies with a certain Atlantic 10 team that is perched squarely on the bubble right now, the Dayton Flyers. I won't get into the Flyers at this point. I will talk more about them next week. I will only say they end the regular season on Saturday at home against St. Joe's. They need that win to stay in the NCAA conversation.

So join me at Scottrade Center this weekend, and don't forget the FL radio show airs Saturday afternoon. Details on that below!