Dayton was picked to finish first in the Atlantic 10 heading into the 2010-11 season. The Flyers finished ninth. But now, on Selection Sunday, Dayton can still make the 2011 NCAA Tournament by topping Richmond in the Atlantic 10 Conference final.
The Flyers have made a deep run in the Atlantic 10 Tournament by topping Massachusetts, Xavier, and St. Joseph's over the last three days, but there's no way Dayton gets an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament field given the latest bracketology and field projections. So if the Flyers want to make sure they go dancing this March Madness, they will need to beat Richmond — which won the only regular season meeting between the two teams 70-61 in Dayton on January 25 — to earn the Atlantic 10's automatic berth.
Richmond, on the other hand, is looking to shore up its NCAA Tournament seeding. The Spiders knocked off defending Atlantic 10 champion Temple on Saturday, are currently projected as an 11 seed in Chris Dobbertean's projection, and could move up a line with a throttling of Dayton.
The Atlantic 10 Tournament final takes place at 1 p.m. on CBS.
For more on Dayton, Richmond, and the Atlantic 10, check out SB Nation Philadelphia's coverage of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.