WSU Versus Dayton Predictions and Pregame Discussions

[molly jabali]

At this point it doesn't matter whether the Shocks are underseeded (which they are) or not or favored by Vegas. You still have to take the floor and take care of business against a quality basketball team. We have our annual "rust vs rest" situation which, at least in the Shocks recent history seems to support the rest is best case.

Total respect for the Dayton program. Worse thing about this games is that a Non-P5 will be knocked out early which, of course, is by design.

I totally agree, especially with the 'totally by design' thing....beginning to hate the powers that be...

[WheatShock]

I totally agree, especially with the 'totally by design' thing....beginning to hate the powers that be...

Beginning to? I started hating them months ago on the assumption that they would screw us, I just beat the rush and start hating them in November.

[Shocker1976]

At this point it doesn't matter whether the Shocks are underseeded (which they are) or not or favored by Vegas. You still have to take the floor and take care of business against a quality basketball team. We have our annual "rust vs rest" situation which, at least in the Shocks recent history seems to support the rest is best case.

Total respect for the Dayton program. Worse thing about this games is that a Non-P5 will be knocked out early which, of course, is by design.

Surely the NCAA understands that what puts the Madness into March is the David and Goliath aspects of the tournament, especially in the early rounds.

If the P-5 conferences had their own tournament I doubt I would have much interest until maybe the Elite 8, if that. Maybe turn into the Semi-Finals and the Finals or matbe not. Of course, these decisions are about one thing and one thing only. Maintaining power and the almighty dollar for the P-5's as much as they possibly can.

Agree totally, especially regards the P5 having their own tournament (which IMO for the most part they already have). When the P5 puts the total screws to the non-P5 schools then for me March Madness will be dead and I will watch it as infrequently as I watch NCAA football.

[Flyer Visitor]

Hello Shocker Faithful. I see everyone on your board is picking WSU and everyone over on our board is picking UD. Surprise-Surprise. :orange:

Everyone does seem to agree the committee loves to pair up very good mid-majors in the first round so they can take out one of them, reducing the chance of a midmajor going off on a hot run by half.

It should be a good game. Most (not all) are predicting a close game. Both teams are pretty good 3 teams. You guys have been better lately in that area since you made the guard changes. We like to run and play fast. We didn't do that the last two games. Nobody stopped us from doing that. We simply didn't give the effort. It didn't work out so well so my guess is we will be pushing the tempo hard in this game. Last spring our big guy died from heart failure. He was a rising star as a redshirt freshman. Set the school record for a season in shot blocks and was on his way to being a superstar. Huge loss personally, emotionally and on the court for this team. Big Steve always had a million-watt smile on his face.

His loss A big reason we lack offensive rebounding. To add to the loss, our best rebounder (Cunningham) was also lost in the second game this year. He is just getting back, but only about 75% and doesn't start yet, nor play many minutes. Al that factored in, we have held our own in defensive rebounding most games. It's probably been the biggest surprise for me this season.

We mailed in the last too games after winning the regular season conference title. The fans know it. The coach knew it that night when the team was taking too much time celebrating with the student section and so Miller went up and cut all the net ropes himself. We will see if the team remembers there is work to be done to finish this season. I doubt there is any celebrating or resting on your laurels in getting ready for the Shockers. With 4 seniors in our top 6-player rotation, we should have the experience to move past the last two games.

The Flyer fans have great respect for your program. Over the years, there have been many who compare our two programs and great coaches. Many have wondered why we haven't played each other more in recent years. I'm sure the media will be all-over the quality of both these coaches. If they stay away from the "leave for a top 15 program" dialog, it will be very good national pub for both programs.

We play our best when we play fast. We will push the tempo. Other than Cunningham, our guys are conditioned for that type of game. You guys can go 10-deep to counter that. We are rock solid in our first 6. The next 3 are Cunningham and 2 sophomores, who have both made big contributions at times, but there is a drop off and inconsistency.

Finally, the Flyer Faithful are one of the best fan bases in the nation. That's been documented by many media reports. We average 13,000 in attendance - which has been the norm for years. There is a reason we host the First Four - it's because we sell tickets to that fan base better than anyone can, even to see 8 team that are not the Flyers play. And those numbers don't tell the story on how well our fans travel. Indy being in the center of the US and an easy drive from Dayton and Chicago (huge alum base) will bring in 1,000s of UD fans. But Flyer fans will also fly in. I know 4 coming from San Francisco. I'm not a UD alum, but my niece is, so I have Flyer swag. I live several states west of Ohio. Every time I wear Dayton gear, someone comments on it or I run into an alum. I wear a lot of different college clothing, and nothing compares to when I wear Dayton. I've never seen anything like it. The Flyer Faithful will show up and they will be "LOWD". Spelled the Dayton way - because our loud is different than any other loud out there.

[Cdizzle]

Time to find out if we have learned how to play defense!

[pie n eye]

Should be a good game. I haven't seen them play this year but it sounds like Dayton likes to run and play small ball. A better version of Loyola perhaps? Shockers will have to play well to win. I would rather play a "major conf" team but we're in and that's all we can ask for. Let's roll the balls out and see what happens.

[Blackmag]

Well we got our seeding (underseeded), we have our opponent Dayton who are a very good team with a good young coach. We didn't think they would give us anyone who was a pushover right? So now the best coach with a great staff will put together a game plan to get the win and set up the rematch with Kentucky. Sure seems like there trying to rid the tourney of as many non-power 5s as possible. Nothing new, just follow the money to the big stinking turd which is the NCAA.

[Eric]

78-65 seems to be a decent March number. I will go with that.

[Speak2me]

Dayton is a good team. This will not be an easy first round game as many anticipate. They play small ball and gun away. We will dominate inside as we please, but if they are hitting threes the game could be close. I think the Shockers win, but I think 6.5 is too many points myself.

[Horn28Clem30]

Shaq and DW get anything they please, sprinkle in a little CF, LS, and MM, ZB locks down Smith which in turn cuts the head of the proverbial snake, this game gets ugly in a hurry.

Shocks - 81
Dayton - 63

[Stickboy46]

Dayton is a good team. This will not be an easy first round game as many anticipate. They play small ball and gun away. We will dominate inside as we please, but if they are hitting threes the game could be close. I think the Shockers win, but I think 6.5 is too many points myself.

We actually shoot a higher percentage from 3 than Dayton (40.7% good for 3rd in the nation vs 38.7), and get around the same percent of our points from 3.

[MJ23]

It could be a monster day for Shaq - 24pts and 12 boards

[WheatShock]

I like our chances if we can make this a half court game. Dayton wants to get out and run so make them play slow.

Dayton has lots of experience so we'll see how much our guards learned from the OSU game.

[LoneStar48]

Place where planes originated - 76

Place that ended up making the planes - 82


All this "small ball" talk has me thinking the Royals are due for another World Series run!

[Bluzrover]

I think this will be a close game and is the Shox' to lose. I don't want to take anything away from the Flyers, they are a good, good team. But I believe they have yet to meet a defense as stingy as ours and I'm positive 3G will have the defense dialed in for this game. This may boil down to who hits their 3s. Again, with our defense dialed in, Zach, Landry and Markis blanketing Scoochie, we need only play offense the way we've been playing all season. If Landry AND Conner are hitting their 3s, it will be a long evening for the Flyers.

Shox by 7.