BROOKLYN — It’s championship Sunday for the Dayton Flyers and the VCU Rams. The Atlantic 10 Conference championship game is basically a play-in game for the NCAA tournament. One of these teams could be on their way to Sacramento, one of the first-round sites, in a few days or facing a shorter trip to Columbus. That’s part of the fun of Selection Sunday, finding out your destination for the week ahead.

For Dayton fans, March 12 has the chance to become a memorable date for a different reason. Three years ago today, the A-10 tournament and NCAA tournament were cancelled within hours of each other, ending Dayton’s historic 29-2 season. VCU had similar heartbreak a year later when it made the NCAA tournament but had to withdraw without playing a game because of positive COVID-19 tests.

Both teams deserve a happy ending because of that bad luck. Only one team will get it.

This game is important for many reasons. A reader has a special reason for wanting Dayton to win. This email popped up in my inbox minutes ago.

Good Morning, David. My name is Alex Frecska, I am 22 years old and I have been going to all home basketball games with my grandpa ever since I was 2 years old. He has had season tickets for over 40 years. His name is Gary Balonier and also graduated from UD. Yesterday, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He is having surgery today at 1 PM ( same time as the game.) His surgery is extremely risky and could last up to 8 hours. I was wondering if you could give him some sort of prayer/shoutout so that when he wakes up from his surgery, he sees Dayton was thinking of him as well. This is an odd request I’m sure, but I am a devoted Flyer fan now because of him. Anything you can do would mean the world to us.

Putting this email here in this diary entry was the best thing I could think of because I know Dayton fans will say a prayer for Gary.

9:30 a.m.

Last night, Tom Archdeacon and I wrapped up a long day at the Barclays Center and walked down the street to the Fourth Avenue Pub with plans to have one beer before heading to dinner. Then three Dayton fans showed up, and one beer turned into several. I always enjoy talking to UD fans. They fund my travels to all of Dayton’s road games by subscribing to the paper. I would have bought some beers, but Arch was quick with the wallet and told me to do the same for younger reporters someday.

We all lost an hour of sleep because of the time change. I still made time to run across the Brooklyn Bridge this morning. It’s easier to run with such an amazing view. The bridge was packed. It was a beautiful sunny day.

If I had time, I could have kept going straight and ran to the CBS building, where the selection show takes place at 6 p.m. I visited the studio four years ago because a Dayton-area native, former Dayton Daily News sports writer Marc Katz’s son, worked at CBS, and I wrote about his Selection Sunday experiences.