Dayton a top-40 team in first NET ranking of season

Flyers play Western Michigan and Lehigh at home this week
Dayton's Amaël L'Etang celebrates after a basket against Connecticut in the Maui Invitational on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, at the Lahaina Civic Center. David Jablonski/Staff

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

Dayton's Amaël L'Etang celebrates after a basket against Connecticut in the Maui Invitational on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024, at the Lahaina Civic Center. David Jablonski/Staff

The Dayton Flyers are No. 40 in the first NCAA Evaluation Tool ranking of the season. The NET rankings came out Monday and will be updated on a daily basis on the NCAA’s website.

Following a 1-2 finish last week in the Maui Invitational, where Dayton lost to North Carolina and Iowa State before beating Connecticut, Dayton is the highest-ranked Atlantic 10 Conference team.

No. 57 St. Bonaventure (6-1), No. 58 Rhode Island (6-0), No. 69 Loyola Chicago (5-0), No. 72 Virginia Commonwealth (5-2) and No. 79 George Mason (4-3) are also in the top 100.

Dayton is the third highest-ranked team from Ohio behind No. 11 Cincinnati (6-0) and No. 13 Ohio State (5-2). Wright State (3-4) is No. 110. Miami (4-2) is No. 146.

Tennessee, Auburn, Gonzaga, Duke and Pittsburgh are the top five teams in the NET.

Dayton is 1-2 in Quadrant 1 games with a victory against No. 39 Connecticut and losses to No. 26 North Carolina and No. 19 Iowa State. Dayton is 1-0 in Quad 2 with a victory against No. 73 Northwestern. Dayton is 3-0 in Quad 3 with victories against No. 238 Saint Francis (2-6), No. 241 New Mexico State (2-4) and No. 318 Ball State (1-5).

Based on the current rankings, Dayton has two Quad 4 games this week at UD Arena: Tuesday against No. 263 Western Michigan (2-4); and Saturday against No. 302 Lehigh (1-5).

Dayton then has a Quad 1 game on Dec. 14 against No. 7 Marquette (8-0) at UD Arena. It plays a Quad 3 game against UNLV (4-3) on Dec. 17 at UD Arena and then a Quad 1 game against Cincinnati at Heritage Bank Arena in Cincinnati on Dec. 20 in its final non-conference game.

Dayton has finished higher than its initial ranking five seasons in a row. Here’s where Dayton has started in the NET and where it has finished over the years:

• Last season, Dayton ranked 42nd in the first NET ranking and finished at No. 23.

• In the 2022-23 season, Dayton ranked 163rd in the first NET ranking and finished 78th.

• In the 2021-22 season, Dayton ranked 95th in the first NET ranking and finished 52nd.

• In the 2020-21 season, Dayton was No. 111 in the first ranking and finished 90th.

• In the 2019-20 season, Dayton debuted at No. 10 and finished the season at No. 3.

• In 2018-19, the first season of the NET, Dayton ranked 47th in the first release and 69th at the end of the season.

Credit: David Jablonski

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