Dayton Flyers a top-10 team in first NET ranking of season

According to NCAA.com, the “NET is the primary ranking system that the NCAA developed to replace the RPI starting last season after consultation with the Division I Men2 's Basketball Committee, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, basketball analytics experts and Google Cloud Professional Services. The ranking system relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.”

» ARCHDEACON: Watson’s career high ignites Flyers

Dayton ranked 69th in the first NET ranking last season and finished 70th. Those results came out two and a half weeks earlier than the first rankings this season.

Dayton (8-1), which plays No. 98 North Texas at 7 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena, is off to its best start since the 2008-09 season, and if it climbs from No. 14 in the Associated Press poll, it will ranker higher in that poll than it has since the 1960s.

» GAME PREVIEW: Dayton vs. North Texas

Ohio State is No. 1 in the NET. Kansas, the only team to beat Dayton, is No. 2. Wright State ranks 117th. In addition to Dayton, two other Atlantic 10 teams rank in the top 25: No. 20 Duquesne (9-0) and No. 22 Richmond (9-1).

Dayton’s best victories, according to the NET, are against No. 62 Virginia Tech, No. 64 Saint Mary’s, No. 76 Georgia and No. 85 Indiana State. The Flyers play No. 31 Colorado on Saturday in Chicago.