March Forecast: Dayton Flyers stay in hunt for a No. 1 seed

Dayton was a No. 1 seed on 23 of the 86 predictions listed on BracketMatrix.com on Thursday morning. Last week, only eight had Dayton in that category.

With Dayton rising to No. 3 in the Associated Press top-25 poll this week, it’s important to note that has nothing to do with the NCAA tournament selection committee’s process. However, it does show just how high Dayton has climbed in the national consciousness.

Here's where Dayton stands in the various rankings: third in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (one better than last week and as high as it has been all season), fifth in the Ken Pomeroy ratings (one better), eighth in the Haslametrics ratings (10 spots better than last week), sixth in ESPN's Basketball Power Index (two spots better) and ninth in the Sagarin ratings (three spots better).

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Below is a list of what a few of the experts are saying about where Dayton could land in the bracket.

Mike DeCourcy, Fox Sports/The Sporting News: No. 2 seed Dayton vs. No. 15 Colgate.

» POLL NEWS: Flyers rise again in top 25

Joe Lunardi, ESPN: No. 2 seed Dayton vs. No. 15 Wright State in Cleveland.

Jerry Palm, CBSSports.com: No. 2 Dayton vs. No. 15 Wright State in Cleveland.

Jonathon Warriner, MakingTheMadness.com: No. 2 Dayton vs. No. 15 North Dakota State in Cleveland.

Kerry Miller, BleacherReport.com: No. 2 Dayton vs. No. 15 South Dakota State in Cleveland.

DelphiBracketology.com: No. 2 Dayton vs. No. 15 UC Irvine in Cleveland.

Patrick Stevens, Washington Post: No. 2 Dayton vs. No. 15 Wright State in Cleveland.

131Sports: No. 1 Dayton vs. No. 16 St. Francis (Pa.) in Cleveland.

AkeyBracket: No. 1 Dayton vs. No. 16 Winthrop in Cleveland.