The sophomore forward Holmes, like many Flyers before him, had to answer a question about Dayton’s drought on Tuesday.
“Do you take any motivation from the fact that Dayton hasn’t won this tournament in 20 years?” he was asked.
“Yeah, I’m definitely motivated,” Holmes said, “and we’re going to prove why we’re the best team.”
The A-10 tournament started Tuesday at the Barclays Center in Brookly, N.Y., with three games involving the bottom six seeds. The higher seeds won each game.
• No. 12 seed Richmond routed No. 13 Massachusetts 71-38 in UMass coach Frank Martin’s A-10 tournament debut.
• No. 15 Loyola Chicago, a first-time A-10 tournament participant, rallied late before losing 72-67 to No. 10 Saint Joseph’s.
• No. 11 La Salle ended a five-game losing streak with a 73-56 victory against Rhode Island, whose coach Archie Miller returned to the tournament for the first-time since a quarterfinal loss with No. 1 seed Dayton in 2017.
No. 2 seed Dayton (20-11) flew to Brooklyn after practice Tuesday and waited Wednesday for the result of a 5 p.m. second-round game between No. 7 George Washington (16-15) and No. 10 Saint Joseph’s (15-16). Dayton will play the winner in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Thursday.
Despite its history in the A-10 tournament, Dayton headed to Brooklyn as the favorite with a 33% chance of winning, according to KenPom.com. The Flyers beat each of the other three top seeds — No. 1 Virginia Commonwealth, No. 3 Fordham and No. 4 Saint Louis — but also lost to VCU and Saint Louis.
“We defintely know we’re able to beat anyone in the conference,” Holmes said, “so it’s just about being able to lock in and do that when the time comes, and we’ll show that in this tournament.”
Credit: David Jablonski
While Dayton can beat anyone in the field, it also has shown a capability of losing to anyone. It lost to two teams in the bottom half of the standings: Rhode Island and St. Bonaventure.
For coach Anthony Grant, there are several keys to Dayton playing well for three straight games.
“I would say consistency on the defensive end throughout a 40 minute game,” Grant said. “I think we’ve been we’ve been really good defensively most of the year. I think we’ve had pockets where our defense has not been consistent, and it’s put us in some holes that we haven’t been able to get out of. Then, like most days, you’ve got to be able to make shots.”
Dayton’s health could be an issue this week, just as it has been for most of the season. Mike Sharavjamts said Tuesday he wouldn’t be able to play Thursday because of a bone bruise on his right knee. He suffered the injury Friday in a 65-61 loss at Saint Louis. In the same game, guard Kobe Elvis banged knees with Mustapha Amzil on the last play of the game and grabbed his knee in pain on the ground. He was limping as he left the locker room.
Grant is confident in whatever group of players will be available but knows anything can happen in March. Seven different programs have won the tournament the last seven years it has been held. Dayton will try to become the first No. 2 seed to win the tournament since Temple in 2008.
“It’s always wide open,” Grant said. “It’s one game. You just never know what the circumstances are. You’ve got to control the things you can control. We’re going to try to do that. I do feel like from what we saw during the regular season, it is an open field. Obviously, VCU kind of separated themselves with winning the league outright the way they did, but overall, I think we’ve got a lot of really good teams, a lot of really good players and very well-coached teams. You’ve got to come make sure you come ready to go every single day.”
Dayton will try to follow the path of two of the last three A-10 tournament champions: Richmond in 2022; and Saint Louis in 2019. Those were teams that experienced disappointing regular seasons but got hot in the postseason. Both won four games in four days. Dayton, as a top-four seed, has to win three games, something it has done twice (2003 and 2011) and in 26 appearances.
“I think everybody’s ready,” Dayton forward Toumani Camara said. “Everybody is ready to prove what we can do. We believe we’re the best team in this conference. I think that’s everybody’s mentality, especially the way we’ve been practicing. We’ve been talking with each other. Everybody is very confident. They’re really ready for the tournament.”
The A-10 tournament champion will win a NCAA tournament berth. For the first time since 2005 when George Washington represented the A-10, it appears only the A-10 tournament champion will play in the Big Dance. Last year, regular-season champion Davidson earned an at-large berth after losing in the A-10 final. It was the same for regular-season champion VCU in 2019 when it lost in the quarterfinals and for Rhode Island in 2018 when it lost to Davidson in the final.
Dayton was the top seed in 2016 and 2017 and still earned an invitation to the NCAA tournament despite not winning the A-10 tournament.
This season, regular-season champion VCU likely doesn’t have that luxury. It is not being talked about as a bubble team. Dayton has known most of the season it would have to win the tournament to play in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017. Now the opportunity is in front of it.
“I’s very exciting knowing that our mission and our goal is still in play,” Camara said. “We still have the opportunity to prove what we can do and have a chance to play in March Madness.”
THURSDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. George Washington or Saint Joseph’s, 5 p.m., USA Network, 1290, 95.7
Credit: David Jablonski
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