NCAA Bracket 2017: Dayton gets at-large bid, earns No. 7 seed in South region

Dayton (24-7, 15-3) was given an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and slotted as the No. 7 seed in the South region. The Flyers will play No. 10 seed Wichita State (30-4, 17-1) in Indianapolis on Friday, March 17.

The Flyers won the A-10 regular season championship for the second straight year, but fell to Davidson in the quarterfinals of the league tournament. Dayton owns four RPI top-50 wins (Vanderbilt, VCU, Rhode Island twice), as well as solid non-conference wins against East Tennessee State, Winthrop and Alabama.

This is the Flyers’ fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the longest such streak in program history. Dayton went to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments between 1965-67, before hitting that same number leading up to this season.

Archie Miller did not sound particularly worried when asked about his team’s chances after its quarterfinal exit.

“I’m always anxious,” he said. “I always have high anxiety. I think the committee has shown that sometimes they don’t respect the league as much as they should, but I think our individual resume as it stacks up to the field is good enough to be in, and I think we’ll hear our name called.”

The bid means that the senior class, led by all-league first team guard Scoochie Smith, has made the tournament in each season. This started with a run to the Elite Eight in 2013-14, where the Flyers beat Ohio State, Syracuse and Stanford before falling to Florida.

Last season, No. 7 Dayton fell to No. 10 Syracuse in St. Louis.