Poll news:
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had two A-10 teams in his bracket: Dayton and VCU. He lists Rhode Island as one of the first four teamson thewrong side of the bubble.
Lunardi predicts No. 8 seed Dayton will play No. 9 seed Virginia Tech in Tulsa with the winner likely to play No. 1 seed Baylor. He has No. 9 seed VCUmatched up with No. 8 Oklahoma State in Buffalo.
Daytonmoved closer to theAssociatedPress top 25 Monday. They are 28th, just behind Minnesota and Oklahoma State. Seventeen voters ranked the Flyers this week. Two voters had them as high as No. 22. VCU is 35th.
Finalgame:
Daytoncloses the regular season at 8 p.m. Saturday atGeorgeWashington(16-13, 8-8). TheColonials have won three games in a row and four of their last five. They’re 6-2 at home in A-10 play with losses to Richmond and VCU.
GeorgeWashington leads the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (39.8).
“We are shooting the ball well,” coach Maurice Joseph said. “The biggest factor in that is our offense being able to move the ball and not allowing it to stick. We’re playing inside out and getting better 3s. Guys are being unselfish with the ball. They’re passing up good shots for great shots.”
Rhode Island (19-9, 11-5) enters the final week tied with Richmond (17-11, 11-5) for third place. Rhode Island haswon three straight games since losing back-to-back games against Davidson and Fordham
Rallying Rams:
and closes the regular season with a road game Wednesday at St. Joseph’s and a home game Saturday against Davidson.
“We’re obviously thrilled with the way we have responded since the backto-back losses,” RhodeIsland coach Dan Hurley said. “To go win at GeorgeMason and at La Salle and then beat a very physical VCU program with the championship pedigree they have, it was obviously a great week for us. I just love the resiliency the team has shown really throughout the season. Playing a difficult schedule, dealing with the injuries that have come our way would have buried some other programs. This is the healthiest we’ve been since the second half of the Providence game (on Dec. 3).”
It has been COLUMBUS — an oft-cited belief at Ohio State that the Big Ten Tournament is there for the taking. Adown year for the conference, combined with this team’s sporadic ability to rise to the occasion, goes a long way toward justifying such a rosy outlook.
But if the Buckeyes have hopes of an extended stay in Washington, D.C. nextweek, their margin for error for the regular season is gone. With two games left and both against teams sporting an identical 6-10 conference record as the Buckeyes, Ohio State has to win at Penn State tonight and at home Saturday against Indiana if itwants to avoid playing the opening day of the tournament.
Doingsowouldgivethema three-gamewinning streak to end the regular season, provide them with some elusive momentum and mean their postseasonwould start next Thursday at theVerizonCenter instead of Wednesday.
After upsettingNo. 16Wisconsin on Thursday, the Buckeyes aren’t thinking along those lines yet, given how this season has gone.
“Somebody just askedme where we are (in the standings), and I said, ‘I have no idea,’ ” OSU coach Thad Matta saidMonday. “I know there’s somany teams, and I don’t knowwho playswho and all that stuff. I want to play well (tonight) and see howwe do there. Big picture with these guys doesn’tseem to work real well.”
Ohio State hasn’t won three straight since opening the season with six straight wins. In the nine road games against Penn State in Matta’s first 12 seasons, Ohio State is 8-1 but has seen six games decided by 10 points or fewer.
Since the Big Ten Tournament expanded to five rounds in 2015, two teams that played in the first round have advanced to the quarterfinals before running out of gas. No. 13 seed Penn State had the honor two years ago and 12th-seeded Illinois followed suit last season.
UnderMatta, theBuckeyes have played on the tournament’s opening day twice. Both times they won the game, going on to reach the quarterfinals in 2005 and the semifinals in 2014. Matta pointed out the obvious benefit of an extra day of rest at home, but sophomore guard JaQuan Lyle spoke beyond his age when looking at the benefits.
“It would just help our bodies,” he said. “You’ve got guys playing 28-34 minutes a game, and that extra day, it means a lot. Me and ( Jae’Sean Tate), we’ve got some old-man bodies. We’ll be banged up. We’re going to need the extra day. Hopefully, we can get these two and hopefully everything works in our favor.”