Flyers begin quest for an A-10 repeat
UD gets an early start today against Richmond in conference quarterfinals.
Assistant coach Simon Harris provided a DAYTON — behind-the-scenes tour of the Dayton Flyers women’s basketball offices this week as the coaches prepared for the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
In a video posted to Twitter, Harris started by showing off the awards in the lobby of the office at the Cronin Center. It’s getting crowded with hardware.
“This is last year’s (tournament) trophy, last year’s regular-season championship (trophy), and we just got this new addition this year,” said Harris, pointing to the newest trophy. “The ladies really worked hard and adhered to the game plans and stuck to the process.”
Harris showed fans the inside of coach Shauna Green’s office for a brief moment and said, “She’s one of the busiest human beings I’ve ever met in my life, but she does a great job of keeping us organized.”
At the time of that video, No. 1 seed Dayton
(22-5) didn’t know if it would play No. 8 seed Richmond or No. 9 seed Davidson in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
Richmond (14-16) beat Davidson 62-53 onTuesday to set up an 11 a.m. game today at Richmond Coliseum. Dayton beat Richmond 66-59 in the regular season in Rich- mond on Jan. 24.
Here’s a glance at the A-10 tournament entering the quarterfinals:
Favorite: Dayton seeks its second tournament title in a row and its third overall. It also won the tournament in 2012. The No. 1 seed has won three years in a row. Dayton was the last No. 1 seed to lose in the champi- onship game in 2014.
Dark horse: George Wash- ington, which won the tournament in 2015 and 2016, has won seven of its past nine games. It played Dayton close, losing 57-53 in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11. The No. 5 seed Colonials (16-13) play No. 4 seed George Mason (23-8) at 2 p.m. today.
Player to watch: George Mason senior Natalie Butler led the conference in scoring (18.7 points per game) and rebounding (16.4). Her rebounding average leads t he nation. S he has 30 straight double-doubles, the third-longest streak in NCAA history.
Upset potential: No. 7 seed Saint Louis (16-14) has the best chance to surprise fans today. It plays No. 2 seed Duquesne (23-6) at 4:30 p.m. Saint Louis (16-14) is the only A-10 team to beat Dayton this year, 85-72 on Saturday in St. Louis.
The Billikens were picked to finish second in the preseason poll. Duquesne won 76-66 at Saint Louis on Feb. 14.
Best quarterfinal: No. 3 seed Fordham (22-8) plays No. 6 seed St. Joseph’s (1613) in the final quarterfinal at 7 p.m. The Hawks won the regular-season matchup at Fordham. Chelsea Woods hit a winning shot in the final seconds to give St. Joseph’s a 52-50 victory.