Mythical March Madness Preview: Dayton Regional

The Dayton Flyers are the top seed, but plenty of experts could see the Atlantic 10 regular season champs succumbing to a more powerful force at The Palestra.

Anthony Grant has a magic team and the Dayton Flyers are absolutely deserving of the top seed in this region of our Mythical March Madness. The Flyers finished 29-2 and the perceived weakness is that they didn't play as much tournament competition, but the Flyers are an offensive juggernaut that can play defense. 

Obi Toppin is a powerful big man that averages 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds a game in leading four Flyers that average scoring in double figures. Jalen Crutcher is the point guard mechanism that makes it go as he also scores well and averages over five assists a game. 

I like the Dayton path that starts with Hartford and then warms up some with the Florida-Penn State winner. They will get a supreme tournament test in the "sweet 16" if five-seed Kentycky is waiting there. 

The Wildcats are massively tournament tested with a 9-4 record against teams in the event. Immanuel Quickley is playing well and averaging 16.1 points a game to lead a team that also has four double digit scorers. Kentucky is a long way now from that team that was upset by Evansville early in the season.

Don't ever count out Duke and Mike Krzyzewski. Vernon Carey is averaging 17.8 points per game and Tre Jones is awesome at point with 16.2 points per game and 185 assists on the season. 

The three-seed is Ohio State and the four-seed is Seton Hall and I'm not crazy about either of them. The best first round game may be the six-11 game between West Virginia and Wichita State. I think the Mountaineers are a Jeckyl-Hyde team and Wichita State has a chip on their shoulder, but neither is a threat to win the regional. 

First round games open up with a full day of basketball at The Palestra.