Bracketology 2021: Western Kentucky, Seton Hall among week’s biggest losers

Dayton Flyers

The Flyers 1-1 start has been ugly. First, on Tuesday, they escaped with a three-point win over Eastern Illinois. That is not what makes them a Bracketology loser. Lots of teams with NCAA tournament talent have squeaked by against inferior opponents early this Sunday.

Saturday’s loss to SMU at home, however, is where they shot themselves in the foot. The Mustangs and the Flyers are not good enough to be top seeds this year, and with the depth of this college hoops landscape, neither are good enough to coast this season to a tournament birth.

The Mustangs 66-64 win over Dayton give SMU an automatic leg up on that bubble line, and with the Atlantic 10 featuring any only two teams (Richmond and Saint Louis) that would give the Flyers a shot at a big splash win, this game against SMU was huge.

Making that result even harder to swallow, Dayton essentially gave SMU the game by relinquishing19 turnovers after outplaying them in almost all other areas of the stat sheet.

Replacing Obi Toppin has proved difficult thus far and with limited opportunities to prove themselves against top teams, this was a disappointing week for Anthony Grant. They get bottom feeder SEC opponents in Mississippi St and Ole Miss in the next two games and they absolutely have to take care of business in those to set them up for an Atlantic 10 run.

The Flyers’ loss to expected bubble foe SMU makes them an easy call for biggest Bracketology losers of the week.