Atlantic 10 Basketball: Bonnies on top heading into conference tournament

6. Dayton Flyers

• 2020-21 record: 13-8 overall, 9-7 A-10
• Previous ranking: 7th

In the last rankings, the opening sentence for Dayton’s slide was this: “In a conference full of bizarre results and cannibalistic teams, the Flyers – alongside La Salle – may be at the very top.”  Sans the part about La Salle, that much is very much still true weeks later.

When those rankings were released, the Flyers were just coming off a single-digit loss to VCU.  What ensued for Dayton still makes zero sense – they dropped a double-overtime game to URI, then throttled a good Saint Louis team by 23.  Within five days, the Flyers gave up 97 in a 13-point loss at Saint Joseph’s – before closing out the regular season with a road win over the regular season champs in St. Bonaventure.

The Flyers have seen fluctuating double-digit performances in that four-game stretch, but Ibi Watson has been the lone consistent threat.  After posting back-to-back 20-point performances in the two games prior, Watson has averaged 15.0 points, 5.5 boards, and 1.75 assists in the four-game stretch – and was the lone double-digit scorer in the win over the Bonnies.

Dayton is an extremely dangerous sleeper in the A-10 Tournament, but the Flyers will have to get past Rhode Island first.  The 7th-seed, a win will give the Flyers their third attempt against VCU – and, depending on what the health of VCU’s players is entering that game, the Flyers may have a shot at making some noise.