Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall was once again critical of the NCAA Tournament selection committee for making them a 10 seed, and their opening round opponent agreed.
Marshall praised the Dayton Flyers and said they deserved a better first round draw than the one they got in a Shockers team rated highly by many of the metrics.
“And I would like to finish by saying that, once again, I think Dayton deserved a better draw in this tournament,” Marshall said after his team’s 64-58 win over Dayton, via Myron Medcalf of ESPN. “I’ll finish with that.”
Dayton coach Archie Miller agreed.
“[They’re] like a 4-seed, like a 4- or 5-seed maybe,” Miller said of the Shockers. “Thirty-some wins, and you look at the numbers across the board. I mean, every coach studies the analytics. They’re a team that can beat anybody on a neutral court at any time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were pushing toward another second weekend. They’re a great team, and they’re really well coached, maybe as fun of a team to prepare for as we’ve had.”
The selection committee had a firm response to those who criticized Wichita State’s seed, but Friday’s game showed that the Shockers are a legitimate threat to anyone they play. Dayton found out first-hand that the committee got it wrong with them, and they had to pay the price for it, which is unfair.
