Daily Word: Home-cooking for Dayton

By ESPN.com | ESPN.com

Each day, some of our college hoops experts discuss the biggest issues, trends and themes in and around college basketball.

1. Dayton is playing a home game for the right to face Providence. Is that unfair to the Flyers' opponent, Boise State?

Andy Katz: Yes. The NCAA should not have put Dayton in the First Four. Place UCLA or Indiana in there instead. Change the rule allowing this to occur.

Jeff Goodman: It's a joke. Dayton has one of the most underrated fan bases in the country, and there's no way Boise deserves this. Leon Rice & Co. won the Mountain West regular-season crown, and this is the reward? Dayton should not be allowed to play in the First Four. It's a major advantage.

C.L. Brown: It's not fair and it's no surprise that because of it the committee is already talking about revamping the way the "First Four" gets selected. Guilty conscious? Maybe. The committee can bump seeds up or down for many reasons and when it saw this coming it should have exercised better judgment in the interest of fair play.

2. The winner of North Florida vs. Robert Morris gets the pleasure of facing Duke. Which team would give the Blue Devils a better game?

Katz: Can the answer be none? Seriously. This is not going to be a Mercer situation. I don't see either team stopping Jahlil Okafor or containing the Duke guards.

Goodman: Tough to say without seeing these teams this season, but I'll go with North Florida. The Ospreys shoot the ball well from beyond the arc as a group, and also have the length and experience that Andy Toole's Bob Morris team is lacking. RMU has a 6-foot-5 center, and Toole also starts two freshmen and a sophomore. North Florida has 6-foot-11 Romelo Banks in the middle and doesn't start a single freshman.

Brown: I'm going with Robert Morris. David Appolon and Lucky Jones are both seniors who played on the team that took down Kentucky in the 2013 NIT. Part of being able to compete in a game like this is not being intimidated and the Colonials won't back down easily. They also hold a slightly higher offensive rebounding percentage, according to Ken Pomeroy's tracking data, and Duke has been vulnerable on the boards this season.

3. Which lower seed are you expecting to win its opening-round matchup?

Katz: Buffalo. The Bulls are tough enough to beat West Virginia. That's my 12-5 upset pick.

Goodman: I'm going with Stephen F. Austin. Again. The Lumberjacks did it last year against VCU, and Brad Underwood has his two top players back from a year ago -- Southland tournament MVP Thomas Walkup, who does everything, and Jacob Parker, who has a high basketball IQ and can really shoot it from long range. These guys also have a point guard who knows how to play and distributes the ball in Trey Pinkney. I think Utah star Delon Wright is going to have its hands full.

Brown: No. 13 Eastern Washington could knock off Georgetown in the South Region. The Eagles have the nation's leading scorer in Tyler Harvey. They won at Indiana. They relish an opportunity to make a name for themselves unrelated to having red turf on their football field.


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Games To Watch

Robert Morris vs. North Florida
6:40 p.m. ET, truTv

North Florida is making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament and boasts the highest-scoring and most efficient offense in the Atlantic Sun. Robert Morris is one of two teams in the nation with three players averaging at least 14 points per game. The winner faces Duke on Friday.


Dayton vs. Boise State, 9:10 p.m. ET, truTV

Dayton will enjoy home-crowd treatment as the Flyers try to repeat last year's deep tournament run. Boise State boasts the Mountain West's leading scorer in Derrick Marks (19.3 ppg). The winner faces Providence on Friday.

They Said It

ON THE ROAD TO INDIANAPOLIS

Courtesy of NCAA

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