Scope out Dayton Arena/#16 vs #1 seeds

   The University of Dayton arena is just of I-75 in Dayton, Ohio. The 13,435 complex sits adjacent to the Flyers' (Dayton mascot) baseball and softball facilities and is home to the UD basketball program.

   From the media hotel, the front entrance is about 200 yards away. I'm looking at the venue as I elaborate on it. The building opened on December 6, 1969 and has now been the host to tournament games 25 times, an NCAA record.

View from the parking lot

   This year the venue will play host to eight total games. Technically speaking, UD Arena is the only site to host first round games. With the addition of the first four, many people are unaware that games beginning Thursday/Friday & Saturday/Sunday are actually second and third round games respectively.

   Last night, a 20 loss Liberty team came up just short against UNC A&T in the opening game of the 2013 NCAA tournament. In the second game, Saint Mary's proved too much for Middle Tennessee State to handle. A&T will get the privilege of facing #1 overall seed Louisville on Thursday in Lexington, KY. Saint Mary's will travel north to take on #6 Memphis in Auburn Hills, MI also on Thursday.

   Today, #16 JMU will take on #16 LIU-Brooklyn at 6:40 p.m. and in the second game #13 Boise State will take on fellow #13 seed LaSalle.

View from inside

   Either the Dukes or the Blackbirds will stay put in lovely Dayton to face #1 Indiana on Friday afternoon at 4:10 p.m. The winner of the ladder game tonight will head out west to Kansas City, MO to take on #5 Kansas State. It will truly be a road game for the winner. 

    Don't fret though. JMU has played Indiana one in the program's history. It was December 11, 1987 in Bloomington. Indiana stomped a John Thurston led JMU squad, 84-52. If JMU wins tonight, they'll be up against the history Friday afternoon. Since 1985, when the NCAA expanded the tournament field to 64 teams, #1 seeds are 112-0 against the #16. All streaks do have to come to an end at some point though. Whether it's a hitting streak in baseball, a consecutive games-played streak, they all end somewhere along the road. While this streak is almost 30 years in, an upset for the ages will happen at some point or another. If you listen to radio, ESPN, etc. all the analyst's will say, "oh, it's gonna happen; just don't see it happening this year." They've been right for for 27 years now, but one day someone will call bullshit on them and a #16 seed will take down the corporately fed #1 seed.

   If the Dukes win tonight, they face THE Indiana Hoosiers Friday evening. A JMU win in this one would single handedly be the biggest upset in NCAA basketball history.