MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Dayton had watched George Mason, Butler and finally VCU make upset-filled, mid-major runs to the Final Four. The Flyers — the last non-BCS football school still standing in the NCAA Tournament — knew in their hearts they could do the same this year. After Thursday, they’re just a step away.
Sure, Stanford had the size in the frontcourt, and Super Bowl champ Richard Sherman and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in the stands. But Dayton had selfless ball movement, relentless belief, and in the end an 82-72 Sweet 16 victory over the Cardinal at FedEx Forum.
With a lowly 11th-seed, and from an Atlantic 10 Conference that was run down by long-since eliminated Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, the Flyers (26-10) have played with a chip on their shoulder and an edge to their game. And they say bring on the doubters and haters, all the way to Friday’s South Regional final — their first Elite Eight appearance since 1984 — against top-seeded Florida.
“Absolutely; that’s definitely something we’ve been talking about all year, people have been doubting us, not giving us a lot of credit,’’ said guard Jordan Sibert, who had a team-high 18 points. “But I know these guys … at the end of the day we all want to be winners.
“We fight every day in practice, we compete every day, and no matter what we want to show people that we can compete with anybody and we can handle anybody. We’ve been doing that, and we just want to keep it going.’’
Tenth-seeded Stanford (23-13) certainly couldn’t stop them, unable to keep the smaller, quicker Flyers in front of them or out of the paint. Unlike its upset of Ohio State and Syracuse, there was no drama for Dayton this time. The Flyers took an 11-point lead with 5:43 in the first half and never looked back.
“I give our guys credit. We had 11 guys score in the game, and from top to bottom they kept coming and coming,’’ Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “The way they shared the ball, the way they moved the ball, we pressured the ball — it was a true team effort. It’s nice to see on the biggest stage us be ourselves.’’
Forward Kendall Pollard and center Matt Kavanaugh combined for 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and Dayton handed out 19 assists. While Stanford essentially has a six-man rotation, Dayton had four players reach double-digit scoring, nine log double-digit minutes, as the Flyers came after Stanford in waves.
“They were relentless,’’ said Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins. “They came in waves, had two players at every position and they all came in and contributed.’’
Stanford had a size advantage with 6-foot-11 Stefan Nastic and 6-10 Dwight Powell, but the Flyers beat them off the dribble all night. They fouled Nastic out with 5:04 left. By then it had long since stopped being a game.
The Flyers trailed 19-18 after Stanford’s Josh Huestis made a tip-in 3:14 into the game, but they took control with a 16-4 run. Dyshawn Pierre’s foul shot pushed the lead 34-22, with the Flyers having assists on 11 of their first 13 baskets.
Stanford’s Chasson Randle had a game-high 21 points, but shot just 5-of-21 with five turnovers.
“Right now, it’s a difficult pill to swallow,’’ said Powell.