NCAAB: #10 Nevada vs #7 Dayton Odds, and Picks (Mar 21)

• Nevada had their 7-game winning streak snapped in the Mountain West quarterfinals.
• Dayton also bowed out in their conference quarterfinals, aiming for a bounce back here.
• This will be the very first meeting between these two teams in their program histories.

The NCAA Tournament is now underway! Let’s take a look at this matchup between the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Dayton Flyers. Nevada enters this matchup 10-2 in their last 12 games, facing a Dayton team led by a future NBA draft pick in DaRon Holmes II.

How to Watch

• TBS

Preview

Nevada entered the Mountain West conference tournament on a hot streak, but came up short against Colorado State. Even still, they played their way into a tournament berth by closing out the regular season with an 11-2 record down the stretch. The Wolf Pack landed as a 10-seed when many expected them to receive a single-digit seed. They will aim to prove that the committee underseeded them in this matchup against a consistent Dayton team. Nevada’s offense, led by Jarod Lucas, has been red-hot.

Dayton cruised past their Atlantic-10 opponents for much of the season, but took an early exit in the conference tournament. They’ll aim to bounce back in their first-round game against a scrappy Nevada team. The Flyers have a potential NBA 1st-round pick on their roster in two-way wing DaRon Holmes II, who is the heart and soul of this team. While Holmes will raise Dayton’s ceiling, their lack of wins against at-large tournament teams lowers their floor. They’ll need to be at their best to avoid an upset.

Prediction

In many bracket projections, Dayton had slid to the bubble after losing in the A-10 tournament, and Nevada was often a single-digit seed. It’s not inconceivable that this could have been an 8-9 matchup, with the Wolf Pack as the 8 and the Flyers as the 9. Vegas seems to have the same conclusion, with the lower-seeded Wolf Pack entering this game as the spread favorites. I tend to agree with Vegas here. Dayton hasn’t been tested by many other tournament teams, while Nevada has. I’ll take Nevada to win it.

NCAAB Picks:

• Nevada 77, Dayton 73 (NEV -1.0)