Kansas vs. Dayton
Coming off an 84-74 win against North Dakota State, No. 3 seed Kansas (26-7, 14-2 Big 12) will face No. 10 seed Dayton (27-7, 11-5 Atlantic 10) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis on Sunday, March 22, at 1:30 p.m. (Central). KU's victory was its third straight and its 24th of the last 26th NCAA Tournament first-round games dating back to 1981. Dayton won its first NCAA Tournament game since 1990 with a 68-60 win against West Virginia. The Flyers have won two of their last three heading into Sunday's contest.
Denver's Thoughts....
Athletic, rangy but not a fantastic offensive team. That's how our local A10 expert rockchalk described Dayton. My take on that is this is a good matchup for us. Dayton is certainly no slouch but I was fearful of a WVU matchup. Now there is no easy game in the tourney anymore but if Kansas can impose it's will on the offensive end and inside I have a hard time seeing Dayton pulling the upset. My biggest fear is that Sherron or Cole has an off game after exploding in the first round. All in all though I'm sensing an easier game than round one and a sweet 16 and a potential rematch with Michigan State.
Final Score Prediction: Kansas 82 Dayton 69
Team Stat Comparison
| PPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% | RPG | ORPG | DRPG | APG | TPG | SPG | BPG | FPG | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
UD | 67.5 | 42.8 | 64.5 | 33.1 | 41.0 | 13.8 | 24.2 | 14.1 | 13.8 | 6.3 | 3.5 | 19.0 |
 |
KU | 77.1 | 47.9 | 72.8 | 38.0 | 41.7 | 12.1 | 26.8 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 6.9 | 4.3 | 19.3 |
|
UD Opponents | 61.5 | 39.6 | 70.1 | 31.7 | 35.8 | 10.2 | 22.5 | 11.8 | 14.8 | 5.0 | 3.6 | 18.3 |
|
KU Opponents | 65.8 | 38.8 | 71.7 | 33.5 | 34.5 | 11.0 | 20.6 | 12.7 | 13.8 | 7.1 | 3.2 | 20.1 |
Full preview and further breakdown after the jump...
Ranks and Records
| Rank and Records | UD | KU | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RPI | #27 | #11 | |
| Strength of Schedule | #94 | #20 | |
| Overall | 26-7 | 25-7 | |
| Conference | 11-5 | 14-2 | |
| Home | 18-0 | 18-1 | |
| Away | 5-6 | 6-4 | |
| Top 25 | 2-1 | 3-2 | |
| RPI Top 50 | 3-2 | 9-3 |
About Kansas
No. 14/13 Kansas has won seven of its last nine games heading into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks are the defending NCAA National Champions, yet return less than 20 percent of all but one statistical category.
The Jayhawks are averaging 77.3 points per game and giving up 66.1 for a +11.3 scoring margin. The Jayhawks shot 50 percent from the field against North Dakota State to mark the 16th time this season KU has shot 50 percent or better. Conversely, KU leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense at 38.9 percent and has held 71 consecutive opponents to under 50 percent shooting from the field dating back to the second game of the 2007-08 NCAA National Championship season.
Kansas-NDSU Postgame Notes
--The win was KU's fifth straight victory in a dome and improved KU to 6-1 in the big venues in the Bill Self era.
--KU has won 10 of its last 11 NCAA Tournament games in the last three years.
--The Jayhawks are 13-4 in the NCAA Tournament in the Bill Self era.
--Kansas has won seven of its last nine games.
--Kansas had a season-low five turnovers (10 on four previous occasions).
--Kansas shot 80 percent from the free throw line (16 of 20) marking the 11th time this year the Jayhawks shot at least 80 percent from the charity stripe this year.
--After trailing at halftime in each of its previous three games, KU led at the break 43-34.
--Sherron Collins recorded a career scoring high with 32 points (previous high was 26 three times this year).
--Collins became the first Jayhawk to score at least 30 points since Mario Chalmers had 30 vs. Texas on March 16, 2008.
--Cole Aldrich moved into a tie for seventh place on the KU season rebounding list with Bill Bridges (353 in 1961). He entered the game with 340 and grabbed 13 on Friday for 353 on the season.
--Aldrich recorded his 19th double-double of the season and 20th of his career.
Kansas-Dayton Series
Dayton won the only meeting with Kansas on March 23, 1968, 61-48, in the finals of the 1968 NIT in New York. KU is familiar with the Atlantic 10 Conference having faced two A10 foes this season. KU lost to Massachusetts 61-60 on Dec. 13 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., and defeated Temple one week later, Dec. 20, 71-59, in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks have actually played 12 members of the Atlantic 10 Conference with a 32-12 all-time record against A10's current membership.
A Kansas Win Would...
Improve Kansas to 27-7 on the season...
Make KU 18-7 in NCAA Tournament second round games...
GiveKansas its seventh straight NCAA Tournament second-round victory dating back to 2000... Advance KU to its 26th Sweet 16 game...
Give KU an 84-36 record all-time in the NCAA tourney...
Improve Kansas to 8-3 as a No. 3 seed...
Tie the all-time series with Dayton at 1-1...
Make KU 3-2 in neutral site games this season and 10-6 away from Allen Fieldhouse in 2008-09 (7-4 away, 3-2 neutral)...
Make Bill Self 169-3 at Kansas, 376-144 all time and 24-9 in the NCAA Tournament (14-4 while at Kansas)...
Make Kansas 1,970-792 all time.