It's not just that the University of Dayton comprises the most triumphant, if not improbable, portion of my bracket, but it also certainly doesn't hurt that it (almost) singlehandedly buoys my bracket.
Some big-name schools have taken a shellacking, mid-majors have bowed out and the only previously undefeated team in the country, Wichita State, has fallen. Notably, three of four No. 12 seeds defeated their respective fifth-seeded opponents in the first round, which, along with Mercer's ouster of Duke, spearheaded "upset fever."
Any number of teams merit being written about in the wake of a slew of Davidic victories. But Dayton has won two games - two more than your typical No. 11 seed - by a combined three points against two staples of March Madness: sixth-seeded Ohio State and third-seeded Syracuse.
Now, Dayton prepares for its first Sweet 16 matchup since 1984. (For perspective's sake, a list of major events that occurred 30 years ago: the inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic, the summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the Soviet boycott of said Olympics and $1.21 was the average price of a gallon of gas.)
Under the tutelage of head coach Archie Miller, whose monotonous southern drawl could lull a locker room abuzz with victory to sleep, the Flyers have garnered a Twitter shout-out from President Obama. Were their run to end here, at least they could take solace in recognition from the most powerful man in the free world.
As it happens, though, they have other accolades of which to be prouder.
Dayton is one of the 16 best - or hottest, depending on the school of thought - teams in the nation. Hailing from the Atlantic 10, they're still considered a minor conference despite boasting six entrants into the tournament. Dayton has toppled its in-state rival Ohio State, followed that with an upset against an even more storied program, Syracuse. But Dayton's greatest accomplishment is that it graduates every one of its players.
One of just seven schools in the tournament with a 100 percent graduation rate, Dayton embodies the elusive student-athlete ideal - a rarity illuminating the misplaced emphasis of college basketball.
With each defeat it hands to a bigger, badder opponent, Dayton bucks the notion that only the star-studded rosters can achieve greatness. Should a Dayton or two or three crop up in the tournament annually, it could disrupt the pipelining that has come to characterize college basketball, rendering it an assembly line rather than a sojourn.
No longer will the likes of John Calipari - head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, recruiter extraordinaire, and cunning rule-violator - attract players with the promise of glory and little else. Education will gain equal footing with the sport itself, striking a necessary balance.
Quixotic? Sure, but the more an operable reality morphs into fantasy, the more exigent its implementation becomes.
As fans of the sport, we yearn for the days of Jimmy Valvano's N.C. State, for Marquette's defiant un-tucked jerseys, for Phi SlammaJamma, for a dominant Big East Conference fraught with torrid rivalries - a veritable golden age, when four-year tenure was the norm and donning school colors meant something. Coaches were both mentor and teacher, oftentimes father figure, too. And the players, who warred with one another over sheer pride, were beholden to a god loftier than materialism.
The funny thing is, college basketball was at its best then. If maturation, longevity and substantive education tend to go hand-in-hand - I firmly believe they do - then the solution has been hiding in plain sight all along.
Sam is a junior who is majoring in religion. He can be reached at Samuel_l.gold@tufts.edu.
