COLUMBUS, Ohio – Four Ohio teams are in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament field.
EXTRA: NCAA tournament bracket
That includes Ohio State, 10th seed in the West Region; Cincinnati, Xavier and Dayton.
The Bearcats (22-10) earned their fifth straight NCAA Tournament berth, opening as a No. 8 seed against 9th-seeded Purdue in the Midwest Regional in Louisville on Thursday.
The Bearcats solidified their spot in the tournament with a late-season five-game winning streak before losing on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer against Connecticut in the American Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals.
Cincinnati has made the tournament in each year since 2011, losing its first game in each of the last two seasons — including a 61-57 setback to 12th-seeded Harvard last year. Octavius Ellis leads the Bearcats with an average of 10 points per game.
Dayton fell to Virginia Commonwealth 71-65 on Sunday in the Atlantic 10 tournament championship game and gets to open the NCAA Tournament at home, hosting Boise State in a First Four game on Wednesday night. The Flyers went 16-0 at home this season and have won their last 21 games at UD Arena.
Teams aren’t allowed to play on their home court during the tournament, except in the First Four.
If they win, the Flyers (25-8) would play No. 6 Providence in one of four games at Nationwide Arena Friday night.
Xavier gets to sit around and scout its first NCAA Tournament opponent.
The sixth-seeded Musketeers will face either BYU or Ole Miss on Thursday in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Musketeers (21-13) have gotten used to playing close games with eight of their past 17 decided by seven points or less.