A November 5th non-conference match between Xavier and Dayton has been cancelled. The two teams were scheduled to play in Cincinnati in what would have been their 81st (or maybe 82nd) all-time meeting. No reason for the cancellation has been given. The Xavier men’s and women’s basketball teams each start their season with home games at the Cintas Center that week, with the men playing Tuesday and the women Wednesday.
The teams, who were Atlantic 10 Conference rivals for 28 years before Xavier left to join the Big East in 2013, played every season from 1979 until 2013 (their first year in a new conference). After a 1-year hiatus in 2013, snapping a 34-year streak, the teams resumed play from 2014-2017.
Xavier lists the all-time series record as 54 wins for Dayton and 26 for Xavier, while Dayton lists the all-time series record as 56 wins for Dayton and 25 for Xavier. The discrepancy comes from a few matches in the 1970s and early 80s, before women’s athletics were a part of the NCAA and therefore before solid record keeping existed. For example, according to Dayton, they won the teams’ first-ever matchup in 1971 via forfeit; Xavier doesn’t recognize the start of its program in its record books until 1973.
Xavier is 8-16 this season and ranked 179th in the RPI while Dayton is 18-7 and ranked 35th in the RPI. Dayton is 9-2 in Atlantic-10 and with 3 matches remaining in the regular season is ranked 2nd behind VCU in the conference standings. The A-10 determines its conference champion, and automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, via a conference championship tournament. Dayton has a better overall resume than VCU, though VCU has given Dayton their only two losses of conference play. No teams left on Dayton’s regular season schedule is ranked higher than 170 in RPI, though if they keep winning at least until they face VCU in the conference championship game, they at least have a chance at an at-large bid.
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