Sports Today: Busy lineup includes Wright State, Dayton, Ohio State and Reds

After a slow couple of days, Friday is jam-packed with local sports goodness.

It starts, believe it or not, at 11 a.m. with Wright State playing at IUPUI.

The Raiders remain in a first-place tie with Northern Kentucky, who plays at UIC tonight.

RELATED: Don't look now, but Wright State is for real

A Wright State win and an NKU loss means the Raiders are at least Horizon League co-champs and they will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

›› Looking at Wright State's possible path to a championship

WSU-IUPUI will be streamed on ESPN3.

The Jaguars are 10-17 overall but have won five of their last six in their first season in the HL.

They rank 292nd at KenPom.com while Wright State is No. 141, so this is a game the Raiders should win, but that's why they play the games…

Dayton will attempt to scale the mountain that is Rhode Island at 7 p.m. tonight on ESPN2. 

I noted after the first time the Rams and Flyers met postgame comments confirmed this is a rebuilding year for the Flyers, who spoke as if they knew they were not as good as Rhode Island after years of being one of the best teams in the Atlantic 10.

Maybe that was always obvious, but sometimes seasons surprise us (take Ohio State as an example).

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Since then, Dayton is 4-4 with a couple of bad losses, including a blowout at George Mason.

The Rams have clinched the A-10 championship, but every win is important for their NCAA tournament seed.

Believe it or not, the Flyers (13-14, 7-8 could still finish below .500 or fourth in the Atlantic 10.

That’s because six teams are either 8-7 or 7-8 in league play with three games to go…

 

Speaking of Ohio State, the Buckeyes finish Chris Holtmann's first season as head coach with a trip to Indiana.

Archie Miller’s Hoosiers can eliminate OSU from the Big Ten title race with a win. If the Buckeyes come out on top, they’ll still need some help to get a share of the championship because they trail Michigan State by a game.

MSU plays at Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon.

Michigan State is among the teams mentioned in a Yahoo Sports! story published this morning detailing payments made by an agent and his former associate to numerous college basketball prospects.

That makes one wonder if he will be able to play Sunday as the school will be forced to look into this allegation and presumably unable to determine in that amount of time if it did or did not happen.

Dayton fans will also note the Yahoo report includes Xavier as former standout Musketeers guard Edmond Sumner and/or his father is alleged to have received money from an agent while he was in school.

However, XU coach Chris Mack appears to have been the only coach who was contacted who issued a statement claiming innocence.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for the sport, of course, and it remains to be seen what kind of impact it has on the NCAA tournament…

Regardless of what happens in Bloomington, a trophy is coming to the Schottenstein Center for this basketball season. 

The Ohio State women clinched a share of the Big Ten championship last night when Michigan upset Maryland.

The Buckeyes lead the Terrapins by a game in the standings with one remaining. Those two teams shared the title last year.

Ohio State has 16 Big Ten women’s basketball championships, by far the most in league history…

In between the basketball games, baseball will be back on the radio and TV as the Cincinnati Reds open Cactus League play against the Cleveland Indians at 3 p.m.

Sal Romano is getting the first start for the Reds as the race for the fifth spot in the starting rotation begins.

Tyler Mahle and Jackson Stephens are also expected to pitch today while Michael Lorenzen goes Saturday and Homer Bailey and Luis Castillo pitch Sunday.

The first lineup of the year is interesting as it has Bill Hamilton leading off with Eugenio Suarez batting second, Joey Votto in the three-hole and Scooter Gennett batting cleanup.

Adam Duvall is No. 5 followed by Scott Schebler, Jose Perza and Tucker Barnhart.

Dilson Herrera, who hopes to put shoulder problems behind him and make the team as a backup infielder, is the designated hitter and batting ninth.

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