Dayton beats North Carolina, 79-68, in NIT final

Marcus Johnson scored 20 points and Dayton handed North Carolina one more disheartening loss at the end of a lousy season, beating the Tar Heels, 79-68, on Thursday night to win the NIT championship game at New York.

Reserve guard Paul Williams had 16 points for Dayton (25-12), which bounced back from a disappointing regular season to capture its third NIT title and first since 1968.

Picked to win the Atlantic 10 Conference, the Flyers faded late and missed the NCAA tournament before turning things around and ending on a high note.

Will Graves shot North Carolina back into the game in the second half, finishing with 25 points for the Tar Heels (20-17), who started the season hoping for consecutive NCAA championships.

Tournament expansion talk

The NCAA appears to be on the verge of expanding the men’s tournament to 96 teams. Greg Shaheen, an NCAA vice president, insisted that nothing has been decided but nonetheless outlined a plan that included the logistics and timing of a bigger tournament, how much time off the players would have and even revenue distribution.

It would be played during the same time frame as the current three-week tournament and include first-round byes for 32 teams. Although the plan needs to be approved by the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee and passed on to the board of directors, most of the details already seem to be in place.

“We needed to make sure that we did everything possible to use the due diligence window to understand ourselves and understand what the future would hold,” Shaheen said. “So that’s what we’re doing.”

Bryant unlikely to play

West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins says it is “highly unlikely” that point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant will be able to play in Saturday’s Final Four game against Duke.

The sophomore, who broke his right foot in practice March 23 and has not played since, had hoped a specially designed shoe would ease the pain.

Etc.

James Dickey was hired as Houston’s coach, putting him in charge of a program for the first time since he was fired by Texas Tech in 2001. He replaces Tom Penders, who resigned March 22 after leading the Cougars to their first NCAA tournament berth since 1992. …

Jon Scheyer of Duke and Da’Sean Butler of West Virginia are among 10 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award, given to the player of the year. Kentucky freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins also are finalists, along with James Anderson of Oklahoma State, Sherron Collins of Kansas, Wesley Johnson of Syracuse, Scottie Reynolds of Villanova, Evan Turner of Ohio State and Greivis Vasquez of Maryland. The Wooden Award is to be presented April 9 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. …

Vasquez won the Bob Cousy Award, given annually by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the nation’s top point guard. …

Wake Forest forward Al-Farouq Aminu declared for the NBA draft and announced he will hire an agent, ensuring his departure with two years of eligibility remaining. The 6-foot-9 Aminu averaged 15.8 points this season and became the first Wake Forest player since Tim Duncan in 1997 to lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in rebounding (10.7 a game).