Politics can come into play also when they decide whether both the MEAC and SWAC (the two HBCUs) will be relegated to Dayton. Last year they did it (they actually played each other) but it seems like most years either the MEAC or SWAC champ snags a 16 seed with a bye when by almost every metric they're worse than one or more of the 16s playing in Dayton.
I also think Iona would be in Dayton before NDSU. They're ranked 20 spots below NDSU in the RPI, overall SOS is 50 spots worse, and non-conference SOS is over 100 spots worse. Iona also has a whopping 8 quadrant 4 losses (NDSU has 4).
NDSU's profile:
http://warrennolan.com/basketball/20...h-Dakota-State
Iona's profile:
http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2019/schedule/Iona