I’ve settled in for a long day of quarterfinal action at the A-10 tournament with the most important game, for my purposes, coming at the end as the No. 3 seed Dayton Flyers play No. 6 Saint Joseph’s at 7:30 p.m.
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Saint Joseph’s will face Dayton after beating No. 14 seed La Salle 75-70 in the second round Thursday. The Hawks had an easy night until the last five minutes when they nearly blew a 20-point lead. Now they will hope to take advantage of their experience on the court as No. 6 seed Duquesne did a year ago at the Barclays Center in a 65-57 victory against No. 3 seed Dayton in the quarterfinals.
Saint Joseph’s coach Billy Lange, who is 1-6 against Dayton in his six seasons, was asked Thursday about the rust vs. rest debate. The Flyers haven’t played in a week, while the Hawks played on Thursday.
“I’ve never been in the situation Dayton is in, so I don’t know,” Lange said. “I have no idea. We played two games a few years ago. We played two games back-to-back last year, and we’re going to have to do it again. So this is all really that I know.
“Here’s what I think. Every team right now — I really believe this; for the most part, like 90% — everybody is playing their best basketball. That doesn’t mean that they’re winning. Look at the scores of these games and how high scoring they are. Everybody is playing really, really well.
“I’m glad the game is at 7:30. We have to recover and rest. Dayton is phenomenal. At one point, they were a top-20 team in the country. Then they had injuries, and our league is really good. That’s why we need to get two or three teams in. I know no one will write that or agree, but it is the truth. I don’t know. We’re in a rhythm. I’m glad maybe we got some of this out of our way. But I’m sure Dayton feels pretty good that they’re rested.”
Dayton, Saint Joseph’s have a long history
A couple weeks ago, Aaron Bracy, a sports writer in Philadelphia, mailed me a copy of his new book, “A Soaring Season: The Incredible, Inspiring Story of the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks.” It’s available on Amazon.com for Dayton fans who want to build an A-10 book collection. I can also recommend (for the 100th time) my book: “The Epicenter of College Basketball: A History of UD Arena.”
This is a good time to mention Bracy’s book because Dayton and Saint Joseph’s play today.
Bracy’s book takes a game-by-game look back at one of the greatest A-10 teams. The Hawks finished 30-2 overall and 16-0 in the A-10 in the 2003-04 season. Coached by Phil Martelli and led by Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, they reached the Elite Eight before losing 64-62 to Oklahoma State.
Dayton earns several mentions in the book. On Page 54, the book dives into the subpar home arena Saint Joseph’s used in those days. Alumni Fieldhouse, which was renovated in 2008 and renamed Hagan Arena. The place was in need of an update during Saint Joseph’s historic season.
“The locker rooms were so tiny that Dayton coach Brian Gregory, later on in the 2003-04 season, would ask school officials to find him another place to address the Flyers at halftime because he couldn’t pull his team together to face him in the visitors’ dressing room,” Bracy wrote. “The best St. Joe’s could do was put Dayton in a space with a bunch of cubicles that was used by the school’s athletic coaches and staff. That turned out to be a bad idea for Gregory and Dayton, as the area also was doubling that night as the dressing room for mascots participating in a halftime contest. And so it went at the Fieldhouse.”
Later in the book Bracy writes about Dayton’s game at Saint Joseph’s on Feb. 11. Both teams were 9-0 in the A-10 entering the game. The Flyers lost 81-67. Bracy talked to former Flyer Keith Waleskowski, who was a senior that season and had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the game, about the matchup.
“Jameer read situations extremely well, he had a fantastic handle, and he could shoot the ball,” Waleskowski said. “He was shorter, but he was strong. He didn’t get tired. You couldn’t wear the kid out. He just kept coming and was super under control the way he moved, the way he controlled his body. You couldn’t just focus on Jameer because if you did, it was like, ‘That’s fine, shut me down, but I’m going to have everyone else kill you guys.’ And they would. Just multiple heads to that snake.
“You have Delonte West, who was super shifty and can shoot. You have Pat Carroll throwing daggers. You had a couple of bigs that did a very effective job just scoring off dump-offs. They had really good role players that knew their role, accepted their role, and played their role extremely well.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Looking for Peacock
A week ago today, I battled traffic for close to three hours on a drive from Dulles airport to the Siegel Center in Richmond, Va. It was worth the effort because Dayton and VCU delivered one of the best games I’ve seen in A-10 play this season.
The Flyers beat the Rams 79-76 to secure the No. 3 seed and keep their slim NCAA at-large hopes alive. They also spoiled the end of the season for VCU, which lost on Senior Night and had to share the A-10 regular-season championship with George Mason because of the loss.
Anthony Grant, who started his head coaching career at VCU 19 years ago, always has many people to talk to in Richmond, so he was the last person I talked to before starting to work on my stories.
“Do you mind if I grab a chicken wing before we start?” Grant said.
Of course, I couldn’t stand between a hungry coach and the postgame spread outside the locker room. He nibbled as we talked about Dayton’s best victory since December.
Flyer fans enjoyed watching that game on ESPN2, an easy-to-find channel available on any cable package. Many will not watch tonight’s game because it’s airing on Peacock, a streaming service that has been around since 2020 but didn’t start broadcasting A-10 games until this season.
Multiple fans have written to me to complain about the game being on Peacock when the other three quarterfinal games are on the USA Network.
“I don’t subscribe and am not going to just for one game,” one fan wrote.
“I gotta believe a whole lot of UD fans are as miffed as I am!” wrote another.
The USA Network is televising WWE Friday Night SmackDown at 8 tonight. That’s why it couldn’t air all four A-10 games today. The USA Network and Peacock are both owned by NBCUniversal Media Group.
It’ll cost fans $7.99 to watch this game if they sign up for a one-month subscription. Some fans have been signing up for a free 14-day trial of Instacart, which comes with a Peacock subscription, with the intention of canceling it after this game.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Former Dayton guards Koby Brea and Kobe Elvis played against each other for the second time this season on Thursday. Brea scored 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting in Kentucky’s 85-84 victory against Oklahoma in the second round of the SEC tournament. Elvis had 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting for the Sooners.
🏀 Jerry Palm, of CBS Sports, listed Dayton in his “First Four Out” group in his latest NCAA tournament bracket prediction on Friday.
🏀 Famed sports writer John Feinstein, who died Thursday at 69, wrote about his friendship with Dayton’s winningest coach, Don Donoher, after Donoher’s death in 2024.
🏀 What do you want to know about the Flyers?
I want to hear from you. Reach out to me directly at david.jablonski@coxinc.com with your questions and feedback on the team or this newsletter.
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