It was a much more inspiring quote than another one nearby attributed to current Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who said, “The standard is the standard,” though I may just be saying that because I’m a Bengals fan who likes to troll the Steelers and their fans.
Noll gained fame as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers decades after his playing days with the Flyers. His quote could apply to the 2024-25 Dayton Flyers basketball team, at least in the way it played Tuesday in Pittsburgh. That team has a lot of work to do in the next six weeks if it wants to become champion, but it took a step in that direction with its best performance in weeks.
The ordinary thing Dayton did Tuesday — the same day my dad Jeff and I visited that museum — was move the ball on offense in an 82-62 victory against Duquesne. The Flyers made crisp passes. They made the extra pass. Until they got sloppy in the second half while enjoying a 30-point lead, they didn’t make many passes that resulted in turnovers.
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Dayton coach Anthony Grant and several players talked to me about the ball movement after the game at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Grant also spoke to the team in the locker room about the improved passing. The official UD basketball social media account shared a video of the speech, which I’ve transcribed here.
“When you guys move the ball like that, man, we’re a special group,” Grant said. “You guys shared it tonight, man. The extra passing, that’s clinic-type stuff that you put on tape, right? You guys weren’t just relying on the plays to get you shots. You were getting each other shots. You were play-making for each other. That’s fun. That’s where that excitement comes from. You hear the ‘Booms!’ on the bench. It’s the extra pass that’s helping each other. That’s team basketball.”
Dayton players yelled “Boom!” after each made 3-pointer. There were many “Booms!” Dayton made 9 of 13 3-pointers in the first half and then their first four attempts in the second half.
Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III said after the game it felt like the Flyers were shooting 80%, and he wasn’t far off. They shot 76.5% through 25 minutes. They missed their last six 3s and shot 55.6% (13 of 23). For the season, Dayton is shooting 36.4%, the 61st-best percentage in the country.
“I thought they got quality looks,” Joyce said. “Percentage wise, you would hope they had missed. They don’t shoot 56% every night. I’ve watched a lot of tape where they’ve had quality looks. Their average is their average. But tonight they made us pay. They were locked in. They made shots.”
Can Dayton keep building momentum?
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
The Flyers (13-6, 3-3) take a modest two-game winning streak into a 7:30 p.m. home game Friday against Saint Joseph’s (12-7, 3-3). It’s a matchup of two teams picked to finish in the top three in the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason poll. Dayton was picked to finish second behind Virginia Commonwealth, and Saint Joseph’s was picked to finish third.
The Hawks and Flyers have struggled to find consistency in A-10 play.
Dayton beat one of the A-10′s hottest teams, Duquesne, 82-62 but also lost by the same score to George Washington (13-6, 2-4), which has since lost three of its last four games.
Saint Joseph’s lost 73-57 at Saint Louis and beat Loyola Chicago 93-57 eight days later. Like Dayton, the Hawks enter Friday’s game with some momentum, having won 78-61 at Davidson on Tuesday.
The Hawks have improved their record every season under coach Billy Lange, who’s in his sixth season: 6-26 to 5-15 to 11-19 to 16-17 to 21-14. This was supposed to be his best team because it returned A-10 Player of the Year candidate Erik Reynolds II.
“We have inched closer to the vision with every passing year, regardless of what the results have looked like,” Lange told the Philadelphia Inquirer before the season. “I know that. And because of that I’m proud of what we’ve done, and we just have to keep going.”
The Hawks got off to a good start with victories against Villanova and Texas Tech in their first five games but stumbled in December with losses to Princeton and Charleston.
To win Friday, Saint Joseph’s will have to overcome recent troubles at UD Arena. They’re 0-5 in Dayton since a 60-57 victory on a last-second 3-pointer by Langston Galloway in 2014.
Four guys talking UD hoops
Last week in this newsletter, I wrote about my plan to get together with former UD beat writers to talk about memories of covering the Flyers. The discussion on Thursday went better than I could have expected. Hal McCoy, Bucky Albers and Doug Harris joined me at the Dayton Daily News office downtown.
With me, Albers and Harris there, we had three sports writers who have covered the beat every year since the late 1980s. Albers took over the beat from Gary Nuhn in February 1987 and covered the Flyers until retiring in 2006. Harris, who played for Dayton from 1975-79, took over the beat from Albers and covered the team until retiring before the 2013-14 season, at which point I moved to the UD beat after one season covering Wright State.
Harris knows his timing was bad. The Flyers had a forgettable 17-14 season in 2012-13, the last season he covered the team, and made the Elite Eight in my first season. Still, as a UD graduate, Harris was happy to see the program return to prominence.
Harris has continued to write, covering Wright State for the paper for years. He takes the summers off, though, and plays a lot of golf, mostly near his home in Springfield.
McCoy, the beat writer when UD Arena opened in 1969, will never stop writing. He still writes about every Reds game from his home in Englewood for our website and also covers UD home games for Press Pros Magazine. McCoy, 84, said the work keeps him sharp.
“People ask me how long I’m going to do it, and I say, ‘Until my head hits the laptop,’” McCoy said.
Albers continued writing a local golf column for the Dayton Daily News for many years. He’s now 86. He still attends every UD home game. His tradition is buying a candy bar at the concession stand before the game.
I will turn our hour-long conversation into a story in our special Flyer Connection edition on Feb. 9. I also will have a separate story in the paper that day on another former UD beat writer, Jim Zofkie, who covered the program for the Journal Herald from 1962-77. I’m talking to him Monday at St. Leonard in Centerville.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 One of the hottest teams in the A-10 is George Mason (15-5, 6-1), which has built on its victory at UD Arena with a double-overtime win at home against George Mason and then a victory on the road against St. Bonaventure on Tuesday. The Patriots have won five games in a row and have a half-game lead on Virginia Commonwealth.
🏀 The other hot A-10 team is VCU, which plays at home against St. Bonaventure on Friday. VCU has won five games in a row since losing at St. Bonaventure on Dec. 31. VCU forced 27 turnovers in an 81-57 victory at Rhode Island on Tuesday.
🏀 It’s hard to commit NCAA violations these days, but Fordham suspended coach Keith Urgo for four games last week for recruiting violations. Fordham is the last winless team in A-10 play at 0-6.
🏀 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.
Also be sure to follow our Flyer Nation Facebook page for the latest news on the team. I’ll have updates, photos and videos on Twitter, as well.
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