Exactly one month ago, Grant brought a quick end to his postgame press conference after a 73-68 loss to Virginia Commonwealth at UD Arena with a rant that could be summed up by five words he repeated several times: “We have to be better.”
That Feb. 7 loss still stings on March 7. Dayton (21-9, 11-6) has won five of the six games it has played since collapsing in the final minutes against VCU, but it will play for third place at 7 p.m. Friday at the Siegel Center while VCU plays for the outright Atlantic 10 Conference championship, having already clinched a share of the title as well as the No. 1 seed in the A-10 tournament.
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VCU (25-5, 15-2) has won nine games in a row. It has played as well as anyone in the country since the start of February. Dayton has been the only A-10 to give VCU a scare since VCU’s last loss at Saint Louis on Jan. 31.
“They’re a really good team,” Grant said Tuesday after a 75-67 victory against Saint Louis. “They’ve got great players, great coaches, a great fan base. We’ve got two days to get prepared. I think it’ll be a hell of a battle.”
VCU is 15-0 at home this season and has won every home game by at least 12 points. It is trying to complete its third undefeated season at home and second since the Siegel Center opened in 1999. It last posted a perfect home record (15-0) in the 2013-14 season, its second season in the A-10.
There has been debate in Richmond about whether VCU should cut down the nets at the Siegel Center if it beats Dayton.
“Some say the act is cursed,” Zach Joachim, of the Richmond Times Dispatch, wrote on Thursday. “Others argue that programs such as VCU and Dayton, which regularly harbor aspirations higher than regular-season titles, are above such practices.
“On the flip side, supporters say the sustained success necessary to win the regular season renders it a much tougher achievement than winning a handful of games in a tournament setting, and thus merits a commemorative act akin to cutting down the nets. And, at the end of the day, it’s a fun, well-earned moment for the players.”
Dayton cut down the nets in 2016 and 2017 after clinching A-10 championships with victories against VCU on Senior Night both years. It did so again after completing an 18-0 A-10 season in 2020.
VCU, on the other hand, appears to have no interest in net cutting, according to comments by second-year VCU coach Ryan Odom on Thursday.
“It’s just a personal decision school to school,” Odom said in the Richmond Times-Dispatch story. “We’re going to celebrate if we’re able to get the outright (title). We’ll celebrate if it’s shared. It’s hard to win a regular-season championship. And then all we’ll do is turn our attention to what’s next. What’s next is the conference tournament, and that’s where you cut down the nets.”
A memorable finale at UD Arena
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Just before tipoff Tuesday at UD Arena, Erik Schelkun, the longtime photographer for Dayton athletics, told me comedian Dave Chappelle would be at the game. He pointed to two empty seats on the court across from the visiting bench where Chappelle was supposed to sit.
Chappelle has lived in Yellow Springs for decades. I saw him often when I lived in Springfield and visited Yellow Springs more often.
On Election Day in 2008, I drove through Yellow Springs, probably on my way down Route 68 to visit my parents in Mount Orab, and saw Chappelle at Dino’s Cappuccinos. I wrote on Facebook that day that I heard Chappelle say voting today was “like fast food.” Quick and easy, in other words.
In 2011, my family and I sat near Chappelle at Pasha Grill at the Greene.
I’m sure many Miami Valley residents have crossed paths with Chappelle over the years, but he had never been to a game at UD Arena until Tuesday. Chappelle took his seat early in the second half just in time to watch Dayton rally from a 14-point deficit.
During a timeout, I ran from Dayton’s end of the court to the other end of the court, using the hallway where the locker rooms are, to photograph Chappelle in his seats. Then I transmitted the photos from my Canon R6 to my iPhone so I could post the photos to social media. I knew fans would be interested to hear that Chappelle was at the game.
I photograph and film every Dayton play during games but missed the first two baskets, both by Javon Bennett, in Dayton’s comeback as I worked to get the Chappelle photos online.
After Dayton’s 75-67 victory against Saint Louis, I photographed and filmed Chappelle leaving the court and then turned my cameras on the happy Flyers. I followed them up the tunnel because Chappelle had just gone that way. I was fortunate to arrive just in time to capture the images of Chappelle posing for a photo with the players and then getting a hug from Grant. Grant then asked the photographers present to shoot a photo of him posing with Chappelle.
Chappelle started walking up the tunnel. I followed so I could ask him the one question that had been on my mind all night: “Had you ever been to UD Arena before?”
Chappelle told me it was his first time. If one question counts as an interview, he’s now the most famous person I’ve interviewed, passing Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Duke Snider, Dale Earnhardt Jr., etc.
After the game, I learned actor Ben Savage, of Boy Meets World fame, attended a game earlier this season. Dayton’s longtime director of communications, Doug Hauschild, remembered actor Rob Lowe, a Dayton native, attending a game years ago. The biggest celebrity to attend a game in recent years was Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who came to watch his high school friend Ibi Watson in the pandemic season of 2020-21.
Chappelle didn’t stick around long after the postgame photo ops, but the people involved in getting him tickets told me he was raving about the experience later that evening. I sent them video of Grant talking about Chappelle in the postgame press conference so they could send it to him. I don’t think Chappelle will become Dayton’s version of Jack Nicholson, the actor famous for sitting courtside at Los Angeles Lakers games, but I bet we’ll see him again at the arena in the future.
An outlier among the bracketologists
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Dayton fans have not spent much time in the last two months examining the predictions of the many different bracketologists. UD’s once-promising NCAA tournament at-large hopes faded in January with three A-10 losses in a row.
Ten victories in the last 13 games have not put the Flyers on the radar of Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm, the most famous names trying to guess the 68-team field every week, or every day.
However, one account on X (Twitter) with more than 30,000 followers, JBR Bracketology, started toying with Dayton fans’ emotions earlier this week.
“The one sleeper bubble team everyone has forgotten about?” JBR wrote on Monday. “The Dayton Flyers. A 2-0 week this week including a Quad 1A win @ VCU? I think Flyers could sneak in.”
JBR followed that up on Wednesday with this: “Dayton and VCU both pick up wins to set the stage for Friday night’s showdown at the Siegel Center. Hot take: Winner of Friday night’s game has the better shot at an at-large bid.”
On Thursday, he wrote, “Dayton an interesting resume with some quality non conference wins. Flyers can get very close with a Quad 1A win @ VCU (plus) a deep A10 run.”
Three years ago, everyone assumed Dayton had to win the A-10 tournament to get into the NCAA tournament. The Flyers were not being talked about by anyone in regard to an at-large berth. Then on the Selection Show, they were listed as the first team left out of the tournament.
That 2021-22 team ranked 54th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool entering an A-10 tournament semifinal game against Richmond. This Dayton team is No. 69, though it would get a boost if it wins at VCU on Friday.
The lowest-ranked team in the NET to earn an at-large bid was No. 77 Rutgers in 2022.
JBR isn’t the only NCAA tournament expert starting to think about Dayton. The Made for March account on X listed Dayton among the “First Four Out” in its prediction Thursday. Of course, Dayton’s slim chances of earning an at-large berth depend on it winning at VCU, which is a big if.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 ESPN’s latest Bubble Watch story gives Dayton an 18% chance of making the NCAA tournament as an at-large team.
🏀 College basketball analyst Evan Miyakawa lists Dayton lists Dayton as a team that has underachieved relative to its roster talent.
🏀 Former Flyer R.J. Blakney made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to lift Old Dominion to a 60-59 victory against Coastal Carolina on Feb. 28. Blakney, who played three seasons at Dayton before spending the last two at ODU, is averaging 5.8 points in his final season of eligibility.
🏀 The conspiracy theorists in the Dayton fan base who thought Dayton wasn’t playing well in January because the players players knew Grant was leaving to coach the Miami Hurricanes in his hometown were wrong. Miami hired Duke associate head coach Jai Lucas on Thursday.
🏀 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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