I first visited the Basketball Hall of Fame, which I had not seen since 2011 on a summer trip with my dad. I had not been there on any of the previous six trips to UMass. The best thing about the Hall of Fame is the opportunity to shoot hoops at the end. They have a full court on which you can play, though games aren’t allowed. I had the whole court to myself and struggled to make much from NBA 3-point range.
I then visited the Dr. Seuss Museum in downtown Springfield and the The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art just south of Amherst. My wife Barbara and I read dozens of books to our 6-year-old son Chase every month. We long ago passed the point where Chase wanted the same books every night. Now we read three to five different books to him every night. That’s why I felt at home in these museums. Chase was excited that I bought him a toy related to a book we read one night before my trip: “The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster.”
Speaking of roller coasters, how about this Dayton Flyers season?
A team that reached great heights in November and December with upsets of Connecticut and Marquette hit rock bottom in a five-day stretch with an 82-62 loss Saturday at George Washington and then a 76-72 loss Wednesday at UMass.
***
Dayton coach Anthony Grant is never going to throw his players under the bus, as UCLA’s Mick Cronin did Tuesday.
“It’s really hard to coach people that are delusional,” Cronin said after a 94-75 loss at home to Michigan. “The hungry dog gets the bone. We’ve got guys that think they’re way better than they are. They’re nice kids. They’re completely delusional about who they are.”
Grant took a softer approach after the loss in Amherst. This was the rare time Grant spoke at a postgame press conference at a visiting arena. Typically, he does his interview with Larry Hansgen on WHIO Radio and then talks to me on the court or outside the locker room.
“We’re just not playing very well right now as a team, individually or collectively,” Grant said. “We’re not playing to our identity on either side of the ball. We’re struggling offensively to find any continuity. Guys that we’ve been able to rely on are just in a funk right now from an offensive standpoint. Defensively, we have to figure some things out in terms of what’s been ailing us. From a defensive standpoint, it looks like matchups are being exploited, and we’re not defending the way we have to defend.”
Funk, slump, whatever you want to call it, Dayton is in it right now. It’s a broken team.
Dayton found ways to win earlier this season when shots weren’t falling. Now it’s finding different ways to lose, whether that’s with careless passes — Malachi Smith had two that led to fast-break baskets for UMass on Wednesday — or goaltending calls. Zed Key may have set a school record with three against UMass.
Dayton fans are miserable right, but if misery loves company, they can find plenty of friends with Cincinnati (0-3 in the Big 12), Xavier (1-4 in the Big East) and Ohio State (2-3 in the Big Ten). The Flyers (11-5 overall) are off to their first 1-2 start in the A-10 since the pandemic season of 2020-21.
Big changes coming in NCAA athletics
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
I had a 27-minute conversation Monday with Dayton’s director of athletics, Neil Sullivan. We only spent about one minute talking about sled riding, which I planned to do later that afternoon with Chase. The rest of the time we spent talking about the massive change coming later this year.
Starting July 1, assuming the NCAA settles a $2.8 billion lawsuit in April, schools will be able to pay athletes directly. Sullivan didn’t want to put an exact number on how much of the budget will go to athletes’ salaries, but he did say it will be in the millions. Most of those dollars, of course, will go to the men’s basketball players.
For the first time, the athletes scoring the points may profit as much off ticket sales, TV revenue, etc. as the coaches on the sideline. Grant made $2,447,095 in the fiscal year that ended in June 2023, according to the most recent UD tax return available on ProPublica.org. Dayton Associate Head Coach Ricardo Greer made $345,001. Assistant coach James Kane made $298,076.
You will be able to read more about my conversation with Sullivan next week on DaytonDailyNews.com and later this month in print in the twice-a-month Flyer Connection section. Here’s one quote from Sullivan when I asked him how ready Dayton is for this massive shift.
“We’re ready,” he said. “I’m confident we’re going to be well positioned. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t keep me up every day or up at night, or that anything’s easy, but we have a legacy of a fan base. We have a healthy program. We have a university that believes in athletics and believes in basketball. We have alignment there. We have a community that supports it. So we’re going to be aggressive. We’re going to be bold. I tell people scared money doesn’t make money. This is not for the faint of heart. You have to be responsible and appropriate, but that has to be balanced with a certain level of aggressiveness. We tried to take that approach this year with scheduling. You’ve got to roll some dice to be able to do what we want to try to keep doing. So, yeah, I’m confident and feel prepared, but that is not a statement of naivety or arrogance that this will be anything but challenging.”
Dayton’s women’s team on the rise
The declining fortunes of the Dayton men’s basketball team have coincided with the rise of the Dayton women’s team.
On the same night the men’s team lost on the road to UMass, the women’s team beat UMass 67-64 at UD Arena. Dayton (9-6, 3-1) is tied for second in the A-10 with Saint Joseph’s, Richmond and Fordham with Davidson (4-0 in A-10) the only unbeaten team remaining.
Tom Archdeacon covered the game Wednesday and wrote about the Flyers’ one-two punch of Arianna Smith and Ivy Wolf, who combined for 42 points.
This is Dayton’s best A-10 start under coach Tamika Williams-Jeter. It was 1-3 through four games last season and 2-2 two years ago.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Williams-Jeter said in her postgame radio interview Wednesday. “There was a point in practice yesterday when we got lukewarm, and I lost it because I said, ‘We’ve got to run hot.’ We haven’t earned the right to go lukewarm. When we feel lukewarm, we’ve got to get back in that hot water. And we got back in the hot water yesterday, and it paid off today.”
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Join myself and Dayton Daily News colleagues Marcus Hartman and Jeremy Kelly at Warped Wing in Springboro at 6 p.m. Tuesday for Flyer Connection Live. We’re trying something new and will be talking UD basketball at the brewery. Fans can watch in person or on the DDN YouTube channel. You can RSVP if you want on Facebook.
🏀 Former Dayton guard Koby Brea was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday. He scored a career-high 23 points and made a career-best seven 3-pointers in a 106-100 victory against Florida on Saturday.
🏀 Saint Louis (10-6, 3-0) is the last unbeaten team in A-10 play after a 73-68 victory at home against St. Bonaventure on Wednesday.
🏀 Garrett Cote, of the Daily Hampshire Gazette, wrote about the UMass victory against Dayton. “(We) stepped up and saved the season, in my eyes,” Rahsool Diggins said in the postgame press conference.
🏀 Earlier this month, I talked to Scott Brand, who has a Rhode Island basketball podcast, about Archie Miller’s days at Dayton. You can watch/listen to the conversation on YouTube at this link.
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.
About the Author
