“What up, Flyer Nation,” Jack said in a video July 13. “Isaac Jack here. Can’t wait for the season. Can’t wait to compete. Let’s get it.”
Short clips followed, showing Jack dribbling two basketballs at once, lifting weights, working on post moves with coaches Jermaine Henderson and Sean Damaska, etc.
Similar videos have been shared to show Robert Morris transfer Enoch Cheeks and Merrimack transfer Javon Bennett in action. We’ve seen other clips showing various players: freshman guard Marvel Allen shooting a jumper over Kobe Elvis, who has looked healthy all summer after ending the season with a knee injury; Elvis driving the baseline and then passing to DaRon Holmes II for a dunk; Bennett throwing an alley-oop to Cheeks on a fast break; Holmes passing to Pittsburgh transfer Nate Santos for dunk, etc.
A good week for talking basketball
That’s all the basketball action I’ve seen from the Flyers. I could tell you a lot more about the guys I’ve been playing basketball with at 5:30 a.m. three times a week this summer at the gym near my house in Columbus. Next to traveling, I like nothing more than pickup hoops, especially when it’s done the right way. These are serious games with strong players — the majority much better and younger than me — who play defense and don’t run and gun too much.
I’ve had to sit out this week because I pulled a quad muscle running 40-yard dashes against high school kids last week on the turf at Peden Stadium in Athens. I’ve refused to stretch for anything in 46 years, and it finally caught up to me.
My wife, Barbara, and I have taught at the Ohio University High School Journalism workshop nine of the last 10 years. We had another successful experience last week, except for my injury. Shoutout to one of the students, Jimmy John Jacob, whose mom is a UD grad and Flyer fan. I told him I love Flyer fans because they have given me the opportunity to make a living watching basketball — something I’ll get to do next week with The Basketball Tournament starting again at UD Arena.
Even though I’m on the injured list, this was a good week for talking basketball. On Monday, I spoke to former Flyer Joey Gruden, of the Red Scare, about the Dayton alumni team starting practice for the TBT. It will hold an open practice for fans at 3 p.m. Sunday at UD Arena.
Thanks to Matt Farrell, of Dayton 6th, I sat down with Holmes on Tuesday to talk about his new NIL deal with White-Allen but mostly about his new teammates and the season ahead.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Then on Wednesday, I drove to Cincinnati to cover a press conference featuring Dayton coach Anthony Grant and Cincinnati coach Wes Miller about a Dec. 16 matchup between their teams. I got a one-on-one interview with Grant after the press conference while six or seven Cincinnati reporters surrounded Miller down the concourse at the Heritage Bank Center.
Holmes and Grant are optimistic about the 2023-24 Flyers.
“I think a lot of people are going to be surprised with how good this team is,” he said. “I really do. This team is very good, especially because of how fast everybody’s getting things. I didn’t expect that. I thought it’d be a lot slower.”
“I’m excited about the group,” Grant said. “I think we’ve got a really, really good group of guys. They get along really well. I think they like to compete. We’re excited about the potential that we have.”
Dayton’s schedule shaping up to be a strong one
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
I can’t remember the last time I stepped in Riverfront Coliseum — sorry, the Heritage Bank Center — but I saw my first college basketball game there sometime in the late 1980s when Tony Yates was UC coach. I also saw an indoor professional soccer game there, the women’s Final Four in 1997, the Conference USA tournament in 2002, etc.
Fans immediately started complaining about the arena when I shared photos from the press conference Wednesday.
“I had heard this place was a dump, but yikes,” one wrote on Twitter.
“Is this place suitable for an NCAAB game?!” another wrote. “Maybe just have it at Kingdom Sports Center.”
The old coliseum won’t rank among the nation’s best arenas — or even Hamilton County’s — but all you need are two hoops and a court. The most important thing is Dayton and Cincinnati found a way to get together for the first time in 13 years.
UD should be ready to release its full non-conference schedule soon. With games against UC, UNLV, SMU, Northwestern, Youngstown State and whatever matchups they get in the Charleston Classic — not to mention the exhibition game against Ohio State — this could be one of Dayton’s best schedules in years.
Finding treasures in the archives
My to-do list this week could stretch from my home in Columbus to Dayton. We went into contract for a house 700 feet from our current one — but across the street in the Bexley school district, where our son Chase, 4, would be able to go to school with his friends — on Sunday. To get the house, we have to sell our current house by next Wednesday. That means I’ve been running around getting the place in shape for showings this weekend. I bought 21 bags of mulch because obviously potential buyers love a house with mulch — or so goes my thinking.
At the same time, I’ve been working late at night finishing my book on the history of UD Arena. My editor, former Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Peter Bronson, of Chilidog Publishing, sent me the edited manuscript on Monday. I now have to go through the book paragraph by paragraph to make corrections. I also brought on some volunteer fact checkers — Dayton fans, of course — who are giving the copy a read and sending me notes. I feel much better about the product now that other eyes have seen it and am confident we’ll get it published by November or Christmas at the latest.
I’ve made three trips to the Dayton Daily News archives at Wright State and gotten a sense of how many old photos are there that we can use in print and on the website. I’ve found some real treasures, photos that don’t show up in our digital archive but will now. I discovered a five-photo sequence showing Ed Young’s famous shot against DePaul in 1984 on Wednesday and plan to use that for a 40th anniversary story in 2024.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Former Dayton forward Toumani Camara posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Phoenix Suns in their final NBA Summer League game.
🏀 The Basketball Tournament starts Wednesday with four games at UD Arena. The games started this week in other regionals. The tournament favorite, according to the DraftKings Sportsbook, is Boeheim’s Army, the Syracuse team that won the championship in 2021 at UD Arena.
🏀 Earlier this month, former Flyer Obi Toppin made his first public comments since being traded from the New York Knicks to the Indiana Pacers. “I didn’t get the minutes I wanted,” Toppin said. ”But now it’s a new start. I’m here in Indy. I got to work for everything I want. And I’m super excited to start.”
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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