Dayton opens the 2023-24 season at 7 p.m. Monday against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and then plays at Northwestern at 8:30 p.m. Friday (7:30 p.m. if you’re in Chicago for the game).
SIUE won at Saint Louis last season and has the Wright brothers (Shamar and Lamar, sons of Lorenzen) on its roster. Wright Brothers have historically had some success in Dayton. The Cougars can’t be overlooked. On the other hand, Dayton has won 18 straight season openers, including a 73-46 victory against Lindenwood last season.
The season begins, as most do, with great promise. I talked to five UD basketball experts one day after the Ohio State exhibition game to get their thoughts on the season. That story will run Sunday. I always talk to Larry Hansgen, Brooks Hall and Keith Waleskowski before the season for this annual story. This year, I added Hall of Famer Hal McCoy, who writes about the Flyers for Press Pro Magazine, and Matthew Schwade, who has written about the program for Rivals.com for many years, to the mix.
Here’s one quote from Hansgen that sums up the attitude of fans entering the season:
“I think (cautiously optimistic) is the buzzword because they had their hearts broken,” Hansgen said. “Last year, all the pieces were there. The year before, they had that disastrous start, which put them in a situation where they were one win away from the tournament. They had those three stinker losses, and they lost their margin of error. Last year, the injuries put them in a (bad) situation. I think Dayton fans are justifiably sitting there saying, ‘Okay, looks good, but what’s going to go wrong this time?’
A legend with a Dayton connection
Ten years ago, I was standing in line at the pop machine in the media room at halftime at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. Dayton was playing at Arkansas and lost decisively that day, 69-55. I noticed a man in a colorful sweater in front of me. It took a second for me to realize it was Bob Knight, who was broadcasting the game for ESPN.
That was Knight’s last season on ESPN. I was at the game, so I didn’t get to listen to the broadcast. I would be surprised if Knight didn’t mention his friendship with UD’s all-time winningest coach, Don Donoher, at some point. Knight, who died on Wednesday at 83, developed a relationship with Donoher beginning in the 1968 NIT and stretching to the 1984 Olympics, where they coached the United States to a gold medal, and on through the decades.
I dove into the Dayton Daily News archives and wrote about about their friendship Thursday.
“The man is amazIng,” Donoher said of Knight in 1984. “He’s a whirlwind.”
“There’s nobody that I’ve enjoyed more as a friend, respected more as a coach and thought did a better job in coaching in the circumstances that developed throughout his tenure at the University of Dayton,” Knight said of Donoher in 2007.
We had two more pieces about Knight on Thursday.
• Former Dayton Daily News sports editor Brian Kollars wrote about a joke Knight played on Gary McCans, the longtime UD Arena ticket manager.
• Marcus Hartman wrote about Ohio State re-embracing Knight, an OSU alum, after he had played the villain for so many years as the coach of a rival school.
One last tune-up for Flyers
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
I teased Anthony Grant at the end of the postgame press conference Saturday following Dayton’s 75-40 victory against Cedarville University in an exhibition game.
“Are you sure your son’s not wearing No. 33 for Ryan Mikesell?” I asked.
Grant laughed and gave me the end-of-joke drum sound. I mentioned in the last newsletter one of the Flyers had a surprise jersey number change. That was Makai, the freshman walk-on and son of the head coach. He told me he was changing to his dad’s number when the new uniforms arrived but had not told his dad. That finally happened Friday, three days after I talked to Makai.
That was a fun story that went along with the exhibition game. Dayton routed Cedarville for the third time in five years as expected. The margins of victory have been 33, 34 and 35 points, so I’m sensing a trend. You never want to make any sweeping judgements from these games. The biggest takeaway for me is Dayton seemed to come away healthy from the exhibition season. If they can get to the starting line healthy Monday, that would be a big departure from most seasons, especially last season.
Grant has also given us glimpses of what the starting lineup and rotation will look like when the season begins. The starting lineup is the one I would have predicted: DaRon Holmes II; Malachi Smith; Kobe Elvis; Enoch Cheeks; and Nate Santos.
Javon Bennett and Koby Brea look to be the top subs, with Petras Padegimas, Zimi Nwokeji and Isaac Jack also being a part of the rotation. I’d be surprised if Grant plays a 10-man rotation, though, especially in the game against Northwestern next Friday, so one or two of those players could see limited minutes if any.
Freshmen Jaiun Simon and Marvell Allen did not see action Saturday until late in the second half.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Just a quick update on my UD Arena book: “The Epicenter of College Basketball: A History of UD Arena” will be printed next week by Post Printing in Minster. I plan to put it on sale online Nov. 19 at UDArenaBook.com (that link is not active yet). I also hope to have it for sale at UD Arena and at the UD bookstore.
🏀 UD announced Thursday night it will bring back the Chapel Blue uniforms Dec. 6 for a home game against UNLV.
🏀 I wrote about the changes coming to the NIT selection process on Monday. UD AD Neil Sullivan and A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade talked to me about the decisions favoring the power six conferences, not necessarily because they want more NIT bids but because they worry about the shift in principles that could also affect the NCAA tournament.
🏀 Tom Archdeacon wrote Sunday about Javon Bennett, the defensive pest and spark plug who could have a big impact off the bench for the Flyers.
🏀 Even with two potential starters sidelined by injury, VCU looked strong in its exhibition game last weekend, beating a Division II program, Mars Hill, 110-50.
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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