“It’s a sign that we do things the right way and we play the right way and we’re having some success,” Miller said. “It doesn’t impact what we’re doing. I don’t allow it in the office. I don’t allow it in my head. As we do our thing here at Dayton, the one thing people have to recognize is how great this fan base is and how great the tradition is. Very few people have what we have at our fingertips, and we built it from day one with our guys.”
Miller credited the administration for giving him everything he needs and said the transition from Athletic Director Tim Wabler and President Dan Curran to new AD Neil Sullivan and new President Eric Spina has been seamless.
“When you have a great relationship with the administration and you combine that with the crazy, rabid fan base and a proud basketball community, those are a lot of things a lot of people don’t have and never will have,” Miller said. “I’m not about to to give that up just because some job calls because I don’t know and no one else knows what those relationships will be like in the future. To me, trust is everything, and we have great trust here.”
Attendance mark: UD made it official Wednesday, breaking the school record for average attendance. A sellout crowd of 13,455 brought the total attendance in 16 home games to 208,291. The average attendance for the season was 13,018.
The record of 12,982 was set in 15 games in 1969-70, the arena’s first season.
“When you think about the arena,” Miller said, “and the storied tradition and the fantastic teams that have been put on the floor not just in the last few years but for decades and decades, you think of where we are with the momentum of our fan base and it makes you proud.”
Season finale: Dayton plays at George Washington at 8 p.m. Saturday in Washington, D.C. The Colonials (16-13, 8-8) played at Fordham on Wednesday night.
Dayton lost 64-65 on a last-second shot by Joe McDonald in overtime the last time it played at the Smith Center on Feb. 6, 2015. It has lost three games in a row there by a total of four points since a 63-61 victory in 2009.
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