The final phase of the three-year, $76.2 million renovation project is wrapping up just before the season. It was the same story the last two years. The UD women's and men's teams have done all their practicing at the Cronin Center in three straight offseasons and have not seen their home court except during the season.
The long wait was worth it the last two years, and Green raved about what she saw Wednesday, two days before her team plays Ashland University, the eighth-ranked team in NCAA Division II, at 7 p.m. Friday in an exhibition game at UD Arena.
“I walked around after practice last night,” Green said, “and it’s just absolutely amazing. It’s more than I even thought it would be. They did an unbelievable job in every detail of it, and I know it’s not even finished yet.”
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Green was asked Thursday, “How noticeable is the new lighting over the court?”
“Oh, it’s noticeable,” she said, “The first thing all of our players said was, ‘Man it’s bright.’ The floor, with the new lights, it pops. You will definitely tell a difference.”
The Flyers shot the ball well Wednesday and not as well Thursday, though Green blamed that on the short turnaround between practices. She said players showed up early and stayed late to get used to their home rims, so they can enter the season with confidence. She doesn’t think it will take them long to adjust.
“With the success we’ve had at the arena, there’s kind of a comfort level for us,” Green said.
The exhibition game will be Dayton’s second experience playing outside competition. It beat Butler, which finished 23-10 last season and won two games in the NIT, in a scrimmage last weekend.
» OFFSEASON REPORT: Green says Flyers had a great summer
“I thought we did some really good things,” Green said, “and we know what we have to fix, so we’ve spent this week trying to clean up some things. It was a good scrimmage for us, a good experience.”
Green begins her fourth season as head coach with her most veteran team. Dayton has three redshirt seniors, four seniors, two redshirt juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen. She praised the leadership the players have shown in the preseason.
“We’ve grown a lot just in terms of how we approach every day,” Green said. “I haven’t had to coach effort or focus. We can get into the intricate details, and that’s always a good thing. That’s how it should be when you have experienced players coming back. I’m excited to see it all come together on the court. It’s not going to be a finished project tomorrow night or next week or the following week, but every day we’re continuing to get better.”
Injury news: Green announced Thursday two of the team's three freshmen suffered torn ACLs in the preseason and will miss the season.
Destiny Bohanon, a 5-foot-10 guard from Wayne High School, and Nadjy Tyler, a 6-3 forward from Philadelphia, will have to wait until the 2020-21 season to make their college debuts.
“I thought both of them could help and make an impact,” Green said, “so that hurts, but it’s part of the game, and it’s next man up and we’ve got to get to it.”
That leaves Mariah Perez, a 6-3 forward from Newark, N.J., as the only freshman who can play for Dayton this season.
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