All the former Flyers agree on the potential of this team, which earned its highest Associated Press ranking since 1967 by climbing from No. 14 to No. 13 on Monday. What do they tell Landers?
“We’re dangerous,” said Landers on Saturday after a 78-47 victory against Drake. “They know we have a lot of depth. They love watching us.”
The next opportunity for everyone to see the Flyers (8-1) in action comes at 7 p.m. Tuesday when North Texas (4-6) visits UD Arena.
No one is making more of an effort to enjoy every moment this season than Dayton’s two seniors: Landers and Ryan Mikesell, the last remaining players from the Archie Miller era. Landers said he and Mikesell have a countdown going. They know their time wearing the red and white is dwindling and want to make the most of it.
“It’s all about what you want to do and how you want your legacy to be after you leave here,” Landers said. “My biggest thing is I want my fans and the team to know I put my all into this game. I do everything I can to help my teammates on and off the court.”
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Dayton will need everything Landers has on Tuesday. Despite its record, North Texas has the potential to pull an upset. Four of its losses have come against teams ranked in the top 50 of the Ken Pomeroy ratings.
The Mean Green lost 59-56 at Virginia Commonwealth on Nov. 8, committing a turnover with 13 seconds to go when it faced a one-point deficit. North Texas led another A-10 team, Rhode Island, at halftime before losing 60-47 in Jamaica on Nov. 22. It also fell short of upsetting Oklahoma, losing 82-80 on Dec. 5 when a last second 3-pointer was off the mark.
North Texas ranks 98th in the first NCAA Evaluation Tool ranking of the season. It’s the second highest-ranked team with a losing record. The NET, which helps determine the NCAA tournament field, was released Monday, and Dayton debuted at No. 10.
Dayton’s best victories, according to the NET, are against No. 62 Virginia Tech, No. 64 Saint Mary’s, No. 76 Georgia and No. 85 Indiana State. The Flyers play No. 31 Colorado on Saturday in Chicago.
Ohio State is No. 1 in the NET. Kansas, the only team to beat Dayton, is No. 2. Wright State ranks 117th. In addition to Dayton, two other Atlantic 10 teams rank in the top 25: No. 20 Duquesne (9-0) and No. 22 Richmond (9-1).
In the AP poll, one voter ranked Dayton as high as fourth,and one had it as low as 20th. Fifteen voters had Dayton in the top 10. Dayton jumped Michigan, which fell from No. 5 to No. 14, in the poll.
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The 1967-68 Flyers, the last UD team to reach the top 10, started the season at No. 6 after advancing to the national championship game and losing to UCLA the previous season. They dropped out of the ranking after losing their first two games to Miami and Eastern Kentucky. The highest Dayton has ranked was No. 2 in the 1955-56 season.
Of course, rankings aren’t the endgame for this team.
“To be honest with you, our goal was never to deal with rankings or outside opinions,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “We have certain things if we do well, we can continue to be as good as we want to to be. We’re going to try to keep our eye on the ball and play to the standards we’ve talked about since day one.”
TUESDAY’S GAME
North Texas at Dayton, 7 p.m. Spectrum News 1, ESPN, 1290 and 95.7 WHIO
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