Both marks could stand for years, but who knows? New coach Anthony Grant and his staff may make 25-win seasons and March Madness invitations the norm.
DAYTON TOP 10: Freshman seasons; A-10 wins; conference games
A closer look at the Dayton Flyers media guide shows a number of records that will be even harder to break. Here’s a look at 10 of them:
1. Most lopsided victory: The 110th anniversary of this record passed in January with no fanfare. That's a shame because no one should forget the only shutout in Dayton basketball history (not counting a 2-0 forfeit victory against Notre Dame in 1911-12).
In January 1907, Dayton (then known as St. Mary’s Institute) beat Cedarville College 80-0. A story from the Xenia Daily Gazette detailed what was even then an amazing score:
Cedarville “suffered an application of the whitewash brush,” according to the newspaper, and “was simply outclassed and could not even get the ball within striking distance of the Dayton goal. The Dayton team must have fairly burned the leather on the ball by sliding it through the cage for 80 points.”
Dayton’s second-widest margin of victory came six years later when it burned the leather again for a 75-1 victory against Lafayette.
The NCAA Division I record for fewest points allowed since 1938 is six points. Tennessee beat Temple 11-6 in 1973, and Kentucky beat Arkansas 75-6 in 1945.
2. Career scoring: This record has survived 33 years and doesn't appear in danger of being broken anytime soon. Roosevelt Chapman scored 2,233 points in 118 games from 1980-84. No one else in UD history has topped 2,000.
"I swear, (Chapman) could have been a juggler. Really," said Chapman’s coach Don Donoher in 2004. "You give him some tennis balls and he'd juggle them. Nothing surprised me about him. He was kind of a study. He didn't have great range. He was kind of a slasher, a penetrator. He didn't rely on explosiveness. He was sort of like a great boxer, like Muhammad Ali. He wouldn't overpower you. He just knew how to box."
3. Coaching wins: Archie Miller averaged 23.2 victories in six seasons with the Flyers. At that pace, he would have had to coach UD until about 2030 to catch Dayton's all-time winningest coach, Donoher — and obviously that didn't happen. Miller is now chasing Bobby Knight at Indiana.
Donoher’s career record from 1964-89 was 437-275 (.614).
"I didn't see how it could be any better than coaching at my alma mater. I mean, you got to be kidding. What could be better?" Donoher told Dayton Daily News columnist Tom Archdeacon in 2015. "Sonia's (his wife) from here. All the basketball players stayed in town afterward. It was like being in a fraternity. It's been a great privilege to be a part of the University of Dayton."
RELATED: Donoher to receive Dean Smith Award
Tom Blackburn ranks second in school history with a record of 352-141 (.714). Miller’s final winning percentage (139-63, .688) trails only Blackburn.
4. Single-game scoring: No Flyer has come within 10 points of Donald Smith's 52-point night in 1973 against Loyola (Ill.) since Negele Knight scored 42 against Detroit in 1990.
Smith made his first eight shots from the field, according to a Chicago Tribune story about the game. He made 22 field goals in all, breaking a Chicago Stadium record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The previous Dayton scoring mark of 49 points was set by Don Meineke in 1951.
Smith died at 53 in 2004.
"Donald was a great, great basketball player," Donoher said at the time, "but in measuring him as a person, his basketball ability would not make the top five. He was a better husband than basketball player, a better father, a better son, brother, teammate and friend.”
5. Best free-throw accuracy: Damon Goodwin made 95 of 102 free throws (93.1 percent) in the 1985-86 season. No Dayton player has topped 90 percent in all the seasons since.
Brian Roberts came closest, making 133 of 148 (89.9) in 2006-07. Goodwin broke the school record set by Smith in 1972-73 (111 of 122, 91.0).
Goodwin, the longtime head coach at Capital University, also holds the record for most consecutive made free throws (36 in a row in 1983-84).
6. Most minutes per game (season): Jim Paxson averaged 39.3 minutes per game in the 1975-76 season. That's a total of 1061 minutes, or all but 19 minutes of 27 games.
The interesting thing about that record is Paxson set it as a freshman. He averaged 37.5 minutes as a sophomore, 36.8 as a junior and 37.2 minutes as a senior. He ranks second in school history in minutes played in his career (4,068), trailing only Chapman (4,189), but is tied with Dave Colbert (1984-86) for average minutes per game in a career (37.7)
Credit: Contributed Photo
Credit: Contributed Photo
7. Most assists (career): Knight owns most of Dayton's assists records, including the career mark of 663. No one else has more than 600. David Morris (1998-02) ranks second with 562. Knight averaged 5.4 assists from 1985-90.
Knight had maybe the best final month of his career than any Dayton player. He averaged 29.3 points and 7.9 assists in his last 11 games. The Flyers went from 11-9 to 22-10 and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.
8. Best 3-point accuracy (game): Shawn Haughn made 8 of 8 3-point attempts against Saint Louis at UD Arena on Feb. 13, 1994. Through the 2015-16 season, he was one of 12 players in NCAA D-I history to attempt at least eight 3-pointers in a game and make them all.
“When I was out there I had no idea the NCAA record was 8 in a row," Haughn told the Dayton Daily News after the game. "I fact I didn't even know I'd made 8 in a row. I'm proud to set the record. I've always felt I could shoot the ball that way. I've never done it before. I never did it in high school. I've been in a little slump lately. Today was a good indication I've broken out of it."
Andre Smith, of George Mason, set the NCAA record by making 10 of 10 in 2008 against James Madison.
Haughn set the record as a freshman and remained a great shooter throughout his career, finishing with a career percentage of 39.1 percent. That ranks sixth in school history. He’s ranks 10th in 3-pointers made in his career (157 of 402).
9. Most rebounds (career): John Horan's mark of 1,341 rebounds has stood since his college career ended in 1955. The Minneapolis native averaged 11.2 rebounds in his career. The 6-8 forward also had one of the best nicknames in school history: the Vertical Hyphen. He was named to UD's all-century team in 2004.
Horan had a brief NBA career with the Fort Wayne Pistons and Minnesapolis Lakers. He had a history of heart problems, undergoing heart bypass surgery in 1961, and died in 1980 at 47.
Credit: Ron Alvey
Credit: Ron Alvey
10. Best field-goal accuracy (season): Only one Flyer has topped 70 percent in field-goal percentage for a season with a minimum of 100 attempts. Sean Finn made 128 of 181 shots (70.7) in 2002-03. Finn also holds the career record for accuracy (64.7).
Finn, a 7-foot center from Hays, Kansas, played for the Flyers from 2000-04. He’s one of three 7-footers to play for Dayton. Wes Coffee (1988-92) and Bill Uhl (1953-56) were the others.
Finn had a long career overseas after college, playing in Poland, Austria, Turkey, Germany, the Ukraine, Switzerland and Venezuela.
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