“I think the guys are enthused about what we get a chance to do here, starting conference play tomorrow,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said Monday in an interview with local media at UD Arena’s Donoher Center. “Eighteen games is a gauntlet.”
Dayton plays Loyola Chicago (9-4), Virginia Commonwealth (10-3), Saint Louis (7-6) and Duquesne (5-8) twice in A-10 play and everyone else once. The Flyers seek their first A-10 championship since 2020 when they finished 18-0 in conference play. Dayton’s only other regular-season titles in the years in which the A-10 has not had divisions came in 2016, when it shared the championship with VCU and St. Bonaventure, and 2017.
St. Bonaventure, Davidson and VCU each won the regular-season championship after Dayton’s last title. Loyola Chicago and Richmond tied for first last season.
While KenPom.com predicts Dayton will win the A-10 with a 14-4 record, it’s expected to be a tight race.
“I think every coach in the country will tell you their league is hard,” Grant said. “We understand that we’ve got great coaches and really talented players in the league. Every game, you’ve got to be ready to play your best. We expect to get everybody’s best shot in the league. We’ve got to make sure that we’re prepared to give ours as well.”
Dayton will play its first true road game of the season Saturday against George Washington (11-2) at the Charles E. Smith Center in Washington, D.C. Last season, Dayton finished 9-0 at home in A-10 play but 5-4 on the road.
Dayton has five newcomers who will experience A-10 play for the first time, including Posh Alexander, who played the last four seasons in the Big East: three with St. John’s and one with Butler.
Asked Monday what he would tell younger players about dealing with the grind of conference play, Alexander said, “You play teams twice, so they know exactly what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it. It’s just about staying together. Some things are not going to work out. It’s about how we overcome that.”
The A-10 is the eighth-ranked conference among the 31 in Division I. That’s where it ranked last season. It’s five spots above where it was two years ago.
“Every league is good,” Alexander said. “It’s basketball. We all bleed the same way. We all tie our sneakers the same way. We all play the same. You feel what I’m saying? Basically, at the end of the day, it’s the A-10 and people say it’s a mid-major, but it’s a big time league. You’ve just got to be ready and prepared for every night because you never know what could happen.”
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