Grant eager to get Flyers in front of crowd in exhibition game

Hardaway visited Dayton as part of his job as a scout with the New York Knicks.

“It’s actually funny because I went up to say hi to him,” Dayton forward Toumani Camara said, “and he greeted me. He told me, ‘I’m Tim Hardaway,’ and I first I didn’t really process it and then I realized who he was and I recognized him. It was really cool to have him at practice and for him to be able see us play and have some feedback.”

To this point, not many outsiders have seen the 2021-22 Flyers play together, the exception being the Dayton Basketball Fan Fest on Oct. 16, though that didn’t provide much insight into what kind of rotations Dayton will play this season or who will play the majority of minutes.

Dayton opened a segment of practice to local media in July and again in early October. It held a closed-door scrimmage against West Virginia on Oct. 23.

The first real opportunity for the Flyer Faithful to find out what kind of team they will be cheering for this season comes at 7 p.m. Monday when Dayton plays an exhibition game against Cedarville University at UD Arena. The game will be broadcast on WHIO Radio, but there will be no TV or streaming options. The only tickets available can be bought through TicketMaster’s Ticket Exchange. These are tickets being resold by fans who already purchased tickets.

Two years ago, Dayton beat Cedarville, led by coach Pat Estepp, 93-60 in an exhibition game. The teams were supposed to play another exhibition game last season, but that game was cancelled one day before it was scheduled to be played because of a positive COVID-19 test among Cedarville’s Tier 1 personnel.

This season, Cedarville was picked to finish fifth in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. It returns three all-conference players: guards Branden Maughmer and Quinton Green and forward Kollin Van Horn.

“We’re looking forward to the chance to play Cedarville on a number of fronts,” Grant said Thursday during A-10 media days. “First of all, we’ve got a lot of respect for Pat’s program and what they run there. We’ve played them before. They’re good competition. I think it’ll give our guys a good feel for what they can expect as we approach the season in terms of scouting reports and playing to the identity that we’re trying to establish, but probably just as big is getting them in front of a crowd, getting them in front of the Flyer Faithful. I know I’m excited about seeing the arena full of people again. I know our guys are excited about playing in front of our fans again. That’ll be the first experience for just about everybody in our team of being in that environment. It’ll be great to see how we respond to that as we prepare for the season.”