After Dayton completed a 76-51 rout of George Washington, family members of the players made their way to the court. Atlantic 10 Conference Commissioner Bernadette McGlade carried the championship trophy out onto the court with Robbie Poteat, a senior associate athletic director at UD. They handed it to coach Anthony Grant. Every player soon got a hand on it.
“It was a phenomenal experience,” McGlade said, “and you just wish you could bottle that experience and share it with everyone in the country.”
One of the many people on the court with a camera was Keegan Gupta, who photographed all the events of the day for the Flyer News.
“Somehow I got up front and really close when they got handed the trophy,” Gupta said. “I was just looking around at everyone in the arena standing up. It was surreal. It was like, ‘Dayton basketball is a big deal here, not only in the community but at the national level.’”
Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer
Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer
Lifetime memories
Following speeches by Grant, and seniors Trey Landers and Ryan Mikesell, the celebration ended with everyone cutting down the nets. Scott DeBolt, the director of UD Arena, said there’s always a ladder near the floor, but they made sure they had one ready on this night. At the same time, he didn’t want a repeat of 2014 when Saint Louis left a pair of scissors attached to a ladder near the court and the Flyers saw them, getting a little extra motivation that allowed them to upset the Billikens on Senior Night.
Thousands of fans watched everyone from walk-on Camron Greer to trainer Mike Mulcahey to Grant — last but not least — climb the ladder and make their snips.
“To see 13,000 fans stay an hour after the game and soak that in with us,” Grant said, “and to be able to celebrate that accomplishment of going 18-0 and all that came with it, to say goodbye to our seniors and all that, it was pretty special. I would hope those memories, as you kind of get further away from it, you appreciate them more.”
Two of the fans who stuck around long after the game ended were Bernie Rabinowitz, a longtime season-ticket holder, and his daughter Judith, who was attending her first game in decades. Bernie’s son Bill covered the game for the Columbus Dispatch and was sitting courtside. Bernie and Judith watched the celebration from above.
“It was special,” Bernie said. “Judith loved it. She’s not a huge sports fan like her brother and me, but she loved the game and the students were going crazy. The crowd was standing for a good part of the game until we had it wrapped up. It was just an amazing run for a team that you thought would be good, but who knows, they might have won the NCAA tournament. We stayed there for a long time. By the time we left, the parking lot was practically empty. We closed the joint.”
What people didn’t see, except later on video, was the celebration in the locker room. It was a busy day for UD’s social-media team. AJ Schraffenberger, a lifelong Dayton fan who now has a behind-the-scenes pass as a digital content creator for the program, teamed with Jon Asher to capture the entire day, filming and photographing from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. UD set a school record, Schraffenberger said, with 23 Instagram posts.
“A lot of guys wanted pictures with the trophy in the locker room,” Schraffenberger said. “They threw on the music and did the dancing celebration we saw a lot this year. It was a special atmosphere. It’s one I’ll definitely always remember. We were kind of lucky having Jon and myself shooting video. It wasn’t as much pressure getting everything myself. When I’m on the road, it’s a little more pressure. Having that freedom made it more fun. Seeing the guys celebrate with their families, that was special for me. A lot of guys had their whole families on the court.”
Joyful season
Tony DiMatteo has been a Dayton basketball fan for almost 50 years. He received a VIP pass for the filming of College GameDay and posed for a photo with the ESPN personalities on the set. He had the time of his life. It was a surreal experience, a dream. The same could be said of his experience that night at the game.
March 7 meant even more to DiMatteo because of all he had lived through in the months leading up to the day and all he has gone through since. His wife Sue was battling cervical cancer at the time, and she died in October after a two-year battle.
“When you have an illness in the family, the UD basketball team can bring you a lot of joy,” DiMatteo said, “and last season brought me more joy than any other season.”
That can still be said despite the ending. A pandemic that shadowed the season for weeks overtook it on March 12. The Atlantic 10 Conference cancelled its tournament. Then the NCAA called off March Madness.
The abrupt turn — from the jubilation of March 7 to the devastation of March 12 — didn’t surprise everyone. Brandon Fischer, a 2010 UD graduate, works as a public health emergency planner in Allen County. He watched GameDay at the Frericks Center and attended the game in the evening. In between the two events, he received word that the Ohio Department of Health wanted to do an urgent call the next day to talk about testing for COVID-19.
“My attention was not focused on the game near what I wanted it to be,” Fischer said.
Fischer had been aware of the potential crisis since early February and knew it could be a nightmare scenario. Even then, he knew COVID-19 could ruin March Madness.
“I could see it coming,” Fischer said. “There was a moment of dread.”
Dayton fans have dealt with the fallout ever since.
“I’m so heartbroken,” Sarah Schweiterman said. “It was so amazing, but it sucks. Every time I wear a Dayton shirt, someone says, ‘This was your year.’”
“To me the silver lining is what they did all season long,” Jeff Hoagland said, “and as much as I wanted them to play in the tournament, at least we went out on top. It’s a feeling we may not get for 20-30 years.”
“It sucks that Obi Toppin never got a chance to play in the NCAA tournament,” said Pat Sheehan, a fan from West Chester who named his dog after Obi.
“I cried like a baby,” Mike Kidd said. “I was an emotional wreck. I was a 16-year-old girl after her first breakup. I was sad for the fans but I was sadder for the seniors. I know how hard they worked. I just felt like with what everything Dayton went through with the Oregon District shooting and the tornadoes, they really gave us hope. I just felt they deserved to play in the tournament.”
“The people I hang out with in Nashville probably know me as the annoying Dayton guy,” Chris Moorman said, “and this was probably worse than any other year, but they all feel sorry for me.”
At the same time, fans know the pandemic could have hit earlier, and the last great day of 2020 would not have taken place.
“I’m just glad to have we go to watch arguably the best team in UD history,” said Felix Alvarez, a 1987 UD graduate. “Having the national player of the year and the coach of the year, it’s an honor for the university and the program. It’s just huge. I’m just lucky to be talking about it now.”
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