“The best non-conference schedule Dayton has assembled in at least a decade,” wrote Dan Sullivan, the former host of the Talking Out Lowd podcast, on X (Twitter).
“What you have to know from this crazy awesome schedule is that the Flyers believe they have a very good team this year,” wrote another fan, Chris Pyle. “This is a confident schedule.”
“We’re going to find out how good this team is very early,” wrote Dayton fan Chris King. “Love the job Neil and Co. did with this schedule. Masterclass.”
How good is the 13-game 2024-25 schedule, even with one game against a NCAA Division III program, Capital University? Here are a couple standout facts:
• Four of the known opponents ranked in the top 80 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool last season: No. 14 Marquette; No. 37 Cincinnati; No. 53 Northwestern; and No. 76 UNLV.
• Dayton’s potential opponents in the Maui Invitational all ranked in the top 75 of the NET last season: No. 2 Connecticut; No. 5 Auburn; No. 6 Iowa State; No. 8 North Carolina; No. 24 Michigan State; No. 25 Colorado; and No. 75 Memphis.
• The non-conference schedule could have eight top-100 teams. Last season, Dayton played seven, and that was considered one of the best recent schedules. The 2021-22 and 2022-23 non-conference schedules each included five top-100 teams.
Neil Sullivan, who held the UD AD position since 2015, said in April, “Our schedule has to be elite,” and the 2024-25 schedule puts Dayton in a strong position to compete for a second straight NCAA tournament at-large berth. Dayton secured a No. 7 seed in 2024 in a large part because of three Quadrant 1 wins — vs. St. John’s, Northwestern and Southern Methodist — in non-conference play.
“Certainly, we’re really happy with it,” Sullivan said, “But our strategy for scheduling really has remained relentlessly consistent at least as long as I’ve been involved, which is to build a resume that the selection committee believes is among the top 30 or so teams in the country. We aim to do this type of stuff every year. It’s a clear and simple concept, but it’s tough to execute because it requires common interest from other teams. It takes two to play a game.”
Sullivan has said many times over the years how difficult scheduling is.
“It is the most difficult scheduling environment I’ve been involved with since I’ve been here, since 2006,” Sullivan said in 2019. “We have just been soundly rejected by what I would say are other NCAA at-large contending teams: from the Power 5, from the Big East.”
Despite the recent success in finding opponents from the Big Ten and Big East, Sullivan isn’t ready to say his job has gotten easier.
“I think it’s hard to say because each game and each opportunity has just been so unique on its own merits,” he said. “It’d be tough for me to draw a trend line. I think the reality is that as conferences consolidate — and we’re now down to the power four, so to speak — they’re continuing to add games and play 20-game schedules. When you start looking at 18-team conferences, I regret to say it, but I think it’s going to continue to be as challenging as it’s been.”
It does help that Dayton has proven it can be a Quad 1 game for opponents. Dayton ranked 23rd in the NET last season.
Some of the work putting this schedule was done in previous years. Dayton knew it had Northwestern coming to UD Arena because it’s the return game of a home-and-home series that started last season in Evanston, Ill.
It’s the same story with the UNLV game. Dayton played at UNLV two seasons ago. UNLV would have played at UD Arena last season, but a deadly shooting on the UNLV campus on the day of the game forced the schools to cancel it and move it to this season.
Dayton and Cincinnati agreed to play on a neutral court at the Heritage Bank Center for a second straight season.
The key addition to the schedule was Marquette, which will play Dayton on Dec. 14 for the first time in 16 years.
“We had been talking with Marquette, and we really just didn’t have matching dates, to be honest with you,” Sullivan said. “We actually had another game scheduled on that date, and late in the process, (Marquette) talked about coming here. Certainly, we wanted that opportunity, and then that just created some downstream shuffles. We had to deal with some contracts and moving some games around.”
Moving games around late in the process left Dayton with no Division I options on Nov. 16. That’s why it filled the date with Capital, which it has played twice in recent seasons in exhibition games before the season. This game will count on the record but won’t affect Dayton’s NET ranking or have any other impact on Dayton’s NCAA tournament resume — unless it were to lose, of course.
Dayton last played a lower-division opponent, D-II St. Joseph’s College (Ind.), in a regular-season game in the 2016-17 season and won 91-59. Capital is coached by former Flyer Damon Goodwin, who has held the job since the 1994-95 season and is entering his 29th season.
“It’s not something that we do too often,” Sullivan said, “but we’re glad we get to do it with Damon Goodwin. We felt (playing Capital) was better than not playing a game.”
Dayton’s non-conference schedule has nine home games and four neutral-court games but no true road games. That was a factor of the UNLV game being moved to this season and Marquette wanting a series that started on the road.
Dayton’s success in non-conference play often depends on its performance in the November tournaments. The last six times it has built a resume worthy of an at-large bid (2014-17, 2020 and 2024) it has finished 2-1 in those events. A 1-2 finish in a powerhouse 2024 Maui field wouldn’t be the end of the world with so many other chances for strong non-conference victories elsewhere on the schedule.
Sullivan also knows the future of these November tournaments is up in the air. Events like the Players Era Festival, in which each team will earn at least $1 million for name, image and likeness activities with money split among the polayers, could change where Dayton decides to play in the future.
Alabama, Houston, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Creighton, Oregon and San Diego State are playing in the first Players Era Festival this year in Las Vegas, Nev. The 2025 field will expand to 18 teams.
Sulllivan said the landscape is “changing very significantly, and it’s something that we pay attention to every day. Obviously, we’re in the rotation of the best national preseason tournaments. That has been really critical for our fan base, for our television exposure and for our resume. But they are changing. I think you’re going to see some of these tournaments move to four teams. You’re going to see NIL. You’re going to see a changing business model. It’s something that we have our eye on. I think that our basketball performance and our fan base gives us the opportunity to stay in the mix for a number of these, but I do think that over the next few years we’re going to see them look different.”
Dayton’s 2024-25 non-conference schedule
Date, Opponent, Time, Location
Sunday, Oct. 20, Xavier (Exhibition), TBA, UD Arena
Saturday, Oct. 26, TBD (Exhibition), TBA, UD Arena
Monday, Nov. 4, Saint Francis (Pa.), TBA, UD Arena
Saturday, Nov. 9, Northwestern, TBA, UD Arena
Wednesday, Nov. 13, Ball State, TBA, UD Arena
Saturday, Nov. 16, Capital, TBA, UD Arena
Wednesday, Nov. 20, New Mexico State, TBA, UD Arena
Monday, Nov. 25, Maui Invitational, Lahaina, Hawaii
Tuesday, Nov. 26, Maui Invitational, Lahaina, Hawaii
Wednesday, Nov. 27, Maui Invitational, Lahaina, Hawaii
Tuesday, Dec. 3, Western Michigan, TBA, UD Arena
Saturday, Dec. 7, Lehigh, TBA, UD Arena
Saturday, Dec. 14, Marquette, TBA, UD Arena
Tuesday, Dec. 17, UNLV, TBA, UD Arena
Friday, Dec. 20 Cincinnati, TBA, Cincinnati, Ohio
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