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Senior guard Brandon Spearman, a Dayton recruit, led Chicago Simeon to the Illinois Class 4A state title on Saturday.
Spearman was his team’s high scorer in the state finals (13 points) and semifinals (19 points). He was named the tourney MVP.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee players and coach Pat Summitt just finished their early afternoon news conference heading into its second-round NCAA tournament game against Dayton on Monday.
Here are a few thoughts from Summitt on Dayton:
“This Dayton team is going to make runs at us. They’re a quality team, they play so well together, and they have the size pretty much to match us with size. It’s a matter of us being invested in our defense, our board play and our ball security.”
“Obviously I think Dayton is a team that is resilient. They demonstrated that in closing out that game (Saturday against TCU) in a very impressive way. I think for us, we just have to be really focused on our defense and our board play.”
“I’ve known (UD coach Jim Jabir) and watched him coach, and coach Jabir’s really … he’s an excellent coach. I think it starts with his ability to teach, and I think his teams execute really well.”
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — We’ll hear Tennessee’s view of Dayton at a news conference in about a half hour heading into the teams’ second-around NCAA tournament game, but here are some UT figures to consider.
Tennessee is:
— On a 15-game winning streak
— 35-0 in NCAA tournament games in Knoxville
— 105-20 in the NCAA tournament
— 76-13 in the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed (as the Lady Vols are this year)
— 1,036-195 under coach Pat Summitt
Dayton will match up against one of college basketball’s all-time great programs at 7 p.m. Monday, but the Flyers have their own momentum after rallying from an 18-point deficit with a little more than 13 minutes to play to beat TCU 67-66 in the first round on Saturday.
But the challenge on Monday is much greater.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Brittany Wilson scored underneath with 1.1 seconds left to give the University of Dayton women’s basketball team a 67-66 come-from-behind victory against TCU in an NCAA tournament first-round game on Saturday, March 20, at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Dayton (25-7) advances to face top-seeded Tennessee in a second-round game at 7 p.m. Monday. But, to get there, the Flyers had to overcome an 18-point, second-half deficit.
TCU made three consecutive 3-pointers to cap a 17-7 scoring advantage to start the second half and went up 52-34 with 13:07 left.
Then Kendel Ross got hot for UD, as the Flyers’ only senior scored eight points in the next five minutes to help the Flyers use a 14-2 run to cut TCU’s lead to 54-48 with 8:22 left and again make it a game.
The game stayed close, and UD’s De’Sarae Chambers used a drive and jump shot in the lane with the shot clock winding down to pull Dayton within three at 61-58 with 4:36 left.
The Flyers kept creeping closer, and guard Kayla Moses made 1-of-2 free throws with 1:05 left to cut the lead down to one at 64-63. After another TCU miss, UD called a time out with 43.6 seconds left, setting up Brittany Wilson’s push in the lane and score with 32.1 seconds left to give UD a 65-64 lead, its first advantage since 7-6.
After TCU’s Helena Sverrisdottir made two free throws with 17 seconds left, UD corralled a miss, and guard Patrice Lalor fed Wilson underneath for the winning score.
Halftime: The University of Dayton women’s basketball team made its first three shots, but then the Flyers went cold.
TCU got hot at the same time, and the Flyers were left fighting uphill for much of the first half and trail TCU 35-27 at halftime of this NCAA tournament first-round game at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Kristin Daugherty leads Dayton with eight points, but the Flyers have struggled without Kendel Ross, the team’s only senior who scored five of the first seven points but was in foul trouble for most of the first half.
Dayton started with a 7-2 lead but TCU then went on a 16-0 run to go up 18-7 with 13:11 left in the first half. The Flyers steadied but could get no closer than 26-23 in the half.
TK LaFleur leads TCU with 11 points, but both teams are shooting poorly, Dayton at 25 percent and TCU at 34.2 percent.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The 125 tickets the University of Dayton received for the NCAA tournament are in a block behind the UD bench.
The Flyers pep band, in usual face paint, is in a corner near the floor continuing to blare familiar tunes.
As Dayton and TCU warm up for their first-round game, set to start shortly after 2:30 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena, many of the orange-wearing fans who watched Tennessee win the opener 75-42 against Austin Peay are filtering out.
That leaves plenty of room for Flyers fans to be heard. Aside from the main block, there are small dots of red throughout the arena, but the Tennessee fans are keeping some of the prime seats, presumably to see who will play the Volunteers in a 7 p.m. Monday second-round game.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Jim Jabir, the Dayton women’s basketball coach, says he faces nerves before every game.
His treatment? A pre-game chat with the pep band.
Jabir was talking about his nerve-releasing ritual this week in his campus office while we were discussing his team’s upcoming NCAA tournament game against TCU. The conversation moved to the improvement of the UD program from three wins in Jabir’s first season in 2003-04 to three straight postseason appearances.
He joked that current Flyer Justine Raterman would come to games while in high school at Versailles, get in the car with her parents and say, “I’m going there, they stink.”
Jabir said he and Ratmerman now laugh about that reaction but admits, “She was right. There were days we stunk.”
But, despite the improvement, Jabir still faces those butterflies before the games, so he heads out to chat with the band members. He mentioned one of the more light-hearted moments with that group.
“I told them one day if we don’t get better we’re gonna call it a concert and sell the thing out,” Jabir said.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee women’s basketball team just came onto the Thompson-Boling Arena to the familiar tune Rocky Top played by the pep band.
And, not that we were unsure, but the sea of orange is here.
Tennessee will play Austin Peay in a first-round NCAA tournament game in about 25 minutes, and Dayton will follow with a first-round game against TCU at 2:30 p.m. The Flyers players and coaches, who finished their final pre-game shoot-around about 30 minutes before these teams took the floor for warm-ups, are seeing the atmosphere they could face in a potential second-round game Monday.
Officials curtained off the upper levels of the arena, but the “Big Orange Country” — a term coined by former Wittenberg University and Tennessee basketball coach Ray Mears — has filled up much of the seating area on either side of the floor.
Speaking of Mears, consider the chance UT took on him in 1962, when he was 35 years old and had experience only at small-college Wittenberg. But he made it pay off, finishing with a career coaching record of 399-135. A banner in his honor hangs in the arena.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In 2001, second-year TCU coach Jeff Mittie took his team to its first-ever NCAA tournament after it won single digits in games just five years before.
Things are similar in Dayton, where the Flyers are first-time participants in the NCAA Division I tournament six years after going 3-25.
Mittie has gone on to take TCU to nine NCAA tournaments in 10 seasons, and only time will tell what will happen for the Flyers and coach Jim Jabir. But Mittie said the difference in tournament experience isn’t making him more comfortable heading into the teams’ first-round game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
“I think that can be overrated,” Mittie said of experience. “We won our first NCAA tournament game. It’s more about how a team prepares.
In its tournament debut, TCU topped sixth-seeded Penn State 77-75 before losing to third-seeded Louisiana Tech 80-59 in the second round.
UD coach Jim Jabir has said this week that his previous NCAA experience — he took Marquette to two consecutive tournaments from 1994 and ‘95 — doesn’t necessarily translate because it was too long ago. But he said his major lesson from those appearances was keeping a team as loose as possible.
The Flyers looked that way in interviews and in practice on Friday. We’ll see how they look on Saturday.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Dayton will face a tight matchup against TCU in its 8-vs-9 seed NCAA tournament game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
But Dayton, the No. 8 seed, has the support of the president.
In the bracket he filled out for ESPN, President Barack Obama picked Dayton to beat TCU in the first round before falling to top-seeded Tennessee in the second round.
In his bracket, Obama has Connecticut beating Stanford in the championship game for the title.
Tough to say how much Obama likes Casey Nance’s inside presence at 6-4 or Justine Raterman’s all-around game or Kendel Ross’ versatility at 6-1. But, he at least saw that the Flyers are seeded higher.
More motivation to win: Not screwing up Obama’s picks.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — TCU women’s basketball coach Jeff Mittie has been asked plenty about Helena Sverrisdottir. That’s hard to avoid when your best player also has a listed hometown of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland.
So, when approached during the team’s open locker room session with media before the NCAA tournament, Mittie is expecting to be asked about it.
“When she was 12 or 13 the team she was on wanted to come to a tournament in Fort Worth, and they gave me a call,” Mittie said. “We followed her after that, and we were able to convince her to come here.”
It’s been quite a get for TCU. After averaging 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists and shooting 43.2 percent, Sverrisdottir was named the Mountain West Conference’s player of the year. The 6-foot-1 junior will be a major focus for Dayton when the teams meet in the first round Saturday, March 19, at Thompson-Boling Arena.
It’s probably tough for us here to imagine where Sverrisdottir has come from.
“Our biggest road has four lanes, and we only have one of those,” Sverrisdottir told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram earlier this season. “We have two fast food places in each town — Taco Bell or KFC. Everything is little there.”
Except their women’s basketball players, apparently. Sverrisdottir joined the country’s national team when she was 14, many times playing with teammates as old as 32. She traveled Europe for tournaments, and she continues to play on the team in the summer.
“I think it does help a little bit,” Sverrisdottir said Friday of her national-level experience. “We’ve been to a lot of places, and women’s basketball is actually pretty popular in Europe.”
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — With about 15 minutes left in their practice period today, March 19, at Thompson-Boling Arena, the University of Dayton women’s basketball team played a game to stay loose.
The eighth-seeded Flyers will face No. 9 TCU in a first-round NCAA tournament game on Saturday in one of the most revered buildings in women’s college basketball. Coach Jim Jabir talked this week about wanting to ensure the team was fresh and relaxed.
So, after running their plays, the team stopped and split into two groups on either side of the lane. A player was allowed to challenge another play to a specific shot or basketball skill, ranging from 3-point shots to free throws to spinning a basketball on a finger.
There were shots while sitting on the ground and even a 3-pointer from just out of bounds on the corner of the floor, which necessitated a float over the backboard.
The team was laughing and poking fun, seemingly having a good time while preparing for the program’s first-ever NCAA D-I tournament game against a team in TCU that has been to the tournament in nine out of the past 10 seasons.
But while observing the last few minutes of practice, it seemed that nerves weren’t as much of an issue as one might think.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — As the University of Dayton women’s basketball team made its way into the interview room, coach Jim Jabir and players Kendel Ross and Justine Ratmerman sat up on the elevated stage next to a moderator who leads the session.
“We have Dayton coach Jim Jabir (pronouncing it Ja-BEER),” the moderator said. “Did I say that correctly?”
It was close. Jabir corrected him, saying it was JAY-bur.
But, with the Flyers’ first-round NCAA tournament game broadcast Saturday, March 20, on ESPN2, more people could be learning how to pronounce Jabir. Especially if UD wins and advances to likely play Tennessee, which plays Austin Peay in the first round.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Last season, the Tennessee women’s basketball team made a rare first-round exit from the NCAA tournament, losing to Ball State 71-55.
As the Volunteers prepare to host first- and second-round games as a No. 1 seed — at which the University of Dayton will play TCU on Saturday — players and coach Pat Summitt talked today, March 19, during interview sessions about having a different attitude.
That could become very important for UD if the Flyers beat TCU and face a hungry Vols squad that is 30-2. Before last season, Tennessee was 42-0 in the first and second rounds.
“I feel like we’re more committed as a team,” said UT sophomore guard Shekinna Stricklen. “Last year, we picked and chose when we wanted to play hard. I feel like this year, we’re going hard every possession and not taking possessions off.”
Summitt said she’s noticed a difference just recently from her team, especially the recognition of their attitude last year.
“They’ve probably just realized that now,” Summitt said.
Tennessee will play Austin Peay at 12:16 p.m. Saturday.
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Dayton will play at Cincinnati at 9 p.m. Monday on ESPN, it was just announced.
The Flyers (21-12) advanced to the second round with a 63-42 win over Illinois State, while the Bearcats (19-15) coasted to a 76-62 over Weber St.
UD fans wanting to purchase tickets must go through the UC ticket office at 1-877-CATS-TIX (228-7849).
How many times can a coach challenge his players to dig deep and give all-out effort without them getting rewarded with positive results?
In the Dayton Flyer basketball program, there seems to be no limit to that number.
UD had lost six of its previous nine games, including some in demoralizing fashion, but coach Brian Gregory implored his players to come out swinging when they faced Illinois State in the first round of the NIT — and they did.
“I told the guys this would be a test of their character and pride — how well they played and how hard they played,” Gregory said, “and I think that was answered.”
UD rolled to a 63-42 victory to advance to the second round against Cincinnati at 9 p.m. Monday on ESPN.
The Flyers opened up a 15-point lead with 3:15 to go in the first half, partly because of the Redbirds’ ineptitude. The visitors had eight turnovers and shot just 33 percent from the field while going 1-for-4 from the foul line.
Trailing by 12 with 12:30 to go, the Redbirds crept to within five at the 10:25 mark. But the Flyers, who have wilted when their better opponents have made runs this year, went on a 19-1 surge to take a commanding lead with about three minutes to go.
UD ended with a 42-27 rebounding edge and generated plenty of points in transition.
“To me, the second-chance points and fastbreak points — that’s their M.O,” Illinois State Tim Jankovich said. “That’s what we emphasized. And if that’s what you emphasize and you’re not able to faze it, you have to give your opponent credit.”
A noticeable buzz could be heard when the crowd was announced at 5,127. It’s the smallest for a Flyer game since the Fieldhouse days in the late 1960s.
That was part of Gregory’s point. The fans may not be embracing the NIT, but the UD players certainly are.
Dayton finished the game with a 21-5 run to pull away for a 63-42 victory over Illinois State in the first round of the NIT at UD Arena.
The game drew just 5,127 fans, the smallest crowd to see a Flyer home game in 40 years at the arena.
Chris Johnson had 13 points and nine rebounds and Chris Wright nine points and 11 boards for the Flyers (21-12), who will play a second-round game against either Cincinnati or Weber State at a date to be determined.
Dayton recruit Brandon Spearman led his team to the Illinois Class 4A state semifinals Tuesday with some clutch play.
The 6-foot-3 guard from Chicago Simeon High School is rated as the 116th-best prospect in the nation, according to Rivals.com.
The Flyers have three of their five recruits still active in the postseason: Kalamazoo Central’s Devin Oliver, Oak Hill’s Juwan Staten and Spearman.
Staten’s team is 29-3 and will be playing in the eight-team ESPN/RISE National High School Invitational in Baltimore starting April 1.
Dayton coach Brian Gregory is being named as a possible candidate for some job openings at other colleges, but don’t read too much into them.
When a coach gets fired, newspapers always come up with lists of potential replacements. But, trust me, those include anyone who even remotely makes sense. And even some that don’t.
DePaul also has been named as a potential suitor for Gregory. That’s highly unlikely, though.
First of all, he’s already turned down the Blue Demons twice. And that might not even qualify as a lateral move, given UD’s Grade-A facilities and fan support and the woeful condition of DePaul, which is considered to have lagged behind other BCS schools in its infrastructure.
Iowa might be a good fit, but there are probably other young coaches with higher profiles than Gregory right now.
Money is a big motivator, of course. But Gregory does quite well at UD, which, sources tell me, will pay him in the $750,000 range this year. And he’ll be making about $1 million annually near the end of his contract in 2018.
Gregory says he hasn’t had any contact from other schools. And I suspect he’ll be staying here for the forseeable future.
He likes working at UD, and the school is doing what it can to hang on to him — and rightly so. With three straight postseason appearances and the recruits he has coming in, the program is on a positive trajectory.
Dayton recruit Devin Oliver is tearing it up for Kalamazoo Central in the Michigan Class A tournament. The 6-foot-7 wing had 30 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals in a 76-57 win over Lansing Eastern on Monday.
Kalamazoo Central advances to the regional finals Wednesday with the victory.
I was just looking at the final Associated Press Top 25 for the season, and six Dayton opponents are listed in the poll:
No. 7 Kansas State, 9. Villanova, 10. New Mexico, 12. Temple, 24. Richmond and 25. Xavier. The Flyers’ record against that half-dozen was 1-7, playing the Musketeers three times. Their average margin of defeat in those games was just 5.3 points.
The Flyers have played the 33rd-toughest schedule in the nation, according to the RPI. And what I’ll remember from this season is just how close they were to having a truly memorable year.
They were 14-5 against everyone else on their schedule, including wins over NCAA teams Georgia Tech and Old Dominion.
What that tells me is there is a pretty good foundation there. I know they’ll lose a lot of seniors, but it won’t take much of an upgrade in talent over the next couple of years to not just make brief appearances in the Top 25, as the Flyers have done the last three seasons, but to stay there for the long haul.
An Atlantic 10 school parted ways with its basketball coach.
Charlotte fired Bobby Lutz, who seemed on the verge of a breakthrough season before the team lost seven of its final eight games and missed the postseason, was axed today.
Lutz had taken the 49ers to eight postseason appearances in 12 years.
The University of Dayton Women’s basketball selection show party today has been moved to KU Hangar, instead of being in KU Pub, due to the availability of televisions.
The selection show will start promptly at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN, with seating beginning at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited and those coming should park in B lot and enter KU from the back due to the construction going on in the front of KU.
Parking services has issued a “Do Not Cite” order for this time frame, so fans don’t need to worry about having a B lot parking pass.
Dayton earned a third seed in the NIT and will play sixth-seeded Illinois State in the first round at 7 p.m. Wednesday at UD Arena.
The winner of the game between the Flyers (20-12) and Redbirds (22-10) will face the Cincinnati-Weber State winner next week. If UD and the Bearcats meet, the game would be played at UC.
Tickets for the NIT opener begin at $20 and can be purchased at the UD ticket office beginning at 9 a.m. Monday.
Rob Lowery wanted to blame himself for Dayton’s defeat that ended its NCAA tournament hopes, but none of his teammates wanted to sock him with the blame.
The senior point guard was called for a technical foul for taking a poke at Xavier’s Terrell Holloway after calling a timeout and having the ball batted away with 33.6 seconds to go. The Flyers trailed by one at the time, and the Musketeers made two free throws and converted the possession into another pair of foul shots on their way to a 78-73 victory.
Marcus Johnson’s chief concern, though, was to make sure Lowery put that costly technical behind him.
“He’s got to keep his head up. What’s done is done. We lost, but you can’t beat yourself up about it,” Johnson said. “My main focus is … getting back to practice and getting ready for the NIT. If there’s more games on the table, I think we can (do some damage).”
The Flyers likely will have more games to play. They would appear to be a safe bet for the NIT, which will announce its field at 10 p.m. Sunday. But trying to recover from such a devastating defeat — blowing a 15-point lead with 10:37 to go — will certainly test their resolve.
Chris Wright may be ready to test the waters in the NBA, but he insisted his pro options weren’t on his mind after Dayton’s heart-ripping loss to Xavier on Friday.
Asked whether he’d be back next season, Wright said: “I’m just focusing on where we go from here. This weekend is selection Sunday, and we’ll be playing in some type of postseason. That’s all I’m worried about, getting better every day and continuing my progress as a player. I’m not worried about that right now.”
Wright will have a decision to make after the season. I believe fans tend to underrate his chances of playing in the NBA. UD’s lack of a consistent perimeter game means opponents can clog up his paths to the lane, and Wright could really soar if his other four teammates really had to be guarded, like they will be in the pros.
But I do believe he could help himself by coming back and honing that outside jumper. We’ll see.
ATLANTIC CITY — Rob Lowery probably will be vilified for his technical foul with 33.6 seconds left that derailed Dayton in a 78-73 loss to Xavier. And there’s no doubt it was a bone-headed play.
But the Flyers never should have been in that position to begin with where a technical could essentially cost them the game.
They were rolling with a 15-point lead with 10:37 to go in the game. But they didn’t score a basket over their next 15 possessions. They had just five points, all on free throws.
The Flyers were still down two when Lowery smacked Xavier’s Terrell Holloway in the chest and was T’d up with 33.6 seconds left.
Of the technical, UD coach Brian Gregory said: “I just hope they’re right because that’s a crucial call. If anything happened after the timeout was called, and it was a reaction to it, I have no problem with a call being made on Rob if his reaction was inappropriate. But if it’s a response to something that occurred after the whistle, then something has to be called on that as well.
“To be honest with you, if they’re right, then they’re right. I didn’t see it. I didn’t see a clip of it. I just hope they’re right.
“Unfortunately, one of the problems was, it took some time to get the timeout called after it was being called. We could have probably eliminated all that if the timeout was called right away.”
The Flyers looked like world-beaters for most of the night. They looked like they were on the verge of posting two wins over Xavier in the same season for the first time since storming to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference title in 1990.
But this team has no go-to player on offense, and it hurt them again. Their transition game was in high gear for 30 minutes, but they don’t have an answer when they really have to break an opponent down with half-court offense.
London Warren doesn’t have to be guarded, which means teams can defend Chris Wright with one-and-a-half men.
Lowery, to his credit, met with reporters and took the blame. “I let my emotions get the best of me,” he said.
But he wasn’t the only Flyer who deserved some blame.
UD had 18 turnovers, 10 by senior guards Mickey Perry (three), Warren (three) and Lowery (four).
The Flyers went just 17-of-26 from the foul line.
And after battering Xavier on the boards twice, they were out-rebounded, 39-28. Jason Love had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“It’s tough being a senior,” said UD’s Marcus Johnson, who had a team-high 18 points. “We had the game. We made some plays in the second half that really hurt us and they capitalized on them. They came out with the win. It’s tough on me right now, but we still have some more games to play, hopefully in the postseason.”
“A game is played 40 minutes,” Wright said. “I thought we played well for (the first) 20 minutes and about 15 minutes in the second half. They made a run and we made a run. They were able to capitalize on turnovers down the stretch and made big plays. Jordan Crawford and (Terrell) Holloway, they stepped up big. When it’s time to step up, players step up, and they did that.”
ATLANTIC CITY — A costly technical foul on Rob Lowery helped to doom Dayton in a 78-73 loss to Xavier in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament tonight.
Dayton had the ball with 33.6 seconds to go, down two points, when Lowery called timeout. Xavier’s Terrell Holloway knocked the ball away, and Lowery punched Holloway in the chest.
Dayton lost possession, and Holloway made two free throws for a four-point lead. UD fouled the same player, and he made two more with 32.4 seconds to go.
The Flyers (20-12), likely NIT-bound, built a 15-point lead midway through the second half but couldn’t hold it. The Musketeers (24-7) went on a 23-5 run to tie take a 69-66 lead on a three-point play by Holloway with 1:22 to go.
UD’s Chris Wright (17 points) scored on a drive with 1:10 left, but Jordan Crawford made one of two free throws with 36.5 seconds to go, setting up the drama with Lowery.
ATLANTIC CITY — I worked out today in the fitness room at the team hotel next to Xavier coach Chris Mack. I thought about asking him for his strategy in facing Dayton, but I was gasping too hard for oxygen.
Actually, Mack was wearing out an elliptical machine while periodically checking his phone. Doubt he’d be too forthcoming anyway.
The Flyers have looked loose throughout their time here, like a load has been lifted. When they arrived at Boardwalk Hall on Thursday night, they were met by two Atlantic 10 hostesses wearing Temple sweatshirts. UD coach Brian Gregory cracked, “Did Fran hand out the apparel here?” referring to Temple coach Fran Dunphy.
The Flyers were giddy throughout their shoot-around at the arena — a good sign after what we’ve witnessed lately.
They’re human, of course. They know they haven’t met expectations so far, which is why I think it’ll good for them to take on Xavier away from the scrutiny of home fans with a nothing-to-lose attitude.
I thought they were extremely tight in their first-round win over George Washington. We all know they’ve had trouble with turnovers this year, but they invented new ways to cough it up against the Colonials.
• Devin Searcy fought teammate Chris Johnson for an uncontested rebound after a missed GW foul shot, pulled it away, fell down and rolled an outlet pass out of bounds.
• Ever heard the basketball adage of never saving a ball under your own basket? Chris Wright tried that as he was falling out of bounds and threw the ball right to a GW player, who scored an easy lay-up.
• And London Warren had a teammate’s pass flick off his hand and bounce toward the half-court line. He made no attempt to save the ball, forgetting about an over-and-back violation.
Those are symptoms that is team is pressing.
The Xavier coach did say about the Flyers yesterday: “Dayton, in my opinion, is the most athletic team in the Atlantic 10.”
The Musketeers, though, may be the team most stocked with basketball skill. We’ll see which of those two traits is the dominant one tonight.
ATLANTIC CITY — Dayton just finished a spirited hour-long practice at Stockton College here today. The Flyers will have another light session this evening at Boardwalk Hall, where they’ll meet Xavier at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Atlantic 10 tournament.
The players seemed stoked during the workout — the prospect of playing the rival Musketeers is always something they relish.
But coach Brian Gregory has been happy with the team’s resiliency all season. They went into the tourney with five losses in their previous seven games before knocking off George Washington in the first round Tuesday.
“Our guys have been that way the whole year. They’ve been able to bounce back and tighten up some stuff whenever things haven’t gone well, and I think they’ll do the same tomorrow night,” Gregory said.
Dayton center Kurt Huelsman has always been praised by coach Brian Gregory, but the 6-10 senior’s contributions aren’t always exactly noticeable and, in Gregory’s mind, often go unappreciated.
But Huelsman made some crucial plays when the Flyers were looking tight while engaged in a tense affair with George Washington.
Tied at 55-all with six minutes to go, Huelsman scored the game’s next three points on foul shots, and teammate Rob Lowery then hit a 3-pointer to cap a 6-0 run in the 70-60 victory.
Huelsman had just six points — making 6-of-8 foul shots — and three rebounds. But in GW coach Karl Hobbs’ mind, the oft-maligned post player was the star of the game.
“For the most part, we executed our game plan,” Hobbs said. “We wanted to slow the tempo, force them to make jump shots and keep them off the boards. The difference in the game was the big guy (Huelsman). I thought he was the difference by getting key offensive rebounds in key moments. And he made his free throws, and if there’s anybody you want at the free throw line, it’s him.”
Huelsman was 3-for-10 on foul shots against Saint Louis and was shooting just 58.5 percent from the stripe.
He wasn’t the only senior who had a big night, though. Marcus Johnson tied his season-high with 16 points. Lowery had 11, while London Warren had a team-high six rebounds.
In a sense, the win made up for the bitter loss to Saint Louis three days earlier. The Flyers were booed that night. This time, the crowd of 6,930 seemed to go out of its way to voice its support of the players.
“They’re not perfect,” Gregory said of his seniors. “They’re flawed. But they’re going to leave here as the third winningest class in this tradition-rich program.
“You always remember your Senior Night. I’m just hoping today, with all those people who came tonight and cheered the whole game — who in tough times, when things weren’t going great, kept cheering for us — I hope our guys remember that.”
Dayton put four players in double figures and pulled away in the late stages for a 70-60 win over George Washington tonight.
Marcus Johnson had 16 points, Chris Johnson and Rob Lowery 11 each and Paul Williams 10 for the Flyers (20-11), who will play Xavier (23-7) in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Atlantic City.
Damian Hollis had 19 points for the Colonials (16-14).
UD has won at least 20 games in three straight seasons.
I’ve been talking to friends about Dayton’s season and saying how the team left an NCAA bid “on the table.” By that I mean, the stars were aligned for a team like UD with a pretty fair non-conference resume to earn an at-large berth with a strong showing in the Atlantic 10.
This may be the easiest year on record for schools outside the BCS leagues to get into the tournament.
Think about it. When will the PAC-10 be this down? A one- or two-bid league? Are you kidding me?
When will national powers like North Carolina, UCLA and Indiana all fail to make the field in the same year?
Bubble teams keep losing, NCAA-bound teams are winning conference tournaments, which is what you want.
And on top of that, you had all the positive buzz generated by the Atlantic 10. It wasn’t just hype, folks. Those in the know had as many as six A-10 teams making the field as long as the top teams didn’t get dragged down by the bottom of the pack. Rhode Island, Charlotte and Dayton all sank to the depths as if an octopus attached itself to them.
What went wrong? We explored that question a little in Tuesday’s Dayton Daily News, but one thing I’d like to mention here is that I think injuries have been a factor. Think a healthy Luke Fabrizius might have made a difference in a couple of games? And no one can convince me Rob Lowery is the same player he was before his devastating knee injury. He just doesn’t have the same explosiveness.
I’m not suggesting that injuries are the primary factor, just one among many.
Asked the difference between this year’s team and the NCAA squad last year, UD coach Brian Gregory said: “We have not taken care of the ball as well. To me, that’s been the biggest thing in crucial situations — and I’ll take the blame for that. It’s a coach’s job to put the team in a position to be successful.”
Just a couple of hours after being chosen Dayton’s most valuable player, Chris Wright was named first-team All-Atlantic 10 in a vote of the league’s coaches.
UD sophomore forward Chris Johnson was selected the conference’s most improved player, which is named after former Flyer Chris Daniels, while senior guard London Warren was picked for the all-defensive team.
Wright was joined on the first team by player of the year Kevin Anderson of Richmond, Xavier’s Jordan Crawford, Duquesne’s Damian Saunders and Temple’s Lavoy Allen.
Fran Dunphy of Temple was named coach of the year, Saunders the defensive player of the year, Fordham’s Chris Gaston the top newcomer and Temple’s Ramone Moore the sixth man of the year.
Wright was a second-team all-league pick last season. This year’s second-team includes Temple’s Ryan Brooks, Richmond’s David Gonzalvez, La Salle’s Rodney Green, Saint Louis’ Kwamain Mitchell and St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Nicholson. Named to the third team were Rhode Island’s Keith Cothran and Delroy James, Massachusetts’ Ricky Harris, Xavier’s Jason Love and Charlotte’s Shamari Spears.
Temple’s Juan Fernandez, George Washington’s Damian Hollis and Saint Louis’ Willie Reed were picked honorable mention all-league.
At the UD awards banquet, Wright also won the Shorty Sharpenter rebounding title, Chris Johnson claimed the Alex Schoen free-throw crown, Marcus Johnson captured the George Rau Spirit Award, while London Warren and Kurt Huelsman shared UD’s defensive player of the year honor.
Chris Wright was named most valuable player for the Dayton basketball team after sharing the award last season with Marcus Johnson.
The junior forward is the 16th multiple winner of the MVP.
The Flyers held their awards banquet in the Flight Deck at UD Arena today. The Atlantic 10 awards will be announced later today and will be posted as soon as they’re released.
Marcus Johnson sat in the locker room facing his cubicle with his jersey pulled over his head.
Rob Lowery also had his head down, his long dreadlocks covering his face.
The Dayton Flyers didn’t just take one on the chin in their hopes for an NCAA tournament at-large berth; they were hit with that giant asteroid that’s said to have wiped out the dinosaur population. A season of such promise — a preseason Top-25 rating and a nod as Atlantic 10 favorites — is turning into one of the most bitterly disappointing campaigns in UD history.
It’s hard to put a finger on what went wrong. The Flyers came out with practically zero energy against the Billikens, were staggered by a 3-point barrage and never recovered.
They made a late rally after falling behind by 17, but Saint Louis never wobbled while winning, 71-66.
Ultimately, they were undone by a 10-minute, four-second scoreless stretch in the first half. Coach Rick Majerus has the second-stingiest defense in the Atlantic 10, but there’s no justifying a Division I team not being able to tally a point for one-quarter of the game.
Yep, the Flyers’ NCAA hopes are over unless they can win four straight games in the A-10 tourney, beginning with a home game against George Washington on Tuesday. But no one who witnessed that dismal display against the Billikens can possibly see a title run in the works.
Asked about the NCAA, Lowery said: “We’re not thinking about that. I’m thinking about Tuesday. As a matter of fact, I’m thinking about (practice) tomorrow.”
DAYTON — Needing a win to keep its slight NCAA tournament at-large hopes from ending, Dayton dropped a 71-66 decision to Saint Louis tonight.
The Flyers trailed by 17 points in the first half and cut the deficit to two with 2:34 to go, but Saint Louis pulled away after that for the victory.
Chris Wright had 15 points and Kurt Huelsman 13 for the Flyers (19-11, 8-8 Atlantic 10). Kwamain Mitchell had a game-high 20 points for Saint Louis (20-10, 11-5).
The Flyers will play a first-round A-10 tourney game at home Tuesday against George Washington.
Dayton is faced with a tight turnaround for its season-finale with Saint Louis at home Saturday, having been forced to play a road game just two days before facing the Billikens.
Only three other Atlantic 10 teams will have had two league games in a three-day span. Fordham hosted Xavier on Wednesday and is at Duquesne today. The game with the Dukes, though, was originally scheduled for Saturday but had to be moved up because of a conflict with high school tournament games at the Palumbo Center.
Saint Joseph’s played St. Bonvaventure on Feb. 7 and Saint Louis on Feb. 9, but both of those games were at home.
After playing Dayton at home, Richmond goes to Charlotte on Saturday.
The Flyers and Spiders played on national TV on CBS College Sports, and A-10 Commissioner Bernadette McGlade said the league was willing to have those two play Thursday and Saturday because of the exposure.
“We try to sort of spread it out and not have the same team have what we call a short turnaround,” she said. “And if a team is away, we try to make sure the other game is at home.”
Your team is down one with 49.7 seconds to go. What’s your strategy going to be?
Dayton coach Brian Gregory was in that situation after Rob Lowery made a three-point play against Richmond, cutting the deficit to 57-56.
Gregory decided he wanted a trap and, if the Flyers couldn’t get a steal, to foul.
“We wanted to ‘lengthen’ the game,” Gregory said.
The problem was the Spiders had some skillful foul shooters handling the ball. Kevin Anderson was making 82.4 percent from the line and Ryan Butler 78.1. Only David Gonzalvez, hitting 69.3 percent, was a mediocre free-throw shooter.
The Flyers’ London Warren almost made a steal near halfcourt but fouled Anderson in the process. Predictably, the star guard made both free throws with 36.1 seconds to go.
When the Flyers couldn’t score at the other end, they had to foul Butler, who made one of two with 15.6 seconds left to seal the decision.
Gregory’s decision to “lengthen” the game — that is, create more possessions at the end — was probably something a lot of coaches would do if you’re confident in your ability to score and feel the likelihood is high that the opposition would miss some free throws. But Gregory admitted afterward, “They did a good job of getting the ball in Anderson’s hands.”
I wonder what would have happened if the Flyers just played defense on that possession after Lowery’s three-point play since the Spiders could only have run the clock down to 15 seconds. If they missed, the Flyers would just need a field goal to win the game.
Of course, we’ll never know.
RICHMOND — The Atlantic 10 championship has been out of reach for weeks, and the NCAA tournament is starting to look like a pipedream, too.
The 60-56 loss to Richmond likely relegates the Flyers to the NIT unless they can make a strong showing in the A-10 tournament. They might need the league’s automatic berth that comes with the title to make the NCAA tourney.
This is rapidly becoming a season for the ages for all the wrong reasons. Six A-10 losses by four points or fewer. Playing three top-10 teams — Kansas State, Villanova and New Mexico — into the final minute but coming up empty each time.
I keep thinking, this team is too good to be NIT material. But that’s where the Flyers are destined to end up, it appears. They’re capable of winning the A-10 tourney — they showed they’re as good as anyone in the league — but some fatal flaw has a habit of surfacing at critical times, and it’s hard to see them ripping off four straight wins for the A-10 crown without that happening again.
The Flyers bolted to a 28-17 lead with 2:17 left in the first half by holding the Spiders to 7-of-21 shooting. The crowd of 7,121 was getting increasingly agitated, and so was Richmond coach Chris Mooney, who indicated in an animated sideline display that one official was doing nothing but making calls against the Spiders.
But UD allowed Richmond to get back in the game with an 8-1 run to cut an 11-point deficit with 2:17 to go to four at halftime.
Marcus Johnson, though, swished a 3-pointer, and Chris Wright scored on a drive to start the second half. The Flyers looked like their NCAA tourney hopes would get the boost they needed.
UD led, 48-40, with 8:05 to go, but Richmond’s Justin Harper hit two 3-pointers to help cut the margin to 49-48 with 6:50 left.
The Spiders took their first lead since it was 2-0 when David Gonzalvez splashed a long 3-pointer with 5:33 to go for a 53-51 edge.
You’d think by the sheer law of averages, the Flyers would make the plays they needed to win or their opponent would self-destruct in the end. But neither happened.
Another tight one gets away. The dreary march continues.
RICHMOND — Dayton led by as many as 11 points but dropped a crucial game in its quest for an NCAA tournament bid, falling to Richmond, 60-56.
The game was tied at 53-53 with 5:10 to go, but the Flyers went scoreless on four straight possessions after that as Richmond built a 57-53 lead.
Rob Lowery’s three-point play cut it to 57-56 with 49.7 seconds left, but Kevin Anderson made two free throws and the Flyers couldn’t answer.
Chris Johnson had 13 points and Marcus Johnson 10 for UD (19-10, 8-7 Atlantic 10). Anderson led Richmond (23-7, 12-3) with 22.
RICHMOND — Dayton just finished its shoot-around at the Robins Center here today, and starting guard Rob Lowery, who suffered an ankle injury in Wednesday’s practice, participated in all the drills without any apparent trouble.
The Flyers expect him to play tonight against Richmond, and they’ll need every available body to hang with the Spiders.
Surprisingly, the Flyers are only a two-point underdog in the latest lines posted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. That means they’d be favored on a neutral court and are still getting plenty of respect nationally.
Richmond has talent galore, but that isn’t the only thing troubling Dayton coach Brian Gregory.
The Spiders run that Princeton offense, which is only natural since coach Chris Mooney was an All-Ivy League player at Princeton in the early 1990s.
The system relies on mobile frontcourt players since there’s no low post. That means the Flyer ‘bigs’ have to be able to defend on the perimeter.
“It’s a difficult system to guard,” Gregory said. “They space you out, and what they really do a good job of is beat you off the dribble.
“There’s a reason they’re in the Top 25. They’re good. They’re hard to guard, and defensively they throw a lot of different things at you. If you’re not disciplined and sharp, you’re going to be in trouble.”
The Spiders actually have dropped out of the Top 25 this week, which I take as a slap at the Atlantic 10 in a way. They were No. 23 in the AP poll until falling four spots after a double-overtime loss at Xavier. What could the voters be thinking?
Xavier moved into the Top 25 with the win. So how does losing in double-overtime on the road to the Musketeers cost a team a spot in the polls? Don’t try to tell me there isn’t a BCS bias among voters.
Anyway, Richmond coach Chris Mooney certainly is prepared for his team to be tested by the Flyers.
“I just know how hard they play, how much pressure they put on you defensively, how tenacious they are in their rebounding,” he said. “Obviously, Brian does a fantastic job. Their effort level is always so high, and their ‘physicality’ is so good — in addition to having (Chris) Wright and (Chris) Johnson and all these experienced and good players. It’s a great program.”
Ticket sales for a potential Atlantic 10 tournament game for Dayton at home at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, have been “right about where we expected them to be,” UD Arena manager Tim O’Connell said.
UD has sold more than 4,000 so far — and that’s without a guarantee that the Flyers would actually play a first-round game at home.
They’re still in the hunt for the tourney’s fourth seed, which would mean a first-round bye. But they’d need to win games at Richmond on Thursday and at home against Saint Louis on Saturday and hope for help. UD can’t fall further than an eighth seed, meaning they wouldn’t start the tourney on the road.
Season ticket holders from all levels can buy tickets at the arena today from 5-8 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Season ticket holders in the 300 and 400 levels also can purchase tickets and parking passes at the arena Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
All remaining tickets will be sold to the general public at the arena beginning Monday from noon-4 p.m. and Tuesday from 9 a.m. until game time. They’ll also be available at DaytonFlyers.com.
Tickets are $20 for the lower arena, $15 for the 300 level and $7 for the 400 level. Parking is $5.
For information, call the ticket office at (937) 229-4433.
After Richmond struggled to a 8-22 record in 2006-07, guard David Gonzalvez became so frustrated he got to the point of deciding to transfer.
The Spiders were fortunate he ultimately stuck around. He was preseason second-team All-Atlantic 10 pick this year as a senior.
“David came in afterward and was having a hard time with losing, and we sat down and talked,” coach Chris Mooney said. “For a few weeks there, his mind was made up. But we continued to talk and meet. He was just a little bit different kid then than he is now. He’s such a mature and strong-willed young man now. At the time, he was only 19 years old. He thought about looking elsewhere.
“The good thing is, he initiated coming back. As coaches, we said great, but we knew he needed to talk to his teammates and see if that was OK. That was an emotional meeting for them. Since then it’s been great.”
Gonzalvez chalked up his antics to immaturity in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article last week.
“Now that I’m older - and I’ve changed a lot, matured a lot - I know that my coaches are all good guys, and they’re not out to get me, and they want the best for us,” he said. “I know that Richmond has a good basketball program, and it’s also a really good university. I know the city of Richmond is a great city to live in.
“My freshman year, if you had asked me questions about those things, I would have said ‘Coach stinks, the city is boring, and I don’t like the school.’ That all had to do with me.”
Here’s a development in the Atlantic 10 that jumped out at me: After winning multiple player-of-the-week and rookie-of-the-week awards during his career, Dayton junior forward Chris Wright has been almost completely shut out this season.
He’s had seven double-doubles, a 30-point game and a 28-point outing. But all he’s gotten for those efforts is sharing the first player-of-the-week award with Duquesne’s Damian Saunders.
Many of Wright’s top games have come in defeats, which has hurt his candidacy, but still …
“I’ve never voted for player of the week … but his consistency has been off the charts,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “He’s really coming on as a player.
“He plays fast when he needs to play fast and plays slow when he needs to play slow. The points and rebounds are what you need, but the thing that’s most pleasing to me as a coach is his decision-making.
“He’s made a bigger emphasis of getting on the defensive glass. Sometimes with certain players, the spectacular overshadows the blue-collar stats or the performance he gives. You remember the one or two dunks that maybe no one around the country is able to do. But you look at his stats and he has 18 or 19 points and 10 or 11 rebounds. And that doesn’t stick out in your mind.”
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Amen Barry. Guess the Gregory bashers know so much more than a man that has been playing and coaching