A-10: Dayton Basketball Doing The Impossible
By Bobby Reagan
If asked to name the teams in the Elite Eight last season, how many people would remember the Dayton Flyers as one of them? The answer is unless you’re a die-hard college basketball fan or from the greater Dayton area, you most likely forgot about them.
What if I told you not to be surprised if they are playing on the second weekend of the NCAA tournament this season? What if I told you they would be doing it with just eight scholarship players?
Back on Dec. 18, Devon Scott and Jalen Robinson were dismissed from the Dayton team after being caught stealing items from various dorm rooms. Both players were 6’9” juniors who were key components to the Elite Eight run last season and Scott was even a captain on this year’s team.
He was averaging more than nine points and seven rebounds a game while Robinson pitched in three points and two rebounds before getting kicked off.
At the time it looked like the magical season and a half for Dayton would be over with the Flyers sitting at 7-2 with just eight scholarship players, none of which are taller than 6’6”.
Then something happened. Dayton started playing looser. The Flyers started looking like a team who was playing with nothing to lose and despite being short, they are proving to be a tough team to match up with defensively because of their ability to spread the floor.
Dayton has rattled off six consecutive wins since the departure of Scott and Robinson, including wins over Georgia Tech and Mississippi while also jumping out to a 3-0 conference start. The offense has skyrocketed the last six games as well, going from averaging 65 points per game with Scott and Robinson to 77.6 points per game since their departures.
Following a team meeting to announce the dismissals, something started to click for the remaining members of the Dayton team. Dayton coach Archie Miller has been exploiting the quickness his team now possessed in its recent games.
When a team goes man-to-man against the Flyers, Miller will spread the floor, find the mismatch and then attack off the dribble forcing opponents to help and leave a shooter or try to stick with a quicker player.
A strong conditioning program instilled by Miller is encouraging his team to run in transition any opportunity they can while his starters are averaging close to 30 minutes per game. The players are obviously enjoying an increase in playing time and have seemed more willing to make the extra pass, knowing the next time down the court one will be coming their way.
In the first four games after the dismissals this led to shooting better than 50 percent from the field and 45 percent from deep.
Dayton has a favorable Atlantic-10 schedule, only having to play VCU and Davidson once, so there’s no reason to think the Flyers can’t win the conference’s regular-season title. While there is a concern of fatigue playing just a seven- or eight-man rotation, Miller believes it’s fostering good chemistry. A chemistry that can lead Dayton right back to another Elite Eight.