You know it’s been a bad night for the Dayton Flyers when the mom of one of the greatest players in school history writes this on X (Twitter) after a 71-67 loss at George Mason. “Dayton fans are something else ... smh,” Tomika Holmes wrote Wednesday. “Yeah the game didn’t go our way and yeah we should have won, but some of the stuff that is said about these players is ridiculous. Keyboard bullies (in my opinion).” The mom of Dayton star DaRon Holmes II then amended her comments. She added: “Some Dayton fans.” Indeed, the atmosphere on social media is toxic after a loss, even for a team that is 21-5. Parents, players, coaches are better off avoiding the Internet when Dayton loses a game. Few fans get personal in their attacks — except when it comes to Anthony Grant; fans consider him fair game — but taking all together, the discourse creates a stew of negativity that’s about as hard to digest as the dish called Fry-Chos that I ate Wednesday in Virginia. The Dayton fanbase is no different than any others — and, I’m sure, more reasonable than most (looking at you, Ohio State football fans). Whining about your favorite sportsball team is a pastime. It’s hard to step back and put things in perspective. Having said that, fans have a right to be disappointed the season has gone from “potentially historic” to just “very good.” Dayton had a chance to earn a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament, something it has only achieved once before, in 2003, when it was a No. 4 seed and lost to No. 13 seed Tulsa in the first round. Dayton has an average seed of 5.08 on BracketMatrix.com right now and will need a strong finish to improve its seeding. The Flyers also could fall short of winning the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championship because of their third loss in Virginia, and that would be a failure for a team that was the preseason favorite for the second season in a row. Every great Dayton team, except the 2019-20 team, has lost a game it shouldn’t have lost down the stretch. This team is no different. How the Flyers respond in the next two weeks after a six-day break will go a long way in telling the story of this season.
Winning on the road harder than ever these days I’ve spent a lot time over the years waiting outside the Dayton locker room after road games to talk to players. I lost track of how long I waited Wednesday night at EagleBank Arena but was appreciative Isaac Jack, DaRon Holmes II and Koby Brea answered my questions on the way to the bus. Brea has been my go-to guy after losses for a few years now. He’s a pro and talks candidly. I talk to Holmes, too, after almost every game. He’s always a central figure in the result. This was my sixth trip to George Mason in 11 seasons. It has one of the best bands in the A-10. Doc Nix and the Green Machine make up for the typically mediocre crowds. In the second half, Nix positioned himself by the basket support and tried to disrupt Dayton’s free-throw shooters. I don’t think I’ve seen a band leader try that before. George Mason averages 3,735 fans, which ranks seventh in the conference. The arena seats 7,860. With the 16th-ranked team in the country playing Wednesday, the crowd numbered 5,286. When Dayton last played there two years ago, attendance was 3,222. The Flyers did not lose because of the hostile crowd. They lost because George Mason is a talented and capable team that plays with confidence at home. The top seven teams in the A-10 are 35-9 at home in conference play. VCU, one of the hottest teams in the A-10 entering the week, came back to earth with a 74-52 loss at Massachusetts on Tuesday. Outside the A-10, road wins are just as hard to come by. No. 12 Illinois lost 90-89 at Penn State. No. 14 Kentucky lost 75-74 at LSU on Wednesday. Penn State and LSU rank lower in the NCAA Evaluation Tool than George Mason. Also on Wednesday, No. 22 Colorado State lost 68-66 at New Mexico. A night earlier, No. 1 Connecticut, which had looked unbeatable for almost two months, lost 85-66 at Creighton, while No. 11 Baylor lost 78-71 at No. 25 BYU and No. 19 San Diego State lost 68-63 at Utah State. According a story by The Athletic this week, “top-10 teams are winning on the road against unranked teams at about half the rate they have in the previous several years.” That’s what Charles McClelland, chairman of the NCAA tournament selection committee, told The Athletic, and it’s why the committee values victories earned away from home. “It’s a red flag when almost all of your quality wins come at home,” McClelland said. “So it’s paramount that teams prove they can win away from their home court. But we look at several metrics. We have tons and tons of data. Who you play, where you played and what the outcome was will always be the fundamental core of what we do.” While Dayton has struggled to beat the best teams in the A-10 on the road, the committee will give it credit for beating LSU, Saint John’s, SMU and Cincinnati away from UD Arena.
Fordham AD apologizes for pregame incident I like to roam UD Arena to photograph the building and the pregame scene from different angles. For the first time this season, I trekked to the 400 section before the game Saturday against Fordham. They’ve separated the students who sit up there from everyone else with a red tarp that covers two seats and runs up and down the section. I joked that maybe it should be a chain-link fence because I know those student can get rowdy. While up there on Saturday, I noticed a strange scene on the court. Dayton players were preparing to get in line for the national anthem. Fordham players were trying get in one last dunk on the rim were they were warming up. Dayton used to do the same thing during the Obi Toppin years. The players stared at each other for a bit before an official intervened. Dayton players then got out of the way so Fordham could dunk. In Fordham’s defense, 30 seconds remained on the clock. The players had more time to do their dunk. In Dayton’s defense, the Flyers don’t know Fordham’s routine. I’m sure they thought Fordham was done warming up when they walked onto the court. More fans had a problem with Fordham players not standing still during the national anthem that followed. One fan, Susan Lucking, wrote Fordham President Tania Tetlow after the game. She sent me her email and the response she received from Fordham Athletic Director Ed Kull. “President Tetlow, Today I attended the University of Dayton Flyers men’s basketball game versus the Fordham Rams,” Lucking wrote. “I was very disappointed in the lack of respect your team gave to the USAF color guard, the American flag and our National Anthem. The Rams remained under one of the baskets while everyone else on the floor was standing at attention. Then the players proceeded to walk up and down their team line, clapping each other’s hands during the playing of the National Anthem. This inappropriate behavior does not reflect well on your team, coaching staff and university.” “Thank you for your message,” Kull wrote. “On behalf of Fordham University and the men’s basketball team, I apologize for the disruption caused during Saturday’s Presentation of Colors and the national anthem. I’ve been in touch with Neil Sullivan, University of Dayton’s athletic director, the A10 Conference, and game officials, and we’re all in agreement that Saturday’s incident is a result of a misunderstanding and poor timing as teams transitioned from warm-ups to the opposite side of the court for the national anthem.This is certainly a teachable moment for our student athletes. Honoring fallen heros, veterans, active military personnel and our nation during the Presentation of Colors and the national anthem should never be interrupted.Thank you for reaching out to share your concern.”
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans: 🏀 The Indiana Pacers gave away Pacers hats with the Dayton logo on the side in honor of former Flyer Obi Toppin on Thursday. Toppin then stayed after the game to pose for photos with UD fans on the court. Toppin scored nine points in a 129-115 victory against the Detroit Pistons. He now has 2,004 points in four seasons. He’s the ninth former Flyer to reach that milestone in the NBA. The others are: Jim Paxson (11,199); Roger Brown (10,498); Johnny Davis (9,710); Bucky Bockhorn (5,430); Don May (3,339); Hank Finkel (2,790); Monk Meineke (2,338); and Brian Roberts (2,059). 🏀 I rode to the Fordham game at UD Arena last Saturday with Columbus Dispatch sports writer Bill Rabinowitz, who I got to know when I covered Ohio State football for five seasons. He covered the game for his newspaper in part because Dayton’s performance this season has become a state-wide story. The Flyers likely will be the only team from Ohio to earn a NCAA tournament at-large bid. Bill’s a Dayton native. His dad Bernie still goes to games. He’s always interested in the Flyers even if Ohio State football is his focus 365 days a year. Here’s an excerpt from Bill’s story, which you can read here: Passion for UD basketball in Dayton is similar to that for Ohio State football in Columbus, even if national champions aren’t expected in the Gem City. Fandom is passed down from generation to generation. “We take a lot of pride in that,” said Grant, who played for UD in the 1980s. “Being a former Flyer, I know the history. I’m familiar with what this basketball program means to the community at large and the investment that people make.
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