SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — I’ve told Dayton fans many times over the years their patience and devotion will be rewarded. The Flyer Faithful stick with their team, even if that often involves a lot of complaining about the state of that team. There was certainly a lot of belly-aching Thursday afternoon as the Flyers faced a 56-39 deficit against Nevada in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Here’s a small sampling of things fans wrote in that moment on X (Twitter): • “Love how the announcer is telling us how screwed up our offense is. Yeah dude. We know. We know. We have no coach.” • Great call by (Anthony) Grant to just keep doing the same thing over and over until you were down nine. What a genius.” • “The Coach tax is being paid. Dayton refuses to do anything but slow down and stick to one side of the floor. Just awful.” Sitting on the baseline at the Delta Center, shooting photos, I just reported the scores on X. I’m not going to throw out any opinions in situations like that because I know how quickly things can change in the game of basketball. I’ve seen it too many times before — but I’ve never seen Dayton turn around a game on the biggest stage as it it did Thursday. The Flyers outscored Nevada 24-4 down the stretch to win 63-60, rewarding a fan base that has sold out every home game the past three seasons. The Dayton superfans behind the bench — Larry Connor, Dr. Stephen Levitt, Joe Maimone, etc. — witnessed an all-time great UD victory. I had beers late Thursday night at the Beerhive in downtown Salt Lake City after a long day of work with Maimone, who lives in New Jersey and goes to almost every UD away game, and other fans. He’s the publisher of Billboard Magazine and was a freshman at UD in 1984 the last time the Flyers played in Salt Lake City. He also takes the opposite approach of many fans, staying optimistic during the darkest times. Dayton needs fans to tell it like it is. It also needs fans with perspective. I appreciate fans on all sides of the spectrum. As another fan I talked to last night mentioned, it’s good people are talking about the Flyers, no matter what they’re saying, because if no one’s talking about you, you’re irrelevant. Maimone is so dedicated to the optimistic approach he started a new group on Facebook, Fellow Flyers 2.0, last week because of the negativity on the first Fellow Flyers page. “Welcome to the new and improved Fellow Flyers 2.0,” Maimone wrote. “The safe and positive alternative to other sites that exist to undermine our fine players, quality coaches, and our venerable men’s Basketball program. Enjoy! The best is yet to come!” The best came Thursday — unless there’s an upset of Arizona ahead on Saturday.
A big challenge ahead for Dayton I have not had time to do a deep dive on Dayton’s second opponent, No. 2 seed Arizona. I do know, as a voter in the Associated Press top-25 poll, the Wildcats have been a bit inconsistent this year. Arizona started 8-0 and beat Duke, Michigan State and Wisconsin along the way but then went 6-5 in their last 11 games. The Wildcats were stronger down the stretch, winning 10 of 11 games but then lost their regular-season finale on the road to a USC team that finished 15-18. They then lost to Oregon in the Pac 12 tournament semifinals. Arizona is a No. 2 seed for a reason, of course. They looked the part Thursday in an 85-65 victory against No. 15 Long Beach State. I’m doing an interview with an Arizona radio station and then a podcast later today to talk about the game against Dayton. The game starts at 10:45 a.m. here. That’ll be an interesting challenge for both teams. Dayton Daily News columnist Tom Archdeacon and I will head over to the Delta Center this afternoon for interviews with Arizona and Dayton players and coaches. This is the first time Arch and I have had such an extended trip in the NCAA tournament since we covered the UD women in Albany in 2015. A year earlier, we spent five nights in Buffalo and then five in Memphis, covering the men’s team. Tom and I had a great time at dinner with two UD fans on Wednesday and hope to paint the town Flyer red again tonight. UD fans will be able to enjoy a long day watching basketball without a care in the world as the tournament continues with 16 more games Friday.
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans: 🏀 Here’s coverage of the game from Nevada beat writer Chris Murray: “Nevada’s special season spoiled by copious mistakes in ‘meltdown’ to Dayton.” 🏀 Tony Jones, of The Athletic, also wrote about the game: “For Dayton, there was ‘never a doubt’ the Flyers could craft a comeback against Nevada.” 🏀 And here’s a story from Josh Weinfuss, of ESPN.com: “Dayton rallies from 17 down, stuns Nevada in NCAA tournament.”
What do you want to know about the Flyers? I want to hear from you. Reach out to me directly at david.jablonski@coxinc.com with your questions and feedback on the team or this newsletter. Also be sure to follow our Flyer Nation Facebook page for the latest news on the team. I’ll have updates, photos and videos on Twitter, as well. | 
