Morning Briefing | What to know about the Dayton Flyers

It’s almost time for Dayton Flyers basketball.

In today’s Morning Briefing, we’ll catch you up on what you need to know about the Flyers before their first exhibition game on Sunday. We’ll also introduce you to the Flyer Connection newsletter, where you can get the most in-depth UD coverage in your inbox each Friday from beat writer Dave Jablonski.

If you have thoughts or feedback on this newsletter or other news tips, please let me know at Kyle.Nagel@coxinc.com.

Want to read the digital version of the newspaper? Click here for our daily ePaper.

The newsletter should take about 4 minutes, 38 seconds to read.

***

The season

• First game: UD will face Xavier in a charity exhibition game on Sunday at 5 p.m. at UD Arena.

• Why it’s special: The exhibition will once again cap a weekend of “community engagement events championing adolescent and young adult mental health and suicide prevention,” according to UD. All net proceeds will benefit Jay’s Light, the mental health and suicide prevention initiative created in honor of UD coach Anthony Grant’s daughter Jay, as well as the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and other charities in the Dayton and Cincinnati area.

• The rivalry: Xavier and Dayton played each other 158 times between Feb. 20, 1920 and Feb. 16, 2013. The teams have played only once since Xavier left the Atlantic 10 Conference for the Big East Conference after the 2012-13 season. That came in 2015.

• The schedule: UD opens the regular season on Nov. 4 against Saint Francis. The non-conference schedule includes the Maui Invitational, Northwestern, Marquette, UNLV and Cincinnati.

• What’s expected of the Flyers? UD was picked to finish second in the Atlantic-10 Conference. Last year, the Flyers were 25-8 and finished in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Who are the players?

• Returning starters: There are three: Forward Nate Santos, guard Enoch Cheeks and guard Javon Bennett.

• Returning starter*: Junior Malachi Smith has been a starter in previous seasons but missed almost all of last year with an injury, and he’s back this year.

• Newcomers: UD is active in recruiting and the transfer portal each year, and that led to five new additions to the roster for this season. They include Jacob Conner, an Alter graduate who comes to UD from Marshall, where he was a starter last season, and Zed Key, a transfer from Ohio State.

Flyer Connection newsletter

• What it is: Each Friday, Dave Jablonski brings behind-the-scenes observations, the latest news and key insights about the Flyers.

• How to sign up: Click here to sign up for the newsletter.

• What’s in it? Here are a few things Dave has shared in recent newsletters:

— The 2024-25 season kicks off in 24 days at UD Arena. UD announced Thursday the entire season is sold out, including the two exhibition games.

We’ll know a lot more about the team after the first exhibition game against Xavier on Oct. 20. Until then, getting coach Anthony Grant and the players to say anything specific about starting lineups or rotations will be harder than taking a 6-year-old to Target and avoiding the toy section.

I know better than to press Grant on those matters. I could have done so Monday when I attended Atlantic 10 Conference Media Day in Washington, D.C., but stuck to the questions I thought he would answer, though I messed up when I asked him to compare this roster to his first seven teams at Dayton.

“Well, David, you know me, I’m not much into comparisons,” Grant said. “Every year, you’ve got a different group, and so our goal is to try to make this group become the best version of itself. And right now, our focus is on us, just on trying to make sure we’re doing things every day that help us move the needle a little bit and get a little bit better in terms of what we’re doing offensively, defensively, and then learning more about how we need to play to give us the best chance to be successful.”

I didn’t have much reason to ask Grant about injury news. I know redshirt freshman guard Marvel Allen hasn’t been practicing. We had just talked to Grant about that the previous week.

I didn’t know on Monday that fifth-year guard Brady Uhl suffered an injury, but he showed up to a meet and greet with fans at UD Arena on Wednesday with a boot on his foot. He told me he expects he’ll be out for a few weeks.

— Getting to see (former UD coach) Archie Miller, now the head coach at Rhode Island, at the last three A-10 Media Days has been a treat. I have great memories of covering his last four Dayton teams.

My first season on the beat, 2013-14, was Miller’s most memorable as a coach because the Flyers reached the Elite Eight, though his best performance as a coach came a year later when he led a seven-man team, which most everyone gave up on after the dismissal from the team and from school of two forwards that December, to 27 wins and two NCAA tournament victories.

That 2014-15 season was one thing I wanted to talk to him about Monday. I’ll put together a story later this season celebrating the 10th anniversary of that team. Miller was excited to talk about it.

“Of all the years that I’ve been a part of team sports, the book or the chapter, so to speak, on that one was unmatched,” Miller said. “It was almost really, as you look back on it, unfathomable that the team was able to continue to do what they were doing at the level they were doing and then continued to drive toward the NCAA Tournament, winning games. It could have went sideways.”

At the end of our conversation, Miller said, “Are you going to ask me about the 2016 team next year?” I said, “Why not?”