Seven things to know about the Dayton Flyers

UD in NCAA tournament for fourth straight season

Three of the last four years, the Dayton Flyers have watched the NCAA tournament selection show on Archie Miller’s couch in his basement. There is plenty of food. There are plenty of laughs. There is a lot of tension.

Dayton knew it was getting in the big dance this year. Well, it was about 99 percent sure. As Miller said more than once this season, until he sees the Dayton name on the broadcast, he is never 100 percent certain.

No. 7 seed Dayton (24-7) will play No. 10 seed Wichita State (30-4) in the first round at 7:10 p.m. Friday at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“We were hopeful we were in,” Miller said Sunday. “We were hoping we could be as high as a seven. To be able to get a seven, that's great recognition for what we were able to accomplish early in the season, and we had some injuries early that played a part. Wichita State, that's an interesting 10 seed.”

Here are seven things to know about the Flyers:

Credit: HANDOUT

Credit: HANDOUT

1. Winningest team: Dayton has three seniors who will be the first players in school history to play in the NCAA tournament four times: Scoochie Smith, Kyle Davis and Kendall Pollard. Another senior, Charles Cooke, has been on the court the last two seasons after transferring from James Madison.

The group has won 102 games in the last four seasons. That's the best four-year stretch in school history.

“It’s a great feeling,” Davis said. “Me, Kendall and Scoochie came in with the mindset of setting the bar high for this program. It paid off.”

Credit: HANDOUT

Credit: HANDOUT

2. Overcoming adversity: Redshirt freshman center Steve McElvene, 20, died on May 12. He was a promising player who set the school's single-season blocks record in his first season on the court.

McElvene collapsed and died at his family’s home in Fort Wayne, Ind. Miller gave the eulogy at his funeral with the four seniors standing behind him. The Flyers have worn McElvene’s No. 5 on their uniforms just above their hearts all season.

“A year ago, Steve was in this room, and we were getting ready to go play Syracuse,” Miller said Sunday after the selection announcement. “You can go down a laundry list of things you think about. I think our guys have done a nice job. It’s been very difficult. Today is a reward for everything they’ve had to endure. Very few people endure a loss of somebody that young. We had 30 people endure it. Everyone hurt. Maybe Steve can block a shot or something for us in Indy.”

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

3. Conference champions: Dayton made history this season by winning the Atlantic 10 regular-season championship outright. UD won two division championships more than a decade ago and shared the title this season. It had never won an outright championship. It didn't join a conference until the 1988-89 season.

Dayton clinched the championship by beating Virginia Commonwealth 79-72 on March 1 on Senior Night at UD Arena.

“It feels great to get my last win and the back-to-back championships,” Davis said, “but we’re not finished yet. We’ve still got a lot of basketball to go.”

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

4. Disappointing finish: Dayton had already clinched the regular-season title and No. 1 seed when it lost its regular-season finale 87-81 at George Washington on March 4. It then lost 73-67 to Davidson in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament Friday in Pittsburgh.

Dayton will have to beat Wichita State to avoid its first three-game losing streak since the seniors were freshmen in 2014. Dayton lost four games in a row in January that season and then rebounded to make a strong run down the stretch, earning a NCAA bid that resulted in the school’s first Elite Eight appearance since 1984.

“The way I look at it and the way we all look at it is it’s a new chapter for us,” Davis said. “It’s 0-0. We had some games we should have won that we lost, and we’re not worrying about that. We’re worried about moving forward and winning this game that’s coming up.”

5. Big scorers: Dayton's senior class has scored 4,197 points in the last four seasons. That doesn't include the points Cooke scored at James Madison. It is the fourth highest-scoring class in UD history.

Smith has 1,264 points. Pollard has 1,158. Cooke has 951 in his two seasons at Dayton and 1,564 in his career. Davis has 824.

6. Bench production: Sophomore forward Xeyrius Williams has emerged as the best player among the underclassmen. He's the player most likely to lead UD in scoring next season after the four seniors depart.

Sophomore forward Josh Cunningham returned to the rotation in February after missing 21 games with a torn ligament in his ankle.

Junior guard Darrell Davis has turned in a solid performance this season, shooting 38.5 percent from 3-point range, after slumping from behind the arc last season.

Miller knows he will need better production from his bench in the NCAA tournament than he got in the loss to Davidson.

“I said it during the game and after the game we weren’t confident in our bench,” Miller said, “and we have to be. We have to have different guys make plays for us. It’s just when you get down the way we got down and you’re working your way out of it, you’re going to go with the group you feel can hang in there the most. Even in the second half, we rode Xeyrius and Kendall a long time. We’ve never done that, but I feel they gave us the best chance on offense and defense to give us an opportunity to get the lead, which we did, but I wish we would have played our bench a little bit more.”

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

7. Tournament history: Dayton will play in its 18th NCAA tournament. It is a No. 7 seed for the second straight season after two years as a No. 11 seed.

Dayton is 0-2 when it is the higher seed. No. 4 seed Dayton lost 84-71 to No. 13 seed Tulsa in 2003. Dayton lost 70-51 to No. 10 seed Syracuse last season.

Dayton made its longest NCAA run in 1967, losing 79-64 to UCLA in the national championship game.

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