Southwest Airlines sent text message after text message, delaying the flight by 15 minutes, then 30, etc. I could only respond with the crying emoji.
Last Saturday, I had a similar delay in Orlando, Fla., after four hours of sleep following Dayton’s loss to Brigham Young in the ESPN Events Invitational the previous night. Even after arriving in Columbus, we had to wait more than an hour to find a parking spot at the terminal. I felt for the parents with kids on the flight. The adults at least had the Ohio State-Michigan game to entertain them on their phones.
***
Let’s hope I have a smooth trip to Charlotte on Saturday. I have a 6 a.m. direct flight, which should give me plenty of time to get to the Spectrum Center for Dayton’s noon game against Virginia.
While Marquette appeared to be the biggest game on Dayton’s schedule when the season began, Virginia now gets that billing. It climbed 15 spots to No. 24 in the Ken Pomeroy ratings with an 88-69 victory at Texas on Wednesday. It ranks 15th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool.
Winning this game would keep Dayton on a path toward building a NCAA tournament at-large resume. The Flyers should have confidence after flirting with an upset against No. 9 BYU.
“We’re as excited as ever,“ Dayton guard Jordan Derkack said Tuesday after a 88-71 victory against East Tennessee State. ”We’re taking it one game at a time. We’re focused on ETSU right now. We’ll break this down probably tomorrow and then get our focus on Virginia. It’ll be packed.“
The team had already talked at that point about Virginia getting a boost from fans who will travel to Charlotte for the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship game at Bank of America Stadium, about a mile walk from the Spectrum Center. Virginia plays Duke at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Many fans will attend the basketball game earlier in the day as well.
“We know it’s going to be an away game for us,“ Derkack said, ”so we’re just going to prepare the best possible way."
Dayton trying to improve its NET ranking
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
At one point in the second half Tuesday against ETSU, Dayton guard De’Shayne Montgomery dove on a loose ball near the half-court line. He grabbed the ball at the same time as an ETSU player. Neither let go as they lay on the court. For a second, Montgomery put his head on the opposing player as if he were going to take a nap.
Montgomery may have needed a moment of peace. He played 34 minutes, including the last 12 minutes.
Dayton coach Anthony Grant made one substitution in the last seven minutes. All the starters stayed in the game for the last four minutes, even with Dayton leading by double digits.
Keeping the starters in the game helped Dayton win by 17 points. Every point matters in the age of the NET, which awards efficiency — and nothing’s more efficient than a blowout victory.
Dayton lost a chance to pad its ranking when it let a 40-point lead against North Carolina Central dwindle to 19 by the end of the game on Nov. 22. Only one starter saw the court in the last seven minutes. No starters played in the last five minutes.
“Dayton up 44-20 at halftime,” Dayton fan Tom Eggemeier wrote on X during that game. “Flyers need to do what (George Washington and Saint Louis) have been doing and win by 40+ to move up in NET (supposed to win by 23). Hard to keep foot on the gas up 24 at halftime, but unfortunately it matters.
“BTW, I do not bet on sports. All about analytics and their impact on NCAA at-large bids. Unfortunately Dayton’s margin of error is razor thin for an NCAA at-large even when they have a great year.”
One fan messaged me after that game to ask if Grant cares about running up the score to improve the team’s NET ranking.
“I know he’s a very respected coach,” the fan wrote, “and that’s good and all, but you need to step on the throat these days (which is unfortunate but that’s the landscape of the game).”
Montgomery used nearly the same phrase when asked about the starters staying in the game.
“We’ve got to keep putting our foot on the neck,” he said.
Grant used less violent words when I asked him about the importance of margin of victory.
“Of course. It has to be, right?,” he said. “That’s the reality of the sport.”
Dayton ranked 88th on Monday in the first NET release. It is now at No. 70. It has plenty of chances to climb in the months ahead, especially with the A-10 faring better than usual in the NET in non-conference play.
Dayton’s bench should get a boost soon
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
I read my 7-year-old son Chase a children’s book about the life of Lionel Messi earlier this week. Chase is not sports obsessed but is very aware of the world’s biggest soccer stars: Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Montrose Elementary is only 10 miles from Ohio Stadium, but you’re still more likely to see a Messi jersey than a Julian Sayin jersey at school.
Last night, I read Chase another sports book, which compared the careers of Michael Jordan and LeBron James. It was a lot like another series of books that ponders who would win in a fight between a grizzly bear and a lion or a python and a cobra.
We read a couple books a night right before bed. That’s my No. 1 lesson for aspiring journalists. Read a lot. It will help down the line.
I probably should have mentioned that to Christian Cooper, the Shawnee High School sophomore who shadowed me at UD’s game Tuesday. He is more focused on photography, so we talked more about that than anything. He sat next to me on the baseline as we photographed the game against ETSU.
Another local student will join me at the Florida State game later this month. A third will shadow me at the Virginia Commonwealth game in March.
Speaking of students, Dayton expects to have a new one on the roster soon. Grant confirmed Tuesday that the plan is for Sean Pouedet, a 22-year-old, 6-2 guard from Belgium, to join the team this season.
“The visa process and everything else that comes with that, that’s a process,” Grant said. “We’re going to keep our fingers crossed that everything goes well and we can solidify that.”
Pouedet will give Dayton another ball-handler. The Flyers have survived with Javon Bennett and Jordan Derkack — and sometimes Jacob Conner — sharing point guard duties, but an injury to any of those players would have a major impact because Adam Njie Jr. remains sidelined by eligibility issues and freshman Jaron McKie is out for the season with an injury.
If Pouedet can get to Dayton and get up to speed on how to run the offense, the Flyers could benefit in A-10 play and beyond.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Dayton will wear its Chapel Blue uniforms for the first time this season Saturday against Virginia.
🏀 The only traditional freshman Dayton signed in November for the 2026-27 season was Julian Washington, who became the all-time leading scorer at Margaretta High School on Thursday. He scored 27 points and has 1,424 points in his career.
🏀 Andy Farrell, a member of Grant’s staff for six seasons, went from an 0-3 experience at the Battle 4 Atlantis with Dayton in 2022 to a 3-0 championship performance with Vanderbilt last week.
Farrell is in his second season as the director of operations on Mark Byington’s staff. The Commodores beat Western Kentucky, Virginia Commonwealth and Saint Mary’s in the Bahamas.
🏀 The most disappointing team in the Atlantic 10 Conference is Loyola Chicago, which lost seven games in a row before beating Central Michigan 83-72 on Tuesday.
“I am really proud of our guys. It has obviously been a hard month, and we’ve been trying to get the guys to compete harder,” coach Drew Valentine said in his postgame press conference. “It wasn’t perfect, but I’ve been asking them to raise their floor. If we play hard for two possessions out of 10, can we raise that to six? And I think we raised our floor tonight with our effort. They locked arms with each other and got it done. It finally looked like they were having fun out there.”
🏀 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.
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