I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like what I witnessed Tuesday with fans from the Bronx and Washington Heights surrounding Dayton Flyers guard Koby Brea after UD’s 82-58 victory at Fordham. The fans arrived early to support the hometown kid, wearing his No. 4 jersey and waving Dominican Republic fans. They filled the stands behind one basket, while Brea’s family members, including his parents, had seats behind the bench.
» PHOTOS: Koby Brea’s homecoming
Brea didn’t disappoint with his best performance of the season. He made each of his four 3-point attempts and scored 12 points. I waited a long time to talk to Brea after the game but wasn’t going to interrupt his experience. By the time he finally got to the locker room after posing for dozens of photographs with fans, most of his teammates had showered and gotten on the bus.
I wrote about Brea’s memorable night on Wednesday after flying home from New York City — I was only an hour late despite the FAA system outage. Then on Thursday, there was a media availability session with Anthony Grant, Toumani Camara and DaRon Holmes II at UD Arena. I spotted Dayton associate head coach Ricardo Greer, who’s from the Washington Heights area of New York City like Brea, and asked him if ever had an experience like Brea with the hometown fans.
Yes, Greer said, but not at Fordham. His Pittsburgh team played in New Jersey at Rutgers, where his brother Jeff played, in his freshman, junior and senior seasons. His college career lasted from 1997-2001. Greer said some of the same fans who came to watch Brea on Tuesday saw him play in those games.
Ricardo and Jeff finished their careers as the Big East’s all-time leading tandem of sibling scorers. Ricardo scored 1,753 points, and Jeff scored 1,394 points. Before their last game at Rutgers in 2001, according to the New York Times, the Dominican Basketball Foundation honored the brothers for “being outstanding role models for the youth of Washington Heights, our community and specifically for our country, the Dominican Republic.”
That same Dominican and New York spirit was on display Tuesday, and Brea and the Flyers benefited from it with another double-digit victory. Dayton is on such a roll entering a 9 p.m. game tonight against VCU at UD Arena. I’ve spent a lot of time in the media guide and on CollegeBasketballReference.com trying to put its dominance in perspective.
Here’s a paragraph I wrote in today’s paper:
“They’ve won seven games by 10 points or more, something no Dayton team had accomplished in the modern era. They’ve also held each of their last seven opponents to fewer than 60 points, something last done by the program in the 1949-50 season.”
Dayton ‘back in the good graces’
My wife, Barbara, and I have been reading “Llama Destroys the World” to our son, Chase, in recent weeks. The llama squeezes into his dancing pants, which rip. The force of the rip creates a black hole — a common-enough story. Ever since, Chase has been asking about black holes and whether we’re in danger. On Twitter, I told Dayton fans, who know something about disasters destroying their happiness, that I explained to Chase he wouldn’t have to worry about black holes unless his sports team is on the verge of something great.
» PHOTOS: Dayton vs. Fordham
Chase is 4. He hasn’t quite grasped the meaning of rooting for a sports team. He is old enough to know he can sometimes see me on TV shooting photographs at games. He and Barbara spotted me on ESPN+ on Tuesday.
A black hole seemed to suck all joy out of the Flyer Faithful in November, especially during the Battle 4 Atlantis, and again for one night in December during that 77-49 loss at Virginia Tech. Over the last five weeks, though, the planets have aligned for the Flyers and their fans. The rankings tell the story.
While Dayton is not close to attracting the attention of the Associated Press top-25 voters again, including me, it has climbed from No. 182 to No. 56 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool since the loss to Virginia Tech. It has moved from No. 77 to No. 45 in the Ken Pomeroy ratings. It is No. 36 in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, No. 39 on BartTorvik.com, No. 46 in the Sagarin Ratings and No. 53 on Haslametrics.com.
Dayton hasn’t beaten anyone of note during its seven-game winning streak but has beaten everyone decisively, and these rankings take scoring margin into account. The computers admire the Flyers’ recent play. One human has taken note as well. Andy Katz, of NCAA.com, placed Dayton 33rd in his weekly Power 36 ranking this week before the game at Fordham.
“The Flyers are back in the good graces with a 3-0 A10 start,” Katz wrote, “and a feeling they ultimately will be the best in the league.”
The latest on Kobe Elvis and Malachi Smith
I’m tired of asking Anthony Grant for updates on Malachi Smith and Kobe Elvis, who have missed 10 straight games with injuries. Grant surprised me Tuesday night by volunteering the information that both had returned to practice, in non-contact drills. I would have asked again on Thursday, but WHIO photographer Scott Kessler took the baton and asked if they would play Friday against VCU and if there was a timetable for their returns.
Grant had a one-word response for each question: “No.”
Grant’s policy on talking about injuries — giving no timetables and rarely specifics about what the players are dealing with — frustrates fans.
“Nobody wants to be compared to Bill Belichick,” one fan wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “Was Coach Donoher this curmudgeonly? Ask him those next time.”
“I LOVE Grant but this stuff gets old,” wrote another.
“Are other programs run this way or is this unique?” asked one fan.
The answer to the last question is Grant is not unique. Just do a Google search of “no timetable for return.” Why would a coach like Grant be so secretive?
1. To protect the privacy of his players.
2. He truly might not know for sure when a player will return. There could be a setback that would change the planned timeframe. I don’t think it would hurt in this case to say a player will be out 4-6 weeks and if that changes just give an update then. But that’s just one opinion.
3. To give his team a competitive advantage. This is often the case, especially when no one knows about a player’s injury.
Elvis and Smith should return soon, though soon is a vague term when you think about it. Dayton is playing so well, it can afford to work them back in slowly. Both were in practice uniforms when they walked past myself and the two TV reporters also at UD Arena on Thursday. I don’t bother the players with injury questions because I know they would follow the Grant line of thinking. I did overhear a member of Smith’s family tell a Dayton coach, “We’re trusting the process,” after Tuesday’s game at Fordham.
The process may be frustrating for everyone, but it’s necessary to get Smith and Elvis back on the court and ensure they stay there for the stretch run of this season.
Fast Break
Each week, I’ll spotlight news from around the A-10 or other news that might interest Flyer fans.
🏀 Talk of Dayton going 18-0 in the A-10 has started because it hit that mark three years ago and has been so dominant in the first four games.
“The 2020 Dayton Flyers proved that 18-0 is possible,” wrote Chris Pyle, of A10 Talk, this week, “but this 2023 team is nowhere near the level of that 2020 team led by Obi Toppin and Jalen Crutcher. I’m sure this team believes they can do it too, especially with how awful the rest of the A10 has been, but focus and determination will be keys to do that in this year’s version of the A10, no matter how bad the conference might be overall.”
🏀 Dayton’s opponent tonight, VCU, has won seven of its last eight games and beat the A-10′s most disappointing team, newcomer Loyola Chicago, 78-64, on the road Wednesday.
“If you want to be a separator in this league, you’ve got to find a way to win on the road,” VCU coach Mike Rhoades said on his radio show.
🏀 In his latest Bracket Watch story today, Brian Bennett, of The Athletic, wrote, “The Atlantic 10 is looking like a one-bid league (though Dayton is starting to make a charge).” He’s got Dayton in the field as the A-10 tournament champion, playing as a No. 12 seed against No. 5 seed Duke.
What do you want to know about the Flyers?
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