Grant hopes former coach Archie Miller receives warm welcome Saturday at UD Arena

“He might not have the warmest welcome back,” Holmes said Tuesday after a 70-65 victory against Saint Louis at UD Arena.

“He better not get a warm welcome back,” Elvis said, “as much as the Flyer fans should love him. It’s the era of AG (Anthony Grant) right now.”

Dayton (14-2, 4-0) and Rhode Island (9-8, 3-1) play at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. It will be Miller’s first game at UD Arena since March 1, 2017. On that day, Dayton beat Virginia Commonwealth 79-72 to win the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championship outright for the first time after sharing the title with VCU and St. Bonaventure a year earlier.

That would turn out to be the last victory for Miller as Dayton’s head coach. The Flyers lost 87-81 at George Washington to close the regular season and then were upset 73-67 by Davidson in the quarterfinals of the A-10 tournament in Pittsburgh.

A 64-58 loss to Wichita State in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis followed. Miller took the head coaching job at Indiana on eight days later.

Miller spent four seasons with the Hoosiers but was fired after a 12-15 finish in the 2020-21 season and a 67-58 overall record and no NCAA tournament appearances, though his team might have earned a berth in 2020 if the tournament had not been canceled because of the pandemic. By comparison, was he 139-63 in six seasons at Dayton and led the program to the NCAA tournament in his last four seasons, an unprecedented achievement for a UD coach.

Miller is on a short list of coaches who have led A-10 programs to the NCAA tournament four years in a row or more. The others are: John Chaney (Temple, 1990-2001); John Calipari (Massachusetts, 1992-98); and Archie’s older brother, Sean Miller (Xavier, 2006-09).

Miller did not coach in the 2021-22 season but returned to the game and to the A-10 in the 2022-23 season. He coached Rhode Island to a 75-70 victory against Dayton last season in Kingston, R.I., but that was one of the few highlights in a 9-22 season, his worst as a head coach.

Now Miller will coach at his old home arena, and the question remains, “What kind of reception will he get from Dayton fans?” His successor Anthony Grant thinks it should be a positive one. He has said several times over the years he’s grateful for the job Miller did and repeated that Tuesday.

“He’s a heck of a coach,” Grant said. “I think, for our fans, it’s an opportunity to to show him an appreciation for the time that he was here and what he did.”

Fans on X (Twitter) are divided on how to greet Miller.

“He led us to four straight tournaments and reinvigorated our fanbase and the students especially,” one fan wrote. “He helped make amazing memories, speaking as someone who was a student during the 2014 run. He took a bigger job — nno point in acting like a jilted lover about it.”

“If you want to cheer Archie, fine,” another fan wrote. “But I hope Saturday isn’t a Best Fans in Baseball situation like where the Cardinals give a five-minute standing ovation to a former backup infielder.”

“I will never clap for an opposing coach,” another fan wrote.

Miller guided Dayton to the Elite Eight 10 years ago. While his return would have made this a good time to honor that team, too many of the players are still playing professionally overseas. Also, UD did not want to overload Miller with a ceremony.

Miller’s team struggled in non-conference play, finishing 6-7, and got off to a 3-0 start in the A-10 with victories against Saint Joseph’s, Davidson and Massachusetts only to suffer its most lopsided loss since 2019 on Wednesday, 93-64 at St. Bonaventure. That loss prevented this game from being a first-place showdown, but it’s still a long-awaited matchup.

At A-10 Media Day in October, Miller talked about the experience of returning to UD Arena.

“I have nothing but positive memories,” Miller said. “Going back, it will look different and feel different, but the minute you pull up to the place and you see it, you’re going to think about all the guys that played in there and the games and the good experiences. More than anything. It’s going to be a tough game. It will be really hard sitting on the other end and getting that feeling of, ‘This is what everybody else has to go through.’ But you’ve got to do it.”

Miller rebuilt the Rhode Island roster in between his first and second season. No one who started in the game against Dayton last season returned. Gone are leading scorers Ishmael Leggett, Brayon Freeman and Jalen Carey, who combined for 58 points against the Flyers.

Rhode Island’s top scorers this season are four guards in their first year with the program: High Point transfer Jaden House (14.6 points per game); Louisiana Tech transfer David Green (14.4); Quinnipiac transfer Luis Kortright (11.1); and Bradley transfer Zek Montgomery (10.6).

Rhode Island has shot the 3-pointer well (35.6%) but ranks among the worst teams in the nation in free-throw percentage (62.4). It also has struggled with turnovers. It ranks last in A-10 play in turnover margin (minus 5.5).

Rhode Island ranks No. 182 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. That makes this a Quad 4 game for Dayton. A victory won’t bolster Dayton’s resume, but it’s the type of loss Dayton needs to avoid.

Last year at Rhode Island, Dayton got off to a good start and led 22-11 at the 9:56 mark. The Rams then began a 17-1 run and led the rest of the way.

“What I remember about the game is I thought they were the more aggressive team,” Grant said. “I thought they did a really good job of being physical and taking some things away from us, and we didn’t respond very well.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Rhode Island at Dayton, 12:30 p.m., USA Network, 1290, 95.7