RELATED: Flyers will play in late teammate’s home state
At one point, senior guard Kyle Davis looked at Miller, who was sitting in the middle of everyone, right in front of the big-screen TV on the wall, and said, “Coach, I’m not playing in the NIT.”
Davis didn't need to worry. The Flyers (24-7) earned a No. 7 seed and will play No. 10 Wichita State (30-4) on Friday at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Dayton will play in the home state of its late teammate Steve McElvene. It will play in arena where it scrimmaged Marquette in October.
Dayton made history with its fourth straight NCAA tournament appearance. It tied the school record for consecutive berths last season and broke it this season. The Flyers celebrated this time as they did the first time in 2014.
“When you hear your name and you see it, I don’t care how old you are, it never gets old,” Miller said. “We were the first name that came up, and then you see your opponent and you come back down to ground zero.”
The road to the second week of the tournament is as tough as it gets for UD. The NCAA surprised Miller by giving his team a No. 7 seed. He was also surprised to see the Shockers, who have won 15 straight games, get a No. 10 seed.
Wichita State has won nine tournament games in the last four seasons. It reached the Final Four in 2013. Its coach, Gregg Marshall, sees his name come up any time a big job in college basketball opens. Miller knows that feeling.
“I spend a lot of time watching them just because of what coach Marshall has done,” Miller said. “Over the course of time, they’re one of the best programs. They have that edge about them. It doesn’t matter who they play or where they play them.”
The reward for Dayton or Wichita State will be a second-round matchup Sunday with No. 2 seed Kentucky (29-5) or Horizon League champion Northern Kentucky (24-10), which will make its tournament debut as a No. 15 seed.
In the next few days, Dayton can’t worry too much about its opponent or possible future opponents. It has to fix its own problems first. Dayton heads to the tournament with two straight losses, including a 73-67 setback against Davidson on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
“The winningest class, we don’t want to go out losing three in a row,” senior forward Kendall Pollard said. “We’ve got to make a run.”
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Miller said his team will be ready to go. The Flyers are 5-3 in the tournament in the past three seasons but lost in the first round last season to Syracuse.
“We’re going to have to be as physical as we’ve ever been,” Miller said. “We’ve got to get back to doing some things. If we don’t, then the result will speak for itself, but I think our guys are excited right now. I’m excited for them. To be able to go to the tournament four years in a row, that’s something that hasn’t been done here. To play in four straight tournaments, that’s hard. I’m proud of them. I’m happy for everybody. I’m happy for the fans.”
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