FRIDAY’S GAME
A-10 quarterfinals, Fordham/Richmond winner, Noon, NBC Sports Network, AM 1290, News 95.7 WHIO
Dayton basketball players don’t reveal much on social media. That’s probably a good thing, especially when you’re playing for a coach who talks all the time about eliminating the noise from the outside world.
However, the Dayton Flyers couldn’t resist celebrating their 68-67 overtime victory over Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday night at UD Arena by sharing their experiences.
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Junior guard Kyle Davis, who hit the go-ahead shot with 16 seconds left in overtime, posted a photo to Instagram of himself wearing an Atlantic 10 championship T-shirt and paid tribute to his late grandma and aunt. He wrote, “I know y’all couldn’t physically be here, but I know y’all were watching over us tonight.”
Senior forward Dyshawn Pierre and junior point guard Scoochie Smith, who scored a career-high 29 points, shared a video of coach Archie Miller entering the locker room after the game with the net the Flyers had just cut down. The players danced around Miller as he held the net in the air.
Not long after, Smith, Pierre and Davis talked to reporters in the postgame press conference. Davis dumped a bottle of water on Smith’s head as he left the room. Smith didn’t mind. He had just played the game of his life and carried the Flyers to a share of their first A-10 championship — UD, VCU and St. Bonaventure all finished 14-4 — since they won the West Division in 2004.
Dayton fell just short of the A-10 regular season title a year ago, losing at La Salle in its final game and finishing second, and then lost the A-10 championship game to VCU. No one on this team — coaches or players — had won a conference title.
“It’s really big,” Smith said, “especially losing to this team last year and trying to get back and do it all for the seniors, Dyshawn and Bobby (Wehli). It will boost our confidence going into the NCAA tournament.”
If there was any doubt before this game Dayton would make its third straight NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since the 1960s, this victory erased it. No matter what happens at the A-10 tournament at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., where the No. 1 seed Flyers will play No. 8 seed Fordham or No. 9 seed Richmond at noon Friday, the Flyers will hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
Dayton (24-6) ranks 19th in the RPI. It is 4-3 against teams in the top 50 and 9-4 against teams in the top 100. Last season, Dayton was 25-8 on Selection Sunday and was 1-3 against the top 50 and 7-7 against the top 100.
For Dayton, the A-10 tournament offers a chance to improve its seeding. On the other hand, knowing their team will play in the big dance, the coaches have a tough decision. Junior forward Kendall Pollard looked healthier than he has in weeks Saturday after battling a bruised femur, but Miller said he may rest Pollard in Brooklyn.
“Now that we’ve won the regular season, we have some decisions to make,” Miller said. “There’s a chance Kendall won’t even participate in the Atlantic 10 tournament as we move into the NCAA to give him as much recovery time as we can. We’ll see how it goes. I know he’s going to want to play. We’re going to need him to play. But we’ll make a couple decisions based on where we want to be not next week but the weekend after that.”
Team awards: The Flyers held their annual team banquet Sunday and handed out individual awards. Pierre and Charles Cooke shared the White Allen Most Valuable Player award. Sophomore guard Darrell Davis won the Chris Daniels Most Improved Player honor.
Other awards — Rau Spirit Award: John Crosby; Sharpenter Rebounder Award: Pierre; Luppe Frosh Award: Ryan Mikesell; Schoen Free Throw Award: Pierre; MacBeth Scholar Award: Wehrli; Defensive Player of the Year: Cooke; Uhl Family Scholarship Award: Ryan Mikesell; and Palmer Basketball Scholarship: Smith.
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