Dayton’s Schedule

R

Redandgold

Well-known member
I love the Flyers, especially this year. However, it is frustrating year after year to see all the weak teams they bring into UD Arena. Houston Baptist? The fans deserve better, and Dayton basketball would be better for it. To be the best, you play the best. Coach Grant has proven that he can recruit and coach. Let’s play some teams. At least a couple of quality opponents every year. I’m also tired of hearing that teams won’t play UD. Let me see if I got this right, they’ll play at Xavier or at Ohio State, but won’t play Dayton?? That’s nonsense. Although I hear other Dayton fans say that often. In fact, a big step in the right direction would be to go back to playing Xavier and UC. Dayton manipulated dropping both of those opponents. Why? Because we struggled to beat them. Wouldn’t Miami of Ohio and Wright State both be games of much more interest compared to Houston Baptist?! Play a couple of top 50 teams home and home. You see it happening all over big time college basketball. Those kind of teams are not afraid Dayton or UD Arena.
 
 
As a UD fan, I would love to see UD play Wright State and Miami U. again. A home-and-home Wright State series should be easy. It would be great for the Dayton community.

UD does have some good OOC teams on this year's schedule, just not at the UD Arena...Georgia, Virginia Tech, Kansas, St. Mary's, Colorado. But, yeah, this year's home OOC schedule is pretty weak.
 
Impressive start to the season for Dayton but I can't see them beating Colorado today. They're loaded with future NBA talent.
 
Chop Stix said:
Impressive start to the season for Dayton but I can't see them beating Colorado today. They're loaded with future NBA talent.
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Dayton will beat Colorado. If there is ever a year where Dayton can win a title it's this year. It really isn't out of the realm of possibility.
 
Colo ran a good play to win it in OT but hardly was the outcome an easy call. Nothing there that says Colorado wins this 9 out of 10.
 
Redandgold said:
I love the Flyers, especially this year. However, it is frustrating year after year to see all the weak teams they bring into UD Arena. Houston Baptist? The fans deserve better, and Dayton basketball would be better for it. To be the best, you play the best. Coach Grant has proven that he can recruit and coach. Let’s play some teams. At least a couple of quality opponents every year. I’m also tired of hearing that teams won’t play UD. Let me see if I got this right, they’ll play at Xavier or at Ohio State, but won’t play Dayton?? That’s nonsense. Although I hear other Dayton fans say that often. In fact, a big step in the right direction would be to go back to playing Xavier and UC. Dayton manipulated dropping both of those opponents. Why? Because we struggled to beat them. Wouldn’t Miami of Ohio and Wright State both be games of much more interest compared to Houston Baptist?! Play a couple of top 50 teams home and home. You see it happening all over big time college basketball. Those kind of teams are not afraid Dayton or UD Arena.
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You do understand that teams have to agree the come to Dayton. And I don’t blame Daytonfir not wanting to give up home games. You do realize Michigan, Houston, Texas tech all played Houston Baptist right?
 
The Flyers are sitting on a #7 ranking right now. That's just about their highest ranking ever, even in their storied years from the fifties and sixties.

A couple nice wins this week, over VCU (13-5) and at St. Louis (14-4). The next three games will be as difficult: St. Bonny (12-6), at Richmond (14-4) and at Duquesne (15-2). The A10 is solid this year. Obi needs to be flyin' high!

UD fans are the greatest...every remaining Home game is sold-out.
 
BlackHawk said:
The Flyers are sitting on a #7 ranking right now. That's just about their highest ranking ever, even in their storied years from the fifties and sixties.

A couple nice wins this week, over VCU (13-5) and at St. Louis (14-4). The next three games will be as difficult: St. Bonny (12-6), at Richmond (14-4) and at Duquesne (15-2). The A10 is solid this year. Obi needs to be flyin' high!

UD fans are the greatest...every remaining Home game is sold-out.
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Flyers have been ranked higher, I believe as high as no.2. This team is not even close to talent of those teams, NIT champs in 61 - 62, NCAA runner up in 66 - 67, NIT champs in 67 - 68. Also lost to UCLA in sweet 16 in 3 ot's in 73 - 74. Good luck to UD rest of the season esp. Ryan Mikesell a graduate from St. Henry.
 
Stirred not Shaken said:
Flyers have been ranked higher, I believe as high as no.2. This team is not even close to talent of those teams, NIT champs in 61 - 62, NCAA runner up in 66 - 67, NIT champs in 67 - 68. Also lost to UCLA in sweet 16 in 3 ot's in 73 - 74. Good luck to UD rest of the season esp. Ryan Mikesell a graduate from St. Henry.
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I started following the Flyers during their 1966-67 NCAA tournament runner up season and have been a fan ever since. Don May and Bobby Joe Hooper were my favorites as a kid.

More Flyer trivia: In the 1950's and 1960's, UD won more D1 men's basketball games than any other program in the country. (Note: I might be wrong on this, but I've heard it on several occasions.) More wins than anybody...UC, UK, OSU, North Carolina, UCLA, etc... in that twenty year period.
 
BlackHawk said:
I started following the Flyers during their 1966-67 NCAA tournament runner up season and have been a fan ever since. Don May and Bobby Joe Hooper were my favorites as a kid.

More Flyer trivia: In the 1950's and 1960's, UD won more D1 men's basketball games than any other program in the country. (Note: I might be wrong on this, but I've heard it on several occasions.) More wins than anybody...UC, UK, OSU, North Carolina, UCLA, etc... in that twenty year period.
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Yes those were the days. OSU, UD, UC were all good in the 60's.
 
Stirred not Shaken said:
Flyers have been ranked higher, I believe as high as no.2. This team is not even close to talent of those teams, NIT champs in 61 - 62, NCAA runner up in 66 - 67, NIT champs in 67 - 68. Also lost to UCLA in sweet 16 in 3 ot's in 73 - 74. Good luck to UD rest of the season esp. Ryan Mikesell a graduate from St. Henry.
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I'd say they are close to those teams considering they haven't been ranked this high(Top 10) since then and they also have a top 10 NBA pick. AND, as great as those players on those teams were, I guarantee you, no one on those teams was more talented than Obi Toppin!
 
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Most teams bring in some absolute dogs early in the season.

They are nothing but de facto scrimmages.
 
Zezzo! said:
I'd say they are close to those teams considering they haven't been ranked this high(Top 10) since then and they also have a top 10 NBA pick. AND, as great as those teams were I guarantee you no one on those teams was more talented than Obi Toppin!
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Nice to see how enthused you are about this year's Flyers.
Before you make comparisons to past Flyer teams and make statements about how much more talented Obi Toppin is than any past UD stars, though, I would suggest that you educate yourself a little more.
Is Obi look like a great one? Of course. Please come back to us after you see the accomplishments of Hank Finkel, Don May, and Roosevelt Chapman. I'm not saying that any of them had more talent than Obi. I am wondering, though, about what your rationale is to back up your "guarantee".
 
Monclova Steve said:
Nice to see how enthused you are about this year's Flyers.
Before you make comparisons to past Flyer teams and make statements about how much more talented Obi Toppin is than any past UD stars, though, I would suggest that you educate yourself a little more.
Is Obi look like a great one? Of course. Please come back to us after you see the accomplishments of Hank Finkel, Don May, and Roosevelt Chapman. I'm not saying that any of them had more talent than Obi. I am wondering, though, about what your rationale is to back up your "guarantee".
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Buddy, I may know more about the history of Dayton Flyer basketball than you. I don't get on here without knowledge of what I'm talking about and I stand by what I said. As great as those guys were none of them were or was as talented as Obi Toppin, none of them were 1st round picks let alone a top 10 pick, Roosevelt Chapman(whom I used to work with for years) didn't even get drafted. None of those guys were POY canidates. I'm not trying to discredit the history of UD but those guys aren't even the same type of player as Toppin. Johnny Davis, Jim Paxson, Donald Smith are more comparable to the guys you mentioned because they all could shoot and handle the ball. Erv Giddings, Dave Colbert, Mike Kaninski, Leighton Moulton, Richard Montague, Anthony Corbitt even Chris Wright and a few others are a better comparison becuase they're all 6'8' and up including Finkel, as great as they were for UD, none of these players have the skill set of Toppin.
 
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I clearly must have hit a nerve. Sorry, didn't mean to.
Clearly, you are 100% sure that Obi is the most talented player in UD history -- even after less than 2 full seasons. That's fine.....your opinion. You're entitled to it.
In my many years, I've learned that -- when someone uses words like "I guarantee" to describe what is not a fact, but an opinion -- it is usually best to shake hands and move on. As I said before, he looks like a great one.
 
Zezzo! said:
Buddy, I may know more about the history of Dayton Flyer basketball than you. I don't get on here without knowledge of what I'm talking about and I stand by what I said. As great as those guys were none of them were or was as talented as Obi Toppin, none of them were 1st round picks let alone a top 10 pick, Roosevelt Chapman(whom I used to work with for years) didn't even get drafted. None of those guys were POY canidates. I'm not trying to discredit the history of UD but those guys aren't even the same type of player as Toppin. Johnny Davis, Jim Paxson, Donald Smith are more comparable to the guys you mentioned because they all could shoot and handle the ball. Erv Giddings, Dave Colbert, Mike Kaninski, Leighton Moulton, Richard Montague, Anthony Corbitt even Chris Wright and a few others are a better comparison becuase they're all 6'8' and up including Finkel, as great as they were for UD, none of these players have the skill set of Toppin.
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This got me thinking on which UD player was drafted the highest.

Going way back: 6'6" Jim Paxson, Sr. was drafted #3 in the 1956 NBA Draft by the Minneapolis Lakers. No Flyer has been drafted higher. Bill Russell was drafted #2 that year.

A bit more current, his son, 6'6" Jim Paxson, Jr. was drafted #12 in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. Magic Johnson went #1 that year. No other Flyer has been drafted that high since then. As I remember, Jim got in a bit of controversy when he mentioned that he was the first white player drafted that year. (Larry Bird was cleverly drafted the year before by the Celts, even though he played college for another year. Since then, the Draft rules changed and do not allow that.)

Also: Jim, Jr.'s brother John Paxson (Notre Dame) was drafted #19 in 1983 by the San Antonio Spurs. Another younger brother, Mike, played at Ohio University. Basketball is in the Paxson family blood!
 
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Raider6309 said:
I’m glad to see Athens Ibi Watson playing well for Dayton
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(y)

The Flyers are really counting on Ibi Watson as their 6th man. I prefer him in the lineup over Chatman.

Another tough stretch coming up for UD: St. Louis (17-5) and Rhode Island (16-5) at home, then UMass (9-13) and VCU (16-6) on the road, before coming back home to play Duquesne (16-5).

UD's lack of depth could hurt them, especially since 6'9" Chase Johnson withdrew from school because of mono and concussion concerns. They're now down to nine scholarship players. Obi and Ibi need to stay healthy!
 
It’s pretty bad when I could pick up cheap tickets at Ohio State to watch him play at Michigan but those Dayton Tickets are over $100’s now
 
Raider6309 said:
It’s pretty bad when I could pick up cheap tickets at Ohio State to watch him play at Michigan but those Dayton Tickets are over $100’s now
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All the remaining UD home games are officially sold-out.

As the old saying goes: "Dayton Flyers basketball is the ONLY game in town." I'm not sure if that is a compliment (for UD basketball) or an insult (for lack of entertainment options in Dayton).
 
Flyer fan since 1970's . Prior to Obi I thought Chapman was most impactful player. Obi may not be "best" overall player, that is subjective. He is however a very different caliber player than I have seen at UD, and most impactful I ever recall.

I was a huge N Knight fan from the guard spot, but a distributor he was not.
 
A real head-scratcher IMO: Obi Toppin and Jalen Crutcher named UD's Co-MVPs this year. Obi will almost certainly be the Atlantic-10 POY and is in the running for the National POY, but only Co-MVP on the Flyers team? Crutcher is very good and was UD's MVP last year (and deserved it), but c'mon, UD is ranked #3 in the nation because of Obi's incredible, dominating performance this year. I know all of UD's "cogs" are important to their team success (Tre Landers as Tri-MVP anyone?), but Obi is the sole MVP this year.

{end rant}
 
Jim Paxson and Johnny Davis were national caliber players from back in the day for UD. Roosevelt Chapman had an incredible tourney run. Zezzo mentioned many other excellent Flyers, but Davis and Paxson are the only ones in my time that are at Toppin’s level, IMO. I missed the earlier stars (May, Finkel, etc).
 
cjb56 said:
Jim Paxson and Johnny Davis were national caliber players from back in the day for UD. Roosevelt Chapman had an incredible tourney run. Zezzo mentioned many other excellent Flyers, but Davis and Paxson are the only ones in my time that are at Toppin’s level, IMO. I missed the earlier stars (May, Finkel, etc).
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From my personal memory as a Flyer fan (50+ years), I pretty much agree, although I would include Chapman in the very top UD tier, along with Toppin, Paxson, Davis and May … at least as a college player. The NBA was a very different story for Chapman. He was only 6'4" and was basically a Power Forward. He was way too short to play that position in the NBA. He didn't have the skills to play the Point or a Wing position in the NBA either. But, he was a sensational college player.

Don May was the first UD star that I remember, as I just started watching them the year UD played UCLA in the NCAA Finals back in 1967. Henry Finkel had just graduated and was playing in the NBA. Speaking of 6'4" Power Forwards, Don May might have been the last 6'4" Power Forward to play in the NBA...again his lack of size hurt him in the pros. Some people say Charles Barkley was only 6'4", but he was listed at 6'6".
 
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Welp, there goes the best UD season in memory. UD fans were really looking forward to what the Flyers could do in the tournament this year. Dayton was a legit #1 or 2 seed and national contender: a great coach (Grant); two top-notch point guards (Crutcher & Chatman); two "jack-of-all-trade" Senior forwards (Landers & Mikesell); one super-sub (Watson); a monster back-up center (Jordy); a couple other solid subs (Cohill & Matos); and one Obi (!!!). A complete and unselfish team with a lethal and efficient offense. They all knew their roles and played them well.

Thanks for the great year, UD! From all the Flyer Faithful.
 
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