Dayton’s loss to Arizona on Saturday allowed me to cover the Cincinnati Reds on Opening Day for the 12th straight year. Obviously, as beautiful as the scene was at Great American Ball Park and as good a day as it was for long-suffering Reds fans, I would have rather been covering the Sweet 16 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Thursday. Fans of the Dayton Flyers had the same thoughts, I’m sure, especially after watching No. 2 seed Arizona lose 77-72 to No. 6 seed Clemson last night. Arizona shot 44.4% (8 of 18) from 3-point range in a 78-68 victory against Dayton in Salt Lake City and then shot a season-worst 17.9% (5 of 28) against Clemson. There are some local connections on the Clemson roster. • Coach Brad Brownell is in his 14th season at Clemson at four seasons at Wright State. His associate head coach is Billy Donlon, who succeeded Brownell at Wright State and spent six seasons with the program. I covered Donlon and the Raiders in the 2012-13 season, the year before I started covering the Flyers. Donlon is surely the only coach in the tournament who I’ve played pickup basketball with. • Clemson’s roster also includes Chaminade-Julienne graduate Daniel Nauseef, a 6-foot-7 junior walk-on forward who has appeared in five games. I’m supposed to talk to his dad, JP Nauseef, later today about the experience of seeing his son get a trip to the Elite Eight. Clemson will play No. 4 seed Alabama on Saturday night. I quoted JP in my book, “The Epicenter of College Basketball: A History of UD Arena,” because he had a large role in the First Four for many years. In fact, JP played a part in the title of the book. He was the chairman of the First Four Local Organizing Committee when it started using the phrase “The Epicenter of College Basketball” to describe Dayton. “From my economic development days, I was always building concentric circles to show what you can get in Dayton, Ohio, from a one-day drive or a one-hour flight,” said Nauseef, who’s now president and CEO of JobsOhio, in the book. “That’s how we were marketing Ohio. So we decided to do the same thing around successful college basketball programs and college basketball fans. You build those same concentric circles, and right at the epicenter was Dayton, Ohio, the epicenter of college basketball.” As my sports-writing friend, Jon Greenberg, of The Athletic, likes to point out: there’s always a Dayton connection.
Looking back on a memorable victory Dayton’s 63-60 first-round NCAA tournament victory against No. 10 seed Nevada will live forever in the memory of the Flyer Faithful. Nevada had a 25-4 run that spanned the first and second halves. Dayton had a 24-4 run to end the game. Coaches love to say it’s a game of runs, and this was truly that. This week, I listened to my two favorite national college basketball podcasts to see what was said last week about the game. Tate Frazier and Mark Titus, who were both in Maui the last time Dayton played there in 2019, used to share a podcast. Now they have separate shows. Both did a good job summing up Dayton’s 17-point comeback against Nevada. Here’s Frazier and Kyle Mann’s summary on One Shining Podcast. Frazier: “A miracle comeback for Dayton. Dayton fans are crying. Dayton fans are falling out of their chairs. It was an emotional experience. DaRon Holmes kind of becomes the face of that. But this felt like their released from 2020. It felt like Dayton finally got one. A lot of people thought they were a little bit overstated as a seven seed, but they get a big win. Mann: “These are the kind of March things you remember for the rest of your life, especially if you’re a school like Dayton, where the catalog isn’t as expansive with moments like that.” On the Mark Titus Show, the former Ohio State walk-on also gushed about Dayton. Titus: “Dayton coming back from down 17 was bonkers. Nevada choked that away. They had a 17-point lead with with less than eight to play. We were at the sports book. I think we had stopped streaming the Dayton game. I went to the bathroom. I kind of stopped watching a little bit. I got on my phone. And I look up and Dayton’s down like eight or something, and suddenly the sports book’s kind of swelling with energy. Nevada with a big-time choke but shoutout to Dayton. ... This Dayton team is fun, and I’ve enjoyed them for most of the season. DaRon Holmes is a guy who I did not want to see go home, and I was sad when things were going horribly wrong for them.”
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans: 🏀 One of the players in the transfer portal Dayton has expressed interest in is Toledo guard Raheim Moss, of Springfield. He ranks 49th on a list of the 76 best players in the transfer portal, according to The Athletic. 🏀 The newest Atlantic 10 Conference coach is Dru Joyce III. Duquesne announced Thursday he will take over for Keith Dambrot, who retired after the season. Joyce was a high school teammate of LeBron James at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary. As a freshman, he made 7 of 7 3-pointers in the Division III state championship game against Greeneview.
What do you want to know about the Flyers? I want to hear from you. Reach out to me directly at [email protected] with your questions and feedback on the team or this newsletter. Also be sure to follow our Flyer Nation Facebook page for the latest news on the team. I’ll have updates, photos and videos on Twitter, as well. | 
