| A Dayton Flyers fan left me a voicemail Thursday thanking me for the Dayton Daily News coverage of the team. She ended the voicemail by saying, “I look forward to the end of the season because we’ll be in the tournament, I hope.” I don’t know how many fans share that optimism, but I appreciate it. Talk on social media about the Flyers is often toxic. The negativity is nauseating. I heard a fan in the front row Tuesday say, “This team stinks,” during the late collapse that almost led to Dayton’s first loss to Davidson in eight years. Dayton does have a daunting task ahead of it if it wants to play in the NCAA tournament. I understand the disappointment and frustration after the promising play by the Flyers in November and December. But, in my opinion, the world needs fewer opinions, and it certainly needs less complaining. I tell my 6-year-old son Chase, my No. 1 rule is, “Never complain.” Of course, by bringing all this up, I am complaining, so that’s easier said than done. *** *** Fans will feel much better about this Dayton team (16-7, 6-4) if it can beat Virginia Commonwealth (18-5, 8-2) on Friday night at UD Arena. A victory would keep alive Dayton’s slim hopes of playing its way back into the NCAA tournament picture, but winning will be difficult for Dayton. No one — not even first-place George Mason — is playing better than VCU in the A-10 right now. VCU leads the A-10 in scoring margin (plus 15.4 in 10 games). That’s almost 10 points better than the second-best scoring margin (5.8 by George Mason). VCU has won seven A-10 games by 12 points or more and won its last two games by large margins: 90-49 against Richmond on Saturday; and 96-66 against La Salle on Tuesday. Second-year VCU coach Ryan Odom was asked Tuesday if his team was playing its best basketball. “Who knows,” Odom said in a story by Zach Joachim, of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Certainly, we want to be playing our best basketball when we get to March. Right now, we’re just trying to string together game after game and do our best whether it’s at home or on the road.” A strange ending on Tuesday Dayton's starters huddle in the second half against Davidson on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at UD Arena.. David Jablonski/Staff Credit: David Jablonski If this season has toyed with the emotions of fans, it at least has been interesting. There was the thrill of beating No. 2 Connecticut in November, the comeback against No. 6 Marquette in December, the game-winning 3-point play by Malachi Smith against UNLV that same month and then the buzzer-beating alley-oop pass from Smith to Amaël L’Etang against Loyola Chicago in January. If all those moments lead to nothing more than a top-four A-10 finish and another A-10 tournament disappointment, that indeed will be a sad story, but for now, the Flyers are continuing to entertain everybody. Every game is an adventure. I’ve never seen an ending quite like the one we witnessed Tuesday. The official’s decision to call a technical foul against Davidson in the final minute saved Dayton, which won 69-63. The Flyers missed three straight shots and committed two turnovers on their five previous possessions, while giving up an 8-0 run to Davidson, which took the lead with 48 seconds to play. Davidson’s Hunter Adam said something to Dayton’s Nate Santos to earn the technical. It’s worth noting that Adam was guarding Santos hard on the plays prior to the technical. Adam knocked the ball out of the hands of Santos and out of bounds with 1 minute, 35 seconds to play. Then on the in-bounds pass, Adam was in the face of Santos and helped force a bad pass to Amaël L’Etang, who saved the ball from going out of bounds but threw it straight to Davidson. On Dayton’s next possession, Adam may have gotten away with a foul as he guarded Santos. He had his right arm entwined with Santos’ left arm as Santos tried to make a pass to L’Etang. Santos protested briefly but had to get back on defense. Davidson took the lead seconds later. Dayton called a timeout. That’s when Adam passed Santos at center court and turned toward him to say something. Whatever the magic words were, they helped Dayton earn its 16th victory. Gaining experience at UD Arena David Jablonski, right, takes a photo with D'Anthony Wilson, a junior at Trotwood-Madison High School before a Dayton game on Feb. 4, 2025, at UD Arena. Every season, one or two high school students job shadow me at UD Arena. It’s not a service I advertise. They reach out to me. I always say yes. UD’s Doug Hauschild never hesitates to get them a credential and parking pass. David Jordan shadowed me twice when he was a student at the Ponitz Career Technology Center, once as a junior in 2019 and again as a senior in 2020. He has gone on to have an exciting career in media. He’s shot video and photos for UD, worked for the Red Scare in The Basketball Tournament, covered the NBA Summer League etc. Earlier this season, Ian Miller, a junior at Olentangy Berlin High School in Delaware, followed me around at a game. I spent an hour with him before tipoff, talking to him about how I balance writing and reporting with shooting photos and video and my processes before, during and after games. He sat with other reporters in the media section in the 300 section during the game and then came to the postgame press conference. These kids have much more ambition than I did in high school. I had no journalism experience or connections when I started journalism school at Ohio University in 1995. The internet does make it easier to contact people like me, and that wasn’t much of an option 30 years ago. “My grandpa, John Weckesser, recently emailed you about me and I felt like I should also reach out to you,” Miller wrote to me in an email. “Whenever I’ve heard a speaker come and talk about getting into the journalism field, they also stress to reach out and take chances (my journalism teacher, Mrs. Bush, always says it never hurts to ask!).” Miller is from a UD family. The latest student to shadow me has a similar story. On Tuesday, D’Anthony Wilson, a junior at Trotwood-Madison who described himself as an “aspiring sports photojournalist” in a message to me, came to the game and got an even better experience than some of the previous students. He sat on the baseline and shot photos and videos with myself and the other photographers. Wilson, whose mom is a UD grad and took him to the game, may have more experience than anyone who has shadowed me, and he produced some great work Tuesday as you can see if you click here. I’m mentioning all this so others know the opportunity is there for other students to shadow me in the future. I need to start assigning them questions in the postgame press conference, though. I’m sure Anthony Grant is tired of me being the main person asking him about player injuries the last eight years. Seems like a good job for a high school student. Fast Break Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans: 🏀 George Mason and VCU both earned a mention this week in The Athletic’s latest Bubble Watch story. Of George Mason, Jim Root wrote, “The Patriots sit atop the A-10 standings in Tony Skinn’s second season in charge. Unfortunately, the league is down enough that winning the regular season title would not guarantee a bid by itself. George Mason needs to maintain its winning ways until a duel at VCU on Feb. 22, the true barometer of its at-large chances.” 🏀 ESPN’s Bubble Watch story gives Dayton a 21% chance of making the tournament and mentions VCU as a team with “work to do.” “VCU is the favorite to win the A-10 tournament, but the conference has hovered between one to two NCAA berths in recent seasons,” Neil Paine wrote. “Because the Rams rank only 59th in SOR, they are no sure thing to make it in without an auto-bid. ESPN’s model gives them only around a 30% shot at an at-large bid conditional on not winning the A-10 tourney.” 🏀 Former Dayton guard Kobe Elvis started all season for Oklahoma but has been coming off the bench since mid-January. He regularly played 30 minutes or more when he was starting but has played 16 minutes or fewer four times in the last five games. Oklahoma has lost six of its last nine games, all to top-40 teams in the powerhouse SEC, since a 13-0 start. “I think the rotations are better when we start bigger,” coach Porter Moser said in January. “A thing I said a lot last year, and I’m creating that narrative again, we have seven starters. These guys have started a lot of college basketball. It’s a shift, not you’re a sub. I don’t know why people think the word ‘sub’ is bad. It’s not. It’s part of basketball. I’m trying to say, you’re a shift. Just the second shift.” 🏀 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. *** | 