Dayton Flyers | ||||
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University | University of Dayton | |||
Conference | Atlantic 10 | |||
Location | Dayton, OH | |||
Head coach | Archie Miller (6th year) | |||
Arena |
UD Arena (Capacity: 13,435) |
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Nickname | Flyers | |||
Student section | Red Scare | |||
Colors | Red and Blue |
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Uniforms | ||||
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NCAA Tournament runner-up | ||||
1967 | ||||
NCAA Tournament Final Four | ||||
1967 | ||||
NCAA Tournament Elite Eight | ||||
1967, 1984, 2014 | ||||
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen | ||||
1952, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1974, 1984, 2014 | ||||
NCAA Tournament Round of 32 | ||||
1984, 1990, 2009, 2014, 2015 | ||||
NCAA Tournament appearances | ||||
1952, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1984, 1985, 1990, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 | ||||
Conference tournament champions | ||||
1990, 2003 | ||||
Conference regular season champions | ||||
2016, 2017 |
The Dayton Flyers men's basketball team is a college basketball program that competes in NCAA Division I and the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) representing the University of Dayton in Ohio. The Flyers play their home games at University of Dayton Arena. They are currently coached by Archie Miller in his 6th year. The Flyers have appeared in three straight NCAA Tournaments under Miller.
Dayton is one of the top-50 all-time winningest Division I college basketball programs. A 2015 study of college basketball team valuations placed Dayton #23 in the nation with 2014 adjusted revenues in excess of $16.6 million (highest for non-football conference programs) and a valuation of nearly $84 million (second highest for non-football conference programs and higher than programs such as Florida, Texas, and Michigan).
The first collegiate basketball team began play at Dayton, then known as St. Mary's Institute, during the 1903–04 season. The school's early teams were informally nicknamed "The Saints" by local sportswriters and competed against colleges, high schools, and club teams throughout the Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and New York region. Early rivalries with Notre Dame and Miami (Ohio) began in the 1908–09 season, and with Ohio State in the 1913–14 season,. Fr. William O'Malley is recognized as the first coach of the Saints, but the team had no coach for the first six seasons. Harry Solimano, believed to be a former Saints player, succeeded O'Malley in the 1910 season and coached the team four seasons and again for the 1919–20 seasons. In 1920 the school changed its name to the University of Dayton and its sports teams gradually became known as the Flyers. Also in 1920, the school began playing nearby Xavier University, a rivalry that has spawned 156 meetings as of 2014. Games were originally played in an on-campus gymnasium, but later (1969) moved to the nearby University of Dayton Arena. Harry Baujan became both the football and basketball coach in 1923 and later became the school's athletic director. Through the 1920s and 1930s, the basketball program was subordinate to the football program with respect to resources and athletic department focus. In 1939, Baujan hired James Carter as both an assistant football coach and head basketball coach. Carter moved to expand Dayton's national profile by issuing basketball scholarships and scheduling trips to east coast basketball powers such as St John's and St Joseph's,. Carter is also recognized as the first Dayton coach to play an African American student-athlete. World War II brought a two-year hiatus to the basketball program between 1943 and 1945.