University of Dayton (20-11, 9-7 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #1 Kevin Dillard (6-0, 170, redshirt junior)
G- #22 Paul Willims (6-4, 212, senior)
F- #5 Devin Oliver (6-7, 200, sophomore)
F- #4 Chris Johnson (6-6, 191, senior)
C- #35 Matt Kavanaugh (6-10, 250, junior)

Xavier University (19-11, 10-6 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #52 Tu Holloway (6-0, 190, senior)
G- #10 Mark Lyons (6-1, 188, junior)
G- #5 Dezmine Wells (6-5, 215, freshman)
F- #54 Andre Walker (6-8, 225, graduate student)
F- #32 Kenny Frease (7-0, 275, senior)

Pregame Notes:

I’m pretty sure it doesn’t need to be stated how crucial this game is. Not only is this the A-10′s biggest rivalry game. Not only is this big for junior center Matt Kavanaugh on his 21st birthday. And not only is this big for in terms of basketball fans wanting to watch a great game.

ESPN and St. Joseph color commentator Joe Lunardi said Dayton needs two wins to make the NCAA tournament. This is how important this game is. A win and Dayton is one step closer to a NCAA at-large bid. A loss means a third straight NIT. On second thought, this game is also huge for the morale of the city Dayton and the university student body.

Xavier is led by first team All-Atlantic 10 selection Tu Holloway. Holloway can do everything and when it comes to the Flyers even more so. His clutch performance at the end of the last UD-XU game in Cincinnati is verification of that.

Senior forward Chris Johnson needs to be physical and play well like he has down the stretch of the regular. Redshirt junior point guard Kevin Dillard also needs to stay out of foul trouble for Dayton to win.

Welcome to Atlantic City.

First Half Notes:

15:36- UD 6, XU 9- Dayton has struggled shooting in this game, but has turned it on in the last two minutes. The Flyers had a chance for a big momentum swing when Matt Kavanaugh hit sophomore forward Devin Oliver in the lane. Oliver scored his first points agianst Xavier with a emphatic dunk. Only he got called for a technical foul. Now most fans felt the T was unwarranted as Xavier’s Andre Walker was underneath Oliver, but the sophomore did pull himself up on the rim and that folks is a technical. Tu Holloway made only one of the two subsequent free throws.

11:08- UD 16, XU 12- Dayton is on a nice 10-3 run. Xavier’s only points were on an old-fashioned, three-point play by Holloway. Other than that slip up, Dayton has dominated the last four minutes of play.

6:59- UD 21, XU 18- Xavier has regained its penchant for physical play and so far Dayton has matched it. The Musketeers like to bully their way into the psyche of opponents. For the most part this season, Dayton hasn’t budged and it doesn’t look like the Flyers will do it tonight either. Josh Parker has played like a man on a mission in his few early minutes. He and Johnson lead the team with five points a piece.

1:29- UD 32, XU 25- Both teams are trading baskets and fouls. The physical play is causing the 20 combined fouls to be called despite what fans think. Dayton is looking to end on a mini-run and put Xavier at a big disadvantage going into halftime.

:23.1- UD 35, XU 28- The goal for Dayton is not to foul for the rest of the half. Can’t have anyone in foul trouble for the second half with a limited bench.

Half- UD 38- XU 28

Second Half Notes:

17:13- UD 40, XU 37- Xavier has come out on a mission and a 9-2 run. Holloway and Frease are doing whatever they want right now. The best on-ball defender against Holloway seems to be Williams. He is a good defender, but that could be a risky move for Archie Miller. We’ll have to wait and see after this timeout.

15:37- UD 43, XU 39- Dayton is missing on its opportunities to put some distance between itself and Xavier. Of course, silly turnovers and fouls will do that. Kevin Dillard is trying to lead this team to a victory. The question who else will step up in this half?

11:38- UD 48, XU 49- It’s been the TU HOLLOWAY SHOW here in this half. It has low ratings among Dayton fans. Fortunately, he is starting to come down from his hot streak. Now, can Dayton recover and rebuild quickly. Important to note they will be doing it without Johnson, who is out with four fouls.

9:04- UD 54, XU 55- Dayton has managed to shake off its cold streak and is now back to fighting Xavier blow for blow. No, that isn’t a reference to what you think it was. I’m referring to boxing since we are inside a pretty decent venue for the sport.

3:02- UD 67, XU 63- Dayton is feeling good right now. Quick steals on defense, Matt Kavanaugh dunking and Kevin Dillard showing Tu Holloway why he should be a first team selection and not a second team. An amazing sequence of events for UD and Xavier seems lost and dazed right now. Things are going Dayton’s way. Can it continue?

2:02- UD 69, XU 68- Here comes the Xavier cavalry charge. Dayton just needs to hang on.

Final- Dayton 69, Xavier 70

Jacob Rosen, Editor-in-Chief

The University of Dayton will have two surprise guests at the First Four next week.

President Barack Obama will be in Dayton for the first set of NCAA tournament games Tuesday, March 13, along with British Prime Minister David Cameron. The White House confirmed Thursday, March 8, that the two will join in on the basketball activities surrounding UD.

“The University of Dayton Arena is steeped in basketball history, serving as the stage for many great tournament moments and as host to more Division I men’s games than any other arena in the country,” said an anonymous White House official to Dayton Daily News. “The President and the Prime Minister look forward to a great game between some of our nation’s finest collegiate athletes.”

There is no confirmed word on how long Obama and Cameron will be at UD Arena or campus. The Dayton Daily News article said the White House will release more details in the coming days.

The First Four is the opening round of the 68-team Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The four games over two days at UD Arena will be between four automatic qualifiers and the last four at-large teams to qualify for the tournament. Read more »

Chris Moorman, Sports Editor

University of Dayton (19-11, 9-7 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #1 Kevin Dillard (6-0, 170, redshirt junior)
G- #22 Paul Willims (6-4, 212, senior)
F- #5 Devin Oliver (6-7, 200, sophomore)
F- #4 Chris Johnson (6-6, 191, senior)
C- #35 Matt Kavanaugh (6-10, 250, junior)

George Washington University (10-20, 5-11 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #3 Tony Taylor (6-1, 192, senior)
G- #20 Lasan Kromah (6-5, 197, junior)
G- #5 Bryan Bynes (6-3, 173, junior)
F- #13 Jabari Edwards (6-10, 223, graduate student)
F- #00 Dwayne Smith (6-6, 227, junior)

Pregame Notes:

Well, tonight is the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament and thus begins the start of every basketball fans’ favorite time of year. A win and Dayton gets to face archrival Xavier University in the quarterfinal round in Atlantic City on Friday. Again. Read more »

Chris Moorman, Sports Editor

University of Dayton (18-11, 8-7 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #1 Kevin Dillard (6-0, 170, redshirt junior)
G- #22 Paul Willims (6-4, 212, senior)
F- #5 Devin Oliver (6-7, 200, sophomore)
F- #4 Chris Johnson (6-6, 191, senior)
C- #35 Matt Kavanaugh (6-10, 250, junior)

George Washington University (10-19, 5-10 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #3 Tony Taylor (6-1, 192, senior)
G- #20 Lasan Kromah (6-5, 197, junior)
F- #34 John Kopriva (6-8, 205, freshman)
F- #15 Aaron Ware (6-5, 208, senior)
F- #00 Dwayne Smith (6-6, 227, junior)

Pregame Notes:

Dayton needs a win today. A win ensures the Flyers have a chance at a first-round bye in the A-10 Tournament next weekend. IF Xavier University loses at home to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, then Dayton gets the bye. A loss and, depending how several others team do this afternoon, UD could find themselves playing on the road for the first round. Read more »

Jacob Rosen, Editor-in-Chief

This past week, I wrote a feature story on the 10th anniversary of Daniel Curran’s arrival as University of Dayton president. While working on the story, I had the rare opportunity to sit down in Curran’s office for 45 minutes to ask him dozens of questions about how he arrived at UD, what he likes best about campus now and the school’s future.

As the final part of a three-part outtakes series of extended quotes from my interview, this post covers Curran’s thoughts on the future of the university and his legacy at the school.

Flyer News: What’s next for UD? People are seeing, like you said, the buildings on Brown Street, the new cafeterias and all the other things over the past five to 10 years.

Daniel Curran: “I think what’s new for UD, at the undergraduate level, is we have the right size community at UD, we do not need to grow even though the demand is great. It would be easy for UD to go up to 10,000 [undergraduate] students, but that’s not in the plans, that’s not in the cards because you don’t want to jeopardize what’s the foundation of the UD experience and that’s community. So I think what I reflect on where we need to go with undergraduate [experience] a lot of it comes down to improving programs for the students. Looking, making sure – we had a great success rate in placing students last year – that students get out and have the opportunity to interview or get the internships or get the co-ops while they’re here, that’s where we got to go. …

“And again it’s just continuing to improve what we’re doing, opportunities for students, and then the other thing is build reputation. And we’ve done a lot, I mean, people we’ll be like, ‘What’s important about this GE complex for the average student?’ First, there’s going to be a lot of job opportunities, internships, co-ops, GE picked that  location over about eight others because they wanted to be near the University of Dayton. And they wanted the student, they wanted the intellectual talent. …”

Read more »

Jacob Rosen, Editor-in-Chief

This past week, I wrote a feature story on the 10th anniversary of Daniel Curran’s arrival as University of Dayton president. While working on the story, I had the rare opportunity to sit down in Curran’s office for 45 minutes to ask him dozens of questions about how he arrived at UD, what he likes best about campus now and the school’s future.

As the second part of a three-part outtakes series of extended quotes from my interview, this post covers Curran’s thoughts on some of his favorite stories, most difficult moments and top UD picks.

Flyer News: What’s one story that you think is seminal of the 10 years here?

Daniel Curran: “I have so many interactions with students it’s hard to pick one out. You know, I think when I go back, I think one of the most interesting, when you talk about where the university is going, is where my family and I were in Tibet and we know there is a UD group there. And we were walking in Lhasa, and all of a sudden I hear, ‘Dr. Dan, Dr. Dan.’ And a group of students run up to me, and here you are on the other side of the world, your students are excited to see you and your excited to see your students. And I think that’s one of the interesting interactions; I have multiple interactions where students have bumped into me: I’ve bumped into our students in Venice, I’ve had people in China come up to me and say, ‘I have two degrees from the University of Dayton and I’m so proud to be here.’ …

“And the other thing, the flip side, when you have a student get hurt or something when you had that accident earlier this year with the two Chinese students was, any loss of a student is hard and sometimes you don’t hear from it from a graduate, but that really when it’s a student that’s here you feel like you left the family down. ….”

Read more »

Jacob Rosen, Editor-in-Chief

This past week, I wrote a feature story on the 10th anniversary of Daniel Curran’s arrival as University of Dayton president. While working on the story, I had a unique opportunity to interview about a dozen individuals who know Curran in a multitude of different lights.

But in order for anyone to actually enjoy the fruits of labor from my 200 interview minutes, there had to be some great quotes that just didn’t make the final cut. Thus, this post covers some of the top thoughts on Curran from many of the individuals connected to UD who know him best.

1. Teri Rizvi, university vice president of communication, on Curran’s personality: “I think he has very strong instincts about people. And you know, he’s very accessible, he has a son who is a student here and beyond being the president of the university, he’s also a parent, you know, and he’s very, I think he’s a champion of students in my viewpoint.”

2. Jeff Firestone, a fifth-year senior accounting and finance major working on his Master of Business Administration, on Curran’s ability to market UD: “His favorite part of his job is definitely interaction with students and it shows. … Speaking to him, his vision hasn’t changed very much as far as standards for the university go as far as the years I’ve had the opportunity to interact with him.”Firestone also is a member of President’s Emissaries and the CEO of Flyer Enterprises.

Read more »

Jacob Rosen, Editor-in-Chief

This past week, I wrote a feature story on the 10th anniversary of Daniel Curran’s arrival as University of Dayton president. While working on the story, I had the rare opportunity to sit down in Curran’s office for 45 minutes to ask him dozens of questions about how he arrived at UD, what he likes best about campus now and the school’s future.

As the first part of a three-part outtakes series of extended quotes from my interview, this post covers Curran’s thoughts on the back-and-forth search process that led him to Dayton in 2002.

Flyer News: What does 10 years mean to you?

Daniel Curran: “Ten years have gone very fast for me. For me, probably the biggest thing it means is 10 classes have graduated during my tenure. And that’s the most exciting thing for me that all these graduates are going out into the world and making a difference. So again, it’s 10 years of UD graduates.”

FN: What first attracted you to UD as a Philadelphia guy, a St. Joseph’s University guy?

DC: “Well you know, it’s an interesting story. I was approached to be a part of the Dayton search in January of ’01 and I turned down being a candidate. I always liked Dayton, it was one of the top five schools I would consider going to. But the president at St. Joe’s [Nicholas Rashford] had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and we actually were building the house we thought we would retire in, in Villanova. And so when they came to me in January, I said ‘No, I can’t be a candidate.’ And then they went through the search and brought in I think it was three candidates in October of ’01 and it just didn’t work out. They didn’t find someone that would fit the university and I had almost resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to be going to Dayton. ….

Read more »

Chris Moorman, Sports Editor

University of Dayton (14-7, 4-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #1 Kevin Dillard (6-0, 170, redshirt junior)
G- #12 Josh Parker (6-0, 187, redshirt senior)
F- #4 Chris Johnson (6-6, 191, senior)
F- #23 Luke Fabrizius (6-9, 228, senior)
C- #35 Matt Kavanaugh (6-9, 250, junior)

Duquesne University (12-9, 3-4 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #20 T.J. McConnell (6-1, 185, sophomore)
G- #3 Eric Evans (5-11, 205, senior)
G- #32 Sean Johnson (6-2, 195, junior)
F- #23 B.J. Monteiro (6-5, 205, senior)
F/C- #0 Andre Marhold (6-7, 210, junior)

Pregame Notes:

Dayton enters this game on a two-game losing streak, which is never a good thing but is compounded considering the losing streak is right in the heart of the conference season. Last week, Dayton was a game ahead in first place of the conference. Today, the Flyers find themselves in the middle of a wide-open A-10 race. Read more »

Chris Moorman, Sports Editor

University of Dayton (14-6, 4-2 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #1 Kevin Dillard (6-0, 170, redshirt junior)
G- #22 Paul Williams (6-4, 212, senior)
F- #4 Chris Johnson (6-6, 191, senior)
F- #23 Luke Fabrizius (6-9, 228, senior)
C- #35 Matt Kavanaugh (6-9, 250, junior)

University of Rhode Island (3-18, 0-6 Atlantic 10 Conference) Starting Lineups:

G- #4 Mike Powell (5-11, 175, freshman)
G- #20 Billy Baron (6-2, 195, sophomore)
F- #12 Orion Outerbridge (6-9, 210, senior)
F- #35 Jonathan Holton (6-9, 220, freshman)
F- #23 Nikola Malesevic (6-7, 200, junior)

Pre-Game Notes:

Dayton enters tonight’s game on a down note. The Flyers lost 77-63 to Saint Joseph’s University Wednesday, Jan. 25, in Philadelphia. UD at that point in time was in first place of the Atlantic 10 Conference at 4-1. The loss was significant in two ways. One, Dayton dropped into a five-way tie for first and establishes further proof that the A-10 will be down to the wire once again if no team is willing to put itself out of distance from the rest of the pack. Read more »