Flyers One Seed in NIT Tournament

TJ Thompson | Sports Editor

The University of Dayton Flyers (22-10) men’s basketball team will compete against Florida Atlantic University (18-15) in Boca Raton, Fla. in the first round of the NIT tournament Wednesday night at 7.

         The National Invitation Tournament is a postseason tournament for NCAA Division I teams not selected for the NCAA tournament. The Flyers have appeared in the NIT 27 times and have won the tournament three times, most recently in 2010. The Flyers were selected for the tournament in 2023 but declined to go due to health and safety concerns.

         The Flyers ranked No. 22 in the country after defeating Marquette at home who at the time was the No. 6 ranked team in the country. After a couple losses to begin conference play the Flyers fell out of the top 25. Dayton finished third in the A-10 with a 12-6 record but needed a run in the conference tournament in order to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.

         The Flyers put up a fight but ended up falling 73-68 in overtime against St. Josephs in the Flyers first game of the tournament. This dropped the Flyers’ chances of making the tournament and on selection Sunday Dayton did not hear its name called.

         This will be a homecoming for Flyers Head Coach Anthony Grant, as he graduated from high school in South Florida, and began his coaching career at his Alma Matter Miami Senior after his four-year paying career at UD.

         If the Flyers defeat the Owls, they will play the winner of the matchup between Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee on either March 22 or 23. Though the season did not turn out the way the Flyers or the Flyer faithful wanted, UD still has a chance to end the season on top and bring some hardware back to Dayton.