BROOKLYN – With three starters returning from last year's 27-9 team that advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, the University of Dayton Flyers have been selected as the team to beat in the Atlantic 10 this season, according to a poll of the conference's head men's basketball coaches and selected media. The news was released Tuesday during the A-10's Men's Basketball Media Day.
The Flyers received 12 of the 27 first-place votes cast. Second-place Rhode Island had eight first-place votes, third–place Davidson received six and fourth-place George Washington had one. In total voting points, Dayton had 352 votes to Rhode Island's 347.
"As with any preseason prediction, it (being the league favorite) ultimately means nothing," Dayton coach
Archie Miller said. "Every day we are trying to improve and trying to find a chemistry on the floor with each other to put our team in a position to be at our best when it matters most."
"The Atlantic 10 is as strong as it's been since I've been here and this league will have an incredible race to the title. When you look at the other programs in the conference and where they currently are, it is an honor to be looked at by the coaches in your league in this way. We will not take that for granted. But we also know what has to be done daily to experience any sort of success."
Leading UD will be preseason third-team All-Atlantic 10 selection
Kendall Pollard, the 2015 A-10 Chris Daniels Most Improved Player Award winner. Pollard was third on the team in scoring (12.7 ppg), second in rebounding (5.3 rpg), after averaging 2.2 and 1.3. He led the Flyers in field-goal percentage (.552, 159-288) and shot 600 (87-145) in A-10 play.
Pollard led the A-10 in free throw rate and improved his free throw percentage from .326 (15-46) as a freshman to .580 (123-212) last year. He tallied five games of 20 or more points and 24 games of scoring in double-figures a year ago, including a stretch from Jan. 17, 2015 to Mar. 3, 2015 where he scored in double figures in 14-of-15 games.
The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Pollard also led the team in blocked shots (32).
Pollard, along with fellow captains
Scoochie Smith and
Kyle Davis, is part of a junior class that is on pace to be the winningest class in UD history. The trio has 53 wins (including five in the NCAA tournament) in their first two seasons, one game ahead of the Class of 2011 that had 97 victories.
Davis started all 36 games for the Flyers during the 2014-15 season and earned the team's Best Defender Award for the second year in a row. He ranked second on the Flyers in both steals (53) and blocks (17) while scoring a total of 255 points (7.1 ppg) and dishing out 88 assists (2.4 apg).
A lockdown defender, he hounded Big East Co-Player of the Year, Kris Dunn of Providence into 4-of-13 shooting and seven turnovers in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. Davis also held Boston College Wooden Award nominee Olivier Hanlan to 10 points (0-9 from three) in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Ole Miss marksman Stefan Moody to 2-for-11 from the field and six points, and Richmond's Kendall Anthony to just nine points, half his scoring average in league play.
Smith also started all 36 games at point guard last year. He averaged 9.2 points per game, good enough for the fourth best mark on the team, led the team in assists (138, 3.8 apg) and maintained a 1.9:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He ranked second on the team in free-throw percentage (.755, 77-102) and shot .380 (41-108) from beyond the arc.
The Bronx native averaged 12.7 points in the NCAA Tournament as he tallied 11 points against both Boise State and Providence and recorded 16 points vs. Oklahoma. He played 117 of a possible 120 minutes in the NCAA Tournament. A high-character leader, he was the 2014-15 winner of both the Dr. George Rau Spirit Award (awarded annually to the player who displays true team spirit, on and off the court) and the Uhl Family Endowed Scholarship (given to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of good sportsmanship and character, and follows the University's creed of "Learn, Lead, Serve").
The Flyers also return sophomore guard
Darrell Davis and senior forward
Bobby Wehrli from last year's team. Davis saw action in all 36 games, averaging 4.8 points a game. He led the A-10 in 3-pt. FG% (.452, 47-104). Wehrli, a former walk-on, played in 29 games and averaged 2.3 points and 2.1 rebounds. He shot 50% (12-24) from three, but did not have enough shots to qualify for league rankings.
Miller will add 6-foot-6 wing
Charles Cooke for the 2015-16 season. Cooke is eligible after sitting last year as a transfer from James Madison. Cooke averaged 14.3 points and 5.0 rebounds a game and was named Third Team All-Colonial Athletic Association as a sophomore at JMU.
The Flyers will also add a five-man freshman class. This deep and talented group consists of 6-foot-2 point guard
John Crosby, 6-foor-11 center
Steve McElvene, 6-foot-7 forward
Ryan Mikesell, 6-foot-8 power forward
Sam Miller and 6-foot-8 forward Xeryius Williams. McElvene sat out last season but practiced with the team, while the other four are true freshmen.
Five players in the program were on state championship teams in high school. They are
Charles Cooke,
Kyle Davis,
Kendall Pollard,
Xeyrius Williams, and
Josh Cunningham, a transfer from Bradley who will be eligible in 2016-17.
Dayton went 17-0 at home last season. It was only the fourth time in the program's history UD went undefeated at home. The other years are 1949-50, 1959-60 and 2008-09. The Flyers will take a 22-game home winning streak into next year, the seventh-longest active home winning streak in the NCAA.
UD will put that winning streak on Tom Blackburn Court to the test in the 2015-16 regular season opener against Southeast Missouri on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. ET. The Atlantic 10 opener will be on Saturday, Jan. 2 at Duquesne.
Prior to the season opener, Dayton will host an exhibition game against Saginaw Valley State on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. ET
The Flyer Faithful will get its first look at the 2015-16 UD basketball teams this Saturday, Oct. 24, when the annual Red & Blue scrimmage is held at the University of Dayton Arena. Doors open at 1:00 p.m. ET. The Dayton women's team will play at 2:00 p.m. ET, followed by the men's team's scrimmage at approximately 3:00 p.m. ET. The men will play two 18-minute halves.
An autograph session with both teams will follow. Admission is free.
