With the first official practice just days away, the University of Dayton men's basketball team held its annual media Wednesday afternoon at the Donoher Basketball Center.
The Flyer Faithful will have its first opportunity to see the Flyers in action on Saturday, October 23. That will be a "Super Saturday" of Dayton athletics. It literally kicks of at 1 p.m. ET when the UD football team plays Campbell at Welcome Stadium. Next door at UD Arena, the nationally-ranked volleyball team will take on Charlotte at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Flyer women's basketball team will play a short intrasquad scrimmage at 7:00 p.m. ET, followed by the Dayton men's basketball team's annual Red & Blue Game at 8:00 p.m. ET.
2010-11 UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON SEASON PREVIEW
For the University of Dayton men’s basketball program to move forward in 2010-11, the Flyers will look to a pair of talented forwards to lead them. Head coach Brian Gregory’s team returns Chris Wright and Chris Johnson, the top two scorers and rebounders from the team that finished 25-12 and won the 2010 NIT, as the players to build around this season.
Wright, a member of the 2010 USA Men’s Select Team, is one of the marquee players in the Atlantic 10. The Trotwood, Ohio native is entering a senior season that will cap one of the most memorable careers in a Dayton uniform. Already 32nd in career scoring at UD with 1,127 points in just 87 games, he is a two-time NABC All-District selection. Named First Team All-Atlantic 10 in 2009-10, Wright averaged 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds a game.
Wright also led the team in minutes (28.6), dunks (a school-record 68), blocked shots (a school-record 53), free throws attempted (185) and free throws made (125). He led UD with 29 double-figure games in 2009-10.
Headlining with Wright is NIT MVP Chris Johnson. Johnson, a junior from Columbus, Ohio, was second to Wright on the team in scoring (11.9) and rebounding (6.9) and led UD in FT% (.848, 84-99). He was the Atlantic 10’s Chris Daniels Memorial Most Improved Player Award winner in 2010.
The Flyers graduated all seven members of the winningest class in school history, but UD also returns four other players who played in at least 25 games. Senior Devin Searcy, juniors Luke Fabrizius and Paul Williams and redshirt sophomore Josh Benson saw plenty of time coming off the bench last season, with Williams scoring 16 points in the NIT Championship win over North Carolina.
Dayton will also welcome five additional new faces to the program in 2010-11, led by Oak Hill Academy point guard Juwan Staten. Staten averaged 12.1 points and 7.2 assists at point guard for Oak Hill, who finished 29-4 and seventh nationally. Another new face in the backcourt is Drake transfer Josh Parker. A junior, Parker averaged 10.7 points, 2.0 assists and 1.5 rebounds, while shooting .432 (57-132) from three-point range and .720 (67-93) from the free throw line as a Bulldog sophomore.
