KANSAS CITY, Mo. – University of Dayton men's basketball coach
Archie Miller has been honored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Miller was named the NABC's District 4 Coach of the Year. In addition, senior guards
Charles Cooke and
Scoochie Smith were named to the district's second team. For Cooke, it was the second consecutive year he was selected NABC All-District.
The All-District Teams were selected and voted upon by member coaches of the NABC.
Miller, who just completed his sixth season at Dayton, was previously named the A-10 Coach of the Year after leading the Flyers to their first outright conference regular season championship, a school-record 15 conference wins against just three losses, and a 24-8 overall record.
Miller guided UD to perform at a championship level despite playing a 2016-17 campaign where the team's top six scorers missed a total of 32 games during the year due to injury.
Archie and his brother Sean made NCAA Division I men's basketball history by being the first two brothers to be named Coach of the Year in their respective conference. Sean was this year's Pac-12 Coach of the Year after leading Arizona to a 27-5 record in the regular season.
Smith, Dayton's senior point guard, was a First Team All-Atlantic 10 performer in 2016-17 and was the only player to start every game in the Flyers' championship season. In fact, Smith played in all 138 games of his career, tying the school record previously set by Chris Johnson. The Bronx native also set the Flyer record for consecutive games played.
Smith averaged 13.8 points and 4.5 assists a game. He led Dayton in assists and steals (51), and was third in scoring and free throw percentage (.772, 98-127). He was the only three-time captain in Dayton basketball history and the point guard for the class that won the most games in school history (102).
Cooke, who hails from Trenton, N.J., led the Flyers in scoring (15.8) and rebounding (5.1). He raised all of his shooting percentages from a year ago, and improved his assists from 1.8 in 2015-16 to 2.8 in 2016-17. He led UD in with a plus/minus rating of +10.24 points per game. Cooke was a two-time All-Atlantic 10 selection and A-10 All-Defensive Team.
