The University of Dayton men’s basketball team today announced its 2008-09 non-conference schedule , and the list of what Atlantic 10 opponents the Flyers will play at home and on the road. UD will play a non-conference schedule that includes teams from the Big East, the Colonial Athletic Conference, Conference USA, the MAC, the Missouri Valley and the SEC.

The Flyers will play home-and-home Atlantic 10 games with Duquesne, Saint Louis and Xavier. In addition, Dayton will play host to Fordham, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Saint Joseph’s and Temple in conference play. All three A-10 teams that played in the 2008 NCAA tournament will visit UD Arena. The Flyers will play at Charlotte, George Washington, La Salle, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in addition the Dukes, Billikens and Musketeers.

A highlight of the non-conference schedule is UD’s participation in the Chicago Invitational Challenge . Dayton will have two extra home games against Bethune-Cookman and Mercer before traveling to Chicago to play Auburn and Marquette.

UD will open its sixth season under Brian Gregory on Sunday, November 16 when Wofford visits UD Arena. The Flyers will play three more home games – Delaware State on Wednesday, November 19, Bethune-Cookman on Sunday, November 23 and Mercer on Tuesday, November 25 before playing away from UD Arena for the first time in 2008-09 when they play in the final rounds of the Chicago Invitational Challenge. Dayton will face Auburn on Friday, November 28 and Marquette on Saturday, November 29.

After returning home to meet Troy on Tuesday, December 2, UD will play two straight road games against a pair of post-season teams – at Akron on Saturday, December 6 and at Creighton on Wednesday, December 10. The Flyers will be home for the rest of December, welcoming Coppin State on Saturday, December 13, UNC-Greensboro on Saturday, December 20, Marshall, Tuesday December 23 and George Mason on Tuesday, December 30 to Tom Blackburn Court.

UD’s non-conference schedule will wrap up with a game at Toledo on Friday, January 2 and a home game with Miami on Tuesday, January 6.

The Flyers also announced that the first of their two pre-season games will be played at home against Capital University on Thursday, November 6.

“Our non-conference strength of schedule last year was 28th in the country and two years ago it was 26th,” Dayton head coach Brian Gregory said. “We’ve had a top 50 non-conference schedule three of the last four years. Playing teams from conferences like the Big East, Missouri Valley and the SEC sets you up to have a strong non-conference schedule.”

UD will play one team who returns all five starters – Marquette, who not surprisingly is a pre-season Top Ten team. Dayton will play eight other teams who have four starters back: Charlotte, George Washington, La Salle, Miami, Richmond, Temple, Toledo and Xavier.

The Flyers will play 14 games against teams that were in the post-season in 2008-09.

Three of the traditionally top teams in the MAC – Akron, Miami and Toledo – are on the 2007-08 schedule. Two of them – Akron and Toledo -- are on the road, giving UD the chance to play in front of Flyer fans in different parts of the state.

Dayton was 23-11 in 2007-08, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT, losing to eventual champion Ohio State in Columbus. The Flyers graduated All-Atlantic 10 guard Brian Roberts, but return their next three scorers and top three rebounders - forward Chris Wright (10.4, 5.7), guard Marcus Johnson (10.1, 5.1) and forward Charles Little (8.0, 4.6). Wright was named to the A-10 All-Rookie team even though he played in just one conference game.

UD’s complete schedule, including the other exhibition game, the Atlantic 10 Conference schedule and game times, will be announced at a later date.

Story Courtesy of www.daytonflyers.com

What others are saying

There are no comments yet. Be the first to post one!