The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 63 is Dayton basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Dayton basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 1
- Elite Eights: 3
- Sweet 16s: 7
- NCAA wins: 20
- Bids: 19
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 14.9
- Bids per season: 0.16
- AP Polls: 127
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 9
- NBA players drafted & played: 18
- Conference Players of the Year: 2
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 6
- Conference tournament titles: 2
- NIT titles: 3
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Dayton basketball
What could have happened in 2020? That has long been the talk about the Dayton Flyers team that finished 29-2 in 2019-20, had the AP Player of the Year in Obi Toppin, and never got to take the court in March Madness thanks to COVID canceling the entire tournament. Many programs had a chance to win it that year, but Dayton doesn’t always get a chance that great, and it definitely hurts to this day if you are a Flyers fan.
Luckily, the Flyers have had some other success to make up for the sting, at least a little bit. They’ve been to the NCAA Tournament 19 times and nearly won it all in 1967, falling in the title game by 15 to UCLA. And competing at that level was usual for the Flyers. Head coach Don Donoher led Dayton from 1964-89 and took them to the big dance eight times, winning over 400 games with the program.
Dayton also saw brief success under Oliver Purnell and Brian Gregory, but would start to get back to their old form under Archie Miller. He led them to the tourney four straight times from 2014-17, getting to the Elite 8 in 2014. The past nine seasons have also been mostly positive, although Anthony Grant has had just a single tourney bid coming in 2024. Obviously, they would have had one in 2020 too, but the consensus is that he has done less with more, with seven 20-win seasons in nine tries, and just the one bid to show for it.
Dayton’s other fun fact is the fact that they’ve won three NIT titles in 1962, 1968, and 2010. Only Bradley (4) and St. John’s (6) have won more.
And really, that’s the biggest thing going for Dayton. Even when they’re not making noise in March, they’re making noise in the A-10 or elsewhere. The Flyers have had eight straight winning records and 25 winning records in the last 27 years. 21 of those have been 20-win seasons. Mid-major programs can really look to them as what it’s like to have consistent success at the top level, year in and year out. It makes the feeling of them getting robbed in 2020 even worse!