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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Another women’s regional coming to UD
This just in from UD media relations:
NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL REGIONAL RETURNING TO UD ARENA IN 2011
INDIANAPOLIS - The National Collegiate Athletic Association has announced regional sites for the 2011 NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Championships, and the tournament is returning to the University of Dayton Arena. The Arena had already been awarded regional games that will be played this season on March 28 and 30. In fact, ticket orders are now being taken for the 2010 regional games.
It is just the third time that a regional will be played at the same facility in successive years since the tournament began awarding regionals to dedicated neutral sites. Greensboro hosted consecutive regionals in 2007 and 2008, and Oklahoma City did it in 2008 and 2009. It also happened four times in the first decade of the NCAA tournament when then-women’s basketball powers Louisiana Tech, USC, Old Dominion and Texas all hosted multiple times. The NCAA began conducting women’s Division I basketball championships in 1982.
“We are very happy that the NCAA women’s regional will return to the University of Dayton in 2011,” UD Vice-President and Director of Athletics Tim Wabler said. “It is extremely rare that the NCAA tournament plays at the same venue in back-to-back years, and we are gratified that the NCAA basketball committee and championship staff has demonstrated such a high level of confidence in our Arena staff, the Dayton community, and our fans.”
“The best possible experience for the teams and the student-athletes is a top priority in the site selection process, and our fans really tip the scales in our favor. They help create the electric atmosphere in UD Arena, and they also make the teams feel welcome when they are around town. It’s important to our fans, just as it is important to us, when the NCAA tournament comes to Dayton.“
In addition to this year’s East Regional, Dayton has been the site of women’s regionals in 1998, 2003 and 2007. The playing dates for the 2011 women’s regional at the University of Dayton Arena will be March 26 and 28.
“This is very exciting for women’s college basketball in our region,” UD women’s basketball coach Jim Jabir said. “Our sport has a lot of momentum right now. We’re picked third in one of the strongest women’s basketball conferences in the country, we open the year at home with two teams in Michigan State and Louisville who very likely could be back at the Arena this coming March in the 2010 regional, and now this announcement that the tournament is coming back in 2011 only reinforces that.”
“This is really big news for all the women’s basketball fans and especially the up-and-coming young players who are in this area,” Jabir concluded.
“Although our team would not be able to play in the regionals at the Arena, this is great for our women’s basketball program,” Wabler added. “This part of the country is a hotbed for women’s basketball at the high school and college levels, and having the NCAA women’s regionals in Dayton in back-to-back years raises the profile of our women’s basketball team that is already a post-season-caliber program.”
The University of Dayton Arena has hosted NCAA men’s and women’s tournament events in 24 of its 40 years since opening its doors for the 1969-70 season. To date, UD Arena has hosted 82 NCAA men’s tournament games, one behind Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium and one ahead of the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. In addition to the NCAA women’s regionals in 2010 and 2011, the Arena is also scheduled to host the NCAA Men’s Opening Round Game through 2013, and the Men’s First and Second Rounds in 2013.
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UD ranked No. 21 in AP preseason poll
For the first time in more than 40 years, Dayton is ranked in the preseason major college basketball polls.
The Flyers are No. 21 in the first Associated Press poll of the season and check in at No. 22 in the coaches poll.
UD is ranked one spot ahead of Georgia Tech in the AP poll. The Flyers and Yellow Jackets meet Nov. 19 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff.
It’s the first time the Flyers have been rated in a major preseason poll since 1967-68. That Don May-led squad finished as the NCAA runner-up the year before and began the ‘67-68 season ranked sixth.
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Wright honored; UD gets another women’s regional
Chris Wright was one of 50 college basketball standouts named Thursday to the preseason watch for the James Naismith Award, which goes to the best player in the nation.
The Dayton junior forward also is one of 50 players nominated for the John Wooden Award, another honor reserved for the nation’s top player.
It’s “Big News” Day at UD: In addition to the men’s basketball team being ranked in a major preseason poll for the first time in more the four decades, the school has been picked again to host an NCAA women’s regional in 2011. The women’s regional also will be held at UD Arena this season.
The NCAA obviously likes UD’s drawing power. When the UConn women were here in 2003, the regional semis drew 9,552 and the final 8,503. When Tennessee was here in 2007, the semis drew 9,023 and the final 8,205.
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Flyers land in AP, coaches preseason Top 25s
For the first time in more than 40 years, Dayton is ranked in the preseason editions of both major college basketball polls.
The Flyers are rated 22nd in the ESPN-USA Today coaches Top 25, one spot ahead of defending Big East regular-season champion Louisville.
They’re ranked 21st in the Associated Press Top 25. They’ve also been rated in various other preseason polls, the only Atlantic 10 team earning that recognition.
It’s the first time the Flyers have been ranked in a preseason major poll since 1967-68. UD, led by Don May and Bobby Joe Hooper, finished as the NCAA runner-up the year before and began the ‘67-68 season ranked sixth.
“We have a humble group,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “It’s not in their character to think about the accomplishment. They want more accomplishments.”
Gregory, though, was pleased his team was honored by his peers in the coaches poll, and earning a spot in the AP ratings was meaningful, too.
“You’re talking about guys who make a living following the game,” he said.
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Having Lowery back will be boon to Flyers
The hobbled Rob Lowery and the Dayton Flyers received some welcome news last week when his projected return date was pushed up from early January to late November.
Sure, he’ll still miss the team’s toughest four non-league games — the opener against Creighton and three more in Puerto Rico — but it’s important for the Flyers that he’s back full-tilt for the Atlantic 10, and he certainly appears on track for that.
It’s impossible to overstate how important he is to the team. The Flyers probably wouldn’t have made the NCAA tournament without him last year. He scored 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting in the win over Marquette, and that conquest was crucial in earning an at-large spot and squeaking into the field as an 11 seed.
The Flyers were 22-3 with him and 5-5 without him. Granted, the losses were at Saint Louis, at Rhode Island, at Xavier, against Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 semifinals and in the NCAA tourney against Kansas. But the Flyers clearly missed Lowery, who suffered a torn patellar tendon Feb. 11.
“We weren’t the same team,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “We weren’t able to push the ball as well. We weren’t able to defend 94 feet as well. We made some adjustments and were able to do some things fairly well and be successful, but we were different.
“Many times, I played those two guys together,” Gregory added, referring to Lowery and fellow point guard and defensive stopper London Warren. “Those guys put an unbelievable amount of pressure on the ball. They do disrupt other team’s offenses. And they’re constantly using that energetic approach to force the tempo on offense.
“Maybe moreso than any two players around, those guys have changed the way we play, and we’ve put stuff in to highlight their strengths.”
Gregory lauded Lowery for the 9 1/2 months of drudgery he’s endured so far on the comeback trail.
“I have not seen a kid work as hard as he has in terms of the recovery,” Gregory said. “It’s a very difficult injury to come back from. At the same time, his work ethic has put him in a position where the level of respect he receives from his teammates and everybody in this program is at its highest level of any player I’ve seen.”
