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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2010 > March > 17
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Dayton again proves it’s a great basketball town
When it comes to college basketball towns, few places can beat Dayton.
That was proved again Tuesday night when 8,205 people showed up to watch the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff top Winthrop, 61-44, in the Opening Round game of the NCAA Tournament.
Last year — thanks in part to the presence of Morehead State, which is just three hours away in Kentucky — a record 11,346 showed up to watch the Eagles top Alabama State.
This tournament opener — maligned by some folks every year who paint it as something akin to the junior varsity warm-up game before the big boys take the floor — is beloved by many here and has been played at UD Arena since it’s inception nine years ago.
“We always draw around 8,000 for this game,” UD ticket manager Gary McCans said matter of factly at halftime Tuesday night.
While there are now rumors that the NCAA may expand the tournament field by three more teams — to 68 — and have four play-in games, one in each region, it’s doubtful any will become an event quite like the one has become here.
Like every play-in game here — including last year’s Eagle-infused count — most of the folks in the crowd are from the Dayton area.
And except for Winthrop’s Reggie King — who’s from Novelty, Ohio way up in Geauga County, past Cleveland — there was no one on either roster Tuesday night from the state.
Folks here just love to watch college basketball.
And the Play-In game offers people who can’t get into UD Arena to see the Flyers — or who are stuck in the 400 Level — a chance to get closer to the action and to be a part of the NCAA Tournament.
And school’s like Arkansas-Pine Bluff — which brought along as good of a pep band as you’ll ever hear and 12 dancing cheerleaders who drew the crowd’s attention — make it all the more fun.
Like many Midwestern industrial cities, we have lost many of our factories, our downtown department stores and a big chunk of our population base, but the turnstiles still spin like mad here when it comes to college hoops.
This season the Dayton Flyers — who play Illinois State in the first round of the NIT Wednesday night at the Arena — set a regular season attendance record, averaging 13,038 fans for its 17 home games.
In the 41 years the Arena has been open, basketball crowds have averaged close to 12,000 fans per game and UD has never been ranked worst than 35th in the nation in attendance. Usually it’s in the Top 25.
What’s even more remarkable is that on a night when UD Arena is jammed to the rafters, Wright State — whose Raiders have now had four straight 20-win seasons — may be playing just across town and drawing another 5,000 to the Nutter Center.
Dayton leads the Atlantic 10 Conference in attendance every year and Wright State is second in the Horizon League to Butler.
Then there are the NCAA Tournament games that UD Arena has hosted in 24 of the 41 years it’s been open. Tuesday night was the 83rd men’s NCAA Tournament game held at UD Arena, tying it with Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City for the most ever hosted by one arena.
In 11 days, UD Arena will host one of the four regionals of NCAA women’s tournament.
“This is just a great atmosphere,” said UAPB athletics director Skip Perkins, whose teams plays at a 4,100- seat facility back home. “People really turn out for basketball here.”
Put another way, when it comes to college basketball towns, few places beat Dayton.
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