Welcome to the 1st installment of The War Room for the off-season of 2016. As always, I'll begin this session with the ground rules for those that may be new. Everything that is reported in The War Room must stay in The War Room. Sometimes the info is sensitive enough that it simply doesn't need to be passed on beyond the doors of this message board thread.
This is a special feature for our subscribers only. The reason why it is posted on the premium board is because that's the only way to ensure that the info stays exclusive to Dayton Flyer fans. Thanks for your cooperation.
Without further ado, here it is.... The 1st edition of the War Room for the 2016 off-season!
LONG TERM DEAL
On Wednesday, Archie Miller received a contract “upgrade and extension” to his current deal, taking him through 2023. First, let me say I agree with it for a few different reasons. Number one, he just earned a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament, only the second time in school history. He just won the school’s first ever regular season conference title. He was deserving! I was surprised by the bump in pay, but only because of what he was already making. This latest contract likely takes him around the 2.5 mark, but that part is based on speculation and assumptions.
There were a couple other key reasons beyond performance. The message it sends. Recruiting is a cut-throat part of this coaching business. I am told there was A LOT of negative recruiting going on behind the scenes with targets that Dayton was involved with. Other coaches telling prospects that Archie was going to be leaving. I had the parent of a potential transfer asking me if I thought Archie was going to be around next year. This sends a message and rebuts all the negative recruiting.
The other message that was sent was to schools with current coaching vacancies. Oklahoma State, Pitt, UNLV, etc. Archie is off the market, move on to the next guy on your list. Very important right there. I’d expect Dayton to try and get another extension announced next year as quickly as possibly after the season concludes.
Dayton is making sure they are ready when the Big East expands. That means having a basketball program that is already on-par with other Big East members. That means paying your head coach like you're already a member so he sticks around. That means upgrading your facilities so there's no dropoff when a recruit visits your school after coming off a visit from a Big East school. Dayton is finally being proactive instead of reactive.
One last thing on this topic. I was told the Millers are already planning on sending their daughter Leah to Alter—yes, that’s a few years away. The whole next seven years tweet by the Mrs. would take their daughter through her high school graduation. A good sign for the longevity of Archie Miller at the University of Dayton. Things can change, but I think Archie’s focus is building Dayton into an elite program. In a day an age when schools and professional teams are putting statues up in front of arenas and stadiums, he could get there one day with a continued commitment like we’re seeing from him and his family today.
POTENTIAL TRANSFER
One intriguing transfer is sophomore guard Kory Holden from Delaware. He averaged 17.7 points per game in his second season with the Blue Hens. He scored a career-high 35 points at Boston College and also had a game of 33 points at Towson. He’s a terrific scorer and distributor.
I traded texts with him earlier this week and he acknowledged that Dayton was one school that has already reached out to him. He said he’s talked to assistant coach Kevin Kuwik, who was instrumental in bringing Charles Cooke from the CAA to Dayton.
Along with Dayton, he told me that he’s heard from Arizona, Cal State-Bakersfield, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Miami, Nevada, Pitt, San Diego, Toledo, Utah State, and Vanderbilt.
Right now, he's in the listenting stages of his transfer process. He’ll sit out the 2016-2017 season and have two years of eligibility remaining beginning in the fall of 2017.
DALONTE BROWN
As we all know already, 2017 is an important and pivotal recruiting class at the University of Dayton. There will be at least four scholarships available, and they're four VERY important pieces that need to be replaced. Dayton will graduate Scoochie Smith, Kyle Davis, Charles Cooke, and Kendall Pollard at the conclusion of the 2016-2017 season.
They’ve been recruiting 2017 really hard since they received a commitment from Trey Landers and only had eyes on a handful of 2016 recruits until recently. It may take some time for the pledge to happen, but in my opinion, they’re pretty close to securing a commitment from Bowsher forward Dalonte Brown.
The top Toledo prospect was a guest at UD for the regular season finale win over VCU that gave Dayton a share of the Atlantic 10 title. Before the game even began, he made a social media post that said the visit had him thinking about committing already.
I traded some texts with him this week when he told me that he’s been thinking about committing a lot lately. After averaging a double-double this season, he’s bound to blow-up in the EYBL playing for All-Ohio Red.
EXEMPT TOURNAMENTS
Dayton had a strong November, particularly their second place finish in Orlando. The AdvoCare Invitational provided Dayton with two of their top non-conference wins with the victories over Iowa and Monmouth. It’s already been announced that they’ll play in Anaheim at the other Disney destination spot on the left coast next season.
The field for the Wooden Legacy tournament includes Cal State-Northridge, Dayton, Nebraska, New Mexico, Portland, Texas A&M, UCLA, and Virginia Tech.
These tournaments have become so huge for college basketball programs in order to show the NCAA selection committee they can beat good teams on a neutral floor. It’s the entire reason why Syracuse was in the tournament, quite frankly. Sorry to bring them up, but it’s the truth, and their performance in the Battle 4 Atlantis exempt tournament may be the reason they got in and are headed to possibly a regional final with a win tonight.
From what I am told, in the 2017-2018 season, Dayton will participate in the Charleston Classic. The following season, they’ll be going to the Bahamas for Battle 4 Atlantis. Finally, I’m hearing in the 2019-2020 season, the team is expected to head back to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.
Some exciting times for the Dayton basketball program and how ESPN views this program and really how the nation is viewing this program under Archie Miller.
CLOSING
That does it for this edition of the War Room. The season didn't end the way we all had hoped, and a golden opportunity was missed in the Midwest Regional. These guys shouldn't have anything taken away from them though. For really the first time ever as a program, Dayton wasn't sweating on Selection Sunday as an at-large. That's a credit to what they did for the first 24 games of the season. I left Saint Louis thinking about how this team wasn't playing with the confidence in March that we had seen the past couple of seasons. March is about feeling good about yourself and the team, and it just wasn't the case. These guys will rebound, they always have. The trip to Spain is going to be great for the development of the younger players and this team.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support and a formal welcome to those new subscribers to the site. It's all of you that make this the best place to talk FlyerHoops all year round! Finally, Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter to everyone!
This is a special feature for our subscribers only. The reason why it is posted on the premium board is because that's the only way to ensure that the info stays exclusive to Dayton Flyer fans. Thanks for your cooperation.
Without further ado, here it is.... The 1st edition of the War Room for the 2016 off-season!
LONG TERM DEAL
On Wednesday, Archie Miller received a contract “upgrade and extension” to his current deal, taking him through 2023. First, let me say I agree with it for a few different reasons. Number one, he just earned a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament, only the second time in school history. He just won the school’s first ever regular season conference title. He was deserving! I was surprised by the bump in pay, but only because of what he was already making. This latest contract likely takes him around the 2.5 mark, but that part is based on speculation and assumptions.
There were a couple other key reasons beyond performance. The message it sends. Recruiting is a cut-throat part of this coaching business. I am told there was A LOT of negative recruiting going on behind the scenes with targets that Dayton was involved with. Other coaches telling prospects that Archie was going to be leaving. I had the parent of a potential transfer asking me if I thought Archie was going to be around next year. This sends a message and rebuts all the negative recruiting.
The other message that was sent was to schools with current coaching vacancies. Oklahoma State, Pitt, UNLV, etc. Archie is off the market, move on to the next guy on your list. Very important right there. I’d expect Dayton to try and get another extension announced next year as quickly as possibly after the season concludes.
Dayton is making sure they are ready when the Big East expands. That means having a basketball program that is already on-par with other Big East members. That means paying your head coach like you're already a member so he sticks around. That means upgrading your facilities so there's no dropoff when a recruit visits your school after coming off a visit from a Big East school. Dayton is finally being proactive instead of reactive.
One last thing on this topic. I was told the Millers are already planning on sending their daughter Leah to Alter—yes, that’s a few years away. The whole next seven years tweet by the Mrs. would take their daughter through her high school graduation. A good sign for the longevity of Archie Miller at the University of Dayton. Things can change, but I think Archie’s focus is building Dayton into an elite program. In a day an age when schools and professional teams are putting statues up in front of arenas and stadiums, he could get there one day with a continued commitment like we’re seeing from him and his family today.
POTENTIAL TRANSFER
One intriguing transfer is sophomore guard Kory Holden from Delaware. He averaged 17.7 points per game in his second season with the Blue Hens. He scored a career-high 35 points at Boston College and also had a game of 33 points at Towson. He’s a terrific scorer and distributor.
I traded texts with him earlier this week and he acknowledged that Dayton was one school that has already reached out to him. He said he’s talked to assistant coach Kevin Kuwik, who was instrumental in bringing Charles Cooke from the CAA to Dayton.
Along with Dayton, he told me that he’s heard from Arizona, Cal State-Bakersfield, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Miami, Nevada, Pitt, San Diego, Toledo, Utah State, and Vanderbilt.
Right now, he's in the listenting stages of his transfer process. He’ll sit out the 2016-2017 season and have two years of eligibility remaining beginning in the fall of 2017.
DALONTE BROWN
As we all know already, 2017 is an important and pivotal recruiting class at the University of Dayton. There will be at least four scholarships available, and they're four VERY important pieces that need to be replaced. Dayton will graduate Scoochie Smith, Kyle Davis, Charles Cooke, and Kendall Pollard at the conclusion of the 2016-2017 season.
They’ve been recruiting 2017 really hard since they received a commitment from Trey Landers and only had eyes on a handful of 2016 recruits until recently. It may take some time for the pledge to happen, but in my opinion, they’re pretty close to securing a commitment from Bowsher forward Dalonte Brown.
The top Toledo prospect was a guest at UD for the regular season finale win over VCU that gave Dayton a share of the Atlantic 10 title. Before the game even began, he made a social media post that said the visit had him thinking about committing already.
I traded some texts with him this week when he told me that he’s been thinking about committing a lot lately. After averaging a double-double this season, he’s bound to blow-up in the EYBL playing for All-Ohio Red.
EXEMPT TOURNAMENTS
Dayton had a strong November, particularly their second place finish in Orlando. The AdvoCare Invitational provided Dayton with two of their top non-conference wins with the victories over Iowa and Monmouth. It’s already been announced that they’ll play in Anaheim at the other Disney destination spot on the left coast next season.
The field for the Wooden Legacy tournament includes Cal State-Northridge, Dayton, Nebraska, New Mexico, Portland, Texas A&M, UCLA, and Virginia Tech.
These tournaments have become so huge for college basketball programs in order to show the NCAA selection committee they can beat good teams on a neutral floor. It’s the entire reason why Syracuse was in the tournament, quite frankly. Sorry to bring them up, but it’s the truth, and their performance in the Battle 4 Atlantis exempt tournament may be the reason they got in and are headed to possibly a regional final with a win tonight.
From what I am told, in the 2017-2018 season, Dayton will participate in the Charleston Classic. The following season, they’ll be going to the Bahamas for Battle 4 Atlantis. Finally, I’m hearing in the 2019-2020 season, the team is expected to head back to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.
Some exciting times for the Dayton basketball program and how ESPN views this program and really how the nation is viewing this program under Archie Miller.
CLOSING
That does it for this edition of the War Room. The season didn't end the way we all had hoped, and a golden opportunity was missed in the Midwest Regional. These guys shouldn't have anything taken away from them though. For really the first time ever as a program, Dayton wasn't sweating on Selection Sunday as an at-large. That's a credit to what they did for the first 24 games of the season. I left Saint Louis thinking about how this team wasn't playing with the confidence in March that we had seen the past couple of seasons. March is about feeling good about yourself and the team, and it just wasn't the case. These guys will rebound, they always have. The trip to Spain is going to be great for the development of the younger players and this team.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support and a formal welcome to those new subscribers to the site. It's all of you that make this the best place to talk FlyerHoops all year round! Finally, Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter to everyone!
