In Dayton, basketball helps heal the wounds
As title aspirations grow, the Flyers are a welcome distraction in a city heartbroken by a mass shooting, tornadoes.
“This is real. They believe it to their core that they’re playing for their city.”
Neil Sullivan University of Dayton athletics director
Tragedy darkened the city of Dayton, Ohio, last year. In late May, 15 tornadoes devastated the area, leaving more than 200 injured. In August, a shooter on a crowded street killed nine people and wounded 27 others.
That heartbreak and adversity have brought the mourning community closer. One gathering place has been at The University of Dayton Arena where a college basketball team has been doing its part to help a community heal.
“It’s been a safe haven where you can come and put your worries behind you for 40 minutes,” said Johanna Limberg, a Flyers season ticket holder for 54 years. Her childhood neighborhood was wiped away by tornadoes. “Through the tragedies, there’s a special connection with the team and the players.”
The feeling is mutual.
“Every time we go out on the court, we think about the hard times they’ve gone through. And we just go out there
and play for that, play for everybody,” Dayton forward Obi Toppin told USA TODAY Sports.
Toppin and his teammates wear wristbands around campus that read, “Dayton Strong” on one and the dates – 5.27 and 8.04 – of each tragedy on the other. “It’s our way of showing what they mean to us and who we’re playing for, what we’re motivated by,” he said.
Dayton seniors Trey Landers and Ryan Mikesell were in the city’s Oregon District a few miles from campus on the day of the shooting, both so close they could hear the shots.
“They’ve felt the tragedies just as we have and it’s brought everybody closer,” Limberg said. “You can see that’s happened with the team with how they play for each other and the community.”
The Midwestern, post-industrial city loves its college basketball. It’s part of the reason why the NCAA tournament’s opening round has remained in Dayton for the last two decades and hosted more tournament games (125) than any other venue in the country.
And this year the hometown Flyers’ rim-rattling roster has become a nationally relevant team that Dayton athletics director Neil Sullivan believes is “playing for something greater.”
“This is real. They believe it to their core that they’re playing for their city,” Sullivan told USA TODAY Sports.
Dayton has risen to No. 3 in the Coaches Poll and is in the mix to be a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday. (The school’s highest prior seed was No. 4 in 2003). The Flyers (29-2, 18-0) clinched the Atlantic 10 regular-season title outright two weeks ago and their two losses came in overtime to No. 1 Kansas and Colorado. The team leads the country in field goal percentage at 52.5% and ranks fourth nationally in assists (17.6). That’s likely because a majority of Dayton’s points are off dunks and alley-oops (the team leads the nation with 15% of its 2point attempts being dunks and Toppin has dunked over 100 times this season).
Toppin is the face of the Flyers as a national player of the year front-runner. A versatile and athletic 6-9 forward who can step outside the arc, the redshirt sophomore has ascended on NBA mock draft boards to be considered a projected lottery pick.
“None of this is possible without my teammates, they’re the reason I’m here,” said Toppin.
Six players have led the team in game scoring this season.
“Everyone is locked in on one goal – and that’s winning in March,” Toppin said. “Our greatest strength is that we’re not just one guy, we’ve got so many tools with guys who can shoot, play D, pass, role players who do the dirty work . ... When you love each other and trust each other, it shows on the court.
“That’s what makes us such a dangerous team. We believe we can beat any team in the country.”
Toppin says a Wooden Award means little if his team isn’t cutting down the nets in April in Atlanta. That’s the goal for this team – hardly a typical college basketball blueblood expected to be a Final Four threat at the start of 2019-20.
“To the casual fans, they’re used to the Dukes, Kentuckys and North Carolinas – and not some mid-major coming out of nowhere. They can be shocked, but we believed we were capable of winning a national championship since the summer when we were putting the work in,” said Landers, a four-year guard born and raised in Dayton who played at nearby Wayne High School.
Landers is the team’s vocal leader and hometown hero. He played his freshman season under former coach Archie Miller (now Indiana’s head coach), who helped put Dayton back on the map as a college basketball school with an Elite Eight run as a No. 11 seed in 2014.
Dayton head coach Anthony Grant knows the community well from his playing days – when he helped lead the Flyers to the Elite Eight in 1984. He returned to his alma mater with an established coaching pedigree. He helped elevate Virginia Commonwealth University into the national conversation in the late 2000s before its eventual Final Four run under Shaka Smart, spearheading a 2007 first-round upset of Duke.
Grant next spent a six-year tenure at Alabama – where he went 117-85 – before being fired in 2015. Then, after a season in the NBA as an assistant for the Thunder, Grant returned to the college game to replace Miller.
“What this team means to this community is bigger than wins and losses,” said Grant, 53. “I’m not focusing on all the recognition and predictions. I’m making sure we keep our eye on the ball and are taking care of what’s in the present, what’s real and in front of us.”
Junior guard Jalen Crutcher, Toppin’s roommate and team leader in assists, said while fans outside of Ohio know Toppin as the star, the Dayton community recognizes the rest of the roster.
“We’ll be at a restaurant or a WalMart together and people will tell us they’re proud of us,” Crutcher said. “With everything that the people of this community experienced in 2019 from the shooting to the tornadoes, it means a lot to us that we put Dayton on the map in 2020.”