With loss behind them, coaches get back to work
Miller begins prep for next season by choosing captains.
The Dayton men’s basketball coaches didn’t take much time off last week after their loss to Oklahoma in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Archie Miller was spotted in the stands watching Wayne High School, with two future Flyers in Xeyrius Williams and Trey Landers, play in the state final four Friday in Columbus. Miller said Thursday, on the day UD announced it had extended his contract through the 2021-22 season, the coaches planned to begin recruiting Monday.
Earlier in the week, however, Miller, his coaches and the players were decompressing after a long season.
“You try to get your team settled back into school,” Miller said. “That’s the biggest thing. We were all hurting after the Oklahoma game. I think we all knew we had an opportunity to advance to the Sweet 16.
“We just weren’t good enough to do it. But you can’t take away from the effort level, the togetherness and courage those guys all played with all season.”
Miller began preparing for the 2015-16 season by getting an early start on naming captains. On Wednesday, he used Twitter to announce he had named junior Dyshawn Pierre and the sophomore trio of Scoochie Smith, Kyle Davis and Kendall Pollard captains for the coming season.
Typically, the Flyers name captains just before the season. Last year, the players voted on captains. This time, Miller made the decision himself.
“I thought it was the perfect opportunity to set the tone for this offseason and summer,” he said. “They have to continue to get better and bring everybody else with them. With what they’ve been though, with the way they handled the season, they earned the right next to go into the season as the leaders of our team.”
With the announcement that junior forward Detwon Rogers has left the team and will transfer to another school, Miller said the Flyers have two scholarships open next season.
Miller said junior forward Bobby Wehrli will probably go back to walkon status, but said there’s always a chance he could earn a scholarship again if Dayton doesn’t use all its scholarships.
“If we can add (to the roster), we’ll add,” Miller said. “It would have to be the right guys. If we don’t, we don’t.”