Now that Flyer fans have the Dayton mens basketball schedule in hand, it’s time for that annual pilgrimage to the supervisor’s office to set up camp and wait in line for the company’s season tickets down in the posh 100 section of the UD Arena. You bring your sleeping bag, food supplies (you even start scalping your Twizzlers), and Garfield night light in the hopes of being one of the first cubicle runts to stake your claim on all the profile games, leaving everyone else to fight over Morehead State and Prairie View. You are a committed fan – probably too committed – and even the annoyance of the Night Janitor’s vacuum blazing guns next to your skull does nothing to persuade you to give up your spot and go home. All those years of practice hoping to snag front-row seats to those Jethro Tull concerts are finally paying off.So here we are, after a lengthy silence, the Flyer Faithful at last have a basketball schedule to plan their winter months around as the university recently made available the 2000-01 lineup for Oliver Purnell’s club.

What did we learn from all this? Not a whole lot.

Flyer fans have known Dayton’s tentative opposition for months, including the entire non-conference schedule that filtered from the U. as summer began. Everything held form as all the previously-mentioned teams scheduled to battle the Flyers are still around. Non-conference tilts with Morehead State, Old Dominion, Prairie View A&M, Marshall, Cincinnati, Marquette, Louisville, St. Louis, Miami (OH), Siena, and the Maui Invitational were all known commodities and should come as no surprise. What the recently-released schedule did tell us however is which Atlantic-10 teams Dayton will play once or twice. The early indication is that Dayton has a tough road to hoe and received no favors from the scheduling powers-that-be. But then again, every institution in the conference probably feels the same way.

The Flyers should have a tougher go of it this year as perennial A-10 contenders UMass and Temple appear twice on the schedule for the first time ever. Throw in double-dips with upstarts St. Joseph’s and Fordham – two teams that could do major damage in the league this season – and the challenge that lies ahead seems daunting. Let’s also not forget the annual two-game set with Xavier.On the other side of the coin, Dayton catches a break by playing George Washington just once, a game slated for the UD Arena. Dayton also plays St. Bonaventure just once, but it’s in Olean, NY, which is never a good thing. Of the three weakest teams in the Atlantic-10 (LaSalle, Rhode Island, Duquesne), only Duquesne is on the schedule twice.Clearly, the strength-of-schedule is there to boost those precious RPI points and milk an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the Dayton Flyers, but there’s an equal number of potential losses on the ledger to ruin a winning percentage and have fans from other schools pointing the finger at why Dayton should stay home and watch. Good or bad, it shouldn’t take 21 regular season victories to make the NCAA Tournament this year. Nineteen or 20 wins should do it if the Flyers earn a bye in the A-10 Tourney and make the semifinals, provided they still beat Xavier and avoid bad losses during the year. Unlike last year, Dayton is a better-known commodity now and may receive the benefit of the doubt for past success.

Before the Faithful start packing for the tournament however, a lot must happen between now and March. The first 10 games of the 2000-01 schedule are as tough as any in recent memory – at least as far back as the early 90s when former Flyer Head Coach Jim O’Brien lined up Tennessee (Allen Houston), Vanderbilt (Billy McCaffrey), and Michigan State (Shawn Respert).The Flyers return to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational, the same event that sparked the downslide of Dayton hoops when the Oklahoma Sooner combination of Billy Tubbs, Stacey King, and Mookie Blaylock lathered the Flyers 151-99. A victory over Div-II Chaminade was the only consolation after getting schooled by Montana State 76-62 in the same tournament. This year, the field is considered the finest ever assembled for a preseason/holiday tournament as #1 Arizona, Top-10 Illinois and Maryland, and potential Top-25 UNLV, Louisville, UConn, and Dayton all made the 1999 NCAA Tournament. While Chaminade appears to be walking into a slaughterhouse, they did post the greatest upset in hoops history in the same tournament – a stunning win over #1 Virginia (and two-time NCAA Player of the Year Ralph Sampson) in 1984.

On the flight home, Purnell has perennial goliath Cincinnati as well as Marquette, St. Louis, Marshall, Louisville, and Miami (OH) – all of whom might crack the Top-25 or make the NCAA Tournament. Old Dominion should bounce back as well. The only ‘gimmes’ on the schedule appear to be Prairie View A&M, Morehead State, Rhode Island, LaSalle, and Duquesne twice. In short, the schedule is a doozie, but it’s one Flyer fans deserve in exchange for Arena Seating Contributions and increased ticket prices – even if several of the marquee games are outside the friendly confines.Predictions will come later – much later – after UDPride is certain that the roster is set and at least one exhibition game has come and gone. Anything can happen between now and then, and, considering the developments in recent times, will probably hold true to form. The 2000-01 Dayton basketball team is still an unknown quantity, a quantity good enough to be truly great and uncertain enough to take on a leak of Titantic proportions like 1998-99. Things look reasonably sound on paper, but it takes more than that – as you’ve learned from standing in line for those Jethro Tull tickets.