As the Flyers slowly and expectedly pulled away from the Western Carolina Catamounts Saturday evening at UD Arena for their ninth win in 10 games, the expectation part was the most important ingredient to victory. Like many of the wins this year, the game was close in the second half against a team sportswriters figured to offer limited resistance. Unlike many of the losses last year, UD looked competent and composed in the second half despite the close score. Fans love to compare other teams and daisy-chain margin of victory in order to gauge progress, but those metrics don’t hold a lot of weight when you’re making comparisons to a team that treats opponents like they are visiting the dentist. What the wins lack in glamour and style, they make up for in sheer numbers. A .900 winning percentage has a way of doing that.

If fans are expecting a few cakewalks to catch up with the Law of Averages as the season continues, I wouldn’t count on it. Brian Gregory’s team remains a ball club more dangerous than the sum of the individual parts where teamwork, toughness, and perseverance usually decide the outcome. The Flyers have only one shoo-in All-Conference player in Brian Roberts, don’t shoot the three-pointer particularly well, have few low-post options in the halfcourt offense, and struggle at the FT line far too often. Those weaknesses will keep most of the games close all season no matter the opponent. At the same time, Dayton has an edge in toughness, quickness, and overall team defense that has a way of wearing teams down in the second half. This is why UD continues to win; this is why a 30-minute office visit to the dentist feels like three hours. Time and space lose structure and so too have Flyer opponents when the game reaches the waning moments. The Flyer root canal takes shape with around six minutes to go, and when the anesthesia wears off, opponents wake up on the bus cuddling their duffel bags after another Dayton victory.

While UD’s margin of victory is meaningless, their margin of error remains relatively small. Let’s not fall into the trap of believing Dayton’s record alone should earn us a spot in the nation’s Top-20. The Flyers are not a good TV team. Good TV teams are Arizona and North Caorlina and Gonzaga that get up and down the floor, shoot a million three pointers, and have high-flying dunks every other trip down the court. Those programs are runway models, not small-practice dentists in a mid-sized metropolitan market yanking teeth with grandpappy’s rusty pliers. Dayton doesn’t play a sexy brand of basketball and we all know sex sells.

Winning will get Dayton in the NCAA tournament even if it doesn’t register with weekly pollsters. That’s the goal and if the Flyers continue to rack up victories while flying under the radar, it’s probably the best scenario for a postseason bid fans can hope for. With fewer chances to disappoint the national media, there are fewer chances to fall out of their good graces too. So as other teams jump in and out of the Top-25 over the course of the next six weeks, Dayton should stay focused on collecting as many wins as possible because victories — not victory margin — will determine UD’s postseason fate.

Piling up wins is easier said than done however. The schedule gets tougher. Miami University is next and the Redhawks never make it easy for Dayton. Beyond Miami are Top-10 foes Pittsburgh and North Carolina on the road. The conference season gets underway when UD returns home against underachieving but dynamically explosive Charlotte. None of the games will be easy, but UD still has a chance to stay ahead of the curve because the early portion of A10 schedule is stuffed with winnable games at home and on the road. Momentum is a key ingredient to success and as long as the Flyers don’t find themselves in an extended losing streak, there may be enough mojo (and cushion) to survive the last seven games of the year in decent position for a postseason bid.

The victory over Western Carolina just underscores how hard Dayton must work for every win. Nothing comes easy and that’s unlikely to change. This is hardly the most talented team in the A10, nevermind the most explosive. But it might be the mentally toughest. When things get tight, UD has stepped up time and again. Granted, it’s much easier to step up at home so it remains to be seen if UD has what it takes to win on the road. Should that be the case however, Brian Gregory’s patchwork team of tweeners, grinders, and occasional star performers could prove to preseason projectionists that basketball isn’t an exact science. Things like chemistry and timing are just as important and those ingredients are hard to quantify.

What Dayton lacks in veteran talent, they are making up for in those two aforementioned categories. Players are giving unselfishly for the team with a disregard to stat lines and headlines. Norman Plummer is approaching full stride again. Andres Sandoval is taking care of the ball while Brian Roberts takes care of the scoring. Charles Little is attacking the rim to draw fouls. Marcus Johnson is crashing the boards. Monty Scott is blocking shots and making clutch baskets of his own. Everybody is embracing a commitment to defending in numbers with timely help where help is needed.

No, it’s not Gregory’s most talented team, but it might be the most resilient based on early indications. It might also be his best coaching job yet. The team is a field study in roles and relationships, but all of the players are embracing the opportunity to have a small hand in the bridgework. It’s tag-team dentistry, but it’s paying off to the tune of endless smiles thus far.