The 2014–15 Dayton Flyers men's basketball team represented the University of Dayton during the

2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November with the 2K Sports Classic and ended with the Final Four in Indianapolis April 4–6. Practices officially began on October 3. Season headlines * May 14 – The NCAA a ...

. The Flyers, led by fourth year head coach Archie Miller, played their home games at the University of Dayton Arena and were members of the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

. They finished the season 27–9, 13–5 in A-10 play to finish in a tie for second place. They advanced to the championship game of the A-10 tournament where they lost to VCU. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated Boise State in the First Four and Providence in the second round before losing in the third round to Oklahoma. When the Flyers were selected to play at home in the First Four, they became the first team since 1987 to play an NCAA Tournament game in their home arena. The NCAA made a rule in 1989 that no team could play a tournament game in their home arena. However, with UD Arena always hosting the First Four, Dayton is the only exception to the rule.

Previous season

The 2013–14 Dayton Flyers finished the season with an overall record of 26–11, with a record of 10–6 in the Atlantic 10 regular season for a tie for a fifth-place finish. In the 2014 Atlantic 10 tournament, the Flyers were defeated by Saint Joseph's, 70–67 in the quarterfinals. They received an at-large bid to the

2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 18, 2014, and concluded with the ...

which they upset Ohio State,

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and

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

in second and third rounds and the sweet sixteen before falling to Florida in the elite eight to end their Cinderella run.

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

Incoming recruits

Season synopsis

The Flyers entered the season with three players capable of playing as centers, but by the start of 2015, none of the three were available to the team. First, the NCAA declared incoming freshman Steve McElvene a "partial qualifier", rendering him ineligible for the entire 2014–15 season. Then, in December 2014, starting center

Devon Scott Devon Patricia Scott (born November 29, 1958) is a former American actress and daughter of actor/producer George C. Scott. She starred in the first season of ''The Tony Randall Show'', which ran from 1976 to 1978; she was replaced for the secon ...

and intended backup Jalen Robinson were dismissed from the team after allegedly being caught committing theft in a campus dormitory. Two other players were sidelined by injuries. Junior college transfer Detwon Rogers was lost for the season to a knee injury, and graduate transfer Ryan Bass quit basketball on medical advice due to post-concussion symptoms. These departures and injuries left Dayton with arguably the most limited roster, in both depth and physical size, in Division I. The Flyers played the bulk of their season with only six players who started the season on scholarships. In January 2015, Bobby Wehrli, who had begun the season as a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music * ''Walk On'', a 1994 album by Boston, and its title song Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album), 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album), 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album), 1992 *''Walk On'', a 2007 album by ...

, was given a scholarship, but only for the spring of 2015. No one left on the active roster, whether on scholarship or not, was taller than 6'6" (1.98 m). CBS Sports journalist Gary Parrish had this to say about the Flyers' roster limitations (emphasis in original):

"To put this into perspective, consider that Kentucky has ''seven'' scholarship players taller than ''6-8'', and that UK's starting ''backcourt'' ( Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison) is just as tall as Dayton's starting ''frontcourt'' (Dyshawn Pierre and Kendall Pollard)."

Despite these limitations, the Flyers remained in contention for the A10 title for most of the season, ultimately finishing second in the regular-season standings, and advanced to the A10 tournament final, losing there to VCU.

Roster

Schedule

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Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2014-15 Dayton Flyers Men's Basketball Team Dayton Flyers Men's Dayton Flyers men's basketball seasons Dayton 2014 in sports in Ohio 2015 in sports in Ohio