Dayton Flyers

Jan. 14, 2008

• ESPN.com MBB Page
• Top 25 Polls

  The Dayton Flyer men's basketball team moved up in both major Top 25 Polls this week. UD rose to its highest ranking in 40 years behind the strong play of senior All-America candidate Brian Roberts who is included in another ESPN.com Poll this week.

  Dayton is 14th in the AP Poll and 18th in this week's ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll after wins over Rhode Island and Saint Louis to begin its Atlantic 10 Conference season. The Flyers are one of three ranked teams from the Atlantic 10 Conference along with last week's opponent, URI (23, AP/21, Coaches) and Xavier (20/20).

  The last time that the Flyers were ranked as high as 14th in the AP Poll was the 1967-1968 season. UD started the season ranked No. 6 in the Poll. Dayton's best ever ranking came in the 1955-1956 campaign when UD played the entire season as a Top 10 team and played 12 games as the No. 2 team in the nation.

  UD is in the midst of a 13-game winning streak which is the program's longest unbeaten stretch since tallying 14 consecutive victories from the end of the 1961-1962 season to the start of the following campaign. It is the ninth longest winning streak in the history of the program and the fourth longest active streak in the nation.

  The Flyer men's and women's basketball teams have combined to win 29 consecutive games as the UD women have won 15 consecutive games of their own. The duo has the best combined winning streak in the nation, four ahead of North Carolina.

  Senior point guard Brian Roberts took home his third Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honor and his second in the past three weeks on Sunday. His consistent play has "The Most Efficient Guard in the Country" listed in an ESPN.com Poll asking "Who has been the `Big Man on Campus' so far this season?" Others listed in the Poll are Michael Beasley (Kansas State), Eric Gordon (Indiana), Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina) and Kevin Love (UCLA).

  The Toledo St. John's graduate is the only player in the Atlantic 10 to be in the league's top 10 in eight statistical categories. Roberts is third in scoring (20.1), fifth in assists (4.5), third in FT% (.875, 63-72), sixth in FG% (.500, 97-194), seventh in 3-pt. FG% (.458, 44-96), fifth in 3-pt. FG's per game (2.9), eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.66) and seventh in minutes played (34.2).

  No. 14/18 Dayton returns to action at UD Arena on Wednesday against Atlantic 10 foe Massachusetts. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET in a game that will feature the Flyers in alternate jerseys on FREE live video and audio at www.DaytonFlyers.com. The contest will also be broadcast in the Dayton area on WHIO Radio (95.7 FM & 1290 AM).