WASHINGTON – As cliché as it sounds, a program’s success comes from a more complicated formula than simply wins and losses, something which Dayton epitomizes.
Fifth-year head coach Tamika Williams-Jeter has pushed throughout her time at Dayton to instill the culture she wants her team to represent. Fortunately for her, this year’s team has embraced that mentality right away.
“They know the language, the standard and are driving the bus a lot more,” Williams-Jeter noted to Field of 68’s Talia Goodman. “This is foreign to be able to keep a majority of the kids that can return. I think it’s a credit to every one of them. They’re magnets. They know when I bring a recruit in, I am going to ask them if they like this kid. It matters when you’re trying to win.”
Williams-Jeter leads a coaching staff that desires to build genuine relationships, which clearly means plenty to the team’s seven returning student athletes. From watching Love Island over the summer to putting in work in the weight room, the Flyers have established a familiar bond on and off the court.
“We’ve made big jumps every year,” observed Williams-Jeter. “We lost Jordan Poole and Maliyah (Johnson), two players we thought were going to contribute. People we thought were going to contribute at a high level really didn’t play last year. We still pulled off 17 wins. We want to pull off 20 wins, this is really the year we think we can do it.”
Dayton led for most of an A10 quarterfinal matchup against conference heavyweight George Mason last year, falling short thanks to a last-season buzzer beater from the Patriots. Senior guard/forward Ajok Madol believes that result has helped fuel her team for the upcoming season.
“Being that close, we were so devastated about that game, but now we know what we are capable of,” she established. “We know how much we want it, and we know the standard. The standard is always to win, and I think that now we established that early, so just when the season starts keeping that in mind is going to help us hopefully play in the postseason.”
Here is a look at the Flyers:
Coach – Tamika Williams-Jeter - 5
th season
Last year- Dayton went 17-14 overall and 9-9 in A10 play. The Flyers took down George Washington in the second round of the Betterment Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Tournament, but fell to No. 2 seed George Mason in the quarterfinals on a last-season putback.
They’ll miss- Nayo Lear (14.1 ppg/46.4% FG), Nicole Stephens (10.9 ppg/80.3% FT/104 assts), Maliyah Johnson (4.0 ppg)
Impact returners- Olivia Leung (8.7 ppg), Ajok Madol (7.8 ppg/5.5 rpg/40.5% FG), Fatima Ibrahim (7.3 ppg/6.5 rpg/60.7% FG/55 blks)
Newcomers of note- Cori Allen (6.5 ppg/4.4 rebs/1.8 spg @ Memphis), Sophie Swansin (2.3 ppg @ Virginia Tech), Brooke McLeod (freshman)
Reasons to be optimistic- Olivia Leung is Dayton’s top returning scorer, but her transformation extends beyond her ability to put up points. She continued to push herself to become a better leader, a trait aided by former Flyer Nicole Stephens.
Leung understands her status as one of the team’s veteran returners, and will employ tactics she learned over the last two summers playing for the Canadian national team.
On the court, she gets to the rim more effectively now in addition to finding her three-point shot, adding strength and improving defensively towards the end of last season.
Madol’s return is also crucial to the Flyers’ success. She reiterated that last season taught her how to own her role and become a leader and one of the glue pieces on the roster.
Williams-Jeter recruited size at the guard position, bringing in a pair of 5-foot-10 transfers in Cori Allen (Memphis) and Sophie Swansin (Virginia Tech).
X Factor- As the first Canadian under Williams-Jeter to commit to Dayton, Leung’s decision that has proved a game changer for the Flyers. A six-hour drive away from Toronto, Dayton watched closely as Leung’s Canadian teams began besting American squads.
When Madol, a highly-touted player from Western Canada province Saskatchewan, became interested in Dayton, Williams-Jeter used a unique approach to land the recruit. Knowing former UConn great Lindsey Whalen was Madol’s favorite basketball player, Williams-Jeter utilized her connections to get Whalen’s endorsement, a gesture that meant a lot to the young student-athlete.
Wiliams-Jeter named Canadian products M.G. Talle (Quebec) and freshman Brooke McLeod (Toronto) “Liv’s babies” for their attachment to Leung. All-defensive selection Fatima Ibrahim (Winnipeg) served as a dominant rim-protector since her arrival at Dayton.
“Experience matters, this is the place,” Williams-Jeter exclaimed.
Madol believes the Dayton’s three incoming freshman are “fearless and competitive”. London Johnson boasts positional size and with a knack for rebounding. Williams-Jeter believes McLeod could play an immediate role for the Flyers as well as first year Milee Smith, dubbed the “Pistol Pete of Chillicothe.”
Long story short, Williams-Jeter believes it will be difficult to keep her freshmen off the court.
Circle the date- Dayton’s opens the season on Nov. 5 against Illinois State, a team which fell in the WNIT championship game last season. The Flyers face St. John’s on Nov. 28 in the 4 Tha Culture Classic at Henrico Sports & Events Center, the site of March’s Betterment Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Bottom line- Dayton is hungry for another leap as a program and believes the relentless work in the offseason has put the Flyers in a position for that jump.
“We brought in players with high standards and the returners are proactive with winning ways,” Williams-Jeter wrapped up. “We are long, athletic, versatile, and every player we added can shoot, dribble and pass. We can play a bit more read-react and not be as play driven. We also have defensive length and rebounding.”
Zac Weiss is a college athletics beat writer for Pittsburgh Sports Now, primarily reporting on Duquesne Athletics. Across his career, he has covered over 1,000 A10 sporting events.