It’s for the very best of causes, but Xavier and Dayton will finally respark a rivalry.
The Xavier Musketeers and Dayton Flyers have played each other 161 times since 1920. They’ve played through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. They played six months after man walked on the moon the first time and they played two weeks after the US elected its first black president. The rivalry has spanned generations and a seismic shift in the world. What it didn’t span was the most successful era of Xavier basketball.
The last time the teams met in the regular season was 2013. The last time they met at all was in 2015, when Xavier absolutely embarrassed the Flyers 90-61 at the Advocare Invitational. Dayton has famously not won at Xavier since before most of the people reading and all of the people writing on this page were born. That rivalry ended when Xavier moved to the Big East. The official story was that X just didn’t have room on the schedule for Dayton after the change. Unofficial stories range from the Dayton fans reprehensible treatment of the Mack family to any other host of stories from the factual to the conspiratorial. Regardless, one of the great rivalries of the game currently lies dormant.
There is some stirring now, though. UD is hosting a scrimmage between the teams on October 20th. The game will be the centerpiece to a community engagement event focused on mental health and suicide prevention in young people.
Dayton Coach Anthony Grant and his wife Chris strive to “bring purpose to the pain” from their family’s tragedy by helping mothers, fathers, teens, and young adults find the resources to help. Their daughter Jay died in 2022 at the age of 20 as a result of mental illness.
“Every day we are moved and inspired by generosity and support from others. At the top of that list is CareSource. CareSource has been our lead partner from day one and joined our cause on supporting mental health in immeasurable ways. Their impact on our community has been extraordinary. I also want to express my heartfelt thanks to Sean Miller and Xavier for their sincere interest in this event,” Grant said. ”For longtime rivals to join forces on this game as an effort to help raise awareness, generate conversation, and increase access to mental health services in Ohio and beyond, speaks volumes to the importance of this issue.”
Xavier will make its first appearance at UD Arena since March of 2014, when the Musketeers played in the First Four.
“Raising awareness and increasing access to mental health services needs to be a priority nationwide,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “We are excited to partner with the University of Dayton and CareSource on this initiative to shed light on this issue that impacts lives in Southwest Ohio and across our entire country.”
There will be a notable lack of menace in this game, as there should be. A community event for suicide prevention is not the time or place for a game that lingers on the knife edge of a fight. It will still be good to see blue and red back on the court together. Hopefully this is the first step in changing minds and getting this game back in the regular season rotation.