UD basketball to get big exposure in tournament

Next game:

Who: Dayton (2-1) vs. Wake Forest (3-0)

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Where: Old Spice Classic, Orlando, Fla.

TV: ESPN2

Radio: WHIO-AM (1290)

UD: Regular-season tournaments

(Since 1970)

Senior forward Luke Fabrizius has played in a regular-season exempt tournament every year he’s been at the University of Dayton. He’ll look back on those events as some of the best moments of his career.

The Chicago Invitational Challenge during his freshman season was memorable not only because the Flyers beat Auburn and Marquette to win the title, but also because they stayed near his home in Arlington Heights, Ill., and his parents hosted the team for a meal.

He also was a big factor off the bench for the Flyers in a credible showing at the Puerto Rico Tip-off Classic two years ago when they beat Georgia Tech and were competitive in losses to Villanova and Kansas State.

“Those tournaments are really, really special to us,” Fabrizius said. “It’s over Thanksgiving break, so we’re not missing classes. It’s time to relax and have a good time with the team.”

The Flyers will participate in another regular-season tourney at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., this week. And while the prospect of hanging out together in a sunny locale is appealing to the players, that’s certainly not their primary objective.

“Obviously, we’re going down there for a business trip,” Fabrizius said. “We’re going down there to win.”

Playing in exempt tournaments has become important to the Flyers because it gives them a crack at schools from the six power conferences without resorting to playing only in hostile venues. Those teams schedule few nonleague road games, and getting them at a neutral site helps to level the playing field.

The Flyers also are careful to choose only ESPN-run events or those that get wall-to-wall coverage from the network because it puts them on national TV, usually in prime time. They’ll open with Wake Forest at 7 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2, and their other two games in the tourney will be on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Arizona State, Fairfield, DePaul, Minnesota, Texas Tech and Indiana State round out the field.

“It’s not just the competition — it’s exposure. It’s being on national television,” UD coach Archie Miller said. “You can’t help but watch the games at Coaches vs. Cancer, Puerto Rico or Maui.”

“Being on that stage is what college basketball is about. We’re going to be involved in these for as many years as we can. Being in Orlando for the Old Spice is a great one to be in. It’s a great field, a great trip for us, and we want to go down there and represent ourselves well.”

The Flyers are playing next season in the Charleston Classic along with St. John’s, Boston College, Baylor and Colorado. In 2013, they’ll play in the Maui Invitational. Syracuse and Maryland reportedly have agreed to be part of that event.

“We want to be a program at some point in time where they don’t label you for what league you’re in. They label you for who you are. And we have to play the best and have to beat the best,” Miller said. “If we go down (to Orlando) and beat one of them on national television, it does nothing but help you.”

ESPN runs five of the 15 or so significant exempt tournaments, including the Old Spice Classic, Charleston and Puerto Rico. Clint Overby, senior director of events at the network, said ESPN has developed a strong relationship with UD officials, which is why the Flyers consistently show up at regular-season tournaments.

“We cast a pretty wide net,” Overby said of filling the fields. “We look for competitive balance, teams that travel well (bring fans) because of the atmosphere and a compelling program, and Dayton fits all the criteria very well.”

The NCAA allows teams to play either 29 regular-season games or 27 games plus an exempt tournament. And most teams are opting for the latter.

Ten of the 14 schools in the Atlantic 10 are playing in exempt events this season.

“It’s so hard scheduling right now and trying to get BCS teams,” A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade said. “The big challenge is BCS teams won’t come to our arenas. It’s not just the A-10. It’s any non-BCS arena. To go to these multi-team events where you can at least play some great competition on a neutral court is the next-best thing to getting them on your home court.

“They’re great exposure for the teams. They’re great exposure for the student-athletes. If you can get into that many households early, sort of create momentum — and especially when you’re good — all of a sudden the media and the (NCAA) selection committee start talking about your early success because they’ve seen you on television.”

The Flyers seem to take a nothing-to-lose attitude into these neutral site games against marquee foes, and that mindset tends to have positive results. Playing against 18th-ranked Villanova in Puerto Rico two years ago, they cut an 18-point deficit to two in the closing minutes before falling, 71-65. Fabrizius made five 3-pointers to fuel the rally.

“They’re fun games to play,” Fabrizius said. “When you’re playing on national television, you’ve got everyone back home watching, but you have to take the approach that it’s just any other team. You can’t get too low, you can’t get too high.

“Coach Miller talks about being steady. That’s definitely what we have to do going down there.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.