Dayton coach Archie Miller knows what it’s like to be at high-major basketball programs and field calls from schools like UD looking for a home-and-away series.

Miller, who helped out with scheduling while working as an assistant at Arizona, Ohio State, Arizona State and North Carolina State, wouldn’t be impolite during those discussions, but his answer was always the same.

“When Dayton calls, and I’m at Arizona, we’re not playing that game. That’s something we’re not doing,” he said.

Having come from that background, Miller understands the skittishness about facing the Flyers.

“It doesn’t make sense for them (to risk) losing at Dayton. There’s a stigma attached to losing to an Atlantic 10 team on the road that makes people say, ‘Did you see they lost at Dayton?’ “ Miller said.

“It’s perceived as a bad loss. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that. But there’s that stigma with your fans and your boosters. ‘Why go to Dayton and lose? We can go to Nebraska and lose, and at least it’s going to look like a power-conference loss.’ “

Miller and his staff are on the other side of those conversations now. And while they don’t get frustrated by repeated rejections, they’d prefer not having to work so hard to bring top-notch opponents to UD Arena.

The Flyers conclude a streak of three straight home-and-away series games with a clash at Southern Cal on Sunday. They split with Illinois State and Murray State at home last week.

They also finished a home-and-away series with a win at Alabama and were victorious in their annual clash with Miami earlier this month.

The Flyers would want all of their series games to be against schools from high-major conferences. But Illinois State reached the NIT in four of the last year years, and Murray State, which agreed to a 2-for-1 arrangement (two road games, one at home), has gone 31-2, 23-9 and 31-5 the last three seasons while twice advancing in the NCAA tourney.

“It’s difficult to get that high-major series all the time,” Miller said. “We’ve worked really hard, and if you don’t get that series — I look at Illinois State, who is going to finish one, two or three in the Missouri Valley Conference. At the end of the day, why isn’t it better to play them than Ole Miss, for instance, who we played last year? It’s the same quality (opponent). It’s a good series for us.”

The Flyers were able to attract three BCS programs to UD Arena last season when Seton Hall, Mississippi and Alabama all visited, which is evidence the program is growing in stature and shedding that label of being a potential bad loss, at least for mid-pack BCS teams.

Another positive sign is that Alabama-Birmingham, which earned an at-large berth to the NCAA tourney two years ago, is willing to play at Dayton on Jan. 5 without demanding a home game in return.

The Flyers’ series games in 2006-07 were against SMU, Louisville, Holy Cross, Creighton, Miami and Pittsburgh. The “home game” with Louisville, though, had to be played at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati because that’s as close as the Cardinals would come to UD. And the Pitt series wouldn’t have happened without Dayton native Jeff Long, the Panthers’ athletic director then, being willing to provide his hometown team with a marquee game.

Bill Comar, the director of basketball operations, is the point person for scheduling, although even AD Tim Wabler has a hand in it. Discussions are taking place throughout the season, but most non-league games are nailed down between the end of the season in March and mid-summer, leaving a small window to get things done.

Wabler said UD consistently targets BCS teams to gauge their interest.

“It’s very difficult to get them,” he said. “Essentially, they all like to hold off until after the current season to be able to even have those conversations. But by that time, you’ve had to take some games on your schedule for next year. And every game you take, you eliminate yourself because dates are off the table now.

“You try to hold them open as much as you can, and it’s a balancing act of having a good, quality schedule versus holding out for something you really, really want but have nobody on the hook for.”

Miller said the Flyers are having discussions Purdue about a series but haven’t solidified anything yet. They’ll have Southern Cal and Murray State at home and Illinois State on the road next year. They currently don’t have a contract to play Miami, and the future of the rivalry is uncertain. That leaves two spots currently open for series games.

Miller has contacts with the likes of Arizona and Ohio State, but he knows not to even bother with initiating discussions.

“You have to be at the extreme high level for what those guys are trying to accomplish. They’re trying to lose (only) at Florida,” he said.

“But I also think there’s an opportunity with the USC’s of the world. They need a great non-conference schedule. They’ll play anyone, anywhere. You can always find those people willing to go out.”