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‘Tu much Dillard’ just right for UD

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By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer Updated 11:29 PM Saturday, January 21, 2012

Before Saturday’s game with Xavier, University of Dayton officials confiscated any signs Flyer fans tried to bring into UD Arena that they felt painted Musketeer players in a bad light.

They gave a pass to Oakwood High School senior Max Snyder and three buddies because on this day they carried the truth.

And late in the game, from a couple of rows behind the bench, there stood Max waving a poster board that read: “Tu Much Dillard.”

Before the ESPN-televised game, the bulk of the talk was on Xavier’s Tu Holloway, last year’s Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, a preseason All-America pick who everyone agreed was one of the best point guards in the country.

By the time the TV cameras zeroed in on Snyder’s sign at game’s end, Holloway was an afterthought.

Dayton point guard Kevin Dillard had stolen the show.

From the opening tip, the  6-foot junior had set the tone and let his teammates know he could handle whatever Xavier had in store for him. Along with scoring, he’d be getting them the ball either deep inside or open on the wing so they could do the same.

And that’s just what he did as Dayton kept Xavier at bay the entire game, winning 87-72 in front of a raucous, red-clad crowd of 13,435 — UD Arena’s 100th sellout.

This was the first Xavier game in which Dillard played. A transfer from Southern Illinois University, he sat out last season as the NCAA demands. He watched the first two games against the Muskies — both UD losses in which Holloway pretty much did what he wanted — in street clothes from behind the Flyers bench. The third game, at the Atlantic 10 tournament in Atlantic City, a one-point UD win, he didn’t travel with the team and watched on TV with fans at Buffalo Wild Wings on Brown Street.

“It’s a different experience on that side of the screen,” he admitted. “Today the building was really energized.. It was rocking from wall to wall and before the game, you know those little bumps you get on your arm? Well I had ’em. I had goosebumps.”

In “making a mountain out of a molehill” fashion, what started as little bumps ended with the game’s MVP trophy as Dillard finished with 16 points, nine assists, three rebounds and a steal.

Although Holloway did finish with 21 points, most of his scoring came late in the game when UD had control of the contest.

Afterward both head coaches sang Dillard’s praises.

“No. 1 it starts with Dillard,” Xavier’s Chris Mack said. “Archie made the comment before the game that (Dillard) is probably more the MVP of his team than any other player (on any team) in the conference and I have to agree with that.

“He’s just so crafty. They put the ball in his hands a lot and whether it’s hitting (Matt) Kavanaugh on the roll or throwing it back (to the perimeter) because they always have three shooters on the floor, he is the key.”

Miller echoed those thoughts: “If you took him off our team we would be devastated more (than any other team losing a player). The amount of responsibility he has on his shoulders far exceeds any player in the conference. He has to score, play 38 minutes, pass the ball, play as fast as I ask him, guard people, make the right play every time, make free throws at the end of the game. ... He is a true point guard.

“And when he completely buys in to what he has to do on defense, he’ll be the total package.”

And if you are watching what’s happening with this Flyers bunch, you’ve got to believe that will happen.

Miller has taken a team short on bodies and all-conference talent and gotten it to play far beyond anyone’s expectations.

Two perfect examples are Matt Kavanaugh and Ralph Hill, both relegated to the end of the bench in years past.

Kavanaugh — who has started every game in this 14-5 season — scored 20 points and had nine rebounds Saturday. Hill, who only played 23 minutes all of last year, played 12 minutes in crunch time against Xavier, got five rebounds, four points and had an assist. And after the game Miller brought him up in front of the team in the postgame dressing room and commended him.

“Archie has done an amazing job with this team this year,” Mack said afterward. “They play a lot different than they did a year ago.”

Dillard agreed: “It’s Archie Miller. He has completely turned this program around and has given everyone confidence. He puts us in position to make the plays we can make. ... I can say he’s the best coach I ever had in my life. He’s helping me do a lot of things out there this year.”

So much so that on this day Max Snyder’s sign spoke nothing but the truth.

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