Six more well-deserved persons were named to the Basketball Hall of Fame last week, without a Tom Blackburn or Don Donoher among them. 

What a shame.

Those were the two coaches who made the University of Dayton  basketball program, and while you might scoff at that and ask, "So what exactly is the Dayton program?" I'd answer when they were coaching, quite a lot.

Blackburn coached the Flyers 17 seasons until his untimely cancer-linked death near the end of the 1964 season. His teams won 20 or more games 10 times, appeared in one NCAA and 10 NITs when the NIT was the tournament to attend. His 1962 team won the NIT. He also directed five runner-up finishes.

Donoher took over for the last three games of 1964 and kept the good times rolling. He lasted 25 seasons, compiled a 437-275 record (Blackburn's was 352-141) and went to eight NCAAs and seven NITs.

The Flyers were runner up in the 1967 NCAA championship and NIT champs the next season — again while the NIT was still a big-time event.

Donoher's teams won 20 or more games eight times, developed more than enough character along the way, and he was well-respected by his peers. Hall of Famer Bobby Knight, not always one for good judgment, is right on the mark counting Donoher as one of his best friends.

Not to belittle anyone who followed Donoher, the Flyers have never quite been the same since he left.

He should be in the Hall of Fame. Blackburn, too.