When classes begin at the University of Dayton in August, the men's basketball team will waste no time beginning preparations for the 2006-07 season. Over Labor Day weekend, coach Brian Gregory will take the team, including four newcomers, on a four-day trip to Toronto, Ontario, where the Flyers will play two exhibition games. 

NCAA Division I teams are permitted to take a foreign trip every four years. The Flyers went to Spain in 1997 and to Australia in 2001.

This destination is not as glamorous as the others, but the real value of the trip is that the team is permitted to practice for 10 days before leaving. Because it is during the school year, NCAA rules permit freshmen and transfers to participate. The incoming players were not permitted to accompany the team on the trips to Spain and Australia, which were taken in the spring.

Classes for UD's fall semester begin on Aug. 21. The freshmen move in on Aug. 17. The trip to Canada will not require the players to miss any classes.

In addition to eight returning players, Dayton will have three freshmen — Kurt Huelsman of St. Henry, Marcus Johnson of Akron and London Warren of Jacksonville, Fla. — and junior college transfer Andres Sandoval of Atlanta, Ga., who is attending Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Fla.

Gregory said most of the veteran players are attending the first session of summer school, which began Saturday. The entire team, including newcomers, will attend the second session, which begins on June 24.

Women's basketball

Vera Jones, who spent two seasons as an assistant on Jim Jabir's UD coaching staff, has left UD to join the staff at Indiana University where she will work with former Syracuse University teammate Felisha Legette-Jack.

IU hired Legette-Jack, head coach at Hofstra the last four years, on April 19.