With a rich history and one of the most passionate fan bases in America, Dayton has been one of the more consistent mid-major programs this millennium. It has been a career launching pad with its three previous coaches parlaying their success at Dayton to high-major jobs elsewhere. This is part of the reason why the Dayton faithful are cherishing their recent success with Anthony Grant, a charismatic alumnus who returned to Dayton after head coaching stops at VCU, Alabama and most recently an assistant coaching job with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
As it stands, the pinnacle of Grant’s tenure is the “what if?” chapter in Dayton’s history: led by the high flying Obi Toppin, the 2019-2020 team won twenty straight games entering the tournament as, rather insultingly, a three-seed with Final Four aspirations, only to have the pandemic shut down the tournament before it ever started.
In the world or mid-major basketball, a team like the 2019-2020 Dayton Flyers feels like a temporary feat of magic and while the 2022-2023 roster is very different than the squad Grant led three seasons ago, there is a justified sense of giddiness amongst the fanbase with the Flyers penciled into the top-two of nearly every Atlantic 10 preseason poll.
This season, however, Dayton has more supporters outside the state of Ohio than usual: in June, Anthony Grant’s twenty-two-year-old daughter passed away, receiving treatment for mental health challenges prior to her passing. It was the second time Grant and his wife Christina have had to mourn the loss of a child, with their son Brandon dying weeks before his expected delivery date twenty-three years ago. With compassion, the greater basketball community and college basketball fans over the world hold a place in their heart for Grant and his family.
While most of this summer’s offseason overviews have focused on teams’ incoming talent, what makes Dayton so unique is how much talent they retain. Last season was the polar opposite: according to KenPom, Dayton averaged just 0.26 years of experience per player and its minutes continuity was almost 20% lower than the national average. The start of the season looked bleak with a 1-3 start and bad losses to UMass-Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin Peay, but the Flyers finished the season 23-8, earning an NIT bid, an impressive feat for a team with so much youth.
This season, Dayton returns 89% of last year’s scoring, led by its top seven minutes leaders. Arguably the most exciting returnee is four-star recruit DaRon Holmes, who finished high school basketball at the powerhouse Montverde Academy. According to 247, Holmes is their highest ranked recruit of time, picking Dayton over twenty-one high-major programs. Starting every game as a freshman, Holmes was an efficient scorer, a proficient rim protector and a two-way rebounder averaging 12.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.3 blocks per game with a 66.2 2p%. Projected to gain strength and develop a perimeter game he flashed in high school, Holmes has future pro potential as one of the most exciting sophomores in college basketball.
The first piece to sign to Dayton’s super 2021 high school class is Malachi Smith, a dynamic 6’0 170 point guard from the Bronx who picked Dayton over six high-major programs, following the footsteps of his brother, Scoochie, who scored almost 1300 points and is fourth in Dayton’s all-time assist leaderboard with 498. While his brother did not start until his sophomore season, Malachi started 29 games last season showcasing his ability to efficiently set up teammates, attack the rim and pester opponents, averaging 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.0 turnovers and 1.8 steals per game. Shooting sparingly, yet efficiently from three last season (40% on 1.5 attempts per game), Smith has the potential to be more of a perimeter threat and become a true three-level scorer. After spraining his ankle in the second round of the A-10 tournament, Smith is hungry to lead his team to the tournament.
Occasionally playing together in Dayton’s “big” lineups last season, the forward duo of Toumani Camara and Mustapha Amzil were a heck of a tag-team duo at the 4. Sharing an ability to stretch the floor and attack the glass at both ends, the pair combined to average 16.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.4 threes per game at 31.5% along with an efficient 55.7 2p%. Starting every game last season after two very good seasons at Georgia, the 6’8 220 Camara is the better defender while the 6’10 220 Amzil is the better shooter.
Transferring last season from DePaul, the 6’2 170 Kobe Elvis is an efficient combo guard who started at point when Smith was injured, averaging 8.9 points, 2.4 assists, 1.4 turnovers and shot 51.0 2p%, 36.2 3p% and 77.8 ft%. One of the five international pieces on the roster (the aforementioned Camara is from Belguim and Amzil is from Finland), the Brampton, Ontario native is looking to add more defensive technique to his already impressive motor.
In his sophomore season, the 6’6 195 Koby Brea was the A-10 Sixth Man of the Year thanks to his lights out shooting from deep (1.8 threes made per game at a 42.3% rate). R.J. Blakney was the Flyers’ starting 3 guard, and is an athletic defender who can chip in as an efficient secondary scorer with a career 59.1 2p%, 35.4 3p% and 73.2 ft%. Both Brea and Blakney are poised to reprise their respective roles next season.
The most exciting addition is freshman 6’8 180 wing Mike Sharavjamts, the first Mongolian citizen to earn a Division 1 athletic scholarship. Finishing his high school career at the International Sports Academy in Ohio, Sharavjmats averaged 10.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.8 threes made per game at an impressive 51.2%. While he needs to gain strength, the lefty wing has the skill and smarts to be a dangerous, versatile wing. Picking Dayton over Providence and Rutgers, Sharavjamts will have time to develop at his own pace but also has enough potential right away to push Blakney for playing time.
Another offseason adding a transfer from Georgia, the 6’9 204 sophomore Tyrone Baker is penciled in to help replace Moulaye Sissoko as a backup forward after he transferred to North Texas. Playing just ten total minutes last season, Baker has potential as an athletic, rim-runner with defensive versatility, tenacity hitting the boards and latent offensive potential thanks to his decent shooting form.
It’s hard to find a preseason top-25 that doesn’t include the Flyers and their out-of-conference schedule offers ample opportunities to test the hype. A visit to Virginia Tech and the Battle 4 Atlantis will place Dayton against an impressive field that features three games with Kansas, Tennessee, USC, Wisconsin, NC State, BYU and Butler as potential opponents. Solid mid-major matchups against Wyoming, UNLV and SMU (all ranked within KenPom’s top-100 last season) help minimize the cupcakes, prepping Dayton for a conference schedule against what many see as the deepest the A-10 has been in a long time.
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