Dayton Basketball: Flyers historic season finally pays off with top-50 DaRon Holmes
Dayton Basketball landed a mega prospect in forward DaRon Holmes. His commitment is the payoff for what the Flyers did in the season prior.
It was a great weekend for Dayton Basketball on the recruiting trail. The program landed DaRon Holmes, a consensus four-star prospect in the 2021 class. Ranking at No. 39 according to 247sportsComposite, Holmes is the highest-rated commit ever for the Flyers program.
A month ago, the power forward had Dayton among his four finalists. The others including Marquette, California, and Arizona. The Wildcats were viewed as the favorites at one point due to being from the area but in the end, Coach Anthony Grant was able to convince him to attend a “mid-major” program.
Dayton Basketball was far from the typical “mid-major” label last season. They went unbeaten in the Atlantic 10 and finished 29-2 overall. It was the best season for the Flyers since 1956, where they went 25-4. However, due to the massive press and positive public relations, the 2019-20 squad will go down as the most impactful.
A main reason for the success was Obi Toppin, a former two-star prospect that grew into a national star. He averaged 20.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg en route to winning National Player of the Year and is projected as a top-5 overall prospect in the 2020 NBA Draft.
After an incredible season, there would be hopes of it paying dividends on the recruiting trail. But that didn’t happen as quickly for the Flyers. Despite having clear holes in its frontcourt, Dayton was unsuccessful in landing anyone from the transfer portal. They did land a talented former top-50 recruit in Elijah Weaver from USC but his impact will come in the following year.
The good news for the Flyers is that they brought back Chase Johnson, a forward who left the program midway this past season. There’s enough frontcourt depth, combined with the senior guard trio of Jalen Crutcher, Ibi Watson, and Rodney Chatman to remain in the top-tier of the Atlantic 10 this year.
But the addition of Holmes not makes Dayton a threat for the future. He, Weaver, and three-star 2021 guard commit Malachi Smith is a great foundation for the program. And there’s still plenty of time and available scholarships to build on this class for the 2021-22 campaign.
Next. Atlantic 10 preseason rankings for 2020-21. dark
Will DaRon Holmes be the next Obi Toppin? Probably not. However, if he can be an all-conference performer throughout his time at Dayton, then the impact will still be felt in a major positive way. It’s way-too-early to tell if this is the start of the Flyers program consistently landing top-100 talent but it’s clear that recruits paid attention to the team’s great past season. And now it’s paying off with quality talent joining.