Busting Brackets
Fansided

Dayton Basketball: 2021-22 season preview and outlook for Flyers

By Tyler Cronin

Dec 12, 2020; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Dayton Flyers head coach Anthony Grant shows emotion on the bench against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first half of a Holiday Hoopsgiving game at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2020; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Dayton Flyers head coach Anthony Grant shows emotion on the bench against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first half of a Holiday Hoopsgiving game at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
Toumani Camara Georgia Bulldogs (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Toumani Camara Georgia Bulldogs (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /

Starting Lineup

Guard: Elijah Weaver, 4th Year

Elijah Weaver started 10 games last year when Rodney Chatman was injured but played best as an off the bench sparkplug. Now with a chance to start, Weaver will try for better consistency than last year’s 5.4 ppg, although 2.4 apg is extremely promising given the veteran guards that typically dominated the ball. His key to success could be keeping his turnovers near the current 1.5 per game level as his minutes increase.

Guard: Koby Brea, 2nd Year

My initial thought was DePaul transfer Kobe Elvis but Grant put Brea in the starting lineup for the final three games of last year and he was 5-9 from deep. There are plenty of higher upside guys who could steal this spot but Brea will provide some floor spacing (50% from three in February/March in a limited sample) for a group that may lack it.

Forward: RJ Blakney, 2nd Year

Blakney’s numbers were far from impressive last year but his contributions can be best defined by last year’s win over Mississippi St.  With seven players available in a 2OT game, Blakney played 28 minutes of great defense, made no mistakes, and then hit the game-winning 3 for his only points of the day.  He is the perfect 5th starter, especially next to Amzil, as Blakney can take the tougher defensive assignment and rebound while not having to worry about scoring.

Forward: Mustapha Amzil, 2nd Year

Amzil will have a chance to be the Flyers’ best player if he properly took advantage of his first offseason and training camp. It’s easy to forget that he had only been on campus for two weeks before his 22-point, 7-rebound debut performance against La Salle. As the year went on, teams began to expose his defensive weaknesses but Amzil was still one of the least experienced players in college basketball history.  He already has the talent for 15-17 ppg and if he improved his defense and rebounding this summer, he has All-Conference potential.

Forward: Toumani Camara, 3rd Year

Camara has a chance to fill the void left by the departure of Trey Landers, and then Chase Johnson, as the gritty rebounder/do-everything guy who makes the Flyers a good rebounding team, leads them on defense and enables them to play small.  He fixes a ton of problems and they may not even need much scoring from him, although they will be happy with the 12.8 ppg he put up his last year at Georgia.