Overall outlook for Dayton Basketball in 2021-22
The only thing that is seemingly guaranteed with this Dayton season is the promise of inconsistency, as it will take time for all of the young players to develop and come together, and for Anthony Grant to figure out the rotation.
Thankfully, a weak middle should allow the Flyers to make some mistakes and remain in the hunt for a double-bye. Whether or not they get to that coveted Top 4 spot likely comes down to Grant, as the whole season will be the ultimate test for him as a player developer, as he tries to take advantage of his spectacular recruiting.
A reasonable prediction for the year, Dayton finishes either 4th or 5th, with the double-bye being determined on the final date after an earlier season loss to a bottom 4 A-10 team. This leads to an NIT birth with a hungry young team carrying them to the Final 4 in New York. In addition, Toumani Camara makes the All-Conference team, joined by either Mustapha Amzil or Zimi Nwokeji, and one of the freshmen, Malachi Smith or Lynn Greer III, ends the year as the starting point guard.
All in all, it should be an extremely entertaining season for the Flyers, getting to see who emerges as the next star, in addition to the scoring of Amzil, the high flying abilities of Nwokeji and Holmes, and the gritty play of Camara. A new era of Dayton basketball has begun, and it deserves the hype of a future Top 25 team.