Anthony Grant’s Dayton Basketball squad is flying high heading into the 2022-23 season after finishing 24-11, second in the Atlantic 10, and two road games in the nit because UD Arena was being used for the NCAA tournament. The kicker to their strong season is it was done with the youngest team in division I and a roster with just one junior and one senior.
As you might expect, the Flyers return a large portion of their roster and with that comes even loftier expectations for this season. The flyers return all seven of the players that appeared in at least 33 games last season, with the only player in their top eight not returning being senior Elijah Weaver who decided to use his super senior season at Chicago State.
Returning most of the roster doesn’t mean that Anthony Grant doesn’t have new talent to introduce to the mix. Dayton welcomes a forward off of a redshirt season and a top-100 swingman that could help shore up some of the ball-handling duties.
Dayton isn’t a team that will wow you on the scoreboard, averaging just over 68 points per game last season, but a methodical pace is what they like on both ends of the floor. Now the Flyers enter this season with a young experienced team in a system that works for them, with not only an Atlantic 10 title in their sights but also being a threat in the postseason. Here’s a look at what we can expect from Dayton in 2022-23.
There won’t be much mystery in the starting five
With nearly everyone returning for Grant, the flyers should boast a starting lineup consisting of four sophomores and a junior. They also return one of the better starting frontcourts in the country led by DaRon Holmes II and Toumani Camara. The duo accounted for 23 points and 13 rebounds worth of production last season.
Filling out the frontcourt should be sophomore R.J. Blakney who returns as a redshirt sophomore who shot 35% from beyond the arc in 2022. If Blakeney can become a little more assertive offensively, expect his efficiency to improve.
The backcourt will be manned by a pair of sophomores in burgeoning star Malachi Smith and Kobe Elvis. Smith averaged nine points, and four rebounds, and distributed a team-high five assists for the flyers. His running mate, Elvis netted just under nine points per game but showed the ability to dominate any start on any given night, registering a season-high in both rebounds (7) and assists (8) in the team’s NIT win over Toledo. He also finished the year with a 20-point effort in the season-ending loss to Vanderbilt.
The experienced youth of Dayton looks poised to make some noise beyond the Atlantic 10 this season and should be a top-25 team and one of the favorites to win the A10 title.
Quality over quantity on the Dayton bench
Last season Dayton went eight deep, but with Weaver leaving the only reserves that return are redshirt-sophomores Koby Brea and forward Mustapha Amzil. Brea is the team’s best three-point shooter, knocking down 42% of his 149 attempts last season. Amzil is a 6’9 forward who averaged 5.6 points and 4.1 rebounds, but the team was extremely efficient offensively when he was on the floor. According to Evanmiya.com Amzil was a part of the top four offensive efficient twosomes for the Flyers last season.
Adding to a young mix can be difficult without stifling the growth of what Dayton has built, but Grant has brought in two guys who can give the Flyers a different look. Tyrone Baker is a sophomore center who played in just three games at Georgia. Baker is an athletic big man who should benefit from playing alongside the likes of Holmes II and Camara.
The other newcomer is Mike Sharavjamts who made his way to Dayton all the way from Mongolia. Sharavjamts is a 6’8 guard with the length of a power forward and the ball handling of a point guard. It will be interesting to see how Grant deploys the freshman, allowing the Flyers to have many different looks when he is on the floor.
The Battle 4 Atlantis highlights the schedule
When you have so much production returning and the youthfulness of a team like Dayton, expectations are usually sky high but in order to reach those expectations, you need a schedule that will challenge you and make others stand up and take notice. The Flyers have a good schedule but outside of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, there aren’t many challenges.
They begin the year hosting Lindenwood in the visitor’s first-ever Division I game and follow that up with a game against SMU. Their first real test likely comes on Nov. 15 when they travel to Las Vegas to take on a rebuilt and revamped UNLV team.
As I said, the gem of the schedule for Dayton is the Battle 4 Atlantis. They begin the tournament with a game against Wisconsin and then comes a likely matchup with defending national champs Kansas. On the other side of the bracket sit BYU, USC, butler, and Tennessee for their final game before returning home.
The final two tests for the flyers before conference play should be Dec. 7 at Virginia Tech and then a neutral-site game in Chicago against another mountain west foe, Wyoming. For Dayton, their success before Atlantic 10 play will certainly depend on how they perform in the Bahamas.
Just how good can Dayton be this season?
As I have said throughout this piece the Outlook for Dayton is a strong one given their strong year last season with one of the youngest teams in college basketball. With all those guys returning for Anthony Grant, the trajectory for the flyers should continue to climb.
The frontcourt of Holmes and Camara should continue to dominate the A-10 and make people take notice nationally. The backcourt shouldn’t be much different with the continued growth of Smith, Elvis, and Brea. All of this and they add Sharavjampts and baker who should play significant minutes as well.
In terms of team success, being a top-25 team should be a given. On top of that being the hunted in the Atlantic 10 with the regular season and tournament titles should be the first goal. Beyond that, I see this team has sweet sixteen and top-5 seed in the NCAA tournament potential. But, it will be how they perform in the Bahamas that could give them a huge momentum boost heading into the rest of their non-conference schedule and the new year when league play gets going.
The Flyers will be a trendy pick in the postseason and for good reason, UD Arena will be the place to be this winter.