Atlantic 10 Basketball: 10 elements that have stood out so far in 2022-23

2. Yuri Collins: Doing It All

It was going to be tough for Collins to better his performance from last season when he led the nation in assists but in the early going, he already is.  Collins is one assist short of 10.0 per game to start off but more surprisingly is Saint Louis’ leading scorer. The rest of the Billiken offense has been slow to get started and Collins put them on his back and pulled out a 2-1 record on the most important week of the non-conference, highlighted by the win over Providence, where he led the comeback.

He polished that game off with a final minute And-1 to give SLU a one-point lead.  Add in that Collins is now the second-best defender in the starting lineup and his scoring output becomes crazier.  He won’t have to carry this scoring load all season, as Javonte Perkins and Gibson Jimerson will get it going, but there’s now no doubt who the Billikens’ best player is now.

3. Dayton’s defensive Length

Dayton’s elite defensive jumped off right where it left last year with the elite trio of Holmes/Elvis/Blakney leading the way. But Toumani Camara’s continued improvement of that end combined with the addition of Mike Sharavjamts has turned the group into a vicious mess of arms.  Opponents simply can’t dribble past the Flyers’ perimeter defenders and even Holmes is joining the party outside.

Dayton’s average defensive possession has been taking 18.0 seconds, a result of the amount of deliberate passing required to get a good look in the half-court. This group is an absolute delight for anyone for loves watching great defense and they aren’t even forcing that many turnovers, just grinding opposing guards into the ground. And just wait until they start ramping up the press when Kobe Elvis really makes his presence felt.

4. Dayton’s Interior Offense

DaRon Holmes II had five shot attempts and did not get to the line against UNLV. This was a game where Dayton didn’t have Malachi Smith and was without Camara for half and yet they still didn’t deliver the ball to their superstar center.  The lack of entry passes from anyone but Sharavjamts is absolutely the biggest problem for the Smith-less Flyers.

Elvis is improved at the point guard spot but he’s too comfortable simply keeping the ball moving around the arc and Coach Anthony Grant’s lean onto a swing-heavy offense is encouraging it.  At the moment, Dayton’s best offense involves the ball being in Sharavjamts’ hands more often. He’s already the best player on the team at getting past his defender and is the one guy who is unafraid to set up Holmes down low in traffic when Smith isn’t in the game.