NCAA Basketball: Reevaluating preseason top 25 power rankings of 2022-23 season

24. Dayton (22-12, No Postseason)

The story was all about potential in the preseason and Dayton certainly had plenty of that. Head coach Anthony Grant put together a national contender just three seasons ago, but those Flyers never got their chance to fly due to the national pandemic. This year’s team was full of talented sophomores and intriguing athletes, but all of this talent didn’t come together exactly as expected.

Nonconference play was rough, with the Flyers finishing in 8th place at the Battle 4 Atlantis and sitting just .500 at the end of November. Putrid shooting was a theme early, though the Flyers started to figure things out during conference play. They managed to scrap together a 12-6 record in the A-10 but lost to VCU in the conference title game on Selection Sunday, with their resume falling short of the at-large territory.

DaRon Holmes II had an excellent sophomore season but the Flyers simply didn’t get enough consistency from the rest of this roster. Dayton finished their season among the top teams in the nation in points allowed, but that defense wasn’t helping when the offense struggled. The good news in Dayton is that next season could be really special if everyone returns, and none of the major rotation pieces are in the Transfer Portal as of this moment. Unfortunately, this was just a year too soon for the Flyers, a disappointing result in a really down year for their conference.