Atlantic 10 Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)
By Joey Loose
17. Jalen Crutcher
Anthony Grant needed weapons to keep Dayton as a successful program and it’s fair to say that Crutcher was a major weapon for the Flyers. A 6’1 point guard from Memphis, he arrived on campus back in 2017, the same season Grant was hired, and became a major piece of Dayton’s offensive puzzle for the next four seasons, spending nearly all of it as their starter at the point.
Crutcher almost averaged double figures already as a freshman but really settled in offensively later in his career. During his junior year, in which Dayton was one of the best teams in the nation, he averaged 15.1 points and 4.9 assists, hitting 42% of his 3-pointers and nearly 87% of his free throws. His scoring numbers were even better (17.6 points per game) as a senior, including a career-high 29-point effort in a road win at Davidson.
He was a three-time All-A-10 honoree, including First Team honors for both of those upperclassman seasons. Crutcher wasn’t the big weapon on that 2020 team, but he was a major cog in the machine and ran Dayton’s offense. He was certainly among the best point guards in the A-10 in recent memory and was one of the conference’s top scorers as a senior, though the pandemic stole his chance at postseason glory.