In the days leading up to the start of the 2018-19 men's basketball season, the Atlantic10.com will profile two teams a day, leading up to tip-off on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Today's previews, written by Patrick Stevens, includes Dayton and Rhode Island.
DAYTON
Schedule | Roster | Coach Grant on A-10 Live at Media Day (ESPN+)
The Dayton Flyers know what to expect this season.
That really wasn’t the case last year, when a team that saw many of the key contributors of four consecutive 20-win seasons --- including coach Archie Miller --- depart. Enter alum and former VCU and Alabama coach Anthony Grant, whose first Dayton team struggled to gain traction.
The Flyers never lost more than two games in a row last season. They also never won more than two games in a row. It was an uneven year that saw both team and coach figuring each other out along the way.
That should be smoothed out now, especially four of the team’s top five scorers back.
“Their familiarity with our terminology, with me as a coach and my expectations, and my familiarity with them [all helps],” Grant said. “We have about six or seven guys who return from last year and we also have six newcomers who are learning from what they do every day.”
A look at the Flyers:
Coach: Anthony Grant, second season at Dayton, 14-17 at Dayton and 207-126 in 10 seasons overall
Last year: The Flyers went 14-17 overall and 8-10 in the Atlantic 10, finishing ninth in the league before falling to VCU in their tournament opener. The season ended Dayton’s streak of four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.
They’ll miss: Darrell Davis, who averaged 15.4 points and led the Flyers in 3-pointers made (72) and free throw percentage (.875) a season ago. Dayton brings back its other four primary starters, so Grant has plenty of knowns heading into his second season.
Impact returners: The Flyers might have the best post player in the league in 6-7 senior Josh Cunningham (15.6 points per game, 8.4 rebounds per game), an All-Conference First Team pick in the preseason. He ranked fifth in the country in field goal percentage (.646) last season.
“He’s one of those guys who is just a basketball player,” Grant said. “He knows how to be effective on the floor. I wouldn’t say there’s one thing where you would say ‘Hey, this is where Josh is effective.’ He just knows how to be effective and efficient on the floor as a player.”
Three other starters are back, including the team’s most improved player from a year ago: 6-5 junior Trey Landers (11.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg), who nearly quadrupled his scoring. Two sophomores, 6-1 Jalen Crutcher (9.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.4 assists per game) and 6-2 Jordan Davis (8.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg), started 22 games apiece last season and should take steps forward.
Newbies of note: The 6-9 Obi Toppin redshirted last year, but he did add 24 pounds of muscle while becoming a steady practice presence. That should translate into games this season.
“I think he has a chance to be one of those guys who gets everybody’s attention,” Grant said.
Look for two other freshmen to make an impact. Cleveland native Dwayne Cohill, a 6-2 guard who scored 2,182 points in high school, will immediately be a factor in the backcourt. The 6-7 Frankie Policelli will vie for time at forward.
Reasons to be optimistic:
Simply put, Dayton has a lot more knowns than a year ago.
Crutcher and Davis are tested options now. So is Landers, who didn’t factor into the rotation much as a freshman before his breakout showing last season.
“He’s a high-motor guy, someone with an alpha-type personality,” Grant said. “He’s an energy guy and our guys feed off his energy.”
Grant also sees a roster that shares a good spirit as it heads into his second season with the Flyers.
“The time we got out guys together in the summer when everybody came on campus, their cohesion and unity as a team --- they enjoy each other,” Grant said. “It’s a team that supports each other.”
Grant has emphasized versatility in reconstructing Dayton’s roster, and pretty much everyone other than Davis (a true shooting guard) can be moved to multiple positions. That includes the Flyers’ best player. Cunningham could pop up at a number of spots as a senior.
“Josh Cunningham’s position will be on the floor, and we’ll figure the rest out,” Grant said.
X factor: Dayton is thrilled to get 6-7 redshirt junior Ryan Mikesell back after rehabbing from surgery on both hips last season. Mikesell averaged 5.7 points and 3.9 rebounds while starting for much of the 2016-17 season and should provide a considerable boost with his ball-handling and outside shot.
Circle the date(s): Grant should have a good sense of where his team is at by Thanksgiving. That’s because Dayton will play in the Battle 4 Atlantis, opening the event in the Bahamas against perennial NCAA tournament team Butler on Nov. 21. The Flyers will face either Virginia or Middle Tennessee the next day before playing a third contest in the event.
Bottom line: Even with three transfers sitting out, this might be a deeper team than last season. Some continuity will surely help, and Cunningham’s presence means the Flyers will have the best player on the floor more often than not during league play. Dayton should get back over .500 this season and perhaps contend for a spot in the top four in the A-10.
RHODE ISLAND
Schedule | Roster | Coach Cox on A-10 Live at Media Day (ESPN+)
When coach Dan Hurley made a career move inside New England and left for Connecticut after last season, Rhode Island didn’t look far for his replacement.
David Cox was a Rams assistant for the previous four seasons. In that span, Rhode Island won 91 games and returned to the NCAA tournament after a drought of nearly 20 years. In that sense, continuity made a lot of sense.
Considering Cox’s active role in the Rams’ recent success, there hasn’t been a heavy addition of responsibilities for the new head coach.
“[Hurley] gave me a tremendous amount of leeway to just coach and to also be myself,” Cox said. “I’m very competitive and very intense guy on a daily basis --- on the court. Off the court, I’m a lot different, but on the court I’m very intense. I was responsible for a lot of scouting, I was responsible for a lot of recruiting, I was responsible for a lot of the daily development of our players.”
He’ll have a revamped rotation in his first season, but he also coached all of the holdovers and played a role in recruiting the Rams’ newcomers. Little wonder Rhode Island can expect more stability than usual with a new coach.
“I haven’t had to change,” Cox said. “They know what to expect. They know who I am as a coach. I’ve basically just shifted over a seat in those guys’ eyes.”
A look at the Rams:
Coach: David Cox, first season at Rhode Island and first as a head coach
Last year: The Rams went 26-8 overall and 15-3 in the Atlantic 10, winning the conference’s regular season title. Rhode Island went on to win an NCAA tournament game for the second year in a row, upending Oklahoma before falling to Duke in the round of 32.
They’ll miss: Four starters. Rhode Island was built to be an NCAA tournament team over the last two years, and the Rams took full advantage of Jared Terrell (16.8 points per game, 3.5 rebounds per game), E.C. Matthews (13.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg), Andre Berry (8.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and Stanford Robinson (8.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg). All but Berry played at least 27.7 minutes per game, leaving some huge holes in the rotation.
Impact returners: Cox has a pair of tested guards to lead the Rams in his first year in charge. After finishing second in the Atlantic 10 in assists with 5.6 per game, 6-3 junior Jeff Dowtin (9.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg) will have even greater responsibility this season.
He’ll team with 5-11 sophomore Fatts Russell (5.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg) to provide stability in the backcourt. Russell scored 15 points in the Rams’ NCAA tournament defeat of Oklahoma.
There’s also 6-8 junior Cyril Langevine (6.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg), who started three games and was Rhode Island’s top big off the bench last year. He shot 76.7 percent from the floor over the Rams’ last 14 games.
Newbies of note: Based on size, versatility and talent level, Rhode Island expects 6-8 forward Jermaine Harris and 6-6 wing Tyrese Martin to contribute immediately. Given the graduation hit on the roster, the Rams require it, too.
Cox is also excited about 6-7 forward Dana Tate, a Boston native who came out of the same AAU program that produced Terrell.
“Dana Tate has been undervalued, underappreciated and was thoroughly underrecruited,” Cox said. “I think he’s a steal for us. He’ll have the opportunity to play a pretty big role on this team. He’s been a pleasant surprise.”
Reasons to be optimistic:
Cox knows exactly how fortunate he is to inherit a backcourt that’s been through the crucible of deep conference tournament runs and enjoyed success in March.
Dowtin averaged 4.4 assists for every turnover last season, and while he’ll likely need to bump his scoring some as he enters the second half of his career, he can be counted upon to reliably make good decisions.
Russell averaged 18.0 minutes as a freshman and showed glimpses of becoming an excellent A-10 player. In five games in the A-10 and NCAA tournaments, he shot 50 percent (13 of 26) from 3-point range.
“It would be akin to becoming a first-year head coach in the NFL ---what do you want? You want a quarterback,” Cox said. “They give you an all-pro center and an all-pro wide receiver and an all-pro defensive end and you’re like ‘OK, that’s good, but I need the quarterback.’ I have two that are going to help me through my struggles.”
Yes, Cox acknowledges he’ll learn plenty as he navigates his first season as a head coach. Having two proven guards, though, provides a welcome security blanket.
“They’ve been through big-game situations,” Cox said. “They’re going to be able to calm the freshmen as well as uplift them when need be. That’s a blessing right there.”
X factor: Rhode Island is hoping 6-4 junior Christion Thompson can come back after a redshirt season as an ace defender who can help with some wing scoring as well. Thompson averaged 2.5 points and 1.6 rebounds in 2016-17.
“The guy that needs to be good for us that nobody really talks about is Christion Thompson,” Cox said. “He was on the team two years ago when we won the championship. He was known as a shot-maker coming out of high school. He’s big. He’s physical. He can play multiple positions. He can defend multiple positions, somewhat similar to Stan Robinson. We need him to be impactful.”
Circle the date(s): There’s a bunch of intriguing nonconference games against potential NCAA tournament teams (College of Charleston and Harvard among them), but the Rams will get a decent sense of where they’re at Dec. 1 when they make an in-state trip to Providence.
Bottom line: Rhode Island is bound to take a step back after losing so much of the core group that won it an A-10 tournament in 2017 and a conference regular season crown last year. Still, Cox’s familiarity with the Rams should help, and no one should be stunned if Rhode Island finishes in the A-10’s top four again.
Patrick Stevens is a freelance writer working in the Washington, D.C. area. A former sports reporter for the Washington Times, he has been a contributor to Atlantic10.com for the past four years. Follow him on Twitter at @D1scourse.