Anthony Grant would disagree with the idea his Dayton basketball team figured things out after a 1-3 start last start.
It doesn’t mesh with his methodical approach, one that got Dayton into the national title conversation in 2019-20 and could very well do the same this season with a team that brings back all five starters.
“I think it’s all about continuing to get better, and develop and evolve,” Grant said. “Our guys’ approach to that has been really good, in terms that it’s about the work and it’s about them developing as a team. I like the fact our guys understand that and are committed to that.”
The sentiment applies throughout the roster, but perhaps most importantly to sophomore forward DaRon Holmes II. The 6-foot-10, 225-pounder was a top-50 recruit, the most heralded addition for the Flyers in recent memory.
He delivered, leading the team in scoring and collecting the Atlantic 10’s Rookie of the Year award. He’s a budding pro prospect, though that isn’t a priority as Dayton sits on the cusp of what could be a special season.
“The beautiful thing about DaRon is that if you asked him, that would be the least thing he’s concerned about right now,” Grant said of his star forward’s future. “He wants to continue to grow and get better. I don’t think he has that mindset of getting ahead of himself and looking two or three steps down the road.”
While Holmes established himself as one of the A-10’s best frontcourt presences last season, classmate Malachi Smith set to work adjusting to playing point guard at the college level. The younger brother of former Flyer Scoochie Smith was hurt in the preseason, but processed some early experiences to become one of the top floor leaders in the league.
That should also pay dividends this year as Smith and the Flyers chase an A-10 title and more.
“I think that game experience, going through the preparation of last year, you could see over the course of a season him starting to figure things out in terms of ‘This is what I have to do and this is what we have to do,’” Grant said. “My hope and my belief is there’s still a lot more there to grow.”
A look at the Flyers:
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Coach: Anthony Grant, sixth season at Dayton, 112-52 with the Flyers and 295-162 overall in 14 seasons
Last year: The Flyers landed the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament with a 14-4 conference record before bowing out to Richmond in the league semifinals. Dayton then split a pair of NIT contests, beating Toledo and falling to Vanderbilt to close out the year at 24-11.
They’ll miss: Only one of the Flyers’ top eight scorers departed the program, so there isn’t much production to replace. Guard Elijah Weaver, who started five of the 22 games he appeared in last season, transferred after averaging 6.6 points.
Also gone is reserve forward Moulaye Sissoko, who averaged 2.4 points in 30 games.
Impact returners: DaRon Holmes was the A-10’s Rookie of the Year and a Second Team All-Conference pick. Toumani Camara landed on the third team. Malachi Smith joined Holmes on the All-Rookie team. And Koby Brea was the conference’s sixth man of the year.
All four are back in the fold, as is guard Kobe Elvis and forwards R.J. Blakney and Mustapha Amzil. Each of those players averaged at least 19.8 minutes and represent remarkable continuity.
Then again, that was sort of the plan. Dayton finished last out of 358 Division I teams in KenPom.com’s experience metric last season. The Flyers are older, wiser, more cohesive and plenty more tested as they run it back.
Newbies of note: The Flyers only added two scholarship players, Georgia transfer Tyrone Baker and freshman Mike Sharavjamts.
But Sharavjamts, the first Mongolian citizen to earn a Division I scholarship, is an intriguing long-term piece --- a 6-foot-8, 180-pounder with point guard skills.
“For a guy his size, his ball-handling, his passing and basketball IQ for a freshman is pretty high,” Grant said. “I’m excited about what he has the potential to do as he learns and adapts to what college basketball is all about.
Reasons to be optimistic: There is a lot to like about the Flyers, but one thing that separates them is their frontcourt.
Holmes (12.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and Camara (10.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg) don’t just make up the best starting front line in the A-10. They’re one of the best pair of forwards in all of Division I.
X factor: Mustapha Amzil was thrown into the lineup pretty much after stepping off a plane from Finland when he arrived after the first semester around Christmas in 2020. He went on to average 9.9 points and 5.6 rebounds and landed on the A-10’s All-Rookie team.
Last year, with Dayton bolstering its frontcourt, Amzil came off the bench in all but one game, saw his playing time cut by a third and his scoring dip to 5.6 points a game. But he’s still a skilled, versatile 6-foot-9 forward with three years of eligibility remaining, and he could enjoy a resurgence this winter.
“Last year was kind of up and down for Stapha,” Grant said. “He had some games where he really impacted [things] and other games where maybe he didn’t perform up to what his expectations were and what we feel like he’s capable of. Having two years of experience in the system and the work he’s put in here in the offseason, I’m excited about what he can bring.”
Circle the date: The Flyers lost to Kansas in a riveting 2019 Maui Invitational final, then beat the Jayhawks last season, thanks to a buzzer-beater by Amzil, on the way to a Thanksgiving weekend tournament title. They might meet again on Nov. 24 on the second day of the Battle 4 Atlantis, an event where Dayton will open a day earlier against Wisconsin. The Flyers’ potential opponents on the final day of their stay in the Bahamas are Butler, Brigham Young, Southern California and Tennessee.
Bottom line: Dayton produced one of the country’s best teams three seasons ago, the Obi Toppin-led bunch that was in line for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament before the pandemic hit. This is the Flyers’ best team since then. Is it quite
that good? That might be a stretch, but these Flyers are more than capable of being a fixture in the national rankings all season and a threat to do serious damage come March.
Patrick Stevens is a veteran freelance college basketball writer. A contributor the Washington Post, he has been a writer for Atlantic10.com for the past nine years. Follow him on Twitter at @D1scourse.