Sports Today: Grant’s challenge at Dayton, Ohio State’s rebuilds and reboots and the Reds are coming to town

I'm a sucker for the homecoming angle, admittedly, but it's not hard to see him as having a good mix of experiences that should make him a good fit.

He’s been around the block, but he’s still young enough to be here for a long time.

RELATED: Grant honored, humbled to be hired by alma mater

There’s some symmetry to replacing the first coach to lead the Flyers to the Elite Eight in 30 years with a player from that 1984 team, too.

That might not be worth much in the long run, but the example of the ’84 squad could be instructive in light of my conclusion yesterday the key to continue the program’s upward trajectory will be upgrading the recruiting.

ARCH: Why Anthony Grant, Flyers are perfect match

Don Donoher’s squad had three players who were later taken in the NBA draft – Roosevelt Chapman, Sedric Toney and Damon Goodwin – whereas Archie Miller’s in all likelihood won’t have any.

No Dayton players have been drafted since Negele Knight in 1990, so there is something else for Grant to aspire to wipe out as he makes the program his own...

Wright State can brag of a shorter NBA draft drought than UD's thanks to big man Vitaly Potapenko, who was taken 12th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1996.

Mark Alstork, who led the Raiders in scoring last season as a junior, declared this morning he will enter the draft, although it is likely a fact-finding mission more than anything else. He can return if he doesn't sign with an agent.

As a 6-5 guard, he has the size to intrigue scouts if he continues to develop under now-second year coach Scott Nagy, so it will be interesting to find out what he learns from scouts during this process.

The Raiders were also in the news last night as Steven Davis took part in a slam dunk contest for college seniors, but an injury wiped out his chance to take home the title…

When news of Grant's hiring broke yesterday, I was at Ohio State for spring football interviews.

The running backs and some defensive backs came out to entertain us ink-stained wretches, and there were a few nuggets to glean from what they had to say.

With viewing windows limited, it’s tough to get a great read on what they are doing differently this fall, but Mike Weber and Demario McCall both had positive things to say about the impact of new offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.

All in all, it seemed like Ohio State just needed a reset on offense. Not so much a rebuild.

There are lots of great pieces to work with, but where they area on the board can often make all the difference, especially if you want to avoid having to over-rely on one great player, something that has happened too often during Urban Meyer’s tenure at Ohio State considering his acumen for offense.

On the other side of the ball, the reboot is personnel-driven. The Buckeyes have a proven plan, they just have to make sure they have the players to pull it off with another large crop of prospects heading to the NFL draft…

Opening day is Monday, but Reds fans can get a sneak-peak at their team in Louisville today and Dayton tomorrow. 

Here are five things to know about the Reds Futures Game at Fifth Third Field on Saturday…

With the NFL draft getting ever closer, our Jay Morrison will be taking a look at the various positions the Bengals could look to restock.

He starts with running back, where the team is in a bit of a predicament with electric Gio Bernard coming off an injury and big back Jeremy Hill needing to bounce back from two subpar seasons.