Here’s a by-the-numbers breakdown of Dayton recruiting since the spring of 2017.
12: Dayton has added players who played high school basketball in 12 different states during Grant’s tenure.
The staff’s connections in Florida, where Grant and James Kane and former assistant coach Darren Hertz, are from, and New York, where associate head coach Ricardo Greer is from, show up in these numbers.
• Ohio (7): Dwayne Cohill (Holy Name, Cleveland); Ibi Watson (Pickerington Central); Luke Frazier (Lake Catholic, Painesville); Brady Uhl (Kettering Alter); Mike Sharavjamts (Osborne Academy, Willoughby); Jacob Conner (Kettering Alter); and Friery (Cleveland St. Ignatius).
• New York (6): Obi Toppin (Ossining/Brooklyn); Frankie Policelli (New Hartford); Koby Brea (Bronx); Malachi Smith (Bronx); Zed Key (Bay Shore); and Posh Alexander (Bronx).
• Florida (6): Zimi Nwokeji (Tallahassee); Elijah Weaver (Cocoa); Tyrone Baker (Fort Myers, Fla.); Toumani Camara (Hollywood) Javon Bennett (Orlando); and Marvel Allen (Fort Lauderdale).
• Georgia (4): Rodney Chatman (Lithonia); Moulaye Sissoko (Suwanee); Kaleb Washington (Mableton); and Jaiun Simon (Mableton).
• Tennessee (1): Jalen Crutcher (Memphis).
• West Virginia (1): Chase Johnson (Ripley).
• Texas (1): Richard Amaefule (Dallas).
• Maryland (1): R.J. Blakney (Baltimore).
• Arizona (1): DaRon Holmes II (Goodyear).
• Pennsylvania (1): Lynn Greer III (Philadelphia); and Jaron McKie (Philadelphia).
• Rhode Island (1): Enoch Cheeks (Providence).
• Illinois (1): Nate Santos.
16: Dayton has added 16 transfers from Division I programs.
2018 (4): Watson (Michigan); Chatman (Chattanooga); Jordy Tshimanga (Nebraska); and Johnson (Florida).
2020 (1): Weaver (Southern California).
2021 (3): Toumani Camara (Georgia); Kobe Elvis (DePaul); and Richard Amaefule (East Tennessee State).
2022 (1): Baker (Georgia).
2023 (4): Cheeks (Robert Morris); Bennett (Merrimack); Isaac Jack (Buffalo); and Santos (Pittsburgh).
2024 (3): Zed Key (Ohio State); Posh Alexander (Buffalo); and Jacob Conner (Marshall).
17: Seventeen players recruited and signed by Grant and his staff have transferred from the program: Policelli (Stony Brook, Charleston); Matos (Charlotte); Frazier (Ohio/John Carroll); Cohill (Youngstown State); Chatman (Vanderbilt); Sissoko (North Texas); Weaver (Chicago State); Baker (Florida SouthWestern State College/LIU Brooklyn); Washington (Butler Community College/Florida A&M); Amzil (New Mexico); Blakney (Old Dominion); Amaefule, (Texas Wesleyan); Sharavjamts (San Francisco/Utah); Nwokeji (Jacksonville); Elvis (Oklahoma); Padegimas (Mercer); and Brea (Kentucky).
That number doesn’t include players recruited during the Archie Miller era who left the program: Xeyrius Williams (Akron); John Crosby (Delaware State); Jordan Davis (Middle Tennessee/Jacksonville); Jordan Pierce (Odessa/Middle Tennessee State); and Kostas Antetokounmpo and Matej Svoboda, who both left to pursue professional opportunities.
12: Dayton has added 12 players from other countries: Jhery Matos (Dominican Republic); Tshimanga, Elvis and Jack (Canada); Sissoko (Mali); Mustapha Amzil (Finland); Camara (Belgium); Amaefule (England); Sharavjamts (Mongolia); Petras Padegimas (Lithuania); Hamad Mousa (Qatar); and Amaël L’Etang (France).
The number is 13 if you include Vasilije Erceg, a 6-10 forward from Serbia who left the program after a couple weeks on campus in the summer of 2023.
6: Dayton has added six four-star recruits, according to the 247Sports.com rankings, in the Grant era. Take these rankings for what they’re worth. They’re fun to follow, but by no means do they define any of the players. The fact that Toppin, the consensus national player of the year in 2020, wasn’t ranked by any recruiting website is good proof of that.
Nevertheless, here’s how the players ranked:
• Four stars (6): Holmes (No. 39, 2021 class); Weaver (No. 45, 2018); Johnson (No. 85, 2017); Camara (No. 103, 2019); Sharavjamts (No. 112, 2022); and Cohill (No. 136, 2018).
• Three stars (20): McKie (No. 137, 2025) Washington (No. 139, 2021); Friery (No. 149, 2025); Key (No. 153, 2020); Allen (No. 141 in 247Sports composite rankings); Tshimanga (No. 161, 2016); Smith (No. 197, 2021); Nwokeji (No. 216, 2019); Santos (No. 231 composite ranking, 2021); Watson (No. 239, 2016); Greer (No. 248, 2021); Alexander (No. 263, 2020); Policelli (No. 298, 2018); Crutcher (No. 328, 2017); Sissoko (No. 361, 2019); Blakney (No. 408, 2020); Amzil (No. 471, 2020); Elvis (No. 37 combo guard); Conner (No. 60 small forward, 2022); and Simon (No. 77 small forward, 2023);
• Two stars (1): Frazier (No. 480, 2020).
• Unranked (13): Matos (2016); Chatman (2016); Toppin (2017); Brea (2020); Amaefule (2020); Elvis (2020); Cheeks (2020); Jack (2022); Bennett (2022); Padegimas (2023); Erceg (2023); Mousa (2024); and L’Etang (2024).
3: Three players recruited by Grant and his staff to Dayton have been drafted.
• Toppin was the eighth overall pick by the New York Knicks in 2020. He spent three seasons with the Knicks and is now entering his second season with the Indiana Pacers.
• Camara was the 52nd overall pick by the Phoenix Suns in 2023 and was then traded to the Portland Trail Blazers before his rookie year began.
• Holmes was the 22nd overall pick by the Denver Nuggets in 2024.
3: Three players recruited by Grant and his staff scored 1,000 or more points in a Dayton uniform.
• Holmes ranks 11th in school history with 1,745 points in three seasons.
• Crutcher ranks 17th with 1,593 in four seasons.
• Toppin ranks 41st with 1,096 points in two seasons.
2: Matos and Uhl are the only players in the Grant era to start their college careers in a lower division and earn scholarships at the D-I level.
Matos played for Monroe College, a National Junior College Athletic Association in the Bronx. Uhl started his career at the University of Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky., in the 2020-21 season. He was a walk-on at Dayton for two seasons before earning a scholarship halfway through the 2023-24 season.
1: Crutcher is the only player in the Grant era to play a traditional four-year career with one school and not finish his career at another school.
Nwokeji spent 4½ seasons at Dayton but will end his career at Jacksonville. Uhl will play his fourth season at Dayton in 2024-25 but started his career at Cumberlands. Brea played four seasons at Dayton but will play his fifth and final season at Kentucky.
The 2024-25 season will be Smith’s fourth season at Dayton, but he has another year of eligibility because he earned a medical redshirt in the 2023-24 season. Ryan Mikesell (2015-20) was the last player to spend five seasons at Dayton.
The other Flyers to spend an entire four-year career with the program over the last 15 years are: Trey Landers (2016-20); Darrell Davis (2014-18); Scoochie Smith, Kyle Davis and Kendall Pollard (2013-17); Dyshawn Pierre (2012-16); Devin Oliver and Matt Kavanaugh (2010-14); Chris Johnson, Luke Fabrizius and Paul Williams (2008-12)
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