Conner committed during a busy recruiting week for Dayton. Vanderbilt transfer Colin Smith, a 6-8 forward with two seasons of eligibility remaining, and Duke transfer Jaden Schutt, a 6-5 guard with three seasons remaining, also visited UD, according to a source.
Earlier in the week, Kolby King, a 6-2 point guard transfer from Tulane, visited, according to a report by Jamie Shaw, of On3.com.
Conner entered the transfer portal on April 2 after two seasons at Marshall. He started 32 of 33 games as a sophomore and averaged 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. As a freshman, he appeared in all 32 games, averaging 5.0 points and 3.7 rebounds.
Conner visited Dayton on Wednesday and committed during his visit. He also visited Wright State and Miami and talked to coaches from Akron and Belmont. He was going to announce his decision Friday but said he didn’t want to do so on the same day Dayton’s winningest coach, Don Donoher, was laid to rest.
Marshall finished 13-20 last season. Coach Dan D’Antoni was fired in March after 10 seasons and replaced by Cornelius Jackson.
Conner is the first scholarship player from the Dayton area to commit to Dayton in the tenure of coach Anthony Grant, who’s entering his seventh season. Dayton did have one scholarship player from the area last season when walk-on Brady Uhl, a former teammate of Conner at Alter, earned a scholarship in January.
Conner is the first transfer from Ohio to commit to Dayton since Ibi Watson, of Pickerington, who played for the Flyers from 2019-21 after two seasons at Michigan.
Conner has two seasons of eligibility remaining. He’s the second transfer to pick Dayton this spring, following Ohio State forward Zed Key, who will play his final season of eligibility at Dayton.
Dayton now has two open scholarships on the 2024-25 roster. That number will be three if DaRon Holmes II leaves college for the NBA.
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