When Chattanooga completed an 87-72 victory against Dayton in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament at McKenzie Arena, the five Flyers didn’t have much of a reaction. They each walked slowly back to the bench to get in the line for postgame handshakes.
Three of the players will never play another game in college basketball. Santos, Cheeks and Key exhausted their eligibility, as did Brady Uhl, who played one minute in his final game at UD, and Posh Alexander, who missed the game with an illness. Smith and Bennett each have one more season of eligibility.
Asked what he would remember about his second season in Dayton, Bennett said, “I would just say the camaraderie, what we’ve been through, the places we’ve been, the team chemistry. Those are my guys for life.”
Santos, who played two seasons at Dayton after two seasons at Pittsburgh, had similar thoughts.
“Just all the moments being with my teammates and the coaches,” he said. “It was an up-and-down year. That’s kind of what happens with basketball. But I just enjoyed every moment.”
The offseason began when the clock hit zero in Tennessee. In the age of the transfer portal, there are no quiet offseasons. Here are three questions facing Dayton after the 2024-25 season as Anthony Grant prepares for his ninth season as head coach at Dayton.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
1. Who will return for the 2025-26 season?
The transfer portal opened Monday. Players will have 30 days to decide whether to enter it.
Last year, Dayton lost four players to the portal. Zimi Nwokeji (Jacksonville), Kobe Elvis (Oklahoma), Petras Padegimas (Mercer) and Koby Brea (Kentucky) entered the portal in a one-month period. Santos also entered the portal but announced a week later he would return to Dayton.
In the spring of 2023, Dayton lost four players to the portal, including Mustapha Amzil (New Mexico), who like Elvis and Brea played in the NCAA tournament this month.
In all 19 players recruited and signed by Grant and his staff have entered the transfer portal since April 2018. These days, anyone is a candidate to leave, whether that’s Dayton’s top returning scorer, Bennett, its top freshman, Amaël L’Etang, or the players who received the least amount of playing time, Hamad Mousa and Jaiun Simon.
Dayton could return as many as eight scholarship players. That group includes Marvell Allen, who has redshirted the last two seasons because of injuries. Four of the eight have one season of eligibility remaining: Bennett; Smith; Jacob Conner; and Isaac Jack.
After the game Saturday, Grant said he would have an individual meeting with each player back in Dayton in the days ahead. He talked about the process last June.
“It’s a new era,” Grant said then. “We’re putting the team together now, and there’s a commitment that we’re asking for the next 10 months. We’re going to try to accomplish something really good together. Let’s commit to 10 months, and then let’s figure out what’s the best thing for you. What’s the best thing for us? What’s the best thing moving forward? And it doesn’t have to be a contentious thing. Let’s just figure out what’s best. What you feel is best for you I may not like, but I have to respect the fact that it’s the best thing for you. Let’s move forward, and figure it out. Whatever decision you make, you’ve got to go make that work. Then we have to figure out, ‘OK, how do we move forward based on your decision.’”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2. Who will Dayton add from the transfer portal?
Dayton has added 16 Division I transfers since Grant took over the program in 2017. Its two leading scorers this season, Santos and Cheeks, both started their careers elsewhere. Seven of the team’s top nine scorers were transfers.
The portal gives coaches the opportunity to reshape rosters quickly. There were 503 players in the portal as of Monday morning, according to the list kept at VerbalCommits.com, and that number will pass 2,000 in the weeks ahead if the trend seen in recent years continues.
Two years ago, Dayton landed its first transfer of the offseason (Cheeks) on March 30. Last year, the three transfers Dayton signed (Zed Key, Jacob Conner and Posh Alexander) committed between April 17 and May 3.
Dayton coaches sometimes surprise fans with late signings from overseas. Mousa, of Qatar, committed on May 29 last year. L’Etang committed on June 12. A year earlier, Dayton earned a commitment from Padegimas in July.
Sean Damaska, an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator on Grant’s staff, shed some insight on the recruiting process in an interview on the Rising Coaches podcast in December.
“First and foremost, the talent has to be apparent,” Damaska said. “That’s an easy one. You’re looking for a good kid with a good support system that fits who we are. We’ve been very talented. We’ve also had some great human beings. DaRon Holmes, Toumani Camara, Obi Toppin are extremely talented individuals, but also if you ask anyone who’s ever interacted with them, they’re top-of-the-line young men. How they interact, that’s a huge thing for us. How is this future young man going to fit into who we are and who we’ve been.
“Then for us, we’re kind of sitting in that mid-major plus, high-major minus type of area. How can we separate and find talent that’s good enough, but also a little bit different in terms of how we’re trying to beat out Power 5s for some of these kids. Those are big battles. Just call what it is. That is hard to do. I don’t care who you are. If it’s Dayton versus Arkansas, Dayton versus Louisville, those are big dogs you’re going after. Can you find those kids?”
Damaska talked about the success Dayton has had with international recruits and with lower-ranked recruits.
“We have a pretty good idea, as assistants, of what coach Grant is looking for,” Damaska said. “We’re making sure we’re recruiting these kids and that they’re fitting what he wants to do stylistically and fitting how he coaches from a personality standpoint. Are they going to be able to handle how coach Grant is as a person? He’s very intense, a very detailed-oriented coach? Can the kids fit into that and grow under that model? I think so far we’ve done a pretty good job of identifying and developing those kids.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3. How will a new era of college sports affect Dayton recruiting and roster management?
Starting in July, Dayton will be able to pay athletes directly. Athletic Director Neil Sullivan didn’t want to put an exact number of how much UD will pay athletes when asked about it in January but said it will be in the millions. Most of that money will go to the men’s basketball players.
At this point, incoming freshmen or transfers are signing contingent offers, Sullivan said. That means the offer depends on a $2.78 billion lawsuit settlement (House vs. NCAA) being approved in April and the pay-to-play era beginning in July.
Grant expressed confidence in Dayton’s ability to thrive in the new era when asked about it after a loss to Saint Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.
“I think our administration is the best in the business,” Grant said. “Neil’s one of the best I’ve been around. It’s really important to him. He works his tail off. It’s important to him. And Dr. Spina. I’m fortunate to work with those guys. The community and the university, it’s unique what we have. The way it’s supported is pretty special.”
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