“I think the rule is antiquated,” Grant said Saturday after a 78-69 victory against Longwood at UD Arena. “I think it’s needs to change.”
The topic came up when Grant was asked if he had come to final decision about freshman guard Marvel Allen, a top-150 recruit in the class of 2023. On Thursday, Grant said Allen would probably redshirt. On Saturday, Grant confirmed UD had made the decision to redshirt Allen, who joins another freshman, Jaiun Simon, in the redshirt category.
“When you miss two months of practice as he has, it’s tough, especially for a true freshman, to come in and be able to get quality minutes with the rotation we have,” Grant said, “and the group we have has gelled pretty well. With wthe early setback of losing Malachi (Smith), the other guys have stepped up. We’ve got guys who can play multiple positions. We have a group that’s doing really well.”
Allen suffered a lower-body injury in the week before the season opener and returned to practice Dec. 12. He has been in uniform on the bench for the last three games. He wears a supportive brace, stretch from below his knee to above his ankle, on his left leg.
Grant said the NCAA has talked about changing the redshirt rule for several years.
“Why does football have one set of rules, and college basketball has a different set?” Grant said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
With Allen and Simon redshirting and Smith out all season with a knee injury, Dayton has nine scholarship players, including four guards: Javon Bennett; Kobe Elvis; Koby Brea; and Enoch Cheeks.
Asked if injuries could change the decision on Allen, Grant said, “You can’t predict what’s going to happen, but I think at the end of the day, this is the best decision for Marvel. I think he’s got a really good future ahead of him, as does Jaiun.”
Last season, Dayton decided to redshirt Georgia transfer Tyrone Baker , and Baker left the program in December. Prior to Baker, the last Flyer to take a redshirt for non-medical reasons was Moulaye Sissoko, who sat out the 2019-20 season. Sissoko then played two seasons at Dayton and now is in his second season at North Texas.
In the 2018-19 season, Dayton announced it would redshirt freshman Frankie Policelli, but Grant said at the time there was always a chance Policelli would end up playing if other players were injured. When Jhery Matos suffered a season-ending injury, Dayton changed its mind about redshirting Policelli and he saw limited minutes the rest of the season and transferred to Stony Brook after the season. He’s now in his sixth season of college basketball at Charleston.
Dayton has also had two players redshirt in recent years because of academic reasons: Kostas Antetokounmpo in the 2016-17 season; and Obi Toppin in the 2017-18 season.
“It was kind of forced on Obi Toppin from an academic standpoint his first year,” Grant said, “but the growth that he had from the time he walked on campus until that the following year when he was able to play ... he was able to take advantage of the weight room and learn the system offensively and defensively. He was sort of shot out of a cannon in that year that he was able to play after his redshirt year. You saw him grow from there. Hopefully, (Allen and Simon) will take advantage of this year and maximize the opportunity to see what’s required to become a good college basketball player.”
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Davidson, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 1290, 95.7
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