Dayton senior Greer one of Anthony Grant’s favorites

Jared Becker made his only attempt in the 2019-20 season. Brian Vonderhaar made both of his shots, including a 3-pointer, in a career that stretched from 2011 to the Elite Eight season in 2014. William Brady made both of his shots, each 3-pointers, in the 2005-06 season.

Greer made one shot in each of his three seasons: a 3-pointer at Saint Joseph’s as a freshman in 2018; a 3-pointer at Rhode Island in February 2019; and a layup with nine seconds left against Virginia Tech in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational in November 2019. He has played a total of 24 minutes in 22 appearances.

The stats don’t tell the whole story of Greer, who has earned a place in coach Anthony Grant’s heart.

“Cam’s one of my favorites,” Grant said. “Just a tremendous energy. Just the epitome of a great teammate. He’s guy that doesn’t get a chance to play as much and is not one of our more talented guys, but the players and coaches will you he’s one of the most respected guys on the team because of his character, because of his consistency and because of who he is. I’m a big fan. Whatever Cam chooses to do next in life, he’s going to be successful because he gets the big picture of what everything is all about.”

Greer, a 5-foot-7 guard from Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Ill., just south of Chicago, will be one of five players honored Friday on Senior Night before a game against Saint Louis. He has not gotten any playing time this season because Dayton has not been on the winning side of many lopsided games in which walk-ons see action.

If Greer doesn’t score or even play again, it won’t hurt his legacy. He has added to the walk-on tradition at Dayton by being an exuberant cheerleader on the bench — he faked a fainting spell after a dunk by Obi Toppin on Senior Night a year ago — and has followed in the footsteps of Joey Gruden and Jack Westerfield, two of his former teammates.

“Just being under Jack and Joey for the years that they were here while I was here, it was humbling for the most part,” Greer said, “and on top of that, I was grateful to have them as leaders to me and mentors not only on the basketball court but in general. I talked to Jack last week, just seeing how he’s doing, checking in with him and getting his advice on my next steps in life. It’s an honor once again to carry that tradition on.”

Westerfield is in his second season as a graduate student manager on former Dayton coach Archie Miller’s staff at Indiana. Gruden started his coaching career as a graduate assistant on Chris Mack’s staff at Louisville and coached the Dayton alumni team, the Red Scare, in The Basketball Tournament last season. Greer wants to follow them into coaching.

“The goal is to stay around the game of basketball,” Greer said. “One of the conversations I’ve had with Jack and Joey was about graduate assistant positions. i’m currently searching for a position in any program honestly just to get some experience with coaching, and then I’m still keeping my options open with jobs in my field. I am a chemical engineering major. I’ve been talking with a couple representatives with BP back home in Chicago.”